Page 148 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

Back and forth I go. With each stroke of my arms and release of breath, I expel pent-up nervous energy, forgiving myself for what I did to Hercules and my team at VTI. I swim faster, hoping that by the time I reach physical burnout, I’ll be ready to make the biggest pledge yet. I’ll find Hercules, apologize, and wish him a happy life without me.

But who am I kidding?I could never be that gracious in his presence. Instead, I want to fall on my knees and beg him to take me back.

I’m not even close to muscle failure when I spot a pair of immaculately polished black loafers standing at the edge of the pool. I stop swimming and tread water, breathing heavily. Max, wearing an immaculate gray suit, folds his arms and says, “It’s time we talk.”

My hands wouldn’t stop shakingas I dried off. I agreed to meet Max at the east facing sunroom so we could converse over a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee means he isn’t planning to stay long, and I was sort of happy about that.

I enter the sunroom to find a silver cart holding one porcelain coffee cup, a pitcher of coffee, a carafe of cream, and a bowl of sugar on top placed next to Max, at the edge of the table.

His face is buried in a newspaper. The skin between his eyes is pinched, as if he doesn’t like whatever he’s reading. He doesn’t even acknowledge me as I pour myself a cup of coffee, add a tiny bit of cream, and sit across from.

“It’s that gripping, huh?” I remark.

Finally, he lowers the newspaper and begins to fold it. “You look well.”

I shrug indifferently. “So do you. So… Here I am.” The edge in my voice surprises me because I’m more nervous than I sound.

He casually stuffs the folded newspaper into a pocket inside of his suit jacket. “Why didn’t you tell me you left VTI?”

Don’t show weakness.I repeated that in my head as his gaze holds mine. “What do you mean?”

He laughs bitterly as he adjusts his seat. “I mean, you’re here and not at work.”

I can hardly believe what I’m hearing. I want to ask if he’s messing with me. I’ve been here for three weeks. Didn’t he know? Then it dawns on me that I never told my parents what happened on that fateful night when Hercules caught me hacking the brain. I assumed once VTI marked Lark Davenport as fired that would trigger a notification and Max would learn I was no longer with them. I wonder if that means Hercules never fired me.

“What’s going on, Paisley? Why aren’t you at work?”

“I quit,” I say. I want to lie and say I took a vacation, but no more lies. I decided whatever I do next will be built on nothing but the truth.

He frowns. “Then you found the code.”

“I didn’t.”

His right eye narrows in the way it does whenever he’s angry. “Don’t play games with me, Paisley. You were not supposed to quit until you found that goddamn code.”

I casually take a sip of my coffee. “Well, I didn’t find it.”

“You looked?”

“Yes. I did. And it’s not there.”

“Then why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

I drop my cup of coffee on the table, narrowly avoiding spilling anyway. “Because I figured, since you track me like a tagged animal in the wild, you would’ve found out that I quit.”

Our stare-off is epic. But I can tell he’s thinking it through, putting the pieces together.

I set my jaw in act of defiance. “By the way, I no longer work for VTI or GIT. I’m done, Max.” I swipe my palms together. “I am done.”

After a moment of remaining perfect still, Max snorts facetiously. “I figured you wrong then.”

Frowning intensely, I ask, “What do you mean by that?”

“I’ll admit that I made an error when I didn’t confirm Hercules Valentine’s whereabouts. But I hadn’t expected you to become too distracted by him to finish what you started. I thought you had Grandfather’s best interest at heart and not your own.”

Fuming that he had the audacity to bring grandfather into his selfish motives, I say, “Grandfather is no longer with us. So how about we stop using him as an excuse?”

“An excuse for what?” Max bites back.