Bad Boy's Honor: An MMA Bad Boy Romance (63 page)

“You told me to have the car pick you up,” I said innocently, as if I didn’t know why he was angry.

“And I told you to stay at the office,” Denton replied.

“Technically, you just told me to go back to the office and call Alan. You never told me I couldn’t be in the car too.”

Alan ignored our arguing, and pulled the car away from the factory. Denton was in a rush to get away from there, and given the blood coating his hands I could see why. I’d wanted to go into the factory to find out what was going on, but Alan insisted I stay put and I didn’t want to arouse suspicion by being too eager.

“You could be assisting in a crime,” Denton replied. “Aiding and abetting, or whatever they call it.” 

I shrugged casually. “I was already doing that by making the call to Alan. Might as well double down on it.” 

Denton shook his head, but I saw his lips creep up into a quick smile. “You need to be more careful. I don’t want you mixed up in the parts of my affairs that are not one hundred percent legal.” 

“What percentage legal are they?” I asked cheekily. “Anyway, you’re the one who needs to be more careful. What happened to you?” I motioned to the blood coating his hands, with patches on his face as well. 

“Oh, that,” he replied, as if he’d only just noticed. “I broke some of my stitches. Nothing to worry about. Look, I need to get out of the country for a bit to clear my head. Where do you live? I’ll drop you off at your place first.”

I couldn’t let him go out of the country without me, but then I couldn’t go out of the country at all. To do that, you needed a passport, and the FBI hadn’t provided me with a fake one. 

“I want to stay with you,” I insisted. 

“No, you’re staying here.”

He found it worryingly easy to leave me behind, which wasn’t good for my job here, or my ego. I guess I hadn’t made as much of an impression as I’d hoped.

“What’s the point in having an assistant if she’s not around when you actually need her. Do you know how to get on the firm’s intranet system remotely?”

“No, but--”

“And do you know how to dial into conference calls and webinars?”

“You make me sound like an idiot,” Denton replied.

“No, I make you sound like someone who’s too important to deal with mundane things that can be handled by those on lower pay. Wanting to go to the airport when you’re covered in blood is what makes you sound like an idiot.”

“I should fire you for talking to me like that.” 

“Probably. Now, enough arguing, I’m going with you.”

“I guess I should get cleaned up first, huh? We’ll need to stop by your place to pick up your passport. Can I wash up there?”

“No,” I replied immediately. Denton frowned, and looked taken aback by my reaction. “I mean, you can wash up, but I don’t have a passport.”

“You don’t have a passport?” Denton asked, as if he thought everyone was born with them.

“Hey, we can’t all be international jet setters like you. How about, instead of going abroad, we just drive out of town and hang out there for a few days? Leaving the country seems like a really bad idea if you want to look innocent. Not that I’m saying you’re guilty of anything...”

I let the words hang in the air long enough for Denton to consider them and come to the same conclusion. 

“Fine. I suppose you could be right.” 

“It happens occasionally.”

Denton had Alan drive to his house where he washed up and got changed before coming back downstairs. While I was waiting, I hopped out to pick up some medical supplies to treat Denton’s wound as best I could, together with any additional ones he might have picked up. 

He refused to tell me what had happened in the factory, but the blood did appear to be from the old wound being reopened. Something bad must have gone down though, or he wouldn’t have wanted to get out of the country.

I considered putting in a call to Lois to let her know what I was doing, but I didn’t want her number on my call log if I could help it. Besides, there was a tracker on my phone so she’d soon figure out where I was.

We stopped by my place so I could pick up some clothes and then Alan drove us out-of-town to a large house that Denton owned. He mentioned it nonchalantly, as if he’d almost forgotten about it. The FBI’s file on Denton hadn’t contained any reference to this property so he had it well hidden. Until now, I suppose. 

It wasn’t until Alan left that I realized what a big risk I’d taken in coming here. Being with Denton at work or in a packed nightclub was one thing, but here I was in a large, but secluded, house with an alleged murderer. 

Lois would be going mental right now trying to work out what was going on. I just hoped she didn’t send agents up here to check it out. Perhaps I should have phoned her after all. 

How dangerous could Denton really be? Would a killer make me a cup of tea while I unpacked my clothes in the spare room? If Denton was as bad as everyone said, he was doing a damn good job of hiding it in front of me.

We sat next to each other on the sofa, but that was fine because there weren’t many other places to sit. Just the other sofa. And an armchair. Shit. Oh well, it was too late to move now.

“You want to watch a movie or something?” Denton asked. “We have cable here, believe it or not.” 

“You have a cable subscription for a house you never use?”

“We have poker nights here occasionally.”

“I feel like you’ve let me into an exclusive gentleman’s club or something. I’m honored.”

“Oh trust me, there have been plenty of women here as well.”

The smile disappeared from my face before I could remember to hide my emotions from him. What did I care if he’d had other women here? That was part of why I’d been sent undercover--he had a weakness for the ladies and it was my job to exploit that. 

“Sorry,” he added. “I guess that was a little inappropriate.” 

“That’s okay,” I replied, with what I hoped was a casual wave of my hand. “So, what movie do you want to watch. Scarface? Heat? The--”

“No,” Denton interrupted. “I do not want to watch The Godfather or any gangster movies thank you very much. Have I mentioned that you’re way too cheeky for your own good.”

“Not yet, but you wouldn’t be the first man to say it.” 

This time it was Denton’s turn to lose his smile. I might just be getting my hopes up, but he didn’t seem to like hearing me mention other men. That would be good--for the case, anyway... that’s all. I just needed him to be attracted to me to help with the case. Nothing else.

“There’s something not quite right about you,” Denton said, examining me quizzically. 

That was the absolute last thing a woman ever wanted to hear, especially when she was supposed to be working undercover.

“Uh, what do you mean?” 

“You’re funny, clever, and a little charming.”

“You can stop right there if you like,” I joked.

“But--”

“Yes, I have a great butt, now let’s watch a movie.” 

Denton smiled. “But you seem surprisingly blasé about blood and violence. I’ve never known someone so prepared to turn a blind eye to things.”

And that right there was the problem with this entire facade. I had to earn his trust and act like I was okay with things that disturbed me greatly. I hated violence, especially after what happened to Dad, but I just kept telling myself that this operation was for the greater good.

Yes, I’d see some people get beaten up, but in the end, Denton’s dad would end up in prison. And so would Denton. That bothered me more than any of the beatings. He didn’t deserve it. I was convinced of that.

“There’s something not quite right about you, too,” I said, desperate to change the subject. 

“I know, it shouldn’t be possible for one person to look this good, but God works in mysterious ways.” 

“That’s not what I meant.”

“But…”

“I’m not commenting on your butt. I just meant that you have all the money and power anyone could want and yet you insist on, how do I say it, taking care of business personally. I mean, why not just let others take care of it?”

“I do,” Denton said. “Sometimes.”

“Why not all the time?”

Denton looked away and I felt certain he was going to ignore the question, but then he answered. 

“There are some jobs I need to take care of personally.”

“You’re not really answering the question.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

“I’m clever, remember?” 

“How could I forget. Okay, I’ll tell you, but I’m keeping some details out of it. You can’t know everything.”

“You can trust me,” I insisted. They felt like hollow words. Anyone who said they could be trusted immediately sounded suspicious.

“I know. It’s not a trust thing. If I tell you then you could be considered part of a conspiracy. I’m not placing you in danger.”

I nodded and thanked him. I couldn’t be too eager. Besides, I didn’t have any bugs on me, so I wouldn’t have to testify about anything I heard today if I kept it to myself.

“I handle jobs personally where it concerns a certain family that I have an intense disliking for,” Denton continued. “They killed someone I cared very strongly about, and they are going to pay for that.”

“Holy shit. I’m so sorry. We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.”

I suddenly realized I didn’t want to talk about it much myself. The last thing I wanted right now was to hear Denton profess his love for his dead girlfriend.

“It’s fine. But now you know why I have to handle this myself?”

“Sure.” I bit my lip and considered whether to keep going down this line of thought. I knew what I should do. I knew what Lois would want me to do. Screw it. I had to hear this at some point. “The woman in question is Kara, I assume?” 

Denton frowned and stared at me with that quizzical look again, like I were a puzzle he could solve if he just focused long and hard on my face. 

“How do you know about Kara?” 

“Do you eat in the office cafeteria often?”

“God, no,” Denton replied. “The food in there is crap. Why?”

“Because the people in there talk. A lot.”

“You mean they gossip?”

“That’s not it,” I insisted. “They used to work with her and now she’s gone. That’s a big deal. People miss her. Maybe not as much as you do, but they miss her all the same.”

I’d not learned much at all about Kara in the few days I’d been working for Denton, but I hadn’t lied about people talking in the cafeteria. She was the subject of conversation, and it often brought out a few tears from her former colleagues. Kara had been popular, that much was clear. 

Denton stood up and I worried that he was ending the conversation before it had even begun. “If we’re going to talk about Kara, I’m going to need something stronger than a cup of tea.”

“Coffee?” I joked.

“Not what I had in mind. Would you prefer a glass of wine, or I shall I pour us a drop of whiskey?”

“That depends--is it good whiskey?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

“Good point. I’ll take the whiskey.”

“Ice?”

“No,” I replied, with a firm shake of the head. “If the whiskey’s that good then I don’t want it watered down.”

“Wow, sometimes I really wish you weren’t my assistant,” Denton said, as he handed me a large glass of liquid gold. 

I inhaled the aroma a few times, letting the harsh, but desirable smell of oak hit my nose and send my brain into overdrive. I loved a good whiskey, and this smelt like a great one.

“Why do you wish I weren’t your assistant?” I asked.

“Because… ah, never mind. Human Resources is on my case enough as it is.”

“You’re not scared of men attacking you with knives, but you’re frightened of the little old lady who runs HR?”

“Don’t laugh. Just wait till you get on the wrong side of Deadre, then we’ll see how funny you think it is. That woman terrifies me. Anyway, we were about to watch a movie.”

“Uh, no, nice try. You were about to tell me about Kara.”

“You know, most women just do as I want. I never get much hassle from them normally.”

“And don’t you find that boring?”

Denton smiled again. “I guess I do.”

God, that smile could melt away every single doubt I had about him. If only Lois could see him like this, she’d know he was innocent. I had to help him break free of his father, but first I needed to know about his plan for revenge. If he killed anyone to get back at Kara’s death, there would be no helping him. He’d end up in prison and there wouldn’t be anything I could do about it.

Denton took a long, slow sip of his whiskey, and relaxed back into the sofa. I did the same, hoping it would make this whole thing feel more like a casual conversation and less like an interview.

I wanted him to trust me. Because for some weird reason, I already trusted him.