Page 117 of Wicked Beautiful (Wicked Games 1)
“You mind telling me how you know that?”
The look Tabby gives me is meant to disembowel. In a voice dripping acid, she says, “You first, dickhead.”
Connor snorts.
Tabby cuts her eyes to him and narrows them. “And who the fuck is this, G.I. Joe on steroids?”
Connor flexes an enormous bicep. “Ain’t no steroids in these guns, baby. That’s one hundred percent pure American male.”
Darcy abruptly stops chewing. A few chips fall out of her open mouth and land in her cleavage. She mutters, “Man meat. Mmm.”
Tabby says, “Call me ‘baby’ one more time, jarhead, and you and John Bobbitt will have something in common.”
Apparently Connor has no problem being threatened with penile amputation, because a slow grin spreads over his face. “Feisty, aren’t you?”
“Tabby, this is Connor. He’s a friend.”
“Well I’m not talking about Victoria in front of your boyfriend, so come back when you don’t need him for moral support, you big pussy.”
I scowl. Connor just smiles wider.
He asks her, “You kiss your mother with that mouth?”
“Fuck you.”
He chuckles. “Gladly, sweet thing. Any time you want the ride of your life, just hop on.”
Nostrils flared, Tabby looks at me. “Get this Neanderthal out of my face before I rip off his balls.”
I want to break something. This situation is already out of hand, we’re getting nowhere, and all I want to do is find out where the hell Victoria could have gone and go after her. “Connor works for me, all right? He’s familiar with the situation, and he can help us find her!”
He adds, “I’m in security.”
Tabby looks Connor up and down, her gaze scrutinizing, calculating, and highly disbelieving. “You?” she says, a brow arched. “You’re his security guy?”
The way she says it is so condescending, I feel insulted on Connor’s behalf. “We’ve worked together for years. You can trust him. He’s the best in the business.”
Tabby turns her disdainful gaze to me. “If you think this knuckle dragger is the best, you’re as stupid as you look.”
Connor laughs while I bristle in indignation. “What’s your problem with me, Tabby? I walk in here, tell you your boss isn’t dead, and you don’t even bother to find out how I know or what happened the night she disappeared. You just start breaking my balls. What the hell?”
Tabby’s fierce eyes fill with tears. Her voice comes out choked. “She wasn’t just my boss. She was my idol and my friend and the only fucking family I have, and you’re the asshole who ruined her life!”
Astonished, I blink. “How did I ruin her life? By falling in love with her?”
Darcy drops the bag of chips. It lands on the floor, spraying Doritos at her feet. “You’re in love with her?”
Tabby says bitterly, “He’s a fucking liar, is what he is. Always has been, always will be.” She turns and walks away, shoulders hunched, arms wrapped around her body, shaking.
As I watch her retreating back, I ask Darcy, “What am I missing?”
Darcy purses her lips. She looks down at the bag of chips on the floor, and then back up at me. “I think we should probably go into the kitchen for this. I’m gonna need something stronger than Doritos. And you, Captain America, are probably gonna need a strong-ass drink.”
She turns and follows Tabby. Connor and I look at each other, he shrugs, and I exhale through clenched teeth. If we want to find out what’s going on, we have no choice but to follow, and so we do.
* * *
Darcy sits at the kitchen table, cradling a gallon of Häagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream to her chest. She’s spooning it right out of the container into her mouth. Connor sits opposite her, his big frame dwarfing the chair. His eyes are on Tabby, who’s pacing back and forth in front of the sink, chewing her thumbnail. I stand in the doorway with my arms crossed, watching everyone, waiting for someone to speak.
