Conviction: Devine (2 page)

Jake huffed when I refused to get in his car.

“I’ll get a cab.”

“Stop being stubborn!”

“Stubborn? Stubborn?” I glared at him, crossing my arms across my chest defiantly. “How the fuck dare you!” If we weren’t outside the police station with four coppers stood smoking and watching us, I’d have kneed the bastard in the nuts. I sighed in relief when Leah screeched up beside us in her little yellow Mini.

“Get in,” she shouted as she wound the window down, her eyes narrowing on Jake before flitting back to me. “Hurry, I have a curry in the oven and a bottle of vodka chilling.”

“Good girl!” I grinned as I pushed passed Jake. Opening Leah’s door I paused and turned, remembering my manners. “By the way,” I snapped, hating that I had to thank a man I despised. “Thank you for the bail. I’ll find it from somewhere and repay you.”

“Isla . . .” he growled as he grabbed my wrist.

Snatching out of his hold, I quickly climbed in the car. “Go back to Genesis, Jake. I’m sure her legs are already open and ready. I’m also certain she’s more appreciative of being choked by you than I am.”

Without waiting for his reply, I slammed the door shut and Leah tore off, her silence giving away her worry.

“It’ll be fine,” I told her, not believing it but trying to appease her anguish.

“I’ve managed to find us a small flat but it’s in Whitechapel.”

I nodded. “Thank you. I’ll find a job soon, I promise. We’ll be okay.”

“Sure we will.” She gave me a smile, a genuine one. “We’ve always been okay. Even when we weren’t we got through it. I’m positive the cops have nothing on you; it’s just Ted trying to rattle you.”

I nodded again then turned my face to the window, hiding my fear from her. I knew it wouldn’t be okay, it couldn’t be. It was all going wrong and I couldn’t help but relate the downward slide to the day I met Jake Devine. Not only was my freedom hanging in the balance, but my heart was too. The shreds it had been torn into were slowly disintegrating inside me, the image of him kissing Genesis replaying over and over in my head, carving my soul into more pieces than my bloodstream could filter out.

I swiped at the tear when it broke free and ran down my face. Leah settled her hand on my knee and gave it a squeeze. “We’ll sort it, Isla. I promise.”

“And my heart?” I whispered when I finally turned to my best friend, needing the love she always displayed for me in her pretty face.

She snorted and shook her head, glancing back to the road. “You don’t need a heart. You need to harden up, babe. Men are over-rated. They sell dildos the size of America in Ann Summers; you’d be better off with one of those.”

I stared at her. Leah was one of those who refused to accept that love was real. Sex was all you needed, she always said. Eventually, my lips twitched and I started to laugh. “Put your foot down. I need that bottle of vodka.”

She nodded. “We’ll shop tomorrow. I have a spare vibe you can have for tonight.”

I screwed up my face and reared back a little. “Why the hell would I want to use your second-hand toys?”

She gawped at me like I’d offended her. “I’ll have you know some would pay thousands on eBay for my second-hand sex toys.”

“And I would pay millions to end this creepy conversation.”

Leah shrugged, waving her hand to Terry the Deviant gate guard as he lifted the barrier for us to enter the property. “You’re too straight. I’ve told you. Let me show you what having another woman in your bed can do for your level of ‘O’.”

“Will you quit?” I grumbled when a picture of Leah and me having sex refused to leave my head. I shivered when I felt slightly aroused, my nose scrunching at the realisation. Laughing, Leah nudged me as she pulled up outside the cottage.

“Ha! I can smell you from here.”

I slapped her playfully. However, I couldn’t help but laugh as I climbed out of the car and sighed at the sight of my home. Although I’d only lived in the cottage for a short while, it already felt comforting and inviting and I knew I’d miss it when we moved out.

“Come on.” Leah smiled encouragingly as she hooked her arm through mine. “Let’s get pissed and eat ice-cream until your brain freezes and you can’t think anymore.”

“Sounds perfect!” I smiled, loving my best friend for knowing me so well.

I needed the numbness of alcohol. The ice-cream I could have done without, although, when the vision of Jake and Genesis refused to fade, I gave in and took the tub and spoon from Leah when she passed it me then poured me a huge glass of vodka, no ice.

“To friends who only need each other!” She tapped her glass against mine.

“To no more heartache,” I replied with a painful false smile before downing the vodka. One of many that night that would lead me to sleeping so heavily I wasn’t even aware of someone watching me all night with a heart as broken as mine.

A
DAM RAISED BOTH EYEBROWS
as he read through my resignation then slowly lifted his gaze to mine. “Sorry, sweet thing, but I’m not accepting this.”

“I don’t see you have any choice, Adam. I’m sorry to leave you in the lurch; I know none of this is your fault.”

“Damn right it’s not.” He pushed his chair out and opened a drawer in his desk, flicking through some files before he pulled one out then slid out my contract. Snatching up a highlighter from his desk, he marked a few lines then smiled smugly when he gestured for me to read the highlighted part.

Frowning, I leaned across and scanned the marked words.

‘Deviant Inc. has the right to refuse the employee’s request to terminate employment due to delicate and specific knowledge held about Deviant Corporation. The management has the right to seek compensation and legal action should the employee appeal the negation of said contract.’

I glared at him with narrow eyes. “That’s bullshit. That was not there when I signed this contract.”

“Are you saying I tampered with a legal contract?”

“Yes!”

His mouth popped open as though he was shocked but another arrogant grin surfaced. “As if I’d do that! I’m afraid compensation is set at a million. I’m sure you can’t afford that.”

“You’re as arrogant as your fucking boss,” I raged, knowing I was defeated.

“Now, now,” he said with amusement. I wanted to wipe the damn conceited smile off his face but instead I swallowed and pulled my shoulders back as he slowly and deliberately tore up my resignation. “First things first.” He tipped the torn parts into the bin beside him, making a show of letting them slowly fall through his fingers. “Get the kettle on. No one makes me coffee like you do.”

I growled at him, curling my lip. He winked then blew me a kiss. “Oh, how I missed your happy self. Good to have you back.”

“I wish I could say the same.” I yanked open the door and snatched up the kettle, my temper making me turn the cold tap on too quickly and spraying myself with water when it bounced against the bottom of the basin.

“By the way,” Adam continued, making me jump. “You should listen to Jake. Let him explain.”

“Explain what?” I refused to look at him and spooned coffee granules into his cup before dropping a teabag into my own. “I think the photo in the paper explains exactly what he was doing.”

“No. It doesn’t.”

“What about his knowledge of my arrest?” He blinked and flinched. I shook my head sadly. “I thought so.”

Thrusting his mug at him, a piece of me satisfied with his hiss when the hot coffee spilt from the cup and scolded his hand slightly, I said, “I would have appreciated a heads up, Adam. It was Seb’s funeral, damn it. At the very least he could have prepared me.”

“Maybe it’s not that simple.”

I shrugged, reaching for Bernie’s ear and giving him a good hard scratch, his appreciative whine making me smile. “Well, whatever. What’s done is done. First job?” I asked, swiftly changing the subject.

“Keegan needs you first.”

I squinted at Adam, surprised by his first request. “Keegan?”

Keegan was one of Jake’s men, his job more to do with the criminal side of Jake’s business. Nothing in Deviant really connected to him.

Adam nodded. “I have some business to take care of. Keegan is running things on the Devine side for a while. I trust you, Isla.” My eyes widened. “Be a bit happier, sweet thing. There’s not many I trust with the Devine side of things.”

Sensing another motive, I narrowed my eyes. “Come on. Give me the truth.”

“Bloody hell. There is no ulterior motive. Kee needs help with some things. I thought you would be a good
assistant
for him. He’s doing some work for me, trying to find someone.”

“Trying to find someone?”

He sat on the sofa beside me. “You remember Carrie?”

“The girl who got you running faster than Bernie chasing a squirrel?”

He laughed but nodded. “I need some information on her brother. Kris is being an arse, as usual, so Keegan is trying to find him and running things for Jake whilst he tends to some other business. So that leaves you.”

“Well, what exactly do I need to do?”

He shrugged. “Whatever Keegan needs help with. Stop fretting. He’s not going to ask you to gut someone.”

I peered at him, knowing with this job I could be asked to do a number of sinister things. However I lifted my hands in defeat. “Okay, I suppose it’ll keep my mind busy.”

“Good girl.” He grinned as he got up and placed his mug in the sink then turned back to me. “He’s working in Jake’s office while Jake’s away.”

I nodded, rinsing my own cup before I did the same with Adam’s. “Okay, no problem.”

Adam clicked Bernie’s lead to his collar then walked towards the stairs. “I’ll be out for a few days but you have my number if you need me.”

“Go.” I shooed him off with a wave of my hand. “Might as well do some work since I’m
legally
contracted to do so.”

Adam winked and laughed before he bounced down the stairs and I followed him. He turned left at the bottom towards the exit as I turned right towards Jake’s private area.

Keegan waved happily to me when he saw me through the blinds. I smiled back. Keegan was the only man in the Devine business who wasn’t a miserable sod. He always had a smile and I’d also noticed he took the shit from everyone. I knew he had a story to tell, the sadness in his eyes was constant but the way he looked at Jake, with awe and gratitude, had me feeling sorry for him.

“Morning Isla,” he said with his usual enthusiasm.

“Hey.” I smiled, automatically walking over to Jake’s coffee machine and staring at the random buttons in an attempt to work the piece of technology no one had bothered to explain. Giving in after all it did was splutter at me, I grabbed bottles of water for us both from the small fridge, making a mental note to fetch Adam’s kettle later.

“What’s first, boss?” I couldn’t help but grin when he smiled widely at my term. He was clearly happy holding the fort whilst everyone else had things to do.

“Well, there are some documents that need sorting. I have to take them to Jake’s solicitor as quickly as possible. Could you do that?”

“Sure.” I nodded, taking the file from him when he handed it to me. Making myself comfy at the other side of the desk from Keegan who tapped away like a maniac on the computer, I opened the file. My eyes popped wide at the information held about a man, Harry Edmonds, who was apparently seeking legal action against Jake. His brother, allegedly, had been killed during one of Jake’s ‘illegally’ run cage fights. What the fuckety fuck? Cage fighting? What the hell else was Jake into?

I shook my head and sighed as I read through the rest of the court papers, but it wasn’t those that grabbed my attention, it was the information held about Harry Edmonds and his brother, Keith, which made me shiver. I knew instinctively that Harry was a dead man. The file contained everything from his daily schedule to known associates and even his blood type and allergies.

“You okay?” Keegan asked.

Looking up I saw him regarding me sceptically. I nodded but he noticed my apprehension and sighed. “You shouldn’t look for things that aren’t there, Isla. Jake won’t be prosecuted for this.”

I scoffed. He thought I was worried for Jake. “Why am I not surprised? I’m not concerned about Jake’s outcome in all this. I’m worried for Harry Edmonds.”

Keegan’s brow pinched. “Why?”

“Well,” I fumed, amazed by his confusion with my empathy. “He’s just defending his brother, who I might add was killed during an illegal sport Jake organised.”

Keegan shook his head. “I just told you, don’t look for things that aren’t there. All the men who compete in the fights know the risks. They also know that they get a hefty packet for competing, even if they lose. Cage fighting goes on everywhere but Jake is the only one who pays the losers a rate too.”

“And you think that makes it okay? A loser’s rate is no good to Keith Edmonds now, is it?”

“Isla, love.” Keegan spoke quietly but I saw the determination in him to stick up for Jake. Whatever I said or whichever opinion I voiced, I knew it would fall on deaf ears. “It’s in men’s natural makeup to fight. They’ll do it in the streets, at football matches, hell, even boxing. Jake just provides them with somewhere to release their pent up frustrations without them doing it on some poor innocent fuck who just wants to watch their local football team for the afternoon. Plus they get paid for it.”