Page 29 of Try Me
“Fine.” He pursed his lips primly. “I maybemighthave had a brief love affair with Wild Spice. But it was definitely brief. Not the kind of scent you’d take home to your mama. I had an ex who wore it, too. Can’t stand the smell of it now. So that’s how I know Harris bathes in it.” He picked at a chip in his clear nail polish. “So who pissed you off?”
“No one.” I reached for the coffeepot and poured swiftly while the drip hissed.
“Bet it was that pretty boy you go to school with.”
I laughed outright that time. “He’s not pretty.”
“Oh, he’s definitely pretty.” Barrett narrowed his eyes at me and leaned in a little like he was scrutinizing me, before settling back and nodding with apparent satisfaction. “Okay, yeah, that’s what I thought.”
I cocked my head, but he didn’t come right out and say what I thought he was going to. So I could add cleverness to his list of traits alongside pest.
“The straight ones are always such heartbreakers,” he sighed. “You have my sympathy.” His smug expression suggested I didn’t at all.
I ignored it, saluting him with my coffee mug as I backed into the hall. “Nice bow tie,” I said. What the fuck was with the neckwear here anyway?
* * *
Mark:I’m looking of this list of files but it’s legit hard to read your handwriting. Does #2 say Felicity or Solicitor?
I droppedoff the files I was carrying at my desk and raced to the file room. Of course the fucker had gone ahead without me. Fuck if I’d let him steal all the glory, though. I hoofed it to the elevator, punched the button fifty million times to make it go faster, and burst into the room like Tom Cruise inRisky Business. But with 95 percent more clothing.
Mark glanced up from filing cabinet with a laugh. “Jesus, your face. You’re so mad right now. You think I came in here to pull all the files and that I was going to take them up to Rick or Lena without you? Steal your thunder, huh?”
“Yep. Am I wrong?”
He prodded his tongue coyly against the inside of his cheek. It made me want to punch him and touch him at the same time. “Not exactly.”
“Dick move.”
“I’m not denying it. Thereisan element of competition to all of this, though, in case you forgot.”
“Smart money would collaborate at least until close to the end of the summer before breaking free,” I pointed out.
“Was that your plan?”
“Maybe. I’msmarter than you.”
“No doubt. But I’m just as persistent and work just as hard.” Mark tossed a file on the table. “I figured it out: it was Felicity. Now, do you want to find the rest of this stuff and see where it leads us?”
We worked our way down the list in silence for a while, and then I parked my ass on the edge of the table and said, “I need to ask you something.” A wary expression crossed Mark’s face. “Did you know what was going on with your dad and my dad? The full story?”
He closed the file he was reading and pushed it aside as he shook his head. “Not at the time, and shit, most of what I know, I learned from reading online later. The depositions and stuff. And also what I heard at the sentencing.” He shot a guilty look in my direction, and I knew what he was probably remembering about that day. There’d been a front-page article featuring a big-ass photo of the courtroom artist’s drawing of me. I’d been sitting with my mom in the suit I’d worn to high school graduation and had already outgrown, the armpit seams darkened with sweat and biting into my skin. I’d cried openly. I’d hated my dad right then, but not as much as I’d loved him all the years before. And I still hadn’t figured out how to wrap my head around that. But I’d never forgotten how that stupid illustration taunted me from every kiosk I passed over the next few days.
“They were right. The jury, I mean. To convict him.” It still hurt and sucked to say aloud. “We didn’t know. Despite what your dad probably says, despite what everyone says. We didn’t. I swear.”
“I know.”
“Really?” I eyed him dubiously.
“Not always, no. I mean, I listened to my dad too much, I think. But now I know.”
“What changed?”
Mark dragged a hand down his face and laughed. “It’s dumb. So dumb you’ll probably be pissed that it was that and not just me taking you at your word.”
I waited, and he sighed before coming out with it. “Because you helped me up the night of Nate’s party, even after I’d bowled into you and knocked you down. You could’ve just left me behind to get a PI charge and a night in the drunk tank, and you didn’t. And I dunno—” He glared at my expression. “Don’t do that. See, I knew you would do that, you fucker. I’m trying to be serious right now.” His glare faltered and became a faint smile.
“So you’re a guy who hears actions louder than words.”