Page 87 of Love at First Sighting
I almost cry at the concept alone. Another note. One last little game for us to play together.
I unfold it slowly. It’s undeniably my dad’s handwriting—clean, legible, like a time capsule I’ve cracked open.
1995 PIS Code of Conduct Sec. 5: Reminder to always back up your work
It hits me like a bucket of cold water. There’s something in the book meant for my eyes only. And it’s someplace Marcus would never deign to look. Downstairs, in our fallout bunker, collecting decades of dust, is every single rule book since 1947. As evidenced by the hokey uniforms, old operating systems, and attachment to the Cold War era, we don’t update them much. Every couple of years, we get a new chunky handbook of rules no one reads. The last time one arrived—when I first started at PIS—Marcus ordered me to “put it with the others” in the fallout shelter.
My dad was someone who always wanted to do the right thing, who followed the regs to a T, who taught me the value in being a good person. He would have read them.
Marcus, clearly, would not.
A week ago, I would have looked for anything to exonerate Marcus, but now I’m out for vengeance. I need my proof and I need him to pay.
Shit. I need to get down there, but it’s under lock and key, with the scanner pad on his desk. I’m in Marcus’s office again, searching around his desk for clues to get me in there, whenmy phone rings in my back pocket. El’s name and picture flash across my screen. It’s a photo from our first date: we’re lying on the grass next to each other, her lips at my hairline and my smile brighter than I’ve ever seen it.
“Hey,” I answer.
“Carter? I…” There’s a wariness in her voice I don’t know how to decode. Even at El’s most terrified, she’s so formidable. Her voice lowers to a whisper. “I’m heading to my spin class, and there’s…there’s a guy following me. In a suit. And fedora—sorry,trilby. He’s been trailing me for a block or two.”
Fuck.
There’s someone after El, putting her life at risk, keeping her under watch, and it’s no doubt because of me. And if they want to hurt me, they know hurting El is the way to do that.
“What’s he look like?”
“He isginormous.”
Fucking Brad.
It’s the only answer. Who else isthatbig? And Marcus knows El is snooping around. Shit. Shit. Shit. It put a target on her back.Iput a target on her back.
I know that since she started living at my place, El’s been going to spin classes in Studio City, which is at least twenty minutes from here without traffic. We’re at the tail end of rush hour, so at least I have that in my favor. All I can think about is getting to her and protecting her. Fuck the rest of it.
I grind my molars to keep the tears and anger from spilling out. I try to remind myself Brad and Marcus can’t hurt El. Her followers would know and she’s too big of a public name to make disappear. But then again, everything I knew about PIS has gone tits up, so who is to say theywouldn’ttry to hurt her?
Jesus, I taught her hand-to-hand skills, but it was only one lesson. She needs like fifty more. Her punches are still so weak. The only thing that gives me comfort is I have a feeling, no matter what they do, El isn’t going to show Brad her fear. She’ll take one look at Brad, make a displeased face, and taunt him.
It doesn’t mean he won’t hurt her back.
“El,” I say, “you need to get somewhere safe. Get in your car or go somewhere public and I’ll come for you. Send me your location. Don’t worry. I’m going to get to you.”
Chapter 27
El
This is theleast subtleMan in Black I’ve ever seen.
Massive Piss Man follows me down a line of boutique stores, workout studios, and mattress stores on Ventura Boulevard, never letting me get more than ten steps away from him, even in the rain. If he’s trying to be stealthy, he’s failing.
It’s not the first time I’ve been followed, not by a long shot. I had a clingy fan who figured out where I lived a few years ago, and he’d show up outside the apartment with my favorite bagels every day. I never ate them, out of fear they’d be poisoned, and eventually he lost interest when I dyed my hair from blond to my natural brown.
However, this agent could kick my ass, and I’m notthatconfident in my skills, even after the fistfighting lesson Carter gave me. I’m going to have to play this smart because I can’t play it hard.
If I can get to my car, then I can get the hell out of here. I clutch the pepper spray in my bag and hustle quicker. I’m parked behind the strip mall, and it’ll require a walk through a short alleyway to get there. That alley is where it could all gosouth. I peer over my shoulder. Massive Piss Man is closing in, and the second he sees an opportunity, he’s going to take it.
I make a sharp turn down the alley and move as quickly as I can. Not quick enough. Massive Piss Man picks up speed, and before I can come up with a better plan, he snatches my bag strap and yanks me close to him. When we collide, pain rattles up my spine and I drop the pepper spray.
“Fuck you!” I shout.
