Page 47 of Heat & Deceit
Javi pushes through the door, stopping to scoff at Ly’s position and rolling his eyes. “It’s a miracle you’ve made it this far.”
“Rich, successful, handsome?” Ly shrugs. “You know how hard I worked to get here, and I can’t help it that my mama had good genes.”
Ignoring him, Javi turns to me. “What happened with Carmine?”
“We met...” I trail off. Should I tell them about the suppressants? There’s no sense in bringing it up. I don’t want to embarrass her, and even though I’m not a doctor, I like to offer some semblance of privacy for my customers. Besides, if I bring it up, Lycus will absolutely try to figure out her story. He tends to be intense, and the way he looked at her this morning means he’s already interested.
Telling him she bought suppressants from me would only make him more obnoxious.
So, instead of telling them about the pills, I fill them in on the incident last night, toying with the keys I’m holding. “That’s why she’s mad at me.”
“Oh, well, that’s nothing,” Ly says casually.
“What did you do?” Javi drops into the seat across from Ly and leans forward to shove his feet off the table when Ly refuses to answer.
“Jesus, chill. It’s not a big deal, really.” He smiles to himself. “I might’ve messed up her date.”
“She went on a date?”
I study Javi. Why does he sound slightly offended?
“Yeah. It was the same night I was out with that omega.” He makes a face. “I might’ve laughed at her date and pissed off my date at the same time? I don’t know. What’s done is done, but long story short, we shared a very brief dinner that revolved around us insulting one another.”
I’m sure he loved that.
“That doesn’t sound like Carmine.” Javi glances at me.
I shrug. To them, I’ve only met her once. And even with being her dealer, I can’t exactly say what’s a normal reaction for her.
Lycus chuckles. “Trust me when I say that beta is made of fire. She’s hiding it for some reason, though.”
“She’s hiding something, all right.” Javi rubs his jaw.
Glancing to the side, I study a painting on the wall. The two of them are talking about Carmine in a way I’ve never heard them talk about an omega. While I don’t like most people as a general rule, I can admit Carmine has piqued my interest.
“What makes you think she’s hiding something?” Ly rests his elbows on the desk and stares at Javi.
“I don’t know. I can just feel it.”
Javi is a human lie detector. His suspicion, coupled with my own, gives a little merit to the idea of her being an omega. But it hasn’t even been ten days since he arrived at Tranquility to fire Tabitha. We can’t go accusing employees of lying to us without some sort of proof, and Carmine isn’t exactly lying. It’s not like the job application asked if she was an omega.
“Maybe she’s a private person,” I say in Carmine’s defense. “She clearly doesn’t like alphas...probably because of some asshole in her past. Can’t really blame her for not wanting us in her business.”
She’s hiding something for a reason.
“There’s something off about her.” Javi pinches the bridge of his nose. “We can’t afford to lose employees right now, not unless you guys want to throw on the aprons again.”
“We can afford to close the place,” I suggest.
“No,” he says quickly. “All we need to do is hire a good manager who won’t steal from us.”
In the end, the audit found that Tabitha had taken around thirty thousand. Enough to be annoying, but not enough for us to pursue legal action. Taking Tabitha to court would be expensive, and she’s not worth our time.
“Then, maybe you need to give the Spidey-senses a rest.” Ly leans back in his chair. “That, or you need to get laid.”
“Screw you,” Javi mutters.
“I’m not wrong. Tell me those full hips and ass don’t make you a little crazy. Those are baby-making hips.” Ly glares at me. “I know you appreciate her beauty.”
