Page 38 of Pride
The two of them had been through so much. All of their unit had. Yes, Alice had always felt a connection with Parker, even if he hadn’t with her. She couldn’t ignore it. Two years of working closely with him, watching out for him when he was too busy to watch out for himself, had left scars on her soul. There were forces pushing them together. Saying her feelings aloud at dinner had damaged the wall around her heart, and all her childish dreams had leaked out.
She blinked rapidly to banish tears before they had a chance to fall.
“You’re right. I want it, Mercy,” she confessed, her throat tightening. “I want a normal life. I want a family. I want someone to care for me the way they all care for each other. I want what I lost, and I also want to keep the family I found.”
“I know,” Mercy whispered, her unsaid “Me too”hanging in the air. “You deserve it, and you actually have a chance where the rest of us don’t. Even if it’s all part of the Rev’s plan. Even if there’s a darkness hanging over you. For a little while, you can make it happen.”
“I’m no fool, Mercy. I don’t want someone who doesn’t want me back.”
Mercy snorted. “Girl, if you think that’s what’s happening here, then you haven’t been listening either.” She pointed at the radio receiver. “That man is totally in love with you. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
Alice wasn’t sure about that, but she couldn’t deny she wanted to find out if it was true. “So, what now?”
“Now I tell the rest of the team to be prepared to head overseas. One of us with one of them should cover all bases. Until then, you keep heading into the office, keeping his personal life afloat. You seduce him by opening his heart. It won’t take him long to see you. And when that happens, he’ll know he can’t live without you, or us.”
* * *
As it turned out, “not long”took over a week. Alice continued to head into the office and field phone calls from the board about Parker’s absence. Every day she’d entered his empty office and a little piece of her heart chipped off along with her hope. He never showed up. Was there more she should have said? Should she have been less forceful with him? Did she really need to tie him up, as he had done to her?
Was she giving him too much time?
Two days after their dinner date, Alice strode into the Lazarus Tech offices and, instead of settling in at her desk outside Parker’s office, she decided to work from his desk. He wasn’t using it anyway, and if he didn’t like it, he could come into the office and tell her so. From the comfort of his plush leather desk chair, she fired up his computer and went through their company emails. Every so often, her eyes would drift to a framed picture of him shaking hands with the Dalai Lama and she’d smile.
A picture with the president, a picture with billionaires, and a picture with the Pope were on display as well. Alice would bet that last one was a reminder of how far he’d come. The Vatican had been financial investors in the project that created the Deadly Seven. They wanted deadly sin eradicated and prevented, but as far as Alice knew, the Vatican had no hand in the new splinter cell Syndicate of today. Like the Sisterhood, they’ve had their hands full discovering demonic possession was actually a thing.
Deciding to mess with Parker’s decor, and maybe snoop a little, she opened his desk drawer and stopped short. There were multiple bundles of rope tied into different knot configurations. Knots that looked like flowers, knots that looked like intricate balls, and knots that reminded Alice of Parker’s rock climbing rigs.
Come to think of it, she remembered walking into the office once and finding him playing with rope, but he’d shoved it in the drawer before she could mention it. She’d always assumed it had something to do with his rock-climbing hobby, but now knew about the rope art pictures on his walls… and the bundles of rope dangling on hooks, and the pulleys and bolts in his bedroom ceiling. This must be a hobby of his. Or passion. Or obsession.
It was also one nobody else was privy to. A shiver ran down her spine.
Alice rifled further in the drawer and found a security access card, pencils and pens, and a bottle of whiskey. Before she shut the drawer, she stole a purple flower-knot as a memento, hoping she wasn’t being too stalkerish, then went back to sifting through the mess that was Parker’s business life.
Her day became filled with the Board’s demands, invitations for charity balls, marketing and budget requirements. Accounting said Lazarus Tech hadn’t fulfilled their donation requirements for this tax term, bla bla bla. This was Alice’s life until lunchtime and she went to the staffroom fridge. She’d brought double lunch again, as she had for the past two months since Parker’s accident. Knowing she’d be accosted by staff if she ate in the break room, she took her food into the office and ate at his desk. When she was done, she had the second dish couriered over to Lazarus House, care of Parker, and then continued to work. At the end of the day, Alice did what she always did, and sent the summary of the day’s work.
That was her job.
And then she turned off the lights, went down to the office gym and worked out before heading home to her empty, tiny apartment. Some days she stopped in at the cathedral, prayed, gave confession and did her penance.
This routine went on for another two days, until finally, on the third day, just before she was about to head home for the day, a message pinged on the computer screen via the inter-office messaging app.
– Why are you working in my office?
– The view is better in here.
– The view is fine from your desk.Outsidemy office.
Alice couldn’t help the smile building in her body. So he was checking in through the internal security surveillance cameras, after all. He hadn’t explicitly said to leave, and she’d been working here for almost a week without him commenting. He hadn’t said anything about declining the alliance, or the work she’d sent him for the past few days, or the food. She frowned. Goddamn him. He hadn’t even said thank you for the food, yet after the first day of couriering it over, he’d sent back the washed and empty Tupperware dish from the previous day. Alice cracked her knuckles. Looked like the man needed some lessons in manners. But first, she was going to annoy the shit out of him.
– The view is better in here and you’re not using it, so it’s mine now. I licked it.
