Nights Like These by Chris Scully

Author:Chris Scully [Scully, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Friday, 7:50 a.m.

COLTON WAS one step ahead of me. “So do a dozen other employees,” he replied calmly. “I’ve checked. They all have to register their vehicles in order to use the parking lot. There’s no damage on Gary’s car.”

“He could have had it fixed, couldn’t he?”

“I suppose.”

“So what finally cleared me?” I asked, returning to our original conversation so I wouldn’t have to think about Gary’s possible guilt. “Assuming I am cleared.”

The ironic arch of his brow spoke volumes. “I didn’t think you’d be so stupid as to call attention to the very crime you were committing. Besides, you’re pretty transparent.”

“Transparent? Me?” I laughed tightly. I had at least two or three previous lovers who would disagree. “I’ve been told I have a very good poker face.”

“It’s in the eyes.” My smile slipped as Colton scrutinized my face. “I worked in military Intelligence for a while. Got good at reading people.”

“Obviously not Raj.”

“I wasn’t really looking at Raj.”

Colton held my stare, and it seemed to me that he could read me, that he saw straight down into the deepest parts of me that I kept hidden from everyone, even myself. It was fucking terrifying. The floorboards overhead creaked, breaking the standoff just in time. I turned away, flustered. “Well, I guess that’s it, then. You won’t tell anyone where you got this stuff from, will you?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about your part in this.”

“Good.” Now I could go back to being regular Miles Koprowski, minimum-wage desk jockey and boring schlub. That sucked. “Um, if you want, I can show some of these to my friend, see what kind of value we’re talking about. She used to work for Heffel, the auction house, but now she has her own gallery.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? You get a kick out of playing Hardy Boys.”

“Well, I always did have a thing for Shaun Cassidy.”

“Are you ever serious?” Colton growled, crowding me back against the table. He wasn’t that much bigger than me, but he did imposing very well.

“Serious is so… well, serious.” I clung to my sarcasm like a life preserver.

“That actually makes a strange sort of sense.” Colton sighed. “See what your friend says, but that’s it. I’ll handle it from here. I don’t want you to get into even more trouble than you already might be in.”

“Don’t worry, boss,” I replied with a flippant wave of my wrist. “I’m a big, flaming coward at heart.”

Colton narrowed his eyes and boxed me in with an arm on either side of my hips. “I mean it. Tonight you’ll go back to work as though nothing has changed.”

His proximity made it more difficult to breathe, but I held my ground. Some perverse instinct made me keep baiting him. “Nothing has changed.”

I knew Colton was trying to be menacing, and I suppose it might have worked on some people. But I had never been very smart when it came to self-preservation, and to my surprise, instead of intimidating me, his forcefulness was actually turning me on.

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