Cute
Dante
I was sitting at my desk when Rex came to my office. I looked up at him. His eyes were down, far from my eyes on purpose.
“How are you doing this morning?” I asked, trying to sound calm.
Rex kept his focus on his shoes. “Quite well, boss.”
Silence rained on us that instant. This was a rare occasion for me to be short of words. There was tension in the air and resentment oozing off of him.
I quickly cleared my throat. “About yesterday,” I said. “I was only trying to test you.” I watched him intently for any slight reaction but there was nothing.
Rex stood straight. His voice firm and his tone curt. Professional. “Nothing happened yesterday, sir.”
I smiled a little. He was good at this. “Okay.” I pointed to the door. “Stay outside. Draco is coming in.”
Rex nodded and walked out without a voice of contradiction. I watched him go. The man was too good at this. Perfect.
Draco came in and sat down. His eyes were simmering with questions and judgment. It was crystal clear from the way he bit the inner of his cheeks that he had overheard the convo between Rex and me.
“What happened between you two?” Draco asked, not even seeking to be subtle about it.
“Nothing,” I said. I waved my hand. “It’s not important.”
Draco leaned forward. “Boss, you need to remember what happened with the last guy.” His eyebrows raised as if waiting for a response from me.
My face got hard. Marcus.
The last guy, Marcus, was a fling of mine. Unfortunately, I had mixed business with pleasure, ignorant of his dealings with the police. They had tried to use him to get to me, to get some information out of me.
When I found out, it wasn’t particularly pretty between us. I had to kill the guy for the betrayal and making me look like a fool.
Before I could say anything, Draco continued with his lecture.
“You shouldn’t trust Rex,” Draco said. “I’m very sure the bastard is just a detective. He didn’t confess to it, but I know.” He leaned back, confident in his intuition.
“I’m not a fool, Draco,” I said. My voice was cold.
Reminding me of what happened then was a shallow and stupid thing to do. Taking me back to the time where I had let my pleasure lead me. When I had been so fixated on how good it felt.
Fucking hell!
“Are you sure?” Draco asked. “Because it looks like you’re doing the same thing again.”
His words were starting to sound quite insulting and unnecessary, bruising my ego with precision.
I stood up. I didn’t want to talk about Marcus anymore. “If you have nothing else to talk to me about, you can get the fuck out of my office!” I snapped at him.
He was quiet for a spell before he nodded his head. “We have some new weapons coming in today, boss.”
Now that piqued my interest. My anger died down temporarily. I gazed at him, the crease formed between my eyebrows easing out.
“That’s good,” I said.
“And should we go check it out?” Draco offered.
I shook my head before rising to my feet, he followed suit. “No, make an appearance at the second warehouse while Rex and I will check out the weapons.”
The words flowed into his ears and reflected in his expression with a grim look. His eyebrows knitted into a frown. “After all I just said, you are still intending on keeping him close by?”
“Should I toss him away just because you’re wee peachy about him?” I snapped. The anger that had stayed down rose again like lava erupting from a volcano. “Why do you let him have your fucking boxers in between your ass cheeks?”
“Boss,” his voice came out way calmer. “There’s no need to get pissed, I’m just being mindful of him.”
“I’m not a fucking child, Draco.” I groaned. “Stop reminding me of the fucking past and let that shit go. You sound more traumatized and shit didn’t happen to you.”
“Boss…”
I pointed my index finger at him. “Get yourself into the other warehouse and I will check the weapons with my fucking bodyguard.”
He sealed his lips shut. However, I knew damn right that that would not be the end of this. He was going to bring this up again. But for now, it was best he left.
He walked out wordlessly and before his hands could find the doorknob, I called out to him.
“Get Rex in here.”
“Yes, boss.” He walked out.
It didn’t take up to a minute and a knock sounded from the door. After a few seconds, the door opened and Rex walked in. Like before, he had his head down and his hands behind him.
“We’re going out. Get the car ready.”
He finally lifted his head. “Now, boss?”
“Yes.”
He made no intention of moving. “Where are we going?”
“I’ve got some new batch of weapons coming in and we need to go over there to give it a scrutiny.” I scanned him with my eyes, watching as his eyes shifted away. “You have better things to do?”
He quickly shook his head, then when his eyes met mine again, he dropped it as fast as lightning. “I’ll get the car ready.”
He didn’t wait another minute before rushing out. I could tell he was trying to keep his distance from me. It was in the way he avoided my eyes and how he suddenly had no desire to be in the same room with me.
I walked out a few minutes later and joined them by the car. On seeing me, he dropped his gaze, opened the car door and stayed five feet away from me.
Avoided me like a plague.
It should bruise my ego, it should affect me.
However, I found it particularly thrilling. Could it be he was cautious because he liked what happened too much?
“Cute,” I muttered under my breath before entering the car.