Page 16 of Wretched Soul
“If she needs a false identity, it’s likely she has a criminal record I could use to find a match. I just have to hope it hasn’t already been erased.” It’s what I’d do.
“Surely it’s worth a try. Can we get DNA?’ Maddie asks.
My stomach twists as I tap my keyboard. “She’s already checked out of the guesthouse and her car’s been returned to the rental company at the airport.” I tap a few more keys. “And her name doesn’t appear on any flight manifests.”
“You can see that? Damn, that was quick work,” Reid says.
“Quick work he could have fucking done this morning,” grumbles Ash, swiftly throwing cold water over Reid’s praise. “What the hell is wrong with you lately, Mace? We have people close enough to Poulton Springs that we could have swooped in and taken a glass or a toothbrush, or whatever else you could have used as a sample. The last thing we need right now is more fucking unanswered questions.”
“I’ll keep looking,” I mutter, tapping a few keys and willing Hunter and Maddie to go away.
Hunter gets the message, but Maddie being Maddie, continues to prowl around my desk.
“Is everything OK, Mace?” she asks, coming close, and talking low enough to keep our conversation relatively private.
I turn in my chair, checking another screen so my back is to her. “I’m good.”
“You haven’t been rude to me once today,” she complains.
Looking over my shoulder, I narrow my eyes. “You’re not important enough for me to notice.”
She moves closer. “Not as important as…?” She waits for me to finish her sentence. I don’t. Faced with my blank stare, she adds, “Are you sure there’s no one you want to bring as your plus one to tomorrow’s gala?”
“If it was down to me, I’d be a minus one.” I don’t want to go. What if Lily hits the clubs again? What if she’s lined up a date with someone who doesn’t have a pathological fear of relationships?
Maddie wrinkles her nose. “I can’t say I’m looking forward to it either, but I need you there to keep all the gawkers away with your scowl. I’m going to feel like I’m on parade.”
“You will be,” I say, making no attempt to help her feel better. Maddie expects nothing more. “There isn’t going to be another Griffin wife, so you might as well accept that you’ll be an oddity. Not that you aren’t already.” I glance down at the narrowing space between us. “You’re invading my personal space.”
Maddie rolls her lips. “Sorry, I must be picking up your bad habits.”
My sister-in-law knows better than anyone how I like to snoop. She’s called me out on it plenty of times, but her words cut deeper this time. My expression falls before I can school my features into one of indifference.
“Are we done?” I ask when she doesn’t back off.
Maddie kicks the trash can hidden under my desk. It’s a mass grave of opened candy bars – a bite taken out of each. “Something’s distracting you, Mace,” she says. A smile pulls atthe corners of her mouth as her eyes sparkle. “And sooner or later, I’m going to find out who she is.”
Chapter 7
Lily
I’ve managed to avoid going into the office for the last couple of days. There was only so much I could take of Connor’s gloating, and the final straw came when he let slip that he’s playing golf with Walter and a couple of our other executives this weekend. He’s wasted no time ingratiating his way into the highest levels of the company, and is being rewarded for simply being born with a penis. I’m never going to be in their little boys’ club. Maybe it’s time I looked for a new job.
As I sit at my desk in the corner of my apartment, I can’t help hoping Connor is as useless with a golf club as he is with his limp dick. We had sex just the once, and the only good thing about it was that it didn’t last long. Even his brief attempt at foreplay didn’t get me as wet as I was when a certain stranger pressed against my back. Why do I have to have the hots for a guy who’s shown no interest in getting my number. I’m probably just some weird entertainment for him.
I play with the hem of my crumpled t-shirt. Today is a day for slouching, but I’ll be making up for it tomorrow. I’m a serial late-night internet shopper, and I have a new dress that I’m dying to show off. If only I had someone to show it off to.
I reach for my cell. “We need to get back in that club,” I say as soon as Kaitlyn picks up.
Kaitlyn chuckles. “Missing your stalker?”
“He’s not a…” I pause, playing with a loose strand of hair that’s fallen out of my top knot. Shade probably has better things to do than spy on me, but it was odd that we should bump into each other again. And I still don’t have a satisfactory answer for how Simon knew my name, or the limo driver took me home without an address. “Look, I just want to give fate a helping hand, and see if I can meet him again.”
“I would love to make that happen, honey, but we don’t have an invitation for this weekend.”
“What about the guys you met? Could they get us in?”
“I’m going to need time to recover from those two,” Kaitlyn says with a note of pride. “And besides, their invites were a one-time deal too. There are plenty of other clubs to choose from.”
