Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Briar
“ A bsolutely not,” Easton says calmly. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve retained an assistant for more than two weeks? No. You will stay here. If the room Keir offered isn’t up to your standards?—”
“The room is fine. It’s not about that.” I exhale heavily, trying to breathe through the guilt. It’s time to be honest with them. I don’t deserve their kindness after my subterfuge. “I didn’t go into Shadow Security that day planning to be interviewed. I didn’t even know you were hiring.”
Calder twists in his seat until his knees bump mine. “Well, you’ve managed better than the last seven assistants East let go because they couldn’t stop crying every time he called their name. Two of those were alphas.”
“Yes, we all know Easton is impossible to work with,” Keir says as I frown.
“I’m awful.” Easton rolls his eyes. “Moving on. What brought you into the office, then?”
My heart thumps against my rib cage as I try to find the words to explain the situation.
Keir sets a full plate of food down in front of me, but no matter how good it looks or delicious it smells, my stomach still rolls.
“Do you want to maybe explain about Bianca Manzo?” Calder offers.
My jaw falls as I stare at Keir. “You told them?”
“I asked Calder to look into the name to see what we were up against.” Keir has the good sense to grimace, but I don’t know what I’m feeling.
No.
I do.
I feel betrayed.
He couldn’t even keep my secret for a full day. Hell, he probably ran to Calder the minute he saw that I left the building.
The embarrassment comes next.
It washes over me in a wave.
If they know who I am, that means they know what happened in New York.
I’m sure they’ve learned all about the massacre. And more than that, they know I’m the pathetic woman who was promised to a monster to secure a deal for her family.
My head shakes.
There’s no reason I shouldn’t just lay it all on the line. If they already know the basics, it won’t take much for them to get to the bottom line.
“How much do you know about me?” I ask, looking at Easton. He’s the most likely to give me a straight answer.
“Your family is dead, except for your brother Titus,” Easton says in the matter-of-fact tone he always uses when discussing a case. “I’m sure there are a few extended family members out there somewhere too. The government fucked you over by not honoring the agreement they tried to force you into.” He shrugs. “How am I doing so far?”
I cross my arms over my chest, leaning back in my chair. “You got most of it.”
“If you didn’t come in for a job interview, does that mean you came in seeking our services?” Easton asks, shoving his plate back.
I nod.
“You could save every dime of your paycheck for the next three years and still not be able to afford us.” A dangerous smile crosses his face, making a shiver run down my spine. “However, I’m willing to make a deal.”
“Christ,” Keir mutters.
“What kind of deal?” My chest rises and falls in rapid pants.
Is he going to offer to let me keep my job to pay for them handling my brother? If so, I can deal with his shitty attitude during work hours.
“You continue to be my assistant. You will reside here with me. That way, when I need you, you’ll be available. In exchange, I will keep you safe.”
I almost snort. “I don’t need to live here to be your assistant.”
“If I just wanted an assistant, I wouldn’t have hired Steffanie, now, would I?” Easton counters.
Calder drops his fork as Keir lets out some weird whooshing sound.
I hear the words, but it takes several replays of them in my mind for me to finally understand their meaning.
“What the fuck does that mean?” I hiss, leaning forward so far, my hair almost falls onto the plate Keir prepared for me.
“You weren’t seeing what the rest of us did, so I hired someone to expedite the process.” Easton’s forehead wrinkles. “Would you have preferred I do nothing and allow you to end up bonded to an alpha who doesn’t understand how to keep his dick in his pants?”
“Just for the record, I didn’t know about that, and I’m going to see myself out of this conversation.” Calder swipes his plate from the table, pushes back his chair, and exits the room while I’m still contemplating if it’s possible for the top of my head to physically pop off.
My line of sight moves to Keir. “Did you know about this?” The look he shoots my way tells me all I need to know. “And no one thought to…I don’t know, warn me before I moved in with him ?”
Oh, shit. I’m starting to sound hysterical.
“I told you this earlier, but I thought he was different with you. It seemed like he was genuinely growing up.” Keir’s head shakes. His face betrays his remorse, but I don’t know what to think. “By the time I realized he’s just a good actor, you were already living together.”
“And you couldn’t have pulled me aside and said that?” I ask, sounding defeated.
How did I miss what they so easily saw?
Probably because you latched on to the first opportunity that popped up, so you didn’t have to be alone anymore .
God.
That’s a bad look for me.
My face heats as I remember that small piece of myself that told me not to dive into the deep end with no safety vest. I gave in, anyway, because I really wanted to make Jameson happy.
“I had no intention of keeping quiet for long, but that ludicrous plan was all Easton.” Keir stares at me, and it feels like he’s begging me to believe him.
“That will be all, Keir,” Easton grinds out. “Briar and I need a minute to speak privately.”
“Easton,” Keir growls, turning toward his boss.
“Now!”
It takes everything in me not to scramble out of my chair at the sound of Easton’s bark echoing around the room, and his command wasn’t even directed at me.
“Some fucking dinner…” Keir sighs, shoving his chair back and slowly exiting the room. “This is why we can’t have nice things.”
I’m shocked to see him walk away, but I’ve heard the chatter around the office. Easton has some airtight contract that Keir can’t get out of, and East uses it to force Keir to do his bidding.
“You’re an asshole,” I say, jabbing a finger at Easton’s chest. “If that’s how you treat someone you supposedly like, I’m not sure I want to see how you treat your enemies.”
“Truthfully?” He quirks his eyebrow. “I have very few living enemies, but if you’d like examples, simply reference my interaction with Jameson earlier today.”
“You are a crazy person,” I whisper, falling back against my chair.
God.
He reminds me a little too much of my father.
All powerful men think they’re infallible. They don’t give a fuck who they hurt as long as they get their way.
Easton growls. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not a threat to you.”
I blink repeatedly.
My mouth opens and closes, but no words come out.
Easton stares back, studying my face.
The silence is too much.
“You hired someone to seduce my boyfriend. I’ll look at you however I damn well please,” I snap, tilting my chin into the air.
And this is why I had to get good at covering bruises when I was younger. I never know when to keep my mouth shut.
“Steffanie was hired to be available and friendly. There were rules in place, and she didn’t break even one of them. Try directing your anger where it belongs?—”
“At you?” I snort. “That’s not a problem.”
“At your shitty ex-boyfriend,” he growls.
“Explain these rules to me,” I say, trying to de-escalate the anger that radiates off him in waves.
“Jameson had to make the choice of his own free will. No coercion. No drugging. I’m not a monster.”
That’s up for debate. I hold back the snort that wants to escape but just barely.
I plant my elbows on the table and bury my face in my hands. I have no idea how long something has been going on between Jameson and that woman. “Great. Now I need to be tested.”
The last thing I need is some untreated STI.
“Today was the first time they were together,” Easton says. “And trust me, I’ve had someone following him around the clock since you moved in.”
That means he knew exactly where Jameson was today, and he played dumb. At the very least, he knew Jameson never left the building this morning.
“If he cheated on you before Steffanie, I would have informed you,” Easton says. “Don’t worry about that, but you’ve been employed for ninety days. You should have access to the same health insurance the rest of us have.”
“There’s no telling how solid my new identity is,” I admit. “I never even filled out the forms Calder gave me.”
“I’ll have him dig into that,” Easton says calmly, like this entire conversation isn’t a shit show. “If we need to procure you a new identity, he will handle it.”
“Why do you care?” I ask. “Why take things to such an extreme level just to prove Jameson is an asshole?”
I guess a good assistant is worth more to him than I originally thought. Or it could be the weird rivalry between them that I only recently noticed.
“You were supposed to be mine.” His dark eyes sparkle as he speaks. “I warned Jameson to stay away. A warning that he did not heed. I’d say he learned an important lesson.”
My eyes narrow.
I don’t know what that means, but I have no interest in being a prize for them to fight over. It feels like Easton only cares because he won.
“I’ll give you some time to come to terms with your breakup, but let me make myself very clear—I intend to court you properly as soon as you’re ready.”
My mouth falls open as my heart thunders. “What?”
“You know we’re a scent match. More than that, really. Something draws me to you unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. You will be mine.” A lazy smile crosses his face, making the indents of his dimples show. He smiles so infrequently that I always manage to forget they exist. “Spend some time brainstorming acceptable courting gifts. I’m partial to your brother’s head. Would that work for you?”
Holy shit.
No one should look that amused when discussing decapitated heads.
I’m not sure what to think or feel.
Fuck yes, I would love to see my brother wiped off the face of the planet, but men like Easton are always on their best behavior at first. It’s the second you piss them off that the monster comes out to play.
He may have convinced himself he’s interested in me, but I’m not sure it doesn’t all boil down to that ridiculous rivalry he has with Jameson.
I got lucky escaping a life tied to Avan Barrett, but I’m beginning to think Easton might be more dangerous than Avan ever dreamed of being.
After all, I knew what I was getting with Avan from day one.
Easton mostly manages to pretend to be an upstanding citizen—an asshole definitely, but I never thought he was the type to be a cold-blooded murderer.