Atonement (The Atonement Series) (11 page)

“Mmm hmm,” Caitlyn replied cryptically.

Everyone knew the story of someone who had known someone who had tried Bath Salts and it didn’t end too well for them. It had officially become an urban legend. The brand new designer drug that had been introduced to the American market less than two years’ previously had originated in Europe sometime around 2009. It was odorless and tasteless, could be ingested, snorted, smoked or taken intravenously and was dangerous as hell.

The problem was no one knew what was a safe limit but the people who had tried it often did too much and it caused a reaction very similar to that of a zombie or a vampire. However, although these were fictional characters, a person who was under the influence of Bath Salts had super human strength—similar to PCP users—could be incredibly dangerous, and usually suffered from severe hallucinations.

There was a story in the paper a few months previously about a man who had beaten a homeless man to death with his bare hands before he took on three patrol officers, two who were so severely injured, they had to be treated at the local hospital.

For some reason, even “intelligent” and affluent people had used the drug as well. Though they never had attacked a homeless person, Stephanie’s story was the most famous of them all. She’d been with her boyfriend, Clark Jameson, who had put the Bath Salts in her drink. They’d had sex, he left and the drug had just began to take its effect in her system. She’d walked out onto the balcony of her thirtieth floor condo, climbed the railing and jumped,
Lethal Weapon
-style. She never screamed or made a sound and her body merely ended up broken and battered on the sidewalk where shocked pedestrians witnessed her emotionless actions.

There was a lot of talk and the story made the news. Clark, her boyfriend, came from a well-to-do family and although it was his actions which caused her death, he’d gotten off with two years’ probation. This did not please the McLaughlin family who were angry and indignant there seemed to be no justice for their daughter but that was the way of the world.

It wouldn’t have had the press coverage it received if she hadn’t been an employee at uConnect.

“Okay, so the HR Manager—”

“Her name is Rebecca Desouza. Apparently she is married to Dennis’ cousin,” I interrupted.

“And I thought Amazon was incestuous!”

“Well, Liam kind of gave me a head’s up about that. They don’t like hiring outside people so pretty much everyone knows everyone. They also use an internship program with the University of Washington and the candidates that fit in are offered a position at the end of their internship. It is a very…closed company. I don’t mean it the way it sounds. I merely mean it just seems like they have a lot of issues with being too exposed. I suppose they never want a movie like
The Social Network
to come out about them.”

Caitlyn shook her head with a wry smile on her face. “Look at you, it’s beginning already. No wonder Liam wanted you so badly. You’re already a freakin’ Pitbull. I don’t see you staying in HR for very long. Before you know it, you will be in PR.”

“I hope not,” I said as I scrunched up my face. “I don’t wanna do PR. Surely that would require a degree in Advertisement and to be honest, I am through with school. I am not even finishing my PhD and I am only a semester away from finishing my degree but at this point in my life…it just carries too many bad memories. Even if I were to complete it, I would always remember why I stopped the classes in the first place and…I’m not ready for all of that yet.”

“It’s up to you. You know I support anything you decide to do. This is your life and I am just so happy you have decided to get a proper job, I couldn’t give a shit if you didn’t want to enter another university classroom. You’re too educated for the position you are taking but everyone has to start somewhere.”

I finished my wine and set the glass down. “Okay, babe. I better go before Colin starts blowing up my phone with texts. He gets worried when I’m not home after he gets off work.”

“I thought he worked late?”

“Thursday nights he gets off at eight. I promised I would be home on time because it’s his turn to cook and he’s making beer-battered fish and chips. He’s not too bad in the kitchen so I don’t wanna miss dinner.”

We embraced quickly before I high-tailed it out of there. I loved my sister to death but like most sibling relationships, there was only so much I could take. And I hadn’t been lying. I loved Colin’s cooking and looked forward to his beer battered fish and chips.

“
SO, WHAT DID
you think?” Colin inquired after dinner.

We sat on the patio. A small fire had been built to chase away the slight late May chill in the air. It would be nice to be away from Seattle for a while but we knew the weather we were bound to face in Europe might not be too different to what we were dealing with now. The only exception would probably be the south of France which we were both looking forward to more than we were letting on.

I leaned back on the comfortable furniture and swigged from my Newcastle. Within the week I had stayed with him, he was determined to turn me into a beer connoisseur. I’d tried ales, lagers and everything in between. Newcastle wasn’t too bad but it certainly was an acquired taste.

However he wasn’t asking about the ale, he spoke specifically of the delicious dinner we’d shared together.

I pretended to contemplate because the last thing this man needed was a huge ego to match his great looks and disarming personality. He not only could make a killer dirty martini but he could cook as well. If he was so against getting a proper job, I wondered why he didn’t open up his own hole in the wall? A place with great alcohol and bar food where people could relax and enjoy themselves in a friendly atmosphere. He would kick ass especially with all the juicy entrepreneurial business he would acquire from Liam.

“It was delicious. As a matter of fact, it was such a great meal, I think you need to open up your own bar-restaurant,” I responded as my eyes never left his gorgeous crystal blue eyes.

Colin swigged from his ale. “Oh no, not you too. You’re the second person to suggest a venture like that. The first was Liam and I am going to tell you the same thing I told him—it isn’t gonna happen.”

“Why not? You work for other people when you don’t have to. Your brother told me about you co-founding uConnect and how you sold off your shares to the other partners’ when you and Serena broke up. I really think it is something you should seriously consider. Just think about it, you could do what you enjoy
and
be your own boss. What could be better than that?”

“You don’t give up, do you?” He set his bottle down on the table and took a defensive position with his arms across his chest. “Everyone thinks it’s so easy to run an eatery and it isn’t. The success rate is ridiculously low and even though the economy here is strong, there are more than enough places to enjoy alcohol and food. I don’t need that kind of aggravation.”

I studied him and titled my head slightly to the right. “All that is just bullshit you’ve been feeding yourself for so long, you actually believe it. For some reason, you’ve decided to take on this role where Liam is the good guy of the family, the successful and enterprising brother while you’re the classic fuck-up and you are doing yourself no favors with that kind of attitude.

“I think you’re afraid of failure and the fear is so palpable, you’d rather not try at all to try and perhaps fail. There is
nothing
written in the cards to say you wouldn’t be a success and why you feel this need to make yourself the martyr of the family is beyond me. You are so intelligent and you have so much going for you. I’m going to quote my sister though I don’t do it often: ‘don’t you think it’s time you put that Harvard education to work’? Why go to such a successful and prestigious learning institution to be a barista at a coffee shop and a bartender at some place here in town? Those are usually jobs for college students and those who have decided not to go to college, not people like you,” I explained in a sympathetic voice.

“See, that’s the problem though. I have everything I want and I have never been that difficult to please. I just wanna live life, have fun and basically look out for myself. I don’t want to have to deal with invoices and employees and all that shit.”

“So are you telling me your only wish is to live for yourself? You don’t ever want to have to be responsible for anyone else and this way, you won’t have to be? Don’t you want a spouse? Children? It’s kind of hard living in a place like Seattle on a coffee boy and bartender salary.”

“Yeah but that isn’t something I have to worry about, now is it? It’s not like we’re ever gonna be a couple and even if I did get all that shit, I have enough money to support my family so we wouldn’t have to live on the money I make from my two jobs.”

I sighed with exasperation. “You are one of the most infuriating people in the world sometimes.”

“Why? Because I don’t want to be like you?”

My expression changed and my eyes immediately went cold. “I’m not asking you to be like me because you could
never
be like me. Yes, you’ve lost a parent but your mother died of cancer. She wasn’t run over by some crazed drunk driver who left her broken body on the asphalt to be found by the police and paramedics. You will never know what it’s like to be me and don’t ever think you have a clue what I am going through because you don’t and you never will.”

“Listen, I didn’t mean it like that…” he trailed off.

I finished the rest of my ale and set the bottle on the table. “Don’t worry about it—I’m off to bed. Talk to you in the morning.” I stood and walked to my guest bedroom.

One I was there, I slipped on a cute flannel sleep shirt and crawled into bed. I knew my behavior was a bit over the top but there was always tomorrow and I could apologize then.

Chapter Eight

I AWOKE WITH
a start and for a moment, I thought it was morning already. It wasn’t; I grabbed my Android and realized it was only shortly after one in the morning and next to me in a pair of black boxer shorts and matching wife-beater, was Colin. This made me sit up with a start before I shook him rougher than I intended to and he stirred slowly before he opened his eyes.

Regardless of the fact he was half asleep, a thin line of drool marked his cheek and his hair was completely mussed, he still looked sexy as hell and I cursed my stupid female hormones.

“What are you doing in here?” I inquired, burying my own shame with a cool tone that didn’t completely eradicate my own lust.