Page 32 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

‘You saw your dad?’ Shade asks.

I nod.

‘How did that go?’

I snort. ‘About as well as could be expected, but it was weird. He didn’t bring me up there for money. There was another reason.’

Mav stands and looks out over the empty club ‘What was it?’

‘Damned if I know,’ I say. ‘He just told me Kormak is happy with me. Like I give a fuck what that asshole thinks. He asked me about Sauvage. Thought I was working with him, or something. Said he heard rumors. But that’s it.

It was kind of like I wasn’t up there to see him , you know?

I was there for something else, but I can’t figure out what. ’

My friends look grim.

I look out over the club, thinking. ‘Might be the rumors are about Envy and someone at the prison wanted a look at me. We should watch our backs. More than usual anyway.’

Shade and Mav nod.

‘I’m going to check on Daisy.’

I leave the office, frowning when I hear the side door click. I’m sure I closed it when I came in. I go to it and open it, finding Daisy beside it, outside looking out at the alley.

‘Daisy?’

She glances over at me, face tellingly blank, and I open the door wider, growling audibly as I see Detective Black standing not more than three feet from her.

‘Eric Blake. I was just asking your girl here if she wouldn’t mind letting me inside to take a look around.’ He sneers at Daisy as he looks at her. ‘Or is she someone else’s girl? I keep hearing conflicting reports.’

‘Daisy belongs to herself,’ I hear myself grate out.

Black lets out a dry laugh. ‘How progressive for a bottom-feeder like you.’

I don’t let him get to me, but I see Daisy looking outraged in my periphery. I put my hand in hers and squeeze gently so she doesn’t say anything.

‘I’m afraid we don’t actually open for a few more hours, Detective. So, unless you have a warrant, I suggest you try your luck later. I’d get here early though, you know how crowded it gets.’

I don’t wait for an answer, I just usher Daisy inside and close the door.

‘What were you doing out there?’ I ask, drawing her close.

‘I just went to get some air,’ she says, expression still noticeably shuttered. ‘But that detective came out of nowhere. He kept asking me things like where you all were, and did I know what things you were into?’

Her arms hug herself.

‘You’re scared of him,’ I say, realizing when her eyes drift to the floor that I’m right.

‘Why? Did he do something?’

‘Nothing really,’ she answers. ‘Just that he cornered me in the storage room the night I made the first batch of Envy. I don’t like…

people like that. They have power and they think they’re good.

’ She shivers a little. ‘They can do bad things, and they tell themselves they’re not bad because they think they’re good.

’ She looks up at me. ‘Do you know what I mean?’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I know what you mean.’

‘I need to check on the lab,’ she mutters, walking past me.

I follow her to the basement, messaging Shade as I go to put in another harassment complaint about Black.

‘I saw my father today,’ I blurt.

She glances back at me, giving me an assessing look. ‘It didn’t go well?’

I give her a wan smile. ‘It went fine. As well as could be expected, I guess. He just… He asked me if my mom had been in touch. I guess it pissed me off a little. He always asks me about her when I see him, like she’s going to contact me, like she gives a shit enough to.

I guess it just reminds me that she doesn’t, you know? ’

She nods. ‘Yeah.’

She gets to the door to the lab, but before she opens it, she turns around and hugs me.

‘You and the others…Shade said we’re a family and he’s right. It doesn’t matter who came before. We love each other and that’s what matters.’

She moves back just as quickly and turns away, not looking at me.

God, I want to believe her, but my dad’s words have opened a wound I thought was closed.

Even my own mother couldn’t love me. Why would Daisy?

But I pull her back and return the embrace.

I kiss her cheek, all the while wondering when this is going to be over, when she’s going to abandon me just like my mom did.

She pulls back and turns away again, not looking at me. I know that really it’s because she’s uncomfortable, but an insidious part of me wonders if it’s because she doesn’t truly believe what she’s saying.

She opens the door, and I realize she’s talking again. I try to put these doubts and fears out of my mind, at least for now.

‘What was that?’ I ask.

She turns and I see the unmistakable glint of excitement in her eyes. She looks impish .

‘I said, I saw Bennet today.’

I wince. ‘Uh, yeah. I?—’

‘You went last night.’

I nod.

‘I never promised,’ I say defensively, but she just turns to a small bowl of green powder on the workbench.

‘I know you didn’t,’ she replies with a shrug, ‘but I keep thinking that it’s time I came to my own rescue.’

She glances back at me. ‘You’ve all saved me, protected me, fought for me. But I think it’s time I started doing that for myself.’

Sitting on the stool by the workbench, she puts her elbow on the table and props her head up, watching me.

‘People are scared of you.’

‘I suppose,’ I mutter, wondering where she’s going with this.

‘Is it because of the things you do for your father’s debt or some other reason?’ she asks.

I pretend to consider but I know the truth. ‘It was before,’ I say finally. ‘I’ve had a reputation since junior year of high school.’

She nods. ‘People are afraid of all three of you, for different reasons.’

‘Okay,’ I murmur, still confused.

‘No one’s ever been afraid of me, Blake,’ she says, looking down at the table. ‘Never.’

‘That’s a good thing, Daisy,’ I say quietly.

When she looks up, her eyes are blazing.

‘I disagree,’ she whispers. ‘There is a list of people who have treated me badly since I came here as long as my arm. Some of them have been taken care of by you and the others, yes, but,’ she shivers a little, ‘I want to take care of some of them myself. I need to. It feels...wrong if I don’t.’

She shakes her head and sighs impatiently at herself. ‘I’m not explaining it right, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to get revenge and they’re going to know it was me.’

‘What are you planning to do, kill them?’

Her grin is sly. ‘Nothing so dramatic, but they’ll think twice before crossing me again.’

I sit across from her and tilt my head. ‘And who are these unfortunate people you have in your sights?’

‘Bennet. Laurie. Jolie. And the two other clones.’

‘Tabatha and Michelle?’ I ask in amusement.

She shrugs again. ‘Their names don’t matter to me.’

She looks down at the small bowl of green powder on the table in front of her.

‘Giving them Envy isn’t much of a punishment,’ I say.

She looks up in surprise. ‘Oh, this isn’t Envy.’ She surveys the bowl again and nods. ‘But I’m glad it looks enough like it that you don’t realize.’

She picks it up carefully and dumps it in the pill press, using the hand-crank to turn the machine until there’s no more of the powder and a few little green pills are in the tray.

She puts them in a clear plastic bag and draws an X on it with a permanent marker.

‘So, these are for your enemies?’

She nods.

‘But they won’t kill them?’

She chuckles. ‘No, they don’t die, but they won’t be happy.’

I lean forward. ‘And how are you going to get these specific pills into their hands?’

‘Sandra.’

‘Sandra?’ I echo.

‘Yes, she’s handing out Envy at the party. She’ll have an earbud in so she can hear me when I’m on the phone to her. I’ll be watching from the office. I’ll tell her who to give them to.’

‘Thought of everything, huh?’ I sit back. ‘Why are you telling me?’

‘I thought you’d like to watch with me.’

I’m still a little puzzled, but I give her a wide grin. ‘I’d be honored to watch you get revenge on your enemies, gorgeous.’

The launch of Envy is a success. Of course it is.

There was never any doubt in our minds. The whole campus has been buzzing with excitement.

On Friday night, there’s a line to get into Wrath that goes all the way down the block.

I reluctantly admit that the KIP guys did a pretty good job of spreading the word.

I glance over at Daisy as she watches the steady stream of people entering the club from the safety and anonymity of the office upstairs.

The windows are only one-way, so no one knows we’re standing up here waiting with cocktails in our hands for revenge to be served.

I’m still not exactly sure what her plan is, but there’s anticipation on her face, a gleam in her eyes.

She’s taking back some power that I think she lost a long time ago and I’m here for it.

‘There,’ she says, pointing down at the asshole with the top knot. I roll my eyes at the hemp bag he’s carrying, like he’s here for some kind of spiritual catharsis, and not to take some fucking drugs like everyone else.

‘Fucking poser,’ I mutter, taking a sip of my mojito, but enjoying the fact that his arm and hand look like the Michelin Man.

‘The one with the manbun and the horn-rimmed glasses,’ Daisy speaks into her phone. ‘Oh! And behind him, three people back. Those four girls in the line. The clones.’

Sandra gives an almost imperceptible nod, taking a green pill that isn’t from the pile and handing to the mark with a flirtatious smile that has him looking interested.

Daisy jumps up and down a little in excitement that her plan is coming together.

I come up behind her, looking over her shoulder as I press myself against her back on the pretense of seeing who she means.

I notice Sandra look up to find the four sorority girls and then cackle at Daisy’s description.

They really do look like clones. I chuckle and kiss Daisy on her bare shoulder.

She’s a knockout tonight in a green halter top and a jean skirt with some sandals. Mav picked the outfit, I think, and I know she was a little dubious about wearing it.

‘Comfy?’ I murmur in her ear.