Page 65 of Provocation
‘Burned. Yeah. He recognized my name. That’s why he gave me the job. I guess that’s why he bumped me up to a senior, too–good, old-fashioned nepotism...’
Mav shrugs. ‘Welcome to the real world, Tulip. And, anyway, you deserved it. Everything in the lab is going great and that’s largely since you started working here.’
‘That’s what he said,’ I mutter a little sulkily. ‘I just thought… I dunno. Maybe I’m not as smart as I thought I was, and my ego is a little bruised that I didn’t get here on my own merit like I thought.’
Mav laughs and pulls me close. ‘Daisy, you’re the reason the special project isn’t still floundering. And you may not have gotten here on your own merit, but you’ve stayed here on it.’
‘I guess.’ I let out a breath, taking his arm when he begins to move away.
I lower my voice.
‘There was something else.’
Mav turns back, looking at me expectantly.
‘Applegate said he knew my mom remarried after my dad, but he hadn’t known it was to John. The way he said it, it was like they’d been... Like he, my dad, my mom, and John had all known each other. When they were younger.’
Mav frowns. ‘That’s weird.’
‘I thought so too.’
‘We can ask Blake. If they were friends, it shouldn't be too hard to find out more. We’ll get to the bottom of it, I promise.’
With that, he hauls me close to him and gives me a lingering kiss that makes me moan a little against his mouth before he pulls away. ‘Come on. Time to go. The guys are picking us up, we’re grabbing some dinner, and then we’re spending the night at Wrath.’
‘The whole night?’
He shrugs. ‘We can make the second batch, catch up on some work and then sleep.’
‘Where?’ I ask, remembering the uncomfortable couch from Saturday night and not exactly looking forward to another uncomfortable night after the day I’ve had.
But he just winks at me. ‘You’ll see.’
As we leave the lab, I keep thinking about what Applegate said. When Detective Black told me that the fire in my dad’s lab wasn’t an accident, Shade wanted to investigate further, and I wasn’t really on board. But now I keep wondering about it and him more and more. Why did someone burn his lab? Was he working on something, or did someone want him dead for another reason?
I think about that few months after he died. Mom was working all the time. I was in programs in school from early in the morning until late at night, which I can see now was making me harder to deal with. I had just lost my dad, after all, and our life was in upheaval. Everything I’d known except for Mom was gone. We’d even had to move from our quiet house in the suburbs to a small apartment in Philly. Everything was loud there with traffic and sirens. The school was different, kids were mean, and there was graffiti all over.
I don’t like to think about that time much. After almost eighteen months, I remember Mom not being able to make enough money to keep me in my school programs in addition to food and rent.
And then something had happened. She came home one day with a smile on her face. She bought me new clothes and shoes that fit. She started wearing brighter colors and doing her makeup and hair. She brought a man to meet me. She’d spoken about him like a friend, and I hadn’t known enough to understand that they were more than that. It wasn’t until the day they got married that I realized.
Their wedding was a quick affair in an office. We moved to the Novelle house right after, and she promised me that everything would be great. She said that John was a severe man, but she’d known him for a long time and there was a side to him that not many people saw.
I didn’t try to like him, but I didn’t try tonotlike him either. He made me hate him all on his own. And then Larson happened, and I was gone from her and the Novelle family’s lives like a pulled weed.
‘Daisy?’
‘Huh?’ I focus my eyes and realize that Mav’s been trying to talk to me.
‘Are you okay?’
I nod. ‘Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking.’
He puts his arm around me. ‘I was asking you about dinner.’
‘Tacos,’ I say immediately, and he laughs.
‘As you wish, Princess Buttercup.’
