Even the Score(46)

“The hell I’m not.” I sidestepped her, continuing into my office.

Again she ran in front of me, this time slamming her hand on top of my desk phone. “Andy, listen. I think I know who it is, and he’s just irritated. He’ll get over himself and this will blow over, unless we call the police and make it a bigger deal than it really is.”

“Who is it?”

Not taking her eyes off me, she slowly slid her hand off the phone and stood up straight. “I think it’s Cole Woods or one of the members of his ridiculous entourage.”

I frowned at her. “Cole Woods? From the Vikings?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Remember the story I told you . . . about why I was leaving Leighton Management? He’s the one that made all the inappropriate comments and scared the crap out of me in my office.”

“That was Cole Woods? I remember you telling me about the incident, but you never said a name.” Feeling numb, I slid down in the chair across from my desk, setting the piece of paper down in front of me.

“It’s not my style to rat people out and name names. Especially in this business, you know how it is.” She pulled out my office chair and sat down.

We were quiet for a moment, both undoubtedly thinking about the same thing . . . that fucking piece of paper.

“There were others?” I finally asked.

She swallowed again but refused to make eye contact with me. “Yeah.”

“Just like that one?”

“Kinda. The pictures of me were different, but it always had the same thing written on it.”

I looked up from the paper to her. “What were the other pictures of?”

“All of me, and so far they were all taken on Tuesdays when Ellie and I went out for lunch,” she said softly, playing with her fingers nervously as she spoke.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead with my hand. “How many others?”

“This is the fourth.”

I dropped my hand into my lap quickly. “Jesus, Dani. You said a couple. A couple is two.”

She glared at me with fear disguised as anger. “Does the number really matter at this point?”

As I set the picture on my desk and crossed my arms, she picked it up. She was right. It didn’t matter if there were two, ten, or fifty. One was too many for me. I didn’t know a whole lot about Cole Woods, but that would end the minute she walked out of my office. We sat again in silence, each of us unsure of what to do. I wanted to call the police and have his ass arrested within the hour, but what if Dani was right? What if it did somehow make things worse? Would this really just blow over eventually?

“Are you okay?” I finally asked.

She startled, looking up from the paper. “I’m fine.” She looked so tiny sitting behind my big desk, and the truth was, I didn’t ever want her to leave. I wanted her to stay in my office forever, where at least I knew she was safe.

“I don’t mean just right now, I mean . . . are you okay? Really okay?”

“I’m really okay.”

Over the last several weeks, I’d learned a lot about Danicka Douglas. She was quick-witted, she was sharp, she was a tiny little terror who drove me crazy most of the time. The one thing she wasn’t was easily rattled, but as I sat in that chair and watched her chew her nails as she stared down at that piece of paper, I could tell she was scared.

“Listen, I’m here. If you need anything—”

“I know,” she interrupted as her eyes snapped up to mine, offering me a tight smile, “and I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine. I’m mainly concerned with this getting out and looking bad on the company.”

“Danicka, right now I don’t give a shit about the company.” I shook my head, staring straight at her. “At this point, all I care about it you and your safety. That’s my only concern.”

Her expression softened as her gaze fell toward the floor. “I appreciate that, but I’m hoping if we just do nothing, it’ll all go away.” She grabbed the picture and stood up from my desk, walking around the side. When she got next to me, she stopped and put her hand on my shoulder. “Andy.” She stared down at me. “I mean it. No police. Promise?”

I looked up at her dark, pleading eyes and put my hand on top of hers. “Fine. I promise for now. But you have to promise to tell me if anything else happens, the minute it happens. Got it?”

Her eyes softened and she gave me a small, tight-lipped smile. “Deal.”

As she walked out of my office, I sat in my chair and shook my head, knowing that she’d just lied straight to my face.





CHAPTER 18

Danicka

The next week at the office was a little tense, but oddly enough, I felt relieved that Andy knew what was going on. I’d grown so accustomed to looking over my shoulder the last month or so, it was nice to have someone else watching my back, too. Just saying Cole Woods’s name out loud was cathartic and took a ton of weight off my shoulders. Andy did ask that for the time being, Ellie and I keep our lunch dates in-house, and while it was a pain at the beginning, we’d settled into a little routine. She would order lunch in while I set up a makeshift picnic in my office. Andy and Ethan even joined us a couple of times. We’d become this weird, tight-knit little group, and I loved it.