Chapter 9: Dalton, Jamie

Thursday. Astor Home, Newport Rhode Island.

DALTON ASTOR FLIPPED THROUGH the plans dealing with his pre-Congressional bid. There were things to be done prior to announcing it, and those had to start now. Even if he was a shoe-in. it was arranged. A done deal. He just had to go through the motions and not screw up.

Despite being born with the last name Astor, he wasn't related to the more famous family bearing the same name. No, Dalton's family were the kind of people who'd scrounged to make their empire, creating something from nothing. He'd learned early in life that those who reached for what they wanted were the true successes.

His office phone began to ring.

He glared at the black phone. Hadn't he said he wasn't to be bothered?

Dalton ignored the call, pushed to his feet and crossed to the door. He jerked it open and glared at the young man sitting behind the chrome and glass desk.

"What did I tell you?" Dalton snapped.

"I know." The young man held up his hands. "But you said if anyone named Skilton called for you-"

"Fuck." Dalton whirled, slammed the door shut and dove for the phone as it stopped ringing.

Sweat broke out under his arms as he scrambled around the desk and hit the redial number.

The line beeped.

Because of course nothing could be simple.

He set the phone down and stared at it.

The door to Dalton's office opened.

"Sir?"

"What?"

"Skilton called back-"

"Put it through."

Fucking hell.

Pissing off Skilton fell under that heading of stupid shit he shouldn't do before the election.

The line buzzed once. Dalton snatched the phone up, and took a breath before answering, putting all his charm into his voice.

"Hey, sorry we crossed wires there."

"Are you still acquainted with Tabby Grissler?" the distorted, male voice asked.

"Uh." That was a blast from the past. "Yeah, we used to be friends."

"We need you to go to DC and handle her."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"According to our informant, Tabby Grissler is meddling in things that concern us, and by extension you. Or do you not want us to put our weight behind securing you a seat in the House of Representatives?"

"I'm not even sure what you're wanting me to do." He hunched forward and turned from the door. "You're going to have to spell it out, because I don't know what you're asking me to do."

"Kill her, Mr. Astor."

***

Friday. HiTech, Inc. Offices, Washington, DC.

JAMIE GRIPPED THE STEERING wheel with both hands and tried to ignore the sweat trickling down his back. He'd argued that him picking Tabby up was a bad idea, but Zora wasn't having any of it. She'd ordered him to not only pick Tabby up but smooth things over between them.

He didn't think that was going to be possible.

The way Tabby had looked at him? Their chemistry?

Breaking her trust wasn't something he could come back from. Not in a short amount of time. Maybe not ever.

Hell, he was half convinced she'd open up the door, take one look at him then leave.

The reflective glass doors of the HiTech building opened. A slim blonde woman stepped out and held the door for Tabby, who had a tablet in one hand and a digital pen in the other. She wore a black pantsuit, white blouse. Simple. Powerful.

Fuck.

Jamie blew out a breath then opened his door and circled around to the passenger side of the SUV. Tabby was so engrossed in what she was looking at that she didn't see him.

"I want to have the police report on my desk and translated. Also, get me a meeting with the client. I don't care if it's at one in the morning, I'll make it work. And please take care of Joe? I can't with him today." Tabby handed the tablet and pen to the other woman.

That was when she glanced up, with maybe five feet of space separating them.

For an instant he saw her unguarded reaction. The wide eyed shock, mouth hanging open, a flash of pain. She blinked twice, then the shutters came down. Her chin tipped up and he felt the wave of anger hit him.

"No," she snapped.

"I'm sorry." He held up his hands. "I just go where I'm told."

"Because clearly you can't think for yourself." She glanced at the blonde woman at her side. "I'll let you know what my afternoon looks like when I figure it out."

"Good luck." The woman cradled the tablet to her chest, turned on her heel and walked briskly back toward the building.

Jamie opened the door to the back seat. "I'm sorry."

"Like that matters." Tabby brushed past him and opened the front seat instead.

He closed both doors then blew out a breath.

This was going to be a fun ride.

Jamie climbed back behind the wheel, shut the door and sealed himself into the frosty space. He reached down and picked up the extra-large cup from the shop down the street.

"Vanilla latte?" He held out the peace offering.

She eyed it. "Did you find that out from bugging my phone?"

"Agent Clark said it was your drink of choice."

"That's something the DoD keeps on file?"

"I guess."

Tabby accepted the drink and sipped it.

At least she'd gotten in the SUV.

Jamie shifted into drive and merged into traffic before she could change her mind and get out. They drove for in silence.

How did he even begin?

I'm sorry didn't encompass everything he should say to her.

At a red light he finally allowed himself to turn his head and take in her profile.

Her hair was up this time in some sort of braid, twisty thing. A few wisps hung down, the kind he wanted to reach over and tuck behind her ear. She kept staring straight ahead though she had to know he was looking at her.

"The light's green," she said.

He refocused on the road. "You have every right to be angry with me."

"Good. You understand."

"I'm sorry, Tabby."

"Those words don't change the past." She glanced his way, her narrowed glare slicing at him.

"I know, and I don't expect you to forgive me. I just want you to know I'm sorry. I didn't like this job when Agent Clark gave it to me. I didn't want to do it. That's not the kind of work I'm trained for. I almost walked out of the charity dinner a dozen times before I finally sat down. Then I met you and..."

Those first moments had been awkward on his end. He'd sat there, unsure of the whole situation, but then they'd begun talking.

"I liked you, okay? We started getting to know each other and I hated what I was supposed to do. So I kept putting it off because I didn't want to and we wound up having such a great time. I thought about just not doing it, not telling you, but I couldn't do that either. At the end of the night, I told you the truth because what I was tasked to do was wrong and you deserved to know I wasn't really Javier."

Some part of him had wanted the truth to make things right, to fix everything, because maybe then he could kiss her without the smothering weight of guilt. But one look at her beautiful face in those moments and he'd known that the spark they'd had was gone.

"I never wanted to use you. Everything else was real. If I could go back..."

In Jamie's head he'd have approached her, asked to speak privately and lay out the truth. He still believed that she was the kind of person who would help.

"Answer me this. Why you?"

Jamie had walked into that one. He had his guesses, but nothing concrete. "If I had to guess? Out of my team I'm the guy that has the easiest time talking to women."

She was watching him now. "It would have nothing to do with the fact that my last boyfriend was Vaughn Fernandez?"

"What?" Jamie's head whipped around and he gaped at her for a moment.

She'd dated Vaughn?

That was news to Jamie.

His gut knotted up. Her anger made more sense now, and fuck he wished he'd have known.

The parallels were obvious. Prior to Vaughn settling down, he'd been a known ladies' man. Jamie was always in a relationship. Then there were the physical similarities. They both from Mexican heritage, had similar builds, hair color.

"I didn't know that." Jamie glanced at her. "I didn't have a God damn clue."

"But someone did. Someone on your team picked you because you're a smooth talking piece of shit. Someone on your team wanted to manipulate me. And you know what the really sad part of all this is?" She sat back and chuckled, but it was a bitter sound. "Whatever you wanted to know, it wouldn't be on my phone. I don't keep anything on my phone. Not my social media. Not my email. All I do is call and text. That's it."

"I'm sorry, Tabby. I'm so fucking sorry."

"Good." She took a long drink from her latte.

In that moment Jamie wanted the earth to open up and swallow him. Agent Clark had set him up at the very least. She'd examined the team and picked Jamie because of what she knew about Tabby.

The rest of the drive passed in uneasy silence.

By the time he pulled into the garage at the task force headquarters Jamie felt like shit and he was pissed. It was clear to him Agent Clark had a plan. She knew things. But she wasn't telling their team.

How could they work together if there was no trust?

Jamie parked in one of the spots reserved near the elevator and got out. He managed to make it around the SUV and open Tabby's door before she'd gathered her things. Armed with a briefcase and the latte she got out, never once glancing in his direction.

That door was firmly shut. Whatever potential they might have had was dead, strangled by lies and deceit.

"This way?" Jamie gestured toward the elevators.

He used his badge and swiped the keypad to grant them entry. Tabby followed him, pulling an ID badge from her bag and clipping it to her label. The ID identified her as a DoD contractor with her picture, name and security clearance, something everyone had to wear when on site.

Jamie's phone buzzed, giving him something to do as the elevator rose to the topmost floor. It was from Logan.

Conference room. Now.

The same conference room where Jamie was taking Tabby? Were they finally going to be read in on what the hell they were doing here?