“What thing?”
“The 'I can’t stop thinking about you’ thing.”
She straightened and pulled her arm from his hand. “This thing,” she motioned between him just as he had, “between us, was over for me the minute you drove away from my house last night.”
Marching into the bathroom, Izzy shut the door firmly behind her, and locked it. Not because she was afraid he’d come in while she showered, but because she was afraid if he asked her to come out, she would. And she couldn’t. Not to him, a man in so many ways like her father. She was good enough to fuck, but not good enough to go public with. All he saw was a cocktail server with big tits who happened to tickle his fancy at the moment.
No, as much as she was drawn to Flynn, she wasn’t going to sacrifice her self-worth only to be objectified by him.
She didn’t know who she was more disappointed in—him for being so much like her father or herself for falling for him, knowing he was cut from the same cloth.
Leaning up against the door, she exhaled loudly.
“I’m not like him, Pink,” Flynn said from the other side of the door.
“Yes you are.”
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
“I’m afraid of my weakness for you.”
“I’m just as weak for you.”
Izzy squeezed her eyes shut. God help her, but she wanted to open the door and let him in. All of the way. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“Will you give me another chance not to be such a dick?”
Izzy smiled, but her heart ached because she knew the answer. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you are who you are and I am who I am. I know how you truly feel.”
She turned and opened the door. He stood there so big and strong and…vulnerable. Her heart broke; she wanted him so much at that moment. But she was already one man’s dirty secret; she wasn’t going to be another’s.
“I don’t want to be your dirty little secret, Flynn.”
“You wouldn’t be.”
“I don’t believe you. Besides, it doesn’t matter if you took an ad out in the Chronicle telling the world you’re my guy, because it would be a lie. We both know it.” When he didn’t argue, her heart fluttered. She had challenged him to fight for her. And he hadn’t. “I want you to stay away from me.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Find a way.” She reached past him, grabbed her robe from the coatrack, and slid it on, quickly tying the sash. It was the same sash she had used to tie Flynn’s hands to her headboard.
Heat shot through her at the memory. God, that had been a glorious night. Moving to the pile of pillows on the floor by her bed, she knelt down, and slipping her hands beneath the pillows she found her iPhone. Feeling for the On/Off button, she pressed it. After a few seconds she withdrew the phone and handed it to Flynn.
“I can tell Boris it ran out of battery, and that he’s going to have to be happy with what we gave him.”
She walked past him and opened her bedroom door, then strode out to the living room where Justine and Maddox were seated. They stood in unison when she entered.
“I think we did a good job,” she said brightly as if she made fake videos every day.
“Take a look,” Flynn said handing it to Justin. Justin tapped the video icon and it opened.
Justin nodded when Flynn looked like he was snorting the coke. “Very believable,” he said.
“Shouldn’t Flynn have acted drugged?” Izzy asked Justin, suddenly remembering that detail.
Justin shook his head. “It’s more damaging this way. If you’re questioned, shrug it off and say you tried but he didn’t drink the drink. Then push the fact that he was stone cold sober snorting coke off your body.”
Once the video ended, Justin looked at them and said, “Great job.”
“With your permission, Miss Fuentes, I’m going to e-mail the video to myself. Once I verify receipt and quality, I would like to delete it from your cell phone. Once back at the office I’ll make copies and edit your copy to make it look authentic. I’ll download it to a thumb drive, which you will give to Sorlov.”
“Okay,” Izzy said.
Justin got right to it.
While he was doing his thing, Maddox handed her the file folder he’d been holding earlier. “I want you to memorize the names and faces of each one of these photos. I want to know when they come in, who they talk to, and how long they’re there. If any of the girls leave with any of them, document who and what time and day.”
Izzy nodded. “Okay,” she said, setting the file folder on the coffee table.
“Pink,” Flynn said, “any time this becomes too much for you, all you have to do is walk away. Do you understand that you are in no way obligated to do any of what they’re asking of you?”
Biting her bottom lip, Izzy looked at Justin, who was focused on his laptop, and then at Maddox, who stood silently beside her. She nodded. “I understand.”
Several minutes later, with the video downloaded and deleted from her phone, Maddox said, “Once you have the thumb drive, it goes into Boris’s hands only. Under no circumstances give it to Andre.”
“Okay, but why not?”
“Because we don’t want to chance him freelancing it himself.”
“Okay.” Izzy nodded, her hands trembling as the gravity of what she was involved in hit her. This was it. The real deal. Life and maybe her death.
Maddox took her shaking hands into both of his. “We’ll have eyes and ears in the club while you’re on the clock,” he said, trying to reassure her. “We’ve got a lot of manpower at our disposal. I’ll be there, and I promise I won’t let you out of my sight.”
“Okay.”
Justin snapped his laptop closed, and standing, he jammed it under his arm. “Then we’re done here for now.”
Maddox squeezed Izzy’s hands and said, “Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Fuentes.”
“Yes, thank you,” Justin said. “Lives will be saved because of your bravery.”
“You’re welcome,” she said softly, not feeling brave at all.
“I’ll walk you out,” Flynn said on his way to the door.
Izzy knew from his tone and Maddox’s glare when Flynn said the words that fireworks were going to be going off on her porch. As the door closed behind the three of them, she started to shake uncontrollably.
What happened if she screwed this up?
Chapter Twenty-two
Pink was being used as bait in a fish tank full of piranhas. Frustrated and angry, Flynn was on the verge of a meltdown. He felt like he was tied up in a straightjacket, watching others manipulate a situation he wanted to control. Halfway down the sidewalk, he called out to Justin and Maddox. “Is that thumb drive going to have ears?”
Turning around to face Flynn, Maddox said, “You’re not involved, Ryker.”
“I’m involved. Now answer me, will it have ears?”
Justin, who had stopped and also turned around, nodded.
“GPS?” Flynn pressed.
“Yes,” Justin said.
“You have a court order?” Flynn wanted every detail.
“We will. The paperwork is in process. We’ll have one by the time she goes to the club Thursday night,” Maddox said, clearly irritated with the questioning.
“If she gets hurt, I’m hurting you.”
“Ryker,” Maddox, exasperated. “I get that you care about her, and because you do you’re letting that get in the way of this operation, that’s why your request to join it was denied. Your feelings aside, you know this is a golden opportunity. It’s the right thing to do.”
Flynn swiped his hand across his face, ignoring the logic behind Maddox’s words. “Do you think for one minute Sorlov doesn’t have a bug sweep?”