Mac grinned and her eyes sparkled with mischief as she looked over my shoulder. Then I heard a male voice from behind me say, “Ahh, thanks I suppose.”
I winced, swallowing my embarrassment, and the owner of the amused male voice flopped down in the chair to my left. He shot me a lazy grin that had my lips twitching despite the heat in my cheeks.
“This is Henry. He lives on this side of the duplex with Evie and me. Henry, this is Quinn. Our new band assistant,” she added.
He leaned forward and held out his hand. I wiped my sweaty palms discreetly before taking it in mine, glancing at Mac open mouthed in shock as I did so.
“I got the job?”
Mac glared at Henry, who still had hold of my hand. He smirked at her before letting it go.
She faced me again. “Of course. I like you. I like your dog. Henry likes you, don’t you, Henry?”
“Sure I do,” he replied. He ran his hands through short, choppy blond hair before relaxing back in his seat, tilting his head, and closing his eyes to soak up the rays of sun.
“Look, Quinn. Let’s cut the bullshit,” Mac said, and Henry snorted. “I need you and I don’t have time to waste.”
“Oh…uh…don’t you want to know anything about me?”
“I’ve read your resume and references, so what else can you tell me?”
“Uh, like personal stuff?”
She shrugged. “Sure.”
“Well I don’t go out much,” I replied honestly, “and I like to read.”
“Great, though this job might involve you going out a bit more than ‘not much.’ Are you okay with that?”
It would be an adjustment, but I wasn’t prepared to give up before I’d reached the first hurdle. Last night had been a good practice run that admittedly hadn’t gone as planned, but it wasn’t like I was being hired to party and socialise on the weekends. I would be working.
Straightening in my chair, I smiled at Mac. “I’m more than okay with it.” Approval shone in her eyes at my response, and when she smiled back I told her I was looking forward to it.
“Good, because we’ve got singles to be recorded and released, albums to be made, artwork and photo shoots to organise, publicity appearances at events, and interviews to arrange with TV and radio shows. Also, we start work on their first music video today. Can you start tomorrow?”
“Sure,” I agreed, and hearing a playful growl, our heads turned towards the dogs. In my inattention, Rufus had wrenched his bandage off and both dogs were proceeding to chew on it, taking great delight in tearing the thick threads apart.
“Great.” Mac clapped happily. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the band tomorrow then.” She turned to Henry, the pleased expression disappearing in favour of an irritated frown. “Have you heard from Sandwich?”
“Um…Sandwich?” I echoed.
“Evie,” she told me.
My eyebrows flew up. “You call Evie Sandwich?”
Henry just shrugged as Mac picked up her phone, her fingers a blur as she typed out a message. “Yeah, for her name: Jamieson. Jam. Jam sandwich. Now it’s just Sandwich. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
Henry tugged his own phone from the front pocket of his jeans and started typing out a message as well, so I asked to use the bathroom.
Mac waved her hand. “Sure,” she replied and directed me to the upstairs location.
I wound my way up the staircase, stepped inside, and shut the door behind me.
***
Chapter Four
“Hey, Travis,” I heard Mac call out as I unbuttoned my pants. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you have to drop Casey at the airport this morning?”
I paused, my hands frozen on my button because every word Mac uttered sent a tingle of awareness down the length of my spine.
“I was supposed to but I had company. Mitch stopped by early this morning to pick him up and drop him off,” came the deep rumble of a voice that was so familiar my heart skipped a beat.
What the hell? I knew that voice. It was both rough and soothing, sending me straight back to last night when Travis, with one arm wrapped around my waist keeping me close, had used the other to unlock his front door, all the while murmuring suggestive words in my ear that had me shivering with desire.
I shook my head. I must have heard wrong. Shrugging it off, I undid the zip on my pants, pausing when Mac spoke again.
“Company?” I heard her snort. “You are such a manwhore.”
He laughed and I knew that laugh. Travis had arched my body over the bed, flicking his tongue down the length of my stomach, dipping playfully into my belly button and letting out a throaty chuckle when I’d squirmed breathlessly.
My knees buckled and I sank down on the closed lid of the toilet seat, my eyes darting about the enclosed confines like they were on crack—or looking for an escape hatch.
“So where is your company now?” I heard Henry ask.
Good question, Henry. I covered my face with my hands, fighting a hysterical laugh because his company was currently sitting on the toilet in the throes of a panic attack. I couldn’t go out there looking like utter rubbish. My only course of action was to wait it out. I hunched over on myself, disbelief making my face hot.
“She left me,” he replied.
I heard Mac snort. “Of course she did, you sorry ass. All the good ones do.”
After waiting out a few moments of muffled conversation, I heard Mac call out, “Quinn? Come and meet my brother.”
Brother?
I gave the toilet roll an incredulous stare.
Travis was Mac’s brother?
My hands shook as I tore off a few sheets of toilet paper and dabbed at the sheen of sweat breaking out on my brow.
“Won’t be a minute,” I shouted.
It was now or never. I had no choice but to go back out there. Hiding out in the toilet for the next however long Travis planned on hanging around would not be a good look for me.
I stood, inhaled deeply, and reached for the handle of the door.
“I have to get going anyway, Mac. I’ll meet Quinn another day,” I heard Travis call from somewhere inside the duplex. The sound of a phone ringing cut through the silence, and I heard him answer.
“Yeah?”
I stood frozen, my hand hovering over the door handle.
“Can’t today, Tim. Tell the AFP to set the meeting up for tomorrow morning okay? Did they say what it was about?” The sound was echoing down the hallway, moving its way towards the front door. His voice trailed off as the door opened and closed with an audible click. Shaky with relief at avoiding an awkward encounter, I removed my hand from the door handle and instead moved to the basin. I flicked on the tap and cold water gushed over my hands, soothing away the abuse my nerves had suffered today.
When I wound my way back out onto the outdoor deck, Mac was sitting there by herself, chatting on the phone.
She held up a finger to indicate she would only be a minute, so I watched the dogs for a moment. Rufus appeared thrilled to have a playmate. Both he and Peter had moved on from chewing the bandage to eating what looked like someone’s brand new shoe. This Peter character was utterly adorable, but he obviously knew it; he was going to teach my dog bad habits. If Rufus came home thinking shit like that would fly in my house, he would have another thing coming.
“Are you okay?”
I turned. Mac had hung up the phone and was eyeing me curiously.
No, I was definitely not okay. I couldn’t believe the day I’d had today. I needed to go home and have a nice hot shower, an icy cool wine, and find my bed. The problem with that was that I knew the dreams I’d be having tonight, and they would be hot.
I smiled at Mac because after everything I had a job. A great one. “Of course.”
Mac remained sceptical, arching her brow at me. “Okay. You just looked a little pale there for a moment, but now your cheeks are all flushed.”
“I’m fine, really. So tell me…” I began and resumed my seat, the curiosity to hear more about Travis overwhelming me. “You said you had a brother? That must be nice.”
Mac froze from collecting her bits of paper on the table and looked at me. “You think? I have three of them. All older.” She shuddered theatrically.
Travis times three? My eyebrows flew up.
“First there’s Mitch, the eldest at thirty. He’s a detective with the Sydney Police. Travis, who was just here earlier, is twenty-eight, and Jared, who’s dating Evie, is twenty-six. I’m the youngest at twenty-four.”
Forgetting my curiosity for the moment, I imagined how nice it must have been to have three older brothers looking out for you. Tears burned my eyes and I averted them, hiding the sharp burst of pain. “All older, huh?” I murmured wistfully. “Must be nice to have that.”
Mac finished fussing with her papers and folded her arms. “You know, it has its moments, but yeah, it’s nice, and if I hear you spreading that shit around, I’ll call you a liar.” She winked at me to soften the words, but I was pretty sure she meant them.
Clearing my throat, I asked, “So what do uh… Travis and Jared do?”
“They own a consulting business together. Evie’s older brother Coby is a partner as well, and so is Casey, a guy that Travis went to uni with.”
Considering the size and location of the loft I was in last night—all retro red brick interior feature walls, modern leather couches and a high-tech kitchen—I could only conclude the consulting they did was a lucrative business. Places like that came with a mortgage I was sure would pay off the national debt.
“What sort of consulting do they do?” I asked, sitting back in my seat, imagining engineering or investment banking.
“They consult on kidnapping and hostage cases mostly and are slowly building a security division that Jared is taking over. Travis has a degree in psychology and both have associate degrees in policing practice.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a consultant,” he said with a wave of his hand as though it wasn’t important. “What about you?”
Travis might have been seriously sexy in bed, smart, and some kind of tough guy, but he was obviously someone who wasn’t keen on talking about what he did for a living. “It’s not dangerous work, is it?”
“It is,” she replied and rattled off all their injuries, which included Casey rolling his car, Jared being knifed, and Travis getting shot. I flinched yet she continued on. “Travis and Casey handle most of the custody cases that escalate into unsafe situations.” A small furrow marred her perfect brow, and she gazed off in the distance, her eyes unseeing. “I’m starting to think the job is getting to Travis though.”
My heart gave a lurch, which was odd because I barely knew him. To say it didn’t sound like an easy job to do was an understatement, but I said it anyway.
Her eyes softened. “I know. Every week he sees abused children and that must be really hard.”
My hands shook. Seeing it must be hard? Oh God, try living with it: the anxiety and fear, the pain, locking your door at night yet still unable to sleep, the feeling of being utterly alone and never seeing a way out.