Page 18 of Devil
Devil felt the familiar cloak of stillness drop over her. Cyn was right, but Devil didn’t knowwhatshe was, and that wasn’t a comfortable place to be. As a thirty-eight-year-old woman, shouldn’t she know by now what kind of person she was when it came to intimate relationships? She didn’t, though. All she knew was that she never wanted the kind of relationship people in her family had. Alternatively, though, she didn’t think she had it in her to do what both Cyn and Six had done when they’d welcomed Joe and Gavin into their lives.
“I’ll call you tonight.”
Cyn sighed but dropped the topic. “Say hi to Angelica for me.”
After disconnecting the call, Devil gave herself no time to second-guess her actions and she texted Darius.“Are you available to grab a drink after work?”
The reply was almost instant.“Smith House?”
“That works. Meet you there at six?”
“Are you going to stay the night?”That question gave her pause, but the next text cleared up his reason for asking.“If you are and you’re going to leave your car here overnight, we can walk over together. If not, we can meet there since I assume you’ll drive over.”
“I was planning to stay. Why don’t you come to my office when you’re done for the day, and we can leave from here?”
“Sounds good, see you then.”
Devil glanced at the clock as she set her phone down. It was five minutes past noon. She had just under six hours to prepare herself. She had a good idea of how their conversation would unfold. But knowing Franklin, there was likely still going to be a surprise or two.
CHAPTERTEN
“DidFranklin Steele send you to be my backup? Or position your role at the research center in any way that would makemeyour current op?” Devil asked as soon as they were a block away from work. If she was going to do this, she was going to rip the Band-Aid right off.
Darius looked at her as they navigated around a group of tourists. It wasn’t gloves and scarf weather, yet, but the night had turned cool, and they both wore lightweight coats. Tucked into her pockets, her hands were nice and warm, but Darius reached for her elbow, pulling her close as they passed the group.
“Franklin Steele?” He shook his head as he dropped her arm. “I don’t know anyone by that name.”
She’d learned enough about Darius at dinner the night before to know he was telling the truth. But that didn’t mean Franklin wasn’t involved somehow. “But you were sent for those purposes?” she pressed.
He was silent as they walked the next half block. Then he let out a breath, the air from his lungs creating a hint of steam. “I was,” he confirmed. “My commanding officer andhisboss assigned me to this opin July.”
“July?” He hadn’t arrived in Boston until August.
“They gave me a couple of weeks of leave before starting. Said they weren’t sure if I’d get any in the next year.”
“So the assignment is just a year?”
He inclined his head, then reached for her arm again and pulled her away from a grate in the street. A grate that would have caught, and likely broken, her heel.
“Thank you,” she murmured. “What happens at the end of the year?”
Darius lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. They didn’t say. My twenty years is up when this assignment ends so maybe I retire, and they assign someone new? The other man in the room indicated you were valuable to more governments than just your own. I doubt they plan to let it go after a year.”
She put a hand on his arm to stop him, then realizing they were in the middle of the sidewalk, she moved to the side, bringing Darius with her. “What other man?”
Darius shook his head. “He didn’t introduce himself. I’m guessing he’s with some intelligence agency. Probably MI6. His accent was British.”
“How old was he?”
Darius studied her with his light brown eyes. “I’d say around seventy, though he looked good for his age. That’s the Franklin you were asking about, isn’t it?” he asked, putting two and two together.
“Looks like a younger Prince Philip but better-looking and with more hair?” she asked. Darius nodded. Devil swore in Italian, and Darius smiled. Now that Franklin’s involvement was confirmed, it felt as though the coffin was being sealed on her fate.
She crossed her arms and stared at nothing as an occasional curse continued to fall from her lips. Her mind should be organizing questions and opinions, but really, all she felt was a hollow sort of confusion. Darius, like Joe and Gavin, would no doubt bring something to their group of friends that Franklin thought they needed. For the life of her, though, she didn’t know what that could be. Or what she was supposed to do with the fact that he was going to be a part of her life for the next ten months.
“Are you okay?” Darius asked, reaching out and brushing away a lock of her black hair that had blown into her face.
She met his gaze and noted the genuine concern there. Maybe she was okay. Maybe not. But either way, she’d befine. Because that’s what she and her friends always were…fine. It didn’t matter who was or wasn’t pulling the strings of their lives. It didn’t matter what they were asked to do or to accept. It didn’t matter how they felt about anything. They were alwaysfine.
