50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Seventy

    "Here are your coffees. Did you want anything else?"

    "We're good for now," Brian told the waitress. He waited for the cute, chubby redhead to leave before turning to face Destiny.

    Destiny sat beside Carlos on the other side of the booth with her gaze lowered. Every once in awhile she would glance over her shoulder, as if checking to see if someone had followed her into the breakfast chain restaurant.

    Carlos was watchful of her, but had the same expression of concern that he'd worn since standing outside of The Baton.

    Brian sighed and opened a pack of creamer. As he dumped the creamer into his coffee mug, he asked, "So are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

    "I can't. Not before I tell Aubrey." Another glance over her shoulder. Scoping out the place.

    "So you're going to tell Aubrey tonight, then?" Brian questioned.

    She turned her eyes on him and shook her head. "No. I can't. He has enough to worry about."

    "You have to tell someone, Destiny," Brian told her, opening another pack of creamer. "It's obvious that you're dealing with something huge. Something scared you. If you're not going to tell Aubrey tonight, then you should tell me."

    She tucked hair behind her ear and leaned forward. "If I told you and Aubrey found out that I told you before I told him, he would be pissed at me."

    He leaned forward and mimicked her position, lowering his voice. "If you don't tell someone, you're going to lose your mind. Literally. You're already on your way there. Look at you. You keep looking around like you expect to see...I don't even know. But it's starting to freak me out. So..."

    She chewed on her bottom lip in thought. Looking at him as if wondering whether or not she could trust him. Making up her mind, she explained, "The allegations against Graham Enterprises kept getting worse and worse. So...I started looking into Harry Palmer. I figured if I could dig some dirt up on him, then..." She stopped talking and turned her head.

    Brian sighed and looked at Carlos.

    Carlos shrugged his shoulders.

    "I don't think I should talk about this now," she mumbled, her hands fidgeting with each other.

    He sat back, opened a sugar packet, and poured its contents into his coffee mug. "Did you find anything? On Palmer?"

    She swallowed and nodded.

    "What you found is what scared you?"

    "Not exactly."

    He frowned. "Destiny, you have to tell me. This is work related. As your superior, I am telling you to talk."

    She ran a hand across her forehead. "I was looking into him and the car accident he had. There are photos of him with a steering wheel imprint on his chest. The photos were taken right after the accident. He claimed that his wife was the one driving and no one questioned it, but...the only way he could get that imprint is if he drove. And if he lied about driving...he could be lying about the fact that it's an accident."

    Carlos gasped. Brian saw the look in his eyes darken before the young man turned his head and stared out of the restaurant window.

    Brian tilted his head to the side, studying Carlos with narrowed eyes.

    "That's not all," Destiny said, drawing Brian's attention back to her. "Earlier today, I was looking into his history with the military and...I got this message. No username, nothing to indicate who it was from. But the message said, 'Stop digging now.'"

    "Fuck," Brian cursed under his breath.

    "They knew when I was looking. They knew what I was looking into."

    "So it was probably Palmer or someone Palmer hired," Brian surmised. "I get it. Palmer is...he's big time. He has a far reach. I'm Canadian, and even I know about him."

    "His history was squeaky clean, other than the possibility of faking the accident," she told him.

    Brian shook his head. "No...someone like him...if his history is squeaky clean, it's just because he's good at covering up for himself."

    She lowered her gaze again and stared down at the table. "Tonight at the club, I felt like someone was watching me. I think...I think someone is following me."

    "Then you shouldn't go clubbing again any time soon," Brian suggested. "Just stay home. With Aubrey. So he can protect you." It hurt him to speak the words, but he would rather her be safe with Aubrey than out on her own, risking getting hurt or attacked.

    She offered him a small, appreciative smile that made the suggestion worth it. "He was already talking about putting a security officer outside of my office."

    "Not a bad idea," Brian admitted.

    She laughed. "You and Aubrey are so..."

    "Overprotective?" he finished for her.

    "I was going to say overbearing," she said, her mouth slanting.

    He leaned forward and covered one of her hands with his. "We care about you. We don't want to see anything bad happen to you."

    She looked down at his hand.

    Even Carlos turned away from the window so he could peer at Brian's hands on top of hers. He looked between Brian and Destiny with glee shining in his eyes.

    She cleared her throat. "Thank you," she told Brian. "But I don't need a security officer standing outside of my office."

    "I can understand why he wanted it," Brian said softly. He couldn't stop the emotion from filling his eyes even if he had wanted to. When she was sitting near him, this close, all of his feelings for her came rising to the surface. He did what he could to stifle them, but he was never successful. Something about her pulled her to him and made him want to protect her, provide for her, take care of her. He sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "All right, so...if the person who sent you the message is Palmer, then that means he would definitely be hiding something."

    "That's the conclusion I came to," she said softly.

    "I hate to overstate the obvious here," Carlos said, looking between the two of them, "but if someone sends you some creepy message telling you to stop digging, all you have to do is stop digging. Then the creepy person should leave you alone. Right?"

    "I've been thinking about that," she said slowly. "There is no guarantee. He could wake up one day, feel like I know too much already, and decide to tie off any loose ends."

    Carlos narrowed his eyes at her. "So...what are you saying?"

    She stared across the table at Brian.

    Brian shook his head, knowing that there was no way it would end well. "She's saying that she still wants to look into Palmer. Find out what he's hiding. And expose him."