Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Kate watched as her best friend, Prudence "Prue" Tanaka, stalked around the red felt pool table like a panther stalking prey.
She lined up a perfect shot, smiling with a mix of serenity and a touch of “beat that” smugness.
Not that Kate minded, since there was no malice in it—Prue was just that good.
Prue shot Kate a quick glance, her amber eyes a few shades lighter than her bronze skin, even if the shape of them was more Japanese than Creole.
Her dark brown ringlet curls were pulled up in a loose knot on her head.
More than a few of the bar’s patrons stared at her intently, but she ignored them all, focused on the game.
"So, tell me what's wrong, sweetie," Prue instructed, chalking her cue and going for her follow up shot.
Kate took a bitter draw on the Corona she'd been nursing for the better part of an hour, tasting the lime stuffed in the neck more than anything. It was warm, but she could only afford one, so she was trying to make it last.
"The usual," Kate said, watching as Prue worked on clearing the table with measured precision. "Stone broke. Hate my job."
"If you're down, why the hell did you answer Toad’s call?" Prue said, frowning.
"Actually, I contacted Tad," Kate said.
This surprised Prue enough to have her miscue. "What? Why?”
Kate sighed, finally picking up her stick. She didn't know why she bothered playing against Prue—she was a haphazard pool player at best—but she liked hanging out at the bar, Biome, with its bare brick walls and buzz of conversation.
"I needed a favor." She lined up the cue, biting her bottom lip in concentration.
"Something tech, I suppose," Prue noted quickly. "Although I have to wonder what he’s gonna want in return."
Kate groaned. "Don't remind me." She hit the ball as best she could. It wobbled, careening off two others before sinking one.
"Luck," Prue said, with a laugh. “Total slop.”
"I'll take what I can get."
"So will Tadpole," Prue said. "Again—what did you agree to?"
Kate frowned, biting her lip again.
"Your face is red. This is bad," Prue sounded alarmed. "You aren't going to sleep with him, are you?"
Kate jerked back, hitting the cue ball so it nudged forward two inches.
"We are talking now,” Prue said, standing in front of Kate and crossing her arms. "C'mon. Air break."
They relinquished the table to a pair of college students, then headed out to the cool and quiet of the sidewalk.
"Please, please tell me you're not sleeping with him," Prue said.
Kate tasted the sour bitterness of bile and beer. "I will throw up if you say that again. And no."
"Then what aren’t you telling me?"
"I agreed to a date," Kate said, rubbing her hand over her face. "And I do not want to think about it."
"A date?" Prue's brown eyes bugged out. "What, is he hacking into the Pentagon for you?"
"Nothing that desperate," Kate answered. "But he is going to come up with a scanning program for me in a rush. He basically said he'd drag his feet if I didn't agree to go to dinner with him."
“A scanning program?” Prue sounded stunned. “Couldn’t you hire somebody on Fiverr for that? Or find something for free online? There’s reverse image recognition all over the place…”
“Trust me, I thought about it,” she said. “But it’s work related, and if this gets loose online, I think I’d be in serious trouble. Like sue-you-so-hard-your-descendants-will-be-in-debt bad.”
They sat in silence for a second, before Prue sighed heavily. "Tad’s finally making his move," Prue said. "I'd feel sorry for him, if he weren't such an ass."
"He didn’t used to be this bad. And he's nice enough, when he’s not being hyper. Or horny," Kate added. "Just his own worst enemy, I guess."
"Uh-huh." Prue's gracefully curved eyebrow went up.
“Hey.” Kate crossed her arms defensively. "He's a nerd. He's one of my people."
"Very much one of yours." Prue agreed. "You said this was for work. Do you mean the job you don’t want? The job that sucks?"
“It’s complicated.” Kate rolled her neck a little. “Gotta pay rent now, for one thing."
"What, you're moving out already?"
"No. Still living with my parents." Kate winced, seeing Prue’s surprised expression. “I’m paying them rent. Which makes sense, right? I mean, I lost my apartment, but I’ve got to pull my weight. I’m twenty-nine, not twelve.”
Then Prue sighed, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You could live in my loft for free," she said quietly. “You basically lived on my floor all through college, anyway."
The instant, unconditional generosity cheered Kate more than the beer or anything else that had happened this week. It also came with a tiny helping of guilt. Her parents would hate it, she knew it.
Can’t you manage anything on your own?
"Thanks, Prue. You know I love you like a sister,” Kate said, swallowing hard against tears that were choking her.
There was no way she could accept Prue’s generosity, though.
In a weird way, that would probably make her feel like even more of a failure—the fact that Prue didn’t expect anything.
Besides, it was different when they were in college.
Now, Prue’s chic, open loft was like a Zen monastery.
Kate knew that, like sisters, the two of them would probably clash when it came to actually living together, Kate’s chaotic mess having no place in Prue’s order.
Kate chuckled weakly. “But I don't think I could live in a vegan house. I need meat."
"It still sucks," Prue said, seeing past Kate’s obvious excuse. "But at least Fiendish pays you well, right? The head guy, what’s his name… he owns the top selling video game company, and all those night clubs, and the clothing lines, and that crazy theme-park island for rich people. He’s got to be rolling in cash. "
"Yeah, he's rich.”
“I hear he’s pretty hot, too. Not just some gross old dude."
"Really hot," Kate said, without thinking. Her skin tingled a little.
"Oh?” Prue wiggled her eyebrows. “Do tell.”
“He’s got these great eyes. Blue eyes,” Kate said, picturing him easily.
“And dark brown hair with kind of a wave to it, like artistically mussed without being contrived about it, so he looks a little just-got-out-of-bed-but-I-still-look-sexy.” Then she remembered Ginny’s picture of him shirtless.
“And the guy’s yoked. Seriously. You wouldn’t think it with the suit, and trust me, he works the suit, but… ”
Kate trailed off at Prue’s expression.
“Somebody’s hot for bossman?” Prue asked, with a note of revulsion.
"He’s good looking, is all I’m saying,” Kate answered, feeling her cheeks burn as Prue laughed.
“Trust me, any woman with a pulse would fantasize about him. But he’s Mr. Corporate.
Super successful, super rich. Super everything.
” She thought about the Basement Boys. “And his company is basically super evil.”
"I agree with all of that,” Prue said. “So what’s going on?”
"There are these guys I'm working with…" Kate said, and slowly, the words tumbled out. Prue's eyes got rounded as she listened.
“No lunch? No breaks? I bet they don’t get paid overtime, either, if that’s the kind of treatment they’re getting. ‘Contract workers.’ What kind of bullshit is that?” Prue spat out. “Don’t they have a union rep or something? And your brother’s a cop! You’ve got to tell somebody!”
“Tell who what?” Kate countered, shaking her head. “We both know this sort of shit happens all the time, in warehouses all over. Besides, I’m just a damned temp. Who’s going to listen to me?”
Prue’s eyes blazed. “Still. You’ve got to do something.”
“I’m doing what I can,” Kate shot back. “Come on, Prue. You know me.”
It took Prue a second to calm down, but when she did, she nodded slowly. “You’re pulling a work-around.”
“Just like at Uncle Oscar’s. He always tried stupid stuff when it came to labor laws, and I made sure that it was fair, even if it wasn’t always legal.
I can fix this. Unfortunately, it means dealing with Tad.
” Kate sighed. “Which I wouldn’t if there were any other way, trust me.
But these guys really are in a bad situation.
If I can help them get the work done faster, more efficiently, hopefully this asshole boss of theirs will get off their backs. ”
“I love that you’re doing this.” Still, Prue’s expression was sad. "You can't save everyone, Kate."
“At this point, I’m not saving anybody,” Kate countered. “I’m just trying to help a little. A couple of Ho Hos and an image recognition program doesn’t make me Mother Teresa.”
“How exactly is the program supposed to help, anyway?”
"They're going through thousands of pages, looking for a symbol like this." Kate pulled the page she'd let Tad copy out of her bag. “This guy, the Overseer, is going to punish them if they don’t find a match in a week. The computer will make it so much easier. I’m actually surprised Thomas didn’t think of it himself. I mean, if he wrote a video game when he was a kid, and that’s how he made his first million or something. He was a computer geek, back in the day.”
Of course, no computer geek she’d ever met looked that smokin’ hot, so she figured she was probably wrong on that one.
Prue's eyes narrowed, and she held the paper, staring at it. "This looks familiar."
"Lot of that going around," Kate said dryly, thinking of Tad’s response.
"No, really. This looks like something... Shit. Can't remember." Prue tilted her head. "Can I take this?"
"Sure.”
"I'll show it to Nan Temper. I get the feeling it’s something up her street," Prue said.
Kate glanced at the clock on her phone, then winced. “As long as she doesn’t tell anybody. I’ve gotta go.” She gave Prue a quick hug. “Thanks. I needed a night out.”
“Love you, sweetie,” Prue said easily, but her dark eyes were worried. “Come by the shop this week, ’kay? I’ll give you a reading.”
“Sure.”
“Oh, and Kate?”
Kate turned. “Yeah?”
“What are you going to do if those guys still get punished?” Prue asked.
Kate’s stomach dropped, but she squared her shoulders.
“I’m going out with Tadpole, of all damned things,” she muttered. “I’m not going through all this bullshit just to fail.”