Partners (Fire & Lies - One) (3 page)

I pause,
staring off into the distance as my mind replays the way he used to
look at me, like he wanted to devour me, over and over in my mind.
I replay the touches and the stolen moments of temptation that
slowly sent us catapulting into each other’s hearts for a moment so
brief and so fierce that it marked our souls for eternity. Damned
to be forever apart. Damned to never find lasting peace in each
other’s arms. Our time was beautiful but it was gone way too
fast.

A shiver runs
down my spine and I realise that I’ve closed my eyes. I jerk them
open, slightly embarrassed but glad that when I open them, Leah is
no longer in front of me.

“So why didn’t
we just approach him at his club in the first place?” Leah asks
from the open fridge door where he’s probably looking for beer.

I hear the
clanking of full glass bottles as he stands and shuts the door. He
heads over to me, holding one out to me before he sits on the seat
across from me. Gladly, I accept and twist off the top, flipping it
like a coin so it lands in the ashtray that lives in the centre of
the beat up coffee table.

Lifting the
bottle to my lips, I take a long thirsty pull before I finally
answer his question. “Because it’s in a shit area. I didn’t really
want to go in there.”

“An area
shittier than this? I see, not a good place for a nice looking girl
like you, huh?”

I take another
drink and reach up, pulling my hair out of the business-like bun
I’d twisted it up in. “I’m not nice, Leah. You know that more than
anyone.”

“Doesn’t mean
you don’t
look
nice. It’s how you get away with half the
shit you pull. You’ve got this whole
butter-doesn’t-melt-in-your-mouth vibe going on.”

I look at
Leah, taking in his dark spiked hair, and his narrow black eyes.
With a Korean mother and a Tongan father, he has a uniquely exotic
look that is further aided by the massive tribal tattoo that runs
up his muscled arm, across his chest, and up his neck. In a
nutshell, Leah looks like a badass. I met him three years ago, not
long before my life turned to total shit. At first, he hated
me–found me a threat in a life he felt a precarious hold on. But
after hearing my side of things, I guess he took pity on me,
because he’s been my saviour, my friend, and my partner in dubious
activities ever since.

“Well Leah,
luckily for us, you look like you’d kill someone if they crossed
you in a dark alley.”

He laughs,
leaning forward to place his now empty bottle on the table between
us. “And why is that lucky
this
time?” he asks, raising his
brows as he sits back and folds his thick arms across his
chest.

I grin,
pulling one side of my mouth up higher than the other, as I lean
forward to meet his eyes so he can see how serious I am.

“How do you
feel about hitting girls?”

“Are you
fucking serious? No. No way.” He shakes his head and places his
foot on the coffee table as his arms fold across his chest.

“Come on,
Leah. Just think about every time I’ve ever pissed you off.”

“Girly, no.
This is not cool at all. I know you think you’re badass and all
that, but if I hit you, I could fucking kill you and you dyin’ kind
of fucks with the plan.”

“Look at it
this way–if you don’t do it, then I’ll pick a fight with some other
nasty looking guy in there, and they won’t be as careful as you
will. And you know the stakes here.”

“Whatever it
takes,” he recites with an eye roll, knowing it like a war
chant.

I nod in
agreement. “Whatever it takes,” I repeat.

His mouth
twists downward, and he shakes his head. “Fuck you’re a bitch
sometimes,” he says, his head still shaking as he stands up and
storms into his room, reaching his arm out and gripping the edge of
the door, slamming it shut with the full force of his strong body.
The hard clap of wood resounds through the room, causing me to
flinch slightly. The glasses in the cupboards quake and clink
together unhappily and the whiteboard drops with a thud to the
floor. The pen rolls in a dramatic arc until it stills in the
middle of the floor and everything goes quiet.

“That means
you’ll do it, right?” I yell after him, smiling to myself because I
know he will. He’s as invested in this as I am.

APRIL,
three years ago

BEING THE
boss’ daughter meant that Chloe felt she needed to work twice as
hard as anyone else to prove that she deserved the role she had
been given within the company. She’d worked hard at university to
make sure she came to her employment with the best qualifications
possible. Despite that, a lot of other employees didn’t see Chloe
in a good light. They looked at her and saw a spoiled rich kid who
was being groomed to take over when her ageing father retired. They
didn’t know what the real story was. They didn’t know Chloe at all.
To them, she represented a glass ceiling and she knew she was never
going to fit.

This saw Chloe
spending many hours in her office, working alone, and she continued
to do that, long after everyone else had gone home for the day. It
was something she did so often that Aiden had recently found
himself sending his security staff home and staying behind as well,
telling himself it had nothing to do with that weird electricity
that filled the air between them. It was simply to make sure she
wasn’t the only person leaving the inner city building in the
middle of the night. He told himself that he was staying for her
safety. After all, it was his job to protect the company and Chloe
was the future of it.

“
Will you
be much longer?” Aiden asked from her open door, startling her from
her work. It was almost eleven and as much as he didn’t mind
keeping an eye on her, he did have other commitments that required
his attention.

Chloe let out
a gasp of surprise, placing her hand on her chest as if it would
still the quickened beat of her heart. “I thought I was the only
one here.”

“
You’re
never alone here, Chloe. Even when you think you are, there are
eyes everywhere,” Aiden said, his gaze moving up to the small
unobtrusive cameras that were located in two corners of her
office.

“
They don’t
bother me so much. I’m used to being watched,” she said, lifting a
pen and making a short note on the file that was laying open to the
side of her laptop.

Aiden pressed
his lips together in a slight smile, causing the line on his right
side to fold and curve as he allowed his eyes to take in the sight
of the woman who sat before him. She always seemed so absorbed in
her work, and in the three months she’d been working at the Donovan
Corporation, much to Chloe’s own disappointment, she and Aiden had
only very few conversations.

Aiden had been
trying to keep his distance, for he didn’t trust himself not to act
on the feelings she stirred within him. But seeing the way the
other staff seemed to ostracise her, he found himself reaching out
to her more and more.

That itself
was a risk for him. Never had he come across a woman who intrigued
him as much as she did. There was something in her eyes, something
behind that smile, and the impeccable manners and strict work ethic
that just screamed to be let out. It was as if he could hear a
little voice inside her that was crying out and saying she was
trapped. It was strange, and most of the time he thought it was in
his head. But then he’d catch her daydreaming or she’d make a
comment such as the one she did now and he’d start to wonder who
she really was. Or, at least who she wanted to be, because he had a
feeling that this wasn’t her chosen life at all.

“
Tell me,
Chloe. What are you doing here?” Aiden asked, watching her as she
glanced up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear as
confusion creased her brow.

“
Isn’t that
obvious?” she laughed uneasily. “I’m working.”

“
Yes. But
why are you working so hard to be a part of this deal in
particular?” he asked, nodding toward the open file in front of
her. Being who he was, he knew what everyone was working on at any
given time. Everything in the company was tracked and logged and no
employee’s activities went undocumented.

“
I need to
prove to my father that I can do it.”

Aiden stepped
closer, lowering his voice as he reached her desk. “You don’t need
to prove anything. When your father retires, you could be the one
who runs this place right?”

“
That would
see our profit margin drop considerably. I’m sure the board would
have me removed pretty fast if the investors weren’t able to line
their pockets so thoroughly.”

“
Fuck the
investors. Do you really think all of this paperwork leads directly
from the deal to the bank? This is all one huge maze, filled with
deals and schemes that break things up and take them away. The
intricacies are beyond my expertise, but I see it happening. I hear
the words ‘shell’ and ‘off-shore’, and I see investments in things
that are guaranteed to lose.”

Her eyes
dropped as the grip on her pen faltered, and she used both hands to
steady it, then place it down gently. She swallowed. “Are you
calling my father a crook?” she asked in a whisper, glancing up at
him slightly before once again concentrating on her pen.

Aiden smiled,
tucking his hands into his pockets as he watched her cheeks flame
and felt that this girl had found herself way out of her depth in
her position.

“
We’re all
crooks here, Chloe. There isn’t a legitimate bone in any of our
bodies. You don’t become as powerful as your father without
brokering some shady business deals. It’s what the team of lawyers
is for.”

Her head
snapped up and she met Aiden’s eyes with a look of defiance. “Don’t
you think I know that? I’ve been watching him since I was small. I
know exactly what type of man my father is.”

“
And you’re
fine with becoming just like him? You’re happy looking in the
mirror and seeing him look back at you?”

Her gaze
faltered and she hesitated in her answer. “Why are you being this
way?”

“
Because I
think you’re better than this place, Chloe. I think you’re made of
better stuff than your father.”

“
I thought
you liked my father.”

“
I do. He’s
been very good to me. But I’m not blind, I see his flaws.”

“
I’m not
without flaw, Aiden. I assure you,” she laughed, although it was a
hollow sound with very little humour in it at all.

“
I don’t
see it, Chloe. In my eyes, you’re pretty damn perfect.”

Suddenly,
everything stilled and her eyes dropped again, a blush making its
way up her neck, heating her cheeks. “You don’t even know me,” she
whispered.

“
No. But
I’d like to.”

“
Haven’t
you been warned away like everyone else?” she asked, forcing her
eyes up to his again.

He nodded
slowly.

“
Don’t you
care?”

He shook his
head, keeping his eyes on hers.

Looking at
him, she pulled at her lip. “You should.”

When Chloe had
started at the firm, Terry Donovan had been sure to take him aside
and remind him that his daughter was not to be touched by anyone.
He had asked Aiden to keep an eye on her to minimise what he called
‘distractions’, and also made it very clear that anyone who messed
with his daughter would face his wrath and never work in any sector
that he had contacts inside again. Considering he had connections
in almost every sector there was, it meant he’d effectively ruin
their life.

Aiden could
understand that he was protective of his daughter – she was
beautiful, and he was sure that even a father could see the way men
reacted to her. And as a result both men and women alike were
afraid to have anything to do with her. She’d go to the kitchen to
get a coffee, and the staff would smile politely then quickly
scurry away, as if talking to her could be the end of them.

Chloe could
see the muscle tick in Aiden’s jaw as he stood in front of her. It
was as if he was searching her face for something, his mind ticking
away as he gazed at her intensely. But slowly, his mouth curved
into his charming smile and his posture relaxed. “Perhaps you’re
right. Perhaps I should care. Perhaps I should ignore you just
because you’re the boss’ daughter, and leave you in here alone,
night after lonely night, with no one to talk to and no one to keep
you safe.”

“
Safe from
what?”

His smile
broadened, and his eyes glinted with a mischief she hadn’t seen
before. “Well, men like me, of course.” Turning, he headed for her
door. “One more hour, Miss Donovan. Then it’s time for you to go
home.”

With a smile
of her own pulling at her lips, Chloe watched after him as he left
then, as if the quiet of the room reminded her, her eyes drifted up
to the camera and its little blinking eye as it watched her every
move, her every action. Quickly, she dropped her gaze and once
again threw herself into her work, deciding that she needed to be
more careful.

***

An hour later,
Aiden appeared once again at Chloe’s door, seeing that she was
still focused on her work and not at all prepared to leave. Without
knocking, he strode toward her desk, causing her to jolt in
surprise as he reached out and closed the file she was working
on.

“
It’s time
to go. There’s nothing you can do now that will make any difference
before tomorrow.”

She looked up,
her heart beating wildly in her chest. For a man of such great
size, Aiden certainly moved with a stealth afforded to very few
people in this world. He had just succeeded in surprising her by
his presence twice in one night.