Chapter Nineteen
Difficult Clients, Denied Feelings, and Dangerous Decisions
Elliot
The lunch swingbys, unfortunately, become a regular occurrence.
I blame myself for not shutting it down right away.
And now it’s too late. What was I even going to say, anyway?
No, Nicholas, I don’t care how frustrated you are about not giving the best blow jobs in the entire world, letting you repeatedly practice on me, then feeding me a delicious meal goes against my principles?
Besides, I’m surprisingly okay with what we have going on right now, especially now that Nicholas’s diligent hard work is starting to pay off and he’s become freakily good at sucking me off. There’s no way I’m telling him that. I refuse to be the roadblock against a man striving towards greatness.
Now, if only I could find a way to politely deny Natalie’s request to shift her appointments right before my tentative lunchtime, which has become permanent, barring surgeries or consults that go over scheduled time.
My only concern is that it ends up shortening my lunch hour. She just won’t take the hint and leave, so I have to rush with food before making myself presentable for the next appointment.
“What are you grumbling about? You have nothing scheduled for two hours. Seriously, dude, stop scowling at her. We need to keep this place functioning, remember?” Ashley reminds me.
I sigh. She’s right, and Nicholas can flirt with anyone he wants. I’m not stopping him. It’s not like we’re dating. It’s just… why can’t he leave my clients alone? It’s my place of work, goddamnit.
“I need to finish a paper. In fact, I’m gonna go do that now,” I inform Ashley and march down to my office, closing the door behind me. It slams shut. Huh, the hinges must be getting loose because I wasn’t angry. There’s nothing to be angry about.
It’s definitely the hinges because Nicholas constantly forgets his strength while dealing with things made for puny humans.
He yanks the door open as soon as I switch on my laptop. See what the door has to suffer through? The man has a perfectly mild smile on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were done discussing your schedule with Ashley? I was waiting for you to get done.”
“You seemed busy,” I say matter-of-factly. He really did. It would be rude to interrupt two people batting eyes at each other just to tell him I'm done talking about something I’d already discussed with Ashley in the morning.
He makes himself at home on one of the chairs. “Oh yeah, Nat’s father was in the force. She was telling me about his recent trip with one of my old captains,” he says, perfectly nicely.
Nat? Right. Well, they’ll make a good couple, I bet he only dates werewolves. His last girlfriend was one. Nat would be just perfect.
I snap my laptop shut. Nicholas startles.
“She sounds fun. I have my next appointment in fifteen minutes, so let’s just eat.”
He nods and takes out the containers from his bag. “I could have sworn I heard you have the next two hours clear,” he mentions casually.
Of course, he did. Stupid fucking super hearing.
“Yeah, because I have a meeting about my paper before the next appointment,” I lie because saying I need to finish the paper would not be a good excuse to make him leave, since I may have already told him the deadline is too far away. But I need him to leave.
“Right,” he says, handing me containers of Kung Pao Chicken and Vegetable Lo Mein, both my favorites.
I have no idea how he knows. I take them gingerly. It tastes heavenly. Of course, it does. Nicholas has a secret list of the best restaurants in the city that I clearly did not get when I moved here. I note the restaurant’s name on the container for future reference.
“So, Nat is nice, right? Must have a crazy workout routine with those muscles,” Nicholas says, like his shirt isn’t literally screaming trying to contain his.
“Sure,” I say. Her schedule can really become a problem, though, with the new changes she’s demanding. Maybe I’ll have to drop her altogether. Then Nicholas can go work out with her in the same super strength werewolf gym where she must be a regular.
Okay, maybe I’m jealous of their muscle mass. My gaze drifts to Nicholas’s arms, muscles flexing under his sleeves as he expertly handles the delicate chopsticks and takes another bite of chicken.
Nicholas tilts his head. “Do you think her muscles are freaky?”
“Oh my god, Nicholas, I don’t know. Why didn’t you spend more time outside to ask her about her workout routine? I didn’t ask you to come in here,” I say reasonably, but it comes out a bit annoyed. Well, I don’t want to talk about muscles anymore.
His jaw hangs open. “Umm… yeah, you didn’t. Maybe I’ll ask her next time,” he says, his eyes narrowing a bit.
We eat silently after that. The only noise in the room is made by our chopsticks and chewing. When we’re done, I stand and start collecting the containers, hoping he gets the hints. I throw them in the small dustbin near the bathroom.
I turn and slam into Nicholas’s significant bulk.
What the fuck. I didn’t even hear him get up. How can someone this big be so quiet?
He looks angry. His dark eyes are dangerous.
This is too much right now. I move to take a step back. He doesn’t let me, pulling me into him. He leans down until I can feel his breath on my lips.
“Let’s get one thing clear here, Elliot.
Casual or not, I don’t share. And I’m not seeing anyone else either.
Tell me you understand.” His voice makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
My traitorous heart answers his threat exactly the way he wants.
I’m sure he can hear my heartbeat picking up, the bastard.
I swallow and nod.
“Good,” he says against my lips before closing the gap for a bruising kiss. It almost feels like a punishment, all teeth and bites, teetering on the edge of pain. He pulls back before I can taste him properly.
Then the heat is gone, and my body feels cold. Nicholas stands a few feet away, smiling wide like he didn’t just turn me into mush.
“Besides, I like your freaky muscles just fine,” he shrugs, then walks out, slamming the door behind me.
Fuck, he’s totally fooling the world with the whole nice boy routine, isn’t he?
***
My phone buzzes on the way back from the clinic. I quickly pick up after I see who it is. I don’t want my car speakers or engines hacked, or whatever this man will do if he thinks I’m ignoring him. I’ve been making a habit of picking up his every call over the last two weeks.
“I’ve trained you well,” Sam says.
I roll my eyes, something Sam has a special talent for making me do a lot. Maybe he trained me to do that, too. “Yup, fear of hacked electronic appliances is a great motivator to follow instructions,” I admit.
“Good to know you’ve learned that you can’t escape me, Rhodes,” he says. “You driving back early today? Are we making progress? Oh my god, did I help you get your sleep back?”
He sounds so excited, so I take all the pleasure in breaking his heart. “No, you didn’t. Nicholas wants to come over, so I thought I’d properly clean the place to make the house detective-proof.”
“Your house is always clean of evidence. So, the cleaning has other purposes. What could it possibly be?” he says exaggeratedly.
“It’s not surprising you’d think cleaning your home for a guest is unusual,” I comment.
“Hey. But fair. I can’t believe you agreed to this. Didn’t you have lunch together just yesterday? That has to be a record for you.”
He’s exaggerating. “You’re exaggerating. I met Andy so much more often,” I say confidently.
“You’re so delusional right now, I’m glad we stopped our tasks, or you’d have been the werewolf serial killer’s next victim. You literally had a ‘no more than once a week’ rule for Andy. Didn’t he say that was the reason he cheated on you?”
“He thought he cheated on me because he thought we were in a relationship, even though I repeatedly told him we weren’t. But back up there a second. What do you mean, I’ll be the werewolf serial killer’s next victim?” I ask, my alarm bells ringing.
“Nothing,” he says quickly and suspiciously.
“You found him, didn’t you?” I ask, stunned. Of course, he did. The guy is a literal genius. And he’s been looking for this particular serial killer for years. I knew it the day Sam announced this killer was his mortal enemy, his days were numbered. And now, I get to make it true.
Sam doesn’t say anything back.
No. No. “Don’t be stupid, Sam. I’ll be fine. I am fine. We need to get him. He can’t kill any more women. Any other person he kills will be on us. Do you really want that on your head?” I pile on.
“You’re not fine,” he insists. “How much sleep did you get last night?” he challenges.
“Enough to do a successful surgery today and not snap at a single person. I promise I’ll not lay one foot out of line.”
“Ugh, please don’t make me regret this.”
Some of the tension leaves my body, and I breathe out. “I promise.”
“He’s in Arizona. You’ll have to leave soon. Before he moves on and we lose his track again, if you really want to do this,” he says, some excitement coming back into his voice.
I nod, then realize we’re on a call. “Yes, I can clear my schedule for a few days.”
“Okay, I’ll send you all the details by tomorrow,” he says. “But remember your promise.”
“I will,” I say before disconnecting the call.
I do clean when I get back, it’s the polite thing to do. Then take a quick shower to do some more personal cleaning.
By the time I hear the doorbell, I’ve triple-checked that my house is free of any incriminating items, and my ‘serious shit’ phone is switched off and hidden under a floorboard in my office.
But Sam was right, I never left anything lying around, disposing of every evidence as soon as I possibly could. It’s a pain in the ass to prepare for every new mission, but that’s a fair price for avoiding prison.