“Riley, why did you turn down the job?” I ask her.
“Because the pay wasn’t good enough for that level of whoring myself out, obviously.”
Dylan watches quietly from the bed. I widen my eyes at Riley and try to give her a secret look. What I want to do is choke her until she stops talking. I can’t believe she’s wrecking my life, like she always does.
“And by whoring, I mean sales,” she says quickly.
“Yes, sales,” I say.
She turns and explains to Dylan, “Which is basically what I do as a pharmaceutical rep. I shouldn’t call it whoring. I go for lunches and flirt a little with the doctors. That’s why they hire pretty girls for this job, and not chemists, though chemists would be better qualified…”
She trails off because I’m giving her a dirty look. She’s not helping.
I point to her phone. “Mr. Morris? You were saying?”
“Right.” Her cheeks are pink from blushing, and she’s backing her way out of my bedroom. “He sent me a message a few days ago, about salary expectations. I answered him back, and then he asked some more questions. He was so sweet.”
“And?”
Her face scrunches. “I kinda-sorta sent him a cute selfie with my boobs pushed together.”
“Riley! He’s my boss.”
“I’m not into him!”
“How many text messages?”
She looks up at the ceiling. “Not that many. More than a dozen, less than a hundred.”
“Tell him you’re seeing someone, and stop sending him messages. Seriously. You’re the older sister here. You should know better.”
“But this could be good for you. I think he’s trying to impress me by looking out for you.”
I roll my eyes. “Please. I’m down in the basement. If that’s with the owner of the company looking out for me, I’d hate to see what happened to me if I pissed him off.”
She hesitates near my door, looking at her phone.
“Jess, his message this morning was extra weird. There’s some shit going down at the company. Just go with it, and don’t tell anyone. He said he’ll take care of you.”
“WTF, Riley. You make no sense.”
She hands me the phone so I can read the message:
Riley,
I’d still like you on my team. More on that later. Please tell your sister, in strictest confidence, that certain events are transpiring. These events are troubling, but not entirely unexpected. I knew this day would come. Tell Jessica that she is in my thoughts. If she demonstrates loyalty to the company, the company will reward her abundantly.
Carter Morris.
I hand her back the phone. “Mr. Morris is so weird,” I say, shaking my head.
“He’s formal, but sweet,” Riley says. “I think he’s lonely. And he does have nice green eyes.” She sticks her tongue out, like even she is disgusted at what she’s saying.
“Gross, Riley. He’s so old. What is it with you and older guys? You have a sick fetish or something.”
She narrows her eyes and gives me an evil look. “Drop it, Jess.” She turns to Dylan and explains to him, “I slept with her favorite teacher. Big whoop. People make mistakes.”
Dylan’s eyes dart between us. He looks completely lost.
“We’ve all made mistakes,” he says.
Riley tucks the phone away. “I’m not going to reply to his messages,” she says, turning to walk out. “I hope that makes you happy. But I won’t dump him outright. I want him to look after you. Someone has to.”
“Hang on, wait. You should keep talking to him, but just talking. You know I can use all the inside info I can get.”
Riley walks back over to me and whispers in my ear, “Is it okay to talk about this in front of Dylan?”
“He’s my boyfriend.”
She looks over at him. Dylan nods.
She gives me an eyebrow raise, then leaves my bedroom.
Dylan and I are alone for a few seconds. He asks, “What’s with the secret message stuff?”
My whole body feels weak, like I haven’t eaten in days. I pull my chair away from the desk and take a seat.
“There’s some weird corporate stuff going on at Morris that I haven’t told you about.”
He sits up and moves to the edge of the bed, so our knees are nearly touching. We’re both completely dressed now, which makes it easier for me to talk.
“Corporate stuff that concerns me?” he asks.
“Remember when we talked about your guy, Q? And how I think he’s a former Morris employee? That he’s David Ambler?”
Dylan frowns. “Of course. And I said it makes total sense, because he knows so much about how Morris operates. How is this a problem?”