The VIP Room(33)

“What did you think?” Sam asked as he shrugged of his jacket. I tried not to be distracted by the way his button-down pulled across his broad shoulders. I didn’t know why, but I’d always loved the way he looked when he took off his jacket. I yanked my mind back onto the contract.

“It was fair. But they tried to wiggle on the due diligence for the land. It’s not what you agreed to.”

“How much did they take off?”

“Seventeen days,” I said. Sam whistled. We spent another few minutes going over business before I left the office and went to make us a pot of coffee. I usually drank the tea Sam hated in the afternoon, but today was a coffee day. A few minutes later I was sliding a steaming mug in front of Sam, along with a leftover muffin. I didn’t know how much he’d eaten for breakfast, but he’d missed lunch, and he’d be hungry.

As I moved around his desk to get back to my own, he reached out to grab my hand, pulling me to a halt. “Thanks,” he said, his eyes meeting mine with a heat that made me momentarily dizzy. “You look gorgeous in that suit. Don’t let any of the guys hit on you while I’m busy.”

He said it smiling, but gave my hand a squeeze before he let me go and I couldn’t tell if he was joking. We did work with a lot of men, it was usually that way in a male dominated field like construction, but none of them ever hit on me. I was Sam’s executive assistant. Not eye candy. And he’d never worried about the other men before.

Or maybe he had, and I just hadn’t noticed. Shaking my head, I went back to my desk, determined to catch up on work and forget about everything else, just for a little while.





Chapter 9





Chloe





It was one of those afternoons when the office was practically deserted, everyone either holed up working on projects or out in the field, so I was actually able to make headway into my pile of things to do by the time it was five o’clock. Sam walked out of his office door, briefcase in hand, just as I was preparing to go get him.

The afternoon had been completely normal, with no hint of the earlier tension between us. I might have wondered if I’d imagined it, except for his hand on my lower back as he walked me out through the lobby. He usually opened doors and helped me into his truck, but he rarely touched me more than he needed to.

I looked out of the corner of my eye to see if the receptionist noticed, but she was already gone for the day. The coffee house was a short trip, one we made mostly in silence. Sam seemed distracted, and I was preoccupied with wondering what Tim would have to tell me about Nolan.

We arrived at the coffee shop fifteen minutes after five to find Tim already there, waiting in the back, his fingers drumming nervously on the table. He was a skinny guy, with the sloppy clothes and negligent grooming stereotypical of most programmers, complete with pale skin and a geeky t-shirt. This one read 'Any fool can use a computer. Many do.'

Tim worked, and Nolan used to work, for a start-up that offered partially automated customer service bots for companies to cut down on actual people providing service. Instead of outsourcing the work to other countries, they were allowing the positions to be filled by bots. Nolan had seemed to like the job, but maybe he hadn’t. It was turning out that I didn’t know as much about my brother as I thought I did.

Tim’s eyes widened when he saw me and he smiled in welcome. Then he noticed Sam behind me and scowled.

“Who is that?” he asked.

“My friend Sam,” I said, sitting down across from Tim, “He’s helping me look for Nolan. You really haven’t seen him?”

“I don’t know if I want to talk with him here,” Tim said, reminding me of a sullen child.

“Why not?” I asked. “He’s just a friend who’s helping me.”

Tim eyed Sam warily. “Fine,” he said. “I don’t know all that much.”

He shifted in his chair, rubbing his palms on his jeans, his eyes flicking between Sam and me, beads of perspiration on his forehead. I’d only met Tim a few times, but I didn’t remember him being this edgy. I was glad Sam was with me. Leaning in close so I could lower my voice, I said,

“Tim, please just tell me what you know about Nolan. I won’t get you into trouble, I promise. Neither will Sam.”

“Hey, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Tim said, shaking his head. “But Nolan got mixed up with some bad guys. He was playing cards a lot at night and he started playing in a room I heard belonged to Sergey Tsepov. Then he asked to borrow money from me.”

“Did you give it to him?” I asked. Tim shook his head, shuffling his feet under his chair and wiping his palms on his jeans again.

“I didn’t have it. And I know how it goes in this town. Never lend money to a guy who likes cards.”

“Where is the room he’s been playing?” I asked. Sam took my hand and tried to get my attention, but I ignored him, focused on Tim. If Nolan had been playing cards there a lot, maybe we’d get a better lead on where he was.

“315 Studen Street. You have to go in the back of the bar and talk to a guy named Dog to get in the game. I went with him once, but Dog freaked me out. He’s the only one of those guys who wasn’t Russian, and he looked like a biker.”

“Okay.” I stood when Sam grabbed my arm and practically dragged me to my feet. I tried to jerk my arm away, but he refused to let go, instead lacing his fingers with mine and pulling me in close. Before he could force me out of the coffee shop, I said to Tim, “Thanks, Tim. If you hear from Nolan, please, will you call me?”