6. Diem

Ipushed our Thursday meeting to the following week since Tallus had managed to mindfuck me right into forgetting I had a scheduled appointment with my therapist. Since I only saw Dr. Peterson once a month, I figured it wasn’t good form to cancel. Besides, Nana would know. She kept tabs on me, and despite late-stage dementia, my mental health remained a top priority in her slowly fading life. She felt responsible for all I’d been through.

Nana was the only person who had ever truly cared about me, so I was loath to disappoint her.

Pacing my tiny living space, waiting for Tallus to show up, I regretted everything. I was not on board with this plan. It was dangerous and risky. When I’d relayed it to Becca, she’d taken Tallus’s side. The woman was sick of hiding. I didn’t blame her but wasn’t convinced we would get answers. If anything, Tallus’s proposed plan could put a target on our heads and leave us worse off.

Why the fuck had I let him talk me into this?

Stopping at Baby’s enclosure, I checked the readings on the new high-tech system I’d installed. Her environment required strict monitoring. Temperature and humidity had to be precise. The numbers looked good, so I unlatched the lid and removed the hollow half log where she liked to hide. When I picked her up, she instantly coiled around my arm, sought out the other, and looped herself around it as well. Active and squirming, she moved her sleek body from my left side to my right, winding and flicking her tongue as she scented the air around my face.

“Hey, Baby. I know. Almost feeding time.” She was still young, so she ate every ten to fourteen days, and I could tell when she was almost ready. Lately, she’d been more active, prowling her tank and tasting the air. All good signs. When I was in the room, she sought me out.

“I’ll go get you a nice rat corpse tomorrow. Sound good?”

I liked to imagine she understood.

A knock sounded at the door, so Baby and I headed that way. When I opened it, Tallus startled and retreated until his back hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. “Jesus fuck.” He clutched his chest, hazel eyes blown wide. “You can’t do that to a person.”

“Hey,” I grunted and kicked the door open further, silently inviting him in while I returned to the other room to put Baby away.

“I don’t get you,” Tallus said from behind.

Not many people did.

“Seriously. Who owns a snake as a pet? Was the humane society fresh out of puppies?”

Baby wasn’t ready to get put down. She tried to squirm up my arm, and I had to shed her like a coat. Enclosed again, she stalked from one side of her aquarium to the other, weaving around the various rock obstacles and brushing against her rotting logs.

“Tomorrow, Baby. I promise.”

I latched the lid and shifted to Tallus, who hadn’t lost his wide-eyed terror, gaze locked on the snake’s enclosure. He hadn’t entered the room and hovered in the doorway.

“She won’t hurt you.”

He huffed. “Yeah. Famous last words. Aren’t you afraid she’ll get out and… eat you?”

The notion was comical. Baby was barely four feet long, and my bicep had a greater circumference. Although I didn’t laugh, Tallus must have read the humor in my eyes.

“You think I’m funny. Don’t you watch TV? It’ll happen. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“She’s a baby. The biggest thing she can ingest right now is a small rat.” I peered down at my oversized frame. “I think I’m safe.”

“For now. Mark my words. She’s still creepy. Are you ready?”

I thought Tallus must have come straight from the office, dressed in gray trousers, a navy button-down, and with a two-toned silver tie. But something was different.

I gestured to his face. “Where are your glasses?” They were an accessory I associated with Tallus, and their absence stood out.

Tallus shrugged. “I tried to tone it down. Dull colors and nothing too distinguishable. I want to remain forgettable.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d noticed Tallus’s attention to detail.

“I still don’t agree with this.”

“Well, get over yourself. Here’s the plan…”

***

By ten to six, we were camped in the underground parking structure of the federal government office where Aurelian worked. His shift ended at five, but I’d been trailing him long enough to know he never left work before six.

Sure enough, his car was parked in its designated spot. We’d planted Tallus’s Jetta on the street and taken the Wrangler. I’d parked a few car lengths away from Aurelian. Tallus’s presence in my Jeep was distracting. Whatever cologne he wore filled the cab and made all the synapses in my brain misfire.

“You’re distracting.”

“What?”

“Your cologne.”

“Oh. You like it?”

“No. It’s distracting, and if your goal was to stay forgettable, you failed.”

“Are you saying it’s memorable?”

“I’m saying it’s all I can smell, and it’s… it’s… fucking distracting. How many times do I have to say it?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I growled under my breath, and Tallus chuckled.

He wasn’t getting it.

The offer he’d made had been playing on repeat in my head for over a week, and my initial worries about getting involved felt increasingly trivial as time passed. It wasn’t like he was proposing we go on a date. What was stopping me from treating him like any other guy from Spark? He was mature enough to take it for what it was and move on, wasn’t he? We could indulge in a few drinks, loosen up—I could loosen up—then take care of matters, effectively stamping out this constant distraction monopolizing my every waking minute. We could…

“Remember. Let me do the talking.”

“I am capable.”

“You have yet to prove it, so stay quiet.”

I grunted.

“And less of that. Unless the situation calls for some intimidation, and it might.”

“Who died and put you in charge?”

“Your personality, sweetheart.”

“Stop calling me that.”

Another musical chuckle. “You prefer Guns?”

“No.”

“D?”

“Why do I require a nickname?”

“Because it clearly annoys you, and annoying you is fun.”

My cheek twitched, and I almost smiled. Then, I remembered I didn’t do such things and packed it away.

Besides, once I figured out this Aurelian bullshit, I didn’t have to see Tallus again. At least not frequently. Sure, I needed an in with the department, and although I wasn’t sure Tallus could replace Ms. Lavender on the same level, he was better than having no one. The fact I didn’t scare him off was a plus, right?

Fucking around didn’t have to open unwanted doors. It didn’t mean we were required to have a heart-to-heart and buy each other fucking birthday cards. He’d pegged me as an asshole, so if I remained as such, it shouldn’t surprise him. Thus far, he’d proved himself immune to my moods and mouth. Not many people were.

Plus, Tallus hadn’t broken out with a hundred questions about my past, and I’d seen him read my scars a time or ten. If he respected my privacy now, who was to say he wouldn’t continue to stay on his side of the line afterward?

We could do this.

Just once.

For the good of my sanity, if nothing else.

Right?

Fuck I needed a cigarette.

As though reading my body language, Tallus lifted the lid of the middle console and handed me the fresh pack of gum I’d bought on our drive to Aurelian’s place of work.

“Take it down a notch. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’re steaming up the windows. I need you calm, cool, and collected if we’re going to make this believable.”

Three words not in my vocabulary.

I popped three pieces of gum, chewing vigorously. My quest to quit smoking had been less than successful, but I’d gone seventy-two hours without lighting up, and Dr. Peterson would say I should celebrate even the smallest of successes, so la-di-fucking-da. Go me.

I popped a fourth piece for good measure, watching Tallus from the corner of my eye. His focus was on Aurelian’s car, so I didn’t think he caught me studying his profile.

I was wrong.

The corner of his lip twisted into a sly smirk. “Still thinking about our little meet-cute, aren’t you?”

“Our what?”

“You know when you saved my life, and I inadvertently—”

“Stop bringing it up.” I scanned the parking structure, burning with a need to hit the gas, take Tallus back to the office, and bend him over my couch—if only to get him out of my system.

Why did he do this to me? Before I could put my plan into action—because fuck Aurelian—Tallus sat straighter, and my spine stiffened in response.

“There he is,” he hissed. “By the elevator. Are you ready?”

No, I was not fucking ready. This was the worst idea imaginable, but my time for protest had come and gone. Mr. Over-Confident himself had somehow swept in and taken control of my case. My goddamn job.

Tallus was out the door in a flash, straightening his peacoat. All I could do was follow and hope he didn’t mess this whole thing up beyond repair.

He met me in front of the Jeep and hooked his arm in mine. “Keep the growling to a minimum if at all possible and follow my lead. Remember, we’re in love.”

“I didn’t agree to that.”

“It’s called acting.”

“I don’t act.”

“You do now. Hush. Let’s go.”

Tallus tugged me along as he swaggered toward Aurelian’s car, meeting the man as he came from the opposite direction. Aurelian had his face buried in his phone, so he didn’t initially see us until he practically stepped on our toes.

True to plan, Tallus adopted a rich accent, speaking to me but for Aurelian’s benefit. “I told you he’d show up. This is the man Zio Mattio was talking about.”

Zio who?

Aurelian frowned and glanced around the almost vacant parking structure. Underground meant we were at the mercy of washed-out yellow parking lot lights. The way Tallus had angled his body put us with the light at our back, leaving our faces slightly shadowed.

“Good day, sir,” Tallus said to Aurelian. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

“Do I know you?” Aurelian passed his gaze between us, annoyance written all over his face.

“Not intimately, but I understand you can help me. Zio Mattio put me in contact with one of your… friends. I need umm…” Tallus rolled his hand, feigning a loss of words.

“Papers,” I grunted.

“Yes. Green card, you call it?”

Aurelian was a smart man, and although he momentarily flinched at Tallus’s abrupt proposal, he got himself under control. “I’m sorry. I think you’re looking for the immigration office. If you take that elevator and—”

“No, no. Not them. You. You do things… different, yes? Secret. I have money. Lots. Zio gave me plenty so I can come here and live with amore mio.”

Amore what now?

Aurelian wiped at his mouth and scanned the lot again. “Look, I don’t know who you’re looking for exactly, but it’s not me. Excuse me.”

Aurelian moved to go around us to get to the driver’s side door, but I stepped in his way. Maybe Tallus didn’t trust me to act my way out of a paper bag, but I could play the part of a brick wall without much coaching.

My size halted Aurelian in his tracks, and my face must have been doing something aggressive since he stepped back with an ounce of fear. But it was Tallus’s next words that drew Aurelian up short.

“Magnus Aurelian, correct? I do know you. I was told to find you here. I was told you would personally help me.”

“Who told you?”

“A friend of my zio.”

“What friend?”

“Close friend. He says you are busy with a personal mess. Something to do with your wife, but he said you will take time for me. He said you can do my papers.” Tallus pulled a falsely stuffed envelope from his coat pocket. “I can pay. Cash plus ten percent more for you. That’s good, yes? I’m a kind man.”

Aurelian stared at the envelope. Again, he wiped his mouth and nervously glanced around. “No. I don’t know who you are or where you got your information, but I’m not who you think I am.” He made to move but stopped short when he realized I was still blocking his path. “Tell your buddy to get out of my way.”

“Call Cormy,” Tallus said to me. “Tell him the deal with Zio is off. His guy is rejecting me.”

We had discussed name-dropping and decided Cormac Diamant was the one we would use. According to my research, he seemed higher up the food chain.

Aurelian paled.

As I pulled my phone from an inside pocket on my trench coat, pretending I was going to make a call, he turned to Tallus. “Who are you?”

“Someone who needs papers. Someone with a close connection to your friend. Cormy said you would help. If that’s not true, he has broken a deal with my uncle. And Zio Mattio will retract his promises too. I guarantee it.”

“Cormac Diamant?”

“He’s your boss, no?”

Another risk.

Aurelian didn’t answer one way or another, but the sweat beading his forehead spoke volumes. Cormac was someone he feared.

We’d stirred Aurelian’s pot, and at this rate, he would run from this unexpected meeting right to Cormac, and I’d be ready. For once, the conversation wouldn’t be about Becca’s whereabouts but on business.”

“Ten percent?” Aurelian asked.

“It’s fair, yes?”

“What all do you need?”

Bingo. With my phone in hand, I could get a voice recording and proper video without Aurelian any wiser.

Tallus played his part, and Aurelian fell in line, giving up the fa?ade. They spoke numbers and timelines, planned a more discreet location for a pick-up point in a month, and when Aurelian asked for a means of contacting us, Tallus handed him a slip of paper with a bogus phone number.

“But no payment until you’re done. Ask Cormy. He knows.”

“Sure.”

“And ten percent for you, yes?”

Aurelian jerked his head in a nod.

“Good. We’re done. Oh, one more thing. Morrison does the… development of these documents, correct?” Tallus asked. “I trust he does good work. Cormy talked highly of you, so I know you’re dependable, but Morisson. How do you feel about him?”

Aurelian gave a sharp nod, head on a swivel. His nerves were shot. He didn’t like conducting business in the parking structure. Who could blame him? “Top notch,” Aurelian muttered. “Won’t find better.”

“Good. I’m paying money for quality.”

“You’ll get it.”

In under thirty minutes, we parted ways. Tallus and I took to the elevator, aiming to vanish from Aurelian’s sight without revealing the nearby Wrangler. I didn’t want my plates tagged, or Becca wouldn’t be the only target. Tallus’s Jetta was parked on the street where the exit to the underground lot was located. We would pick Aurelian up as he left the lot and follow him.

He would be on the phone with Cormac the second he started his car, then he would realize it had all been a ruse, and shit would hit the fan. Not only had Tallus insinuated he knew about Aurelian’s illegal business, but he’d name-dropped and expressed his knowledge of their current dilemma—Rebecca.

It would send Aurelian and his men into a frenzy.

It was going to be a long night.