Desire (2 page)

“You can’t be friends with girls.”

“I said I didn’t hurt her.”

“Not you specifically, dude. In general. It never works out, especially if you’re fucking ‘em. Chicks get attached. It’s their nature, they can’t help it.”

He laughs. I suppose it’s never worked out like that for him. “That would be very convenient if it were true this time, but I doubt it.”

“Because you’re in love with her? You’ve known her for like two weeks in possibly the most fucked up circumstances imaginable, Isaac. And you’ve never…” I
trail off, unwilling to make him feel like a freak by saying it out loud.

“What, had a girlfriend? Or fucked someone like a normal person?”

“Yeah, man. Something like that,” I reply. He looks down like he’s ashamed of himself, probably because he is. “Look, Isaac, you only have to do this for two more years then you’ll get all that cash from your mom’s estate and you can start over. With someone normal, not some girl who you met doing this. You’ll have a clean slate.”

“I will never have a clean slate, Jace. Ever. And
what the hell will I have to offer someone normal, aside from ‘all that cash’?” he says bitterly. “I’m damaged goods, so is she. We make sense. I don’t want someone that I have to lie to for the rest of my life and I don’t want to wait.”

“So you’re not lying to her?”

“She knows what I do,” he answers defensively. I find that hard to believe. “The cutting. The slapping, the choking, the name calling. I showed her the paperwork, what he wanted.”
And she’s still there?
“You know what she said to me? I’m sorry that they make you do this demented shit and I’m sorry that someone did it to you. That’s it. She is right in my crosshairs and she doesn’t even flinch. She even knows about the benzos. Where do you think I’m ever going to find someone like that again?”

What the hell do I say to that? He has women up
on a fucking pedestal. He doesn’t know how they really are, that they use us even more than we use them. This little bitch is playing him. All she sees is a broken head case with a bunch of cash and she knows exactly what to say to him. “I don’t know, Isaac, but you have a lot of time to look.”

“I know Madison fucked you over, but—”

“Did you seriously just say her fucking name to me?” I snap. That fucking slut that spread her legs all over town while I was digging sand out of my eyes in Afghanistan. That bitch that made me think I had something to come home to. Though sometimes I think I should thank her, because she taught me a lesson. One that Isaac’s about to learn the hard way.

“Look I know Voldemort stomped on your heart with six inch stilettos and pissed on your pride.” Voldemort. Classic Isaac. I do get weird about hearing her name and I can’t help but laugh
a bit. “But Maya isn’t like that.”

“They’re all like that.”

“Well, then, I need to find that out for myself sometime, don’t I? And she doesn’t deserve a brutal death because someone broke your heart.”

“She didn’t break my heart.”

“Yes, she did.”
Fuck you.
“But it has nothing to do with me or Maya. Be professional about it and take this job. Please.”

He’s right. And this sort of job doesn’t come along that often, especially for up and coming guys like me. I’ll be in control for a change
and I can quit these bullshit cheating spouse private investigations I’m doing now. “This is going to be extremely expensive, you know that right?”

I didn’t know Isaac could smile like that
anymore, he actually looks happy. And relieved. Dammit, I said I wasn’t going to get involved. He goes back over to that giant safe and pulls out a briefcase.

“Don’t worry, I have the money. Here.”

That is a lot of cash. “How much is this?”

“A hundred thousand. Plus ten more for you to motivate someone to mov
e out of her apartment building.”

“
Getting in her building is gonna be tricky and I don’t think it’s the best place. There’s only six units, it will be too obvious. An apartment across the street is a better choice.”

“I want it to be in her building. You
r guys need to be close.”

“Trust me, across the street is better. And it will be easy to sneak you in, there
are guys coming in and out of there all the time. It’s pretty much a frat house.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“So rent two. You live in their building, the surveillance guys across the street. You want to move anyway.”

“That might work. I’ll go nuts if I have to live with my team and I’ll probably be there all the time.”

“I need you to be. And it should go without saying, but I need your best guys on this. I don’t care how much it costs.”

“The money’s not the issue, it’s finding good people to do this extremely shady job. You might have to trust me and settle for a guy in skinny jeans with a stupid hat and not lose your shit about it.”

Isaac’s eyes narrow and he lets out a frustrated sigh.
“Fucking skinny jeans do not belong on men.”

“But they go a long way in making a 30 year old look like a college kid, so get used to it,” I explain
, trying not to laugh. He nods reluctantly, his eyes fixed on that folder full of information on Maya. “Are you sure you don’t want to look at it?”

“Yes,” he grumbles. “Was there a picture with that spelling bee article?”

“There was. Want me to get it out for you?”

“Sure. And give me an abridged version of what you found. No background stuff. Just anything you think will help with getting Luke away from her.” Covering his mouth to conceal a goofy grin, he traces his fingertip over that grainy black and white picture of her as a kid. The dude has it bad.

“Well, honestly I didn’t find out that much about them. She goes with him to country club parties occasionally. I doubt they spend much time together because she has an insane school schedule.”

“Really? That will be helpful.”

“Maya Elizabeth Sheffield,” I read. “Senior at MIT. Excellent student. Mathematics major, but it looks like she’s prepping for law school because she took an internship in the legal department at Luke’s firm last summer.”

“Math majors apply to law school?”

“Yep. I thought it was weird too, but money is numbers, right? She’s taken quite a few economics classes.”

“That would be perfect for Luke.”

“Yeah. And he probably got her that internship because it’s extremely competitive.”

“Did he buy her that car?”

“No. If I tell you who did, you’ll get background info.”

“Don’t then. It’s fine.”

“I really think you should reconsider that, dude. Trust me.”
She is not who you think she is.

“Not yet, not until I absolutely have to. I need to hear it from her.”

“Fine.”
Big mistake.
“She lives with her roommate, Piper MacNamara.”

“They’ve been friends since the fifth grade. MIT for her too?”
he asks.

“Nope, Harvard. Poly Sci.”

“And she’s a partier?”

“I’m not really sure and it’s too risky to dig around on her. The last thing we need is the DA’s office
noticing something.”

“That’s fine.”

“This is where they live.” I hand him a map of their neighborhood. “That’s where we should set up and this is who I think we should bribe to move out. Dude has a record, he’ll be easy to motivate. As for the other apartment, I’ll look into it. No guarantees, but the lease is up on one of the top floor units soon.”

“Her roommate is going on vacation in a few days, so you’ll have a chance to bug their house. Luke had a camera put in a few months after he and Maya got together and Piper found it with some kind of scanner. And she’s extremely paranoid about surveillance in general, doesn’t trust smart phones, that sort of thing.”

“Well this just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?” I chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’ll disable her scanner. You still want audio only? Sure you don’t want a video feed?”

“Absolutely not. This is fucked up enough as it is without you guys watching them lounge around naked. And I need the ability to disable the audio feed when I’m over there, because you’re not listening to us fuck, either.”

“Relax. I’m not recommending video surveillance so we can creep on your girl. You want evidence if he hurts her, right?” I remind him. Isaac clenches his teeth and nods. “And what if people come in the house while they’re out? They’ll be quiet, we might not catch it. At least in the living room, and we’ll switch to audio if they’re home.” He looks at me skeptically. “My guys are professionals.”

“Fine,” he sighs
, looking upwards and running his hands through his hair. “God, this is so fucked up”.

“I take it this needs to be done without her knowledge.”

“Yes. She can’t know we’re watching.”

“You
’ve heard that real relationships are built on trust, right?”

“She’s terrified enough as it is. Cries all the time, nightmares, that sort of thing.” That’s unusual for
someone who might have mild Aspergers, though a few shrinks thought it might be depression or a stress disorder. “I’ve played down just how much danger she’s in,” he tells me. “If she finds out about this…”

“It’s your decision.”

“I want her to have a normal life. I don’t want her to be too scared to go to school.”

“
Speaking of which, it is going to be extremely difficult to watch her there, and that’s where she’ll be most of the time. We should be watching him.”

“He won’t get his hands dirty. If
she gets grabbed, it will be someone he hires. We need to watch her on campus.”

“There aren’t a lot of personal security math dweebs, Isaac. These aren’t gen ed classes, the
re is no way I can get somebody in there. The most I can do is have eyes on her when she goes in and make sure that she comes out.”

“Well, you have abou
t a month to make that happen. He’ll come to her apartment long before that, aggressively, and you have about a week to get set up.”

“Shit, man.”

“And they have a cat. Do not let it get out.”

Fantastic
. “I fucking hate cats.”

“Not this one, you don’t.”

“Well thanks for the heads up on that. You want to come with me to convince the pot-head to move? I’m meeting Oliver there at three.”

“You came in here saying you weren’t taking the job.”

“I always have my bases covered.”

“I can’t. I need to go see Glory after this.”

He has got to be kidding. “So you’re in love with Maya, but you’re fucking Gloria again? Dude…”

“I’m not fucking her. Actually I’m about to get my one year sobriety chip for Glory’s pussy.”

Good. That cougar bitch is toxic.
Maybe this will work out for the best because Isaac needs to get over her. That is some messed up Oedipus shit.
“Working on any other sobriety chips?”

“No, actually, and I won’t be any time soon. I was
coming off them for a week when I freaked out on your friend and I’m under a lot more stress now, so it’s really not the best time.”

“
Then why are you all fucking jittery?”

“I didn’t take anything this morning. Don’t ask.”

“Whatever. But if you have some kind of master plan here, I should really know about it.”

“It’s a work in progress.”

“Enlighten me, Isaac.”

“Step one of Plan A is convincing Luke to break up with Maya,” he sighs. “That will probably take a while. Which reminds me, I need you to find out everything you can about Christina
Buckley, his favorite toy and former official girlfriend.”

“Done. What about your father?” There’s no way he can just walk away, he’s in too deep.

“Why do you think I’m going to see Gloria?”

“Isaac—”

“The only thing you need to worry about at this point is the security. Maya will have eyes and ears on her 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So will Piper. I know you can make this happen, Jace. This is what you do.”

“You’re not my boss, you’re a client. And a friend. We will be revisiting the Gloria issue at a later date.”

Isaac smirks at me. “I’m over her, I swear. Romantically anyway.” Too bad the romantic attachment was never the biggest problem. I guess it’s pretty tough to break up with your mom. “Jace.” He grabs my arm. “Tell me that you can do this. Promise me.”

This guy and
his fucking promises. I wonder how many his new gold digging girlfriend is going to break. “I promise, man. I got this. She’ll be fine, he won’t lay a finger on either of them.”

Then he hugs me out of the blue. Hard. I’m shocked for a second before I hug him back, patting him on the shoulders in an attempt to make this manly somehow
and thankful that no one is watching us. Now that was really out of character.