Dirty Playboy - Alex Wolf Page 0,45
mind being part of all these clandestine meetings and stuff. I’m not comfortable with it at all.
When I get off on our floor, the door to Decker’s office is open. I walk up and knock lightly on it.
He looks up and smiles, then says, “Come on in. Sorry to bother you on the weekend.”
This would be so much easier if he had just called me. I know he prefers face-to-face meetings, but still. I wouldn’t have had to be here, and could still be with Rick, but maybe it’s for the better. Then Rick would have a million questions. He’d probably eavesdrop on the conversation. Who am I kidding? He’s probably going to ask questions regardless. My life is awesome and sucks at the same time.
I take a seat and Decker doesn’t waste any time.
“What happened at the meeting?”
My stomach ties itself in a knot. “Well, he, umm…”
“Gonna need more than that.” Decker smiles, but he’s frustrated.
I just let it all out. Well, most of it. “He knows you have people looking into him. Knows the specific people, in fact. He didn’t say how. He mentioned me and Abigail by name.” Why did I just omit Rick? What am I doing?
Decker’s eyes pop open. “He knows?”
I nod.
“Shit fuck, what exactly did he say?” He leans forward as he asks the question. He almost looks apologetic when he realizes he just cursed in front of me.
I start to stutter and compose myself. I’m so terrible at this. “I think he was just blowing off steam, but it’s hard to know. I’m not great at reading people. He just said he knows we’re investigating him, and he wants it to stop.”
“That’s all he said? Did he mention Rick?”
No! Please don’t make me lie.
I should tell him. He’s my boss, but I just can’t. I have this unbelievable urge to protect Rick, even though Wells said he knew some secret about him. But if Decker knows that, he may investigate Rick even more, and I need to—I don’t know, warn Rick or something. What if I cost him his job? He’ll hate me.
Am I insane? If Decker finds out I misled him, I’ll probably lose my job. In fact, I know I will, but I don’t tell him a thing. I just sit there and shake my head. “No.”
Decker’s eyebrows go up and it seems like he’s thinking out loud. “Odd. It might narrow things down some, though. Whoever is feeding him information only knows about the paralegals. That fucker has someone inside the office.” He glances to me like he forgot I was there. “Sorry.” He holds up a hand. “You haven’t said anything to Dexter about this, right?”
I shake my head, thankful I don’t have to lie about that one. “No.”
“Okay, good.”
“Is that all, sir?” I want to be anywhere but here. I think I might vomit.
“Yeah, that’s all I wanted. Just get me everything you have so far on Monday, and I’ll pass it all to Rick. I’m sure it’s coming from Abigail. I should’ve known better.” He glances up and looks as though he shouldn’t have said that out loud.
I don’t blame Abigail, but I’d never tell Decker that. It’s not my place. I wouldn’t hide anything from my fiancé either. Family should always come before work. Decker should know that, but I’m not sure he does.
Hold it together, Mary.
“Okay, well, I’m gonna go, then…”
Decker nods, and I stand up and try to walk from the office at a normal pace. How am I going to look Rick in the eye and not tell him any of this stuff? How am I supposed to have a good time tonight with all this hanging over my head?
Ugh!
It’s almost 5 pm and I haven’t heard a word out of Rick. It’s only making things worse. Seconds tick by like minutes with all this on my conscience.
You lied to your boss.
I feel nauseous. What am I going to do?
Usually, I go to the church to help Jeremiah with things on Saturdays, but I’d planned on calling and telling him I couldn’t make it as soon as I heard from Rick. Now, I’m not so sure what to do.
Should I just sit here and wait? Should I cancel with Jeremiah? He never counts on me on Saturdays, I just sort of show up. What if Rick found out everything about my meeting? I wouldn’t put it past him. What if Decker called him, and now he’s mad at me?
Finally, at five after five,