Chapter 20
Toxic
It’d been five days since I’d brought Billie to my clubhouse.
Five days since I’d been sitting on information about Fission Solutions.
Though I’d told her about finding the men inside the barn, and insinuated that I’d taken care of them, I knew she was going to be pissed that I hadn’t told her everything right away.
But if I had, her grandfather would have insisted on staying put.
And frankly, I needed him gone. For a couple different reasons.
This wasn't a time for feelings, I had to think tactically.
The first, and most important, was so that he was out of the line of fire.
As soon as this company got wind of us looking into them, shit was going to hit the fan.
Fuck. If I could send Billie away with Robert, I would.
But I knew she’d fight me on that and I hadn’t felt like banging my head against the immovable wall of her stubbornness.
So I hadn’t bothered. Besides, I kind of needed her around for the other reason I wanted Robert out of the way.
Couldn’t make my move on her if she was gone. And I couldn’t fuck her with her grandfather sleeping in the room next door. Not even I was that disrespectful. So, everyone got what they wanted out of this arrangement, but it meant I’d had to withhold the information I was about to tell her.
“Rip found out why Fission Solutions is targeting you.” There was no reason to not just throw it out there.
Her jaw dropped open and she sat forward. “What? Really? Why?”
My lips twitched as she opened her mouth to ask more questions before I’d even answered any of her first. “You’ve got Uranium deposits all over this ranch. Under it, to be specific.” That shut her up.
Her eyes widened and those kissable lips parted in shock.
Jesus, I wanted to kiss her again. I hadn’t touched, teased, or flirted with her in the last five days.
Mostly because she’d been giving me a wide berth after I’d kissed her against my bike.
It worked for me because it eased the guilt of not telling her about this right away.
Plus, once her grandpa was gone, I was planning a full on assault on the walls she was trying to build against me.
“Uranium?”
“Yeah. He found maps that showed it. Said something about new technology making it worth digging it all up. If you have more questions about that, I’ll get Rip on the phone for you. That’s pretty much all I know about the deposits themselves.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Implying you know more about other things?”
Not much got past her. “Rip found a connection between the founder and CEO of Fission Solutions and an old enemy of ours. So we’ve been digging to see if it’s a coincidence, or if it has anything to do with us.”
“Why would it have anything to do with you?” she asked. “I didn’t even know you before now.”
“True, but we made things…difficult…for this company not too long ago. For all we know they could be buying up land around our clubhouse and in our city to retaliate in the future.”
“Do you think that’s part of what’s happening?” she asked.
“Not likely,” I admitted. “But we’re not ruling anything out just yet.”
She studied my face. “You seem to have learned a lot.”
“Yeah.”
Here we go.
“Did he call you this morning?”
“Who?” I asked, stalling.
“Riptide,” she said, suspicion entering her eyes.
“No. He told me the other night at the clubhouse. Told us all during church.”
She gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me then? I deserve to know what’s going on, Toxic. It’s my ranch.”
“You do,” I said in an agreeable tone, “which is why I’m telling you now. I didn’t want anything to convince your grandfather he should stay, because it’s not safe for him here.”
“Oh,” she said, calming down immediately. “I guess that makes sense.” She pointed at me. “But don’t think for a second that you’re going to go sneaking off and saving the day while you keep me in the dark. This is my ranch that they’re trying to steal and I want to help.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I told her. Her scowl just made my grin grow. “In fact, I wanted to see if you wanted to give me a hand with something before the guys come out this afternoon.”
“Sure,” she answered immediately. “Help with what?” she added.
She didn’t realize that I already knew her like the back of my hand. If she thought she was going to go back to the way things were before she came into my life, waving shotguns and threats, then she had another thing coming. She didn’t stand a chance of holding out against me.
“I’ll explain on the way.” Standing, I went and opened the door, waiting for her to walk through before following her.
* * *
“I don’t understand how this is going to help?” Billie muttered to me under her breath as we walked through the lobby of a building downtown.
“Just gathering a little intel,” I told her, smiling at the people passing us by. “Quit looking so nervous.”
“You should have told me to change,” she hissed. “I don’t look like I belong here. Neither do you for that matter.”
Everyone was in suits and skirts, the kind that were starched and pressed and went down past the knee. The people in this building could be described as ‘young professionals’. Billie was right, we stood out like sore thumbs. Not that it mattered.
“Just follow my lead,” I told her, as we approached the front desk area.
“Good morning,” the blonde sitting there said with a smile. Her eyes locked onto me and she batted thick black lashes.
They were so thick, and obviously fake, that I worried she’d tip forward due to the weight. Her nails were long and as sharply pointed as a cat’s claws. She pointed at the clipboard. “Sign in please.”
I scrawled a fake ass name across the sheet. “Good morning.” I hit her with a charming smile, not at all missing the fact that Billie rolled her eyes. “We’re here to meet with Declan Finch.”
The woman’s eyes had been roaming down my body, but now they snapped up and met mine. “Do you have an appointment?” She said it as though she highly suspected we didn’t.
“We don’t. My name is Bob Johnson and I’m with the EPA.”
She’d been opening her mouth to send me away, but as soon as she heard EPA, she froze.
“Oh. Um. Mr. Johnson, of course,” she stammered, sifting through papers on her desk.
She was trying to find the name of the last Environmental Protection Agency douche that had shown up.
This company dealt with nuclear. No way the EPA wasn’t up their asses constantly with reporting requirements and studies and all the rest of the bullshit the government loved to bog people down with.
I looked at my watch as she continued to shuffle papers. “I don’t have a lot of time, Miss…”
She looked up and I smiled at her. Her eyes softened a little, and a tiny moan escaped her lips, then shifted toward the back where the doors allowed access to the rest of the building.
“Stacy,” she said, fluttering her lashes again.
“I’m not really supposed to let anyone back without an appointment… ”
“I understand, Stacy,” I said, leaning my elbow against her counter. I might have flexed, just a little. “My secretary was supposed to take care of that for me, but she doesn’t seem to be nearly as efficient as you are.”
There was a low grumble from beside me, but neither me nor Stacy commented on whatever Billie had just muttered. I didn’t want to be flirting with this woman, but I needed access to this building.
“You should find better help,” she teased.
“If I had an opening, maybe you’d be interested?” I asked.
Her eyes widened and her breath caught. “Is that possible?”
I shrugged. “My bosses give me free rein to hire my own staff into the civilian positions. The EPA may be a federal agency, but running my front desk isn’t federal.”
She was already furiously scribbling down her contact information and handing it over. I wasn’t sure how she could write with those wicked claws, but I took the card. “Thank you.”
“Go on back,” she told me. “Mr. Finch’s first appointment hasn’t shown up yet.”
“Thank you, Stacy,” I told her with a wide smile. “We’ll talk soon.”
“Shame on you,” Billie hissed as soon as the doors shut behind us. “She’s going to be so disappointed when ‘Bob Johnson’ has no idea who she is.”
“What makes you think there’s a Bob Johnson who works at the EPA?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Bob Johnson?” she said, rolling her eyes. “There will be one. Also, you almost blew our cover.” Her eyes raked over me as we walked. “You don’t look like a Bob.”
I gave her a sinful grin. “Oh yeah? What do I look like?” I teased. I liked the way her cheeks went a little pink as I flirted with her.
“You look like a fuck boy,” she said and walked off, leaving me gaping after her.
I picked up my pace and caught up with her. “I’m not a fuck boy. Not even a boy,” I growled at her.
A man walking by overheard and gave us a shocked look. My scowl sent him scurrying away before he could gather the courage to ask what we were doing back here.
“Any man who is that practiced with flirting is probably a fuck boy,” she informed me.
“Stop calling me that,” I told her under my breath. “Makes me sound like some useless frat kid.”
She shrugged her shoulders and then sighed. “Another desk.”
I tore my eyes off her face and strode up to the desk. “I have an appointment with Declan Finch,” I told the man sitting there.
“Oh, Mr… Tanaka…” He looked up at me and frowned. “I have a Mr. Tanaka for Mr. Finch’s first appointment of the day.”
“That’s me.”
Both he and Billie were staring at me. I didn’t dare look over at her and give her a signal to play it cool.
“Uh…” the kid sputtered out.
“Adopted,” I told him with a charming smile.
“Oh. Well, that’s cool,” he said, getting flustered. “Mr. Finch isn’t in just yet. So if you wanted to wait over there-”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
He blinked. “Mike.” He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. “Mike Kopp.”