Page 52 of Provocation
‘Agreed,’ I say. ‘Envy should be bright and easy to recognize. I have the KIP brothers organizing the party. They’ll get the word out. We need to talk about Detective Black though. How did he even get inside the other night? Sandy was on the door, and she never saw him come in.’
Mav lets out a breath. ‘Could be a mole. There were ten other employees there on Saturday night. Someone could have sneaked him in via the alleyway.’
I sigh, hoping not. ‘I checked them all when they started and nothing stood out, but I’ll go back in and take a closer look. If one of them is on the Richmond PD payroll, I’ll find it.’
We hear movement from Daisy’s room.
‘I have class,’ Mav says, going back into his room.
‘Me too.’ Shade gives me a look. ‘You?’
‘Not for a couple of hours. I’ll walk with Daisy to campus and meet you guys in the lab. We should make sure we have enough of everything for Daisy to make the first batch for Sauvage.’
‘Get him a few of the pills early so he can test them. That’ll keep his guys off our backs at least until the party. He’ll probably expect his batch at the same time, so Daisy will need to make enough.’ He lets out a long breath. ‘That’s a lot of hours at Wrath. It would be better if we all knew how to make it, so it wasn’t all on her when she’s busy already.’
I snort. ‘After everything, I think it’s safe to say we aren’t quite there with the trust however much we wish that wasn’t the case. We need to give it time. Givehertime.’
‘Last night didn’t do us any favors,’ he says quietly.
‘We stopped as soon as we saw that she was upset. And she let you sleep with her last night, right?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Then it’s probably not as bad as you think.’
We stop talking as Daisy emerges from her room in just a towel.
She stops short when she sees us. ‘Oh! Hi.’
My eyes travel over her slowly and I frown when I see uncertainty in her face. Maybe Shade was right. I’m going to need to explain.
‘Sorry I had to rush away last night,’ I say.
I open my mouth to give her some cock-and-bull story but stop myself. I need to stop lying to this girl. I need to stop lying to myself, too.
It’s awkward for a few seconds when I don’t say anything else because I don’t want to tell her the truth either.
Shade clears his throat quietly.
‘Well, I need to go to class. See you at the lab later?’ he asks Daisy, and she nods.
‘I have class, and then a shift at Grinder. Oh, and I’m meeting Bennet again for our project, but after that.’
I resist the urge to snarl when I hear that fucker’s name.
‘That’s a long day, gorgeous,’ I murmur. ‘Especially if you’re going back to the club tonight.’
She shrugs, not looking at me. I hate it.
Fuck. I’m going to need to tell her the truth. Today.
Chapter Five
DAISY
When I woke up, I was feeling like I could take on the world and win. Although I was alone, remembering Shade being with me almost all night and what he said to me gave me a warm, tingly sensation through my body that made me feel… happy.
But now that I’m standing in the hall being confronted with Blake’s secrets in the cold light of day, I sort of just want to go back to bed.
