“She’s doing as good as she can. I put in an application for Meadowbank, so that’s a start,” she replied in a wobbly voice as she picked up a chunk of her hair and shifted it from her face.
I wanted to reach out and run my finger along that spectacular face of hers, but I stayed rooted in my seat. “Good. Why don’t you start from the top and tell me how the hell you ended up working for Doc?”
She twisted her hands over in her lap and bit her lip.
An involuntary reaction took over my body when she did that and I blinked my desires away. “Do you want some water?”
“Yes, that would be good. Can you make it a beer though? I need something to settle my nerves.”
I opened the fridge and handed her a beer. “Here you go.”
She took the beer and put the icy glass bottle on her head for a minute. “Whew, it’s hot outside.” She dropped it down and twisted off the top.
I observed her ? as that spark when I first saw her ? came rushing back. Her pink lips covered the bottle as she sipped, making me adjust my package in my seat. “Alright, Mia. Cut to it,” I said grumpily, upset that she was igniting me from the inside out in a moment like this.
“Doc called me out of the blue because he heard about the stolen car incident with you.” Her emerald eyes searched mine for a reaction.
“Go on.”
“He liked how I handled it, so we met and he wanted to hire me. I initially told him no and then he offered me a lump sum. I said no at first, you have to believe me.” Her eyes widened in fear.
“Then why do it, Mia! Why take the money?” I demanded in an exasperated tone throwing my hands in the air.
“He threatened me okay? He blackmailed me! I used to—I used to, umm, date Rip.” Tears started to streak down her face as she wiped them away with a tissue.
I swallowed down my pride that was slowly dissolving.
“I didn’t know what he wanted me to do and I didn’t know you at the time.” She gestured with her hand as she moistened her trembling lips.
My eyes bored into her.
“That’s why I told you I couldn’t accept your offer because I was being paid a whole lot more. Remember that?” She frowned.
“I remember briefly,” I said begrudgingly. “After you knew, and the incident at the club happened, you don’t think you should have told me? You didn’t think for a minute that you might be in danger if Doc knew you were involved with the Saints?”
She was silent as she closed her pretty eyes.
“Huh? Mia? You thought you could do that?” I spat out, I was both angry and feeling protective over her.
“Why are you talking to me like that? I know! Okay! I know. I just—I just thought I could manage it. I didn’t think I would have feelings for you. I wasn’t trying to. I told you that at the start. I wanted something better for my mother.” She sobbed.
I rubbed my hands through my hair and stood up, pacing around the boardroom. “Dammit, Mia. You should have told me. I could have helped you,” I added as I let the anger subside.
Mia took a deep breath and fanned her reddened face. She even looked pretty when she cried. “I’m so sorry, this is hard,” she admitted.
“I don’t see what’s so hard about telling the truth Mia, if that’s in fact what you’re telling me. Keep going.”
She feigned shock as I accused her of lying, but who knows if she was just concocting the story or not.
I promised to hear her out, but so far I wasn’t hearing anything compelling.
“I am telling the truth! I don’t have reason to lie. I was going to tell you everything,” she said sadly.
I shook my head. “Not this argument again, Mia. Just keep going.”
“I-I wanted the money for the home—for my mother. The amount he gave me would’ve paid for the down payment and the Rip situation,” she muttered as she sniffled.
Rip. I knew him pretty well. She must have been young, because Rip was a piece of shit and fucked women over left, right, and center. He was one of the guys who had a hand in the prostitution ring. He would pimp the girls out basically and collect his portion at the end of the night. She’s lucky he didn’t try to make her one.