“Fuck, Indy, you turn me inside out.”
I stood there a beat and then said, very quietly, “Lee, I’m not doing anything to you. You’re doing it to yourself. I’m beginning to think you don’t know me either. There were guys but…” I was going to stay “none of them was you” but I stopped myself just in time and said, “it was just fun, half of them didn’t even get to second base. I’m not the slut you think I am.”
“I don’t think you’re a slut.”
“That’s not the way you make it sound.”
“I’ve been watchin’ men sittin’ in what I considered my position for a long time and I didn’t like it. I should have done something about this a long time ago, that’s my problem. I’m taking it out on you.”
I stared at him and realized that I’d spent years throwing myself at him and being rebuffed and watching him go off with every other girl who caught his eye. Each time it tore at my heart and each new time it hurt more.
What I didn’t realize was, for years he’d been experiencing the same thing.
“My flirting is harmless, you don’t have anything to worry about,” I told him.
“I’m still gonna ask you not to do it,” Lee replied.
I looked into his eyes for several seconds and then sighed. “All right. I’ll quit flirting.”
His arms were still around me and they pulled me deeper into him.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured and my heart stopped beating.
This was it, I was Lee’s girl.
And it felt great.
Holy shit, shit, shit.
I pulled back a little to hide my reaction and said, “Can I bring Marianne here? Just to meet Vance and Matt… er, and maybe Bobby?” Lee stared at me and I continued., “Also, Tod wouldn’t mind popping by.”
“No,” Lee answered but he was grinning his “Isn’t-Indy-cute?” grin.
“I didn’t think so,” I muttered to myself. “Can we go find Rosie now?”
*
After I tamed the wild, broody Lee Beast in the locker room, Lee finished his tour.
There were three more doors to discover.
Room one was a blandly decorated room with a double bed, a reclining chair, a TV, DVD player and bookshelf full of books and DVDs. It had a private bath and was called the safe room. To get into it, you needed a fob for one pad and you had to put your thumb to another pad and you had to use an old-fashioned key.
Room two was a room with four work cubicles in it, all complete with chairs, desks, computers and filing cabinets underneath the desks. Brody, Ally and my computer nerd friend, popped up from one of the cubicles.
“Indy!” he shouted.
“Holy shit, Brody, what’re you doing here?” I asked, walking toward him and smiling.When I got to him, I gave him a hug. He was a total slob, black shirt, black jeans, black Doc Martens, wild dark hair and Buddy Holly glasses. His body had no shape, defined, as it was, by sitting in a chair in front of a computer all the time.
“Ally told me I needed to get out of my house so she got me a part-time job with Lee. What are you doing here?” He looked between me and Lee. “Oh yeah, I forgot, Ally told me you and Lee hooked up. Finally. Cool. Bet you’re happy.”
I glanced at Lee, the Lee Beast had disappeared and Cocky Lee had taken his place.
I ignored it and turned back to Brody. “You do programming?”
“Nope, hacking, usually tracing embezzlement stuff but sometimes…”
“Brody,” Lee cut in and Brody stopped talking, his eyes got wide and he stared at Lee.
“Yeah, sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Brody said and looked at me. “Confidentiality,” he whispered. “I keep forgetting.”
I looked around the room, fascinated by what Lee had built in a short period of time. It was a huge-ass operation.
“The other cubbies are for searches and stuff.” Brody started pointing. “That’s Kim’s cubbie, she’s hilarious, you’d like her. Her husband is a paramedic so she likes to work when he’s on shift, sometimes seven to three, sometimes three to eleven. Then there’s Pablo but he’s part-time, like me. I do morning, he does afternoons. The other one is for the boys when they need to do computer work we can’t see.”
“Ah,” I said.
Brody looked to Lee. “See, I told her the whole thing without talking about the job we’re doing.”
Lee stared at Brody, obviously re-evaluating doing a favor for his sister.
“That’s good, Brody,” I said to him like he was a lovable dog, which, in a way, he was.
Lee put his hand at my back again, indication it was time to go.
“When we leave, lock the door and don’t open it for fifteen minutes unless you get a knock, three, two, two. Got that?” Lee said to Brody.
“Three, two, two. Got it.” He turned to me. “Lots of codes around here. Three quicks then a long. Three short, three long, three short. Shit, what’s this new code again?” he asked Lee.