Page 12 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

‘A lot in the space of a few seconds,’ I whisper. ‘It’s been a long day. Can we sit?’

I’m scooped into Mav’s arms before I’ve even finished speaking and he sits on the couch with me nestled into his chest, breathing him in.

Neither of them speak and I’m grateful for the silence.

It gives me time to organize my thoughts.

I listen to the subdued noises of the club for a few minutes and let Mav’s scent relax me, but I’m conscious that I need to go downstairs to check on the lab soon.

I hear the door open and close again. I wonder if Shade has left, but I suddenly smell something that cuts through Mav’s floral vibes and makes my stomach rumble.

Blake speaks, sounding concerned. ‘Are you okay, Daisy?’

‘Yes,’ I say on a sigh. ‘Detective Black insinuated that my dad’s death was no accident and that the Novelles are criminals. He said he’s going to put you all in jail and me in an institution.’

The silence hasn’t changed, but it’s suddenly charged and palpable.

‘He what?’ Blake snarls.

‘Sit down,’ Shade says. ‘Let’s eat first.’

I open my eyes to see Shade giving Blake a pointed look that has Blake sitting down immediately and drawing several boxes out of a bag. The delicious smell gets stronger.

‘What is that?’ I ask.

Blake’s eyes practically sparkle. ‘There’s a great taco van a block away. Do you like them?’

‘I don’t know, but my mouth is watering.’

His mouth falls open. ‘Sweetheart, you’ve never had a taco?’

He sounds equal parts horrified and pitying, and I grin. All the things he could feel sorry for me for, and he chooses the fact that I’ve never had a taco?

I shake my head and sit up. He thrusts a box at me, and I open it, letting out a groan. ‘They smell like meat and…lime.’

Blake nods. ‘Try it.’

I watch him pick one up from his box and tilt his head to the side to bite it. I do the same and let out a loud moan as flavor bursts on my tongue. ‘Wow.’

‘I thought you didn’t like things all mixed together,’ Mav says, looking amused.

‘Not with salads ,’ I mutter. ‘But this is a taco . It’s clearly different. Like a sandwich, but better.’

‘Right.’

‘I’m sorry I don’t like your nasty salads,’ I mutter, finishing my taco and peering into my box to see if there are more.

I see another one and almost squeal with delight.

‘The real question,’ Blake begins, side-eying me, ‘is, are they as good as pizza?’

I sit back and consider his question seriously. ‘I’m not sure. They might be on the same level.’

‘High praise for the taco,’ he murmurs before eating half of his in one large bite.

I finish mine, licking my fingers when I’m done and sitting back with a satisfied sigh. I notice the others are done as well.

‘We can talk now,’ I say. ‘I’m feeling much better.’

Shade nods and Mav tucks me into his side on the couch.

‘How did he get you in that storage room?’ Mav asks.

I wince as I look at him. ‘He told me who he was and said he wanted to ask me a few questions.’

‘And you just went with him ?’ Blake asks.

I blink at him.

‘Well,’ I fiddle with a piece of lint on my pant leg. ‘Yes. He’s a policeman.’

I hear Shade mutter something under his breath. ‘Daisy, you never speak to the cops, okay? Not without a lawyer.’

‘But I don’t have a lawyer,’ I say, remembering the interrogation room after Larson was found, the social worker who kept checking his phone and barely spoke, and then went on break for over an hour, leaving me completely at the mercy of the system.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Shade says, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘Just don’t go anywhere with him. If he corners you again, say you aren’t speaking to him without one, okay?’

‘Okay,’ I whisper. ‘Sorry.’

‘Sweetheart, you don’t have anything to be sorry for,’ Mav says, giving Shade a look. ‘Black shouldn’t have been here at all, and definitely not trying to coerce you to answer his questions.’

‘Is what he said true?’ I ask Shade.

‘About the Novelles?’ He looks at the others, as if trying to glean his answer from them. ‘Yes. It’s true. John is into a lot of shady things. Quite a few of the wealthy families in Richmond dabble, but my father is all in.’

I absorb his words. ‘And you?’

‘No, Daisy. Detective Black thinks so, but the truth is I haven’t done anything illegal.

Well, nothing too bad. Nothing compared to Pop, anyway.

Why do you think I didn’t want to work in the family business?

Why do you think I went in another direction?

Dad hates that I don’t want to do what he does, the shady things he made his money with. ’

‘But you’re okay with making something like Envy?’ I ask, trying not to sound accusing.

He snorts. ‘Envy will be the safest recreational drug on the market, Daisy. And it’s a means to an end.

Getting dragged into my dad’s shit because I needed money is not where I want my life to go.

Envy will make sure that none of us end up with that as our villain story.

Besides, drug laws being how they are right now, Envy isn’t illegal. ’

‘And my dad?’ I press. ‘Was his death murder as well, like the detective said? Do you know anything about it?’

Shade sighs. ‘No, I don’t. I promise you I had no idea there was anything suspicious about it.

Your mom didn’t talk about times before she became a Novelle.

She never spoke about your dad. I only know what I heard from her and my father when you arrived, that you lost your dad, and your mom and you were having a tough time. That’s it.’

I stare at him, into his eyes for much longer than usual, and I find it doesn’t bother me much at all. But I still don’t know if he’s telling me everything.

Jeez, with the importance The Heath gave to looking into a person’s eyes while speaking, I figured I’d be able to see every single thing about someone by doing it properly. But I can’t.

Disappointing.

Like many things from The Heath, I suppose.

‘Did my mom know? About any of this?’ I ask no one in particular.

Is that why she never brought me back home? Is that what that birthday card I found meant? Was she trying to protect me from someone, or did she know about the marriage deal with Joe Banderville?

‘I don’t know, Daisy. That’s the truth. We never talked about my father’s business stuff, or the past. We just…’ he winces, ‘had fun together.’

I nod, giving him a sad smile. ‘I’m glad you did,’ I whisper. ‘You know that, don’t you? I don’t begrudge you the time you had with her. I thought I did, at first, but I don’t. Not really.’

He sits next to me on the couch and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

‘Thank you,’ he says against my skin.

‘The club is getting a little nuts,’ Blake says, standing at the window and looking down at the dance floor. ‘We should go back to campus.’

‘I can’t,’ I say. ‘I need to keep checking on the lab for the next ten hours, or so. You guys go. I’ll be fine.’

Blake raises his eyebrows. ‘Sweetheart, as if we’d leave our lady unattended in this…den of iniquity.’

‘Have you been reading Shakespeare plays, or something?’ I ask with a laugh, recalling the brush I had with English Lit and shuddering a little.

He raises a brow. ‘If you must know, I like an English period drama. I’ll put on my favorite the next time we watch a movie.’

My expression is incredulous but then I smile, loving that there’s so much more to these men than I first realized. They’re much more interesting than most people I’ve met over the past decade or so.

‘The hell you are,’ Mav groans. ‘Pride and Prejudice was over five hours! It could have put me to sleep for a hundred years!’

Blake scoffs. ‘It was a mini-series, Mav. A MINI-SERIES, you philistine.’

‘Whatever, dude. Just don’t bore poor Daisy to death with your old person porn.’

I try not to giggle at Blake’s wounded expression, but he waves Mav away without another word.

‘I’ll choose a good one,’ he promises me, ignoring the others completely.

‘Anyway,’ Shade interrupts with amusement lurking in his expression, ‘we aren’t leaving you here alone, especially with Black hanging around, so get that crazy idea out of your head right now.’

‘Okay, okay,’ I say, raising my hands up in front of me.

If I’m honest with myself, although I am of course striving to be a modern, independent woman, the thought of having to traverse the club again by myself doesn’t fill me with excitement.

Even without the random detective pulling me into a room alone with him, the smells, bodies, flashing lights and sudden sounds are too much tonight.

I’m already tired from being in the lab all day, so I don’t have the energy to keep it all from taking over my head.

I glance at the clock. I’d love to curl up on the couch right now and take a nap, but I need to get back downstairs.

Mav sees where I’m looking and frowns. ‘You don’t need to do this alone,’ he tells me. ‘I understand that you want to keep your leverage, but I can check on the lab if you want to nap for an hour.’

I nod gratefully, sinking down and resting my head back.

‘Before I forget, I need Dicalcium Phosphate, Silicone Dioxide and Magnesium Stearate to assist in the flow mix. I’ll start with fifty percent active ingredients to excipients for the first batch, okay?’

Mav begins to nod. ‘Sounds good. We can easily tweak levels if the consistency isn’t right for the press.’

Blake raises a brow at us. ‘Would you like to share your findings with the rest of the class?’

‘We’ll be ready for the tablet press soon,’ Mav replies absently, typing the list into his phone. ‘If the mix isn’t the right consistency, with the right binders, the pills will just break apart or fuck up the machine.’

‘They’ve got it handled,’ Shade says to Blake. ‘Worry about finding more on the Bandervilles and what’s going on with the house cams this weekend.’

Blake gives Shade a salute. ‘Okay, boss,’ he mutters a little sulkily. ‘What are you going to do?’