ProvokeMe (29 page)

As for his parents, she didn’t know.
But he didn’t have any
friends, at least not that she’d ever heard of or seen stop by the store.
His
relationships clearly hadn’t been lasting love affairs.
So, clearly, the fault
was his.
It certainly wasn’t because she was incapable of keeping anyone around
long enough to get sick of her.

For once, she’d found someone more broken than she was.
The
only difference was he didn’t know it.

She wanted to tell him.
She even bought a phone card for
that express purpose, because her cell was one of those pay-by-the-minute
deals.
The phone card would be cheaper.
And this way, she’d only have twenty
minutes to say her piece.
Of course he would probably hang up before she’d
gotten very far.
But at least she’d have said what she needed to.
To make sure
she covered the important parts, she intended to start with
fuck you
.

Which was more than she’d ever said to her freaking parents,
who’d sent her yet another cactus-emblazoned shot glass and a stack of
postcards for her upcoming birthday.

But she didn’t call.
She wouldn’t even give him that
satisfaction.
No matter what she said, he’d probably see it as her attempting
to grovel.
Silence was her best weapon.
And eventually, if the fates were kind,
she simply wouldn’t care anymore.

She got through each day by rote until her birthday.
Maybe
not well, but she managed.
Then she woke with a single-minded goal.

She needed to know who the woman was.

For some reason, she hadn’t asked when Spencer had confessed
all.
The idea he’d really been with someone else, had made love to the
nameless, faceless woman only hours after touching
her
, had been all she
could focus on.
But with the cool objectivity of five days apart, she could see
she’d erred.

She got to work on time, as always, and waited for her
target to appear.
The instant she spotted her immediate supervisor in the hall
outside the break room, Kelly pounced.

“Who was the woman Spencer slept with here?” she asked
without preamble.

The “situation” from his past may have had no bearing on the
present.
But the timing of Saturday’s meeting and his subsequent behavior was a
little iffy, to say the least.
She wasn’t a fan of Agatha Christie for nothing.
The answer was right in front of her, she just knew it.

Marcia jolted but she recovered quickly.
“You mean besides
you?”

“Don’t start.
Not today.”

“Why?
Because you have your special birthday undies on?”

Kelly narrowed her eyes.
“Give me her name.
That’s all I
want.”

Marcia hesitated.
“Kelly, if something happened between you
and Spencer, I really shouldn’t get involved.”

“Marcia, please.
I have to know.”

Marcia’s gaze cut to the tall brunette woman posting a
sign-up sheet in the break room for a company picnic.
She’d arrived at the
store a few days ago and introduced herself as Diana Sinclair, the daughter of
the owners.
And yesterday, she’d led their first staff meeting in Spencer’s
absence.
She’d been peppy and enthusiastic, the ultimate cheerleader in spiked
heels.
Yes, there would be some changes within the store, but they were for
everyone’s benefit.
And oh yeah, have a cookie.

Between Leigh and this new chick, Kelly was starting to
intensely dislike peanut butter.

It took a minute, but Marcia’s interest in the attractive
brunette finally made sense.
So the snake in the grass had returned home.
Quite
coincidental actually, considering Spencer had supposedly met with the owners
Saturday night and yet he’d come back smelling like eau de skank.

Kelly slipped her hands in the pockets of her simple
patchwork dress.
The look was a bit more country casual than she usually went
for, but today she’d decided to pay full homage to her beatnik heritage.
She
wore clogs and socks to go with the dress her mother had made, completely unconcerned
about her appearance.
Why bother dressing up?
What was the point?
But now, she
had new resolve.

She murmured to Marcia, “Did he meet with her the other
night?”

“I don’t know.”

“Of course you don’t.” There was only way to find out if
she’d misconstrued everything.
She’d just have to ask her new boss exactly how
friendly she got with her underlings.

Good thing she’d never been one to stand on ceremony.

“What exactly is going on with you guys?” Marcia asked.

“Spencer and me?
Nothing.
We’re officially dormant.” She
gave Marcia her sunniest smile.
“Leave Ms.
Sinclair and me alone for a little
chat, would you?”

“Kel, I need you on the floor.”

She shooed Marcia away with a flap of her hands.
“I’ll be
there soon.
Promise.”

“Kelly, wait.” Marcia grabbed her arm and tugged her up the
hall, stopping well out of listening distance.
Great sign.
“There’s something
you should know.”

Kelly pressed a hand against her uneasy stomach.
She had
enough to deal with right now.
Did Marcia really need to tack on more?
“Okay.”

“I was the one who gave Spencer your PDA,” she said in a low
voice.

Kelly narrowed her eyes.
“What?”

“It was me.” She sighed and gazed at the toes of her plum
pumps.
“You must’ve left it on the table when you had lunch with Cale and he
came to me to ask my opinion.”

“Your opinion on what?
And why the hell didn’t he just
return it?” Kelly crossed her arms over her chest.
Cripes, how many more people
she cared for would she have to forget about this week?

“He knew you had the hots for Spencer and he figured this
would push you together.” The corner of her mouth tipped up.
“Well, he figured
that eventually.
It took some convincing.”

Kelly worked on taking even breaths.
“He figured telling
other employees about my list would push us together, huh?
And what exactly was
his reasoning for nosing through my files to begin with?”

“He only told me.
I told Tony.
The PDA was in screensaver
mode and he double checked to make sure it was yours—”

“Nice try.” Kelly rolled her eyes.
“He didn’t know it was
mine?”

“He said he wanted to be sure.” Marcia shrugged.
“And the
list was right there.
He couldn’t resist when he saw the name of the file.”

Kelly winced.
Yeah, a file named
Top Ten To Fuck
would probably get some notice.
That she’d renamed it as a joke between her and
Alana after her best friend had been named one of the top ten photographers to
watch in the Roanoke area didn’t really make her feel better.

“He wanted to help you,” Marcia insisted.
“He thinks of you
as a friend.
And I…”

“You what?
We’re not friends.
We never have been.
Why would
you care if I hooked up with your brother?”

“Because I knew he had feelings for you too.”

“Oh did you.” Kelly didn’t phrase it as a question, because
she knew the sentiment was pure bullshit.
Still, hope flared inside her.

“Yes.
I did.
Well, I suspected.
It’s not like we had a
heart-to-heart about it.”

“And again, why would you want me with him?
Why would you
care?”

“Why would I care?
He’s my little brother.
Surprise, I want
him happy.” Marcia gave a jerky shrug.
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure what your
motives were.
I didn’t know if he was just a notch for you or a way to get
ahead.
But Cale assured me you weren’t like that.”

“And you trust Cale that much.”

Something about the shifty expression that slid over
Marcia’s face made Kelly stand up straighter.
What the hell?
Was something
going on between Cale and Marcia?
What about Tony?

“Yes, I do,” she said softly.

Kelly blew out a breath.
She had her own issues and they
didn’t include Marcia’s tangled relationships.
“Look, I appreciate you telling
me the truth.
I guess I also appreciate you both trying to play matchmaker.
But
that list shouldn’t have been made public.
If Cale wanted to be my friend, he
should have let me handle my own damn love life.”

“He was going to.
I’m the one who insisted Spencer needed to
have it.” Marcia smiled thinly.
“Let’s just say I was pretty sure how Spence
would react.
From the way the two of you have been flitting around each other
lately, looks like I was right.”

“And you told Tony why?”

Marcia suddenly seemed preoccupied with her manicure.
“He
acts like he thinks he’s God’s gift to women sometimes, so I figured it might
bring him down a peg or two to know at least one woman didn’t want him.”

“Did it?”

Marcia grinned.
“Nope.
He’s incorrigible.
Which is the way I
like him.”

Kelly dug her thumbs into her aching temples.
Too many
nights of too little sleep were catching up to her.
“Thanks for the heads-up.
But it doesn’t matter much now, does it?”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s not about me being sure.
It’s about Spencer making his
own choices and me making the choice not to let him hurt me.”

Marcia touched her arm.
“Doesn’t look like it’s working,
Kel,” she said, her voice gentle.
“You look like you haven’t slept in a month.”

“Only a week or two.” She tried to smile, thought she knew
the attempt fell flat when Marcia frowned.
“I need to talk to Diana.”

“Be my guest.” Marcia leaned in and whispered, “If you need
to clean up the blood, there’s a mop in the closet.”

Kelly laughed and returned to the break room, quietly
shutting the door.
No need to slam it.
Yet.

When she turned to face Diana, Diana shifted toward her with
a bland smile.
“Kelly, is it?”

Caught off guard, Kelly bit her lip.
“Um, yeah.
How do you
know me?”

Diana went back to drawing columns on her whiteboard.
“I
asked questions, just as you asked about me.
Only difference was I know how to
be discreet.” She made a low tsking sound in her throat.
“Either you were
unconcerned about being overheard or you’re just stupid.
Which is it?”

Kelly’s fingers curled into her palms.
Well, this certainly
wasn’t proceeding as planned.
This one had some bite to her.
Apparently Spencer
liked the feisty type.

But she wasn’t too concerned.
Diana may be feisty, but Kelly
could still kick her ass if need be.
And she’d skip using the mop afterward.
Better to leave evidence of her fresh kill.

“This may surprise you, but I didn’t think the woman I was
looking for was still in residence.
I thought Spencer had more class than
that.”

“Ah, darling.
Class has nothing to do with fucking.
You’ll
learn that in time.” Diana spritzed some cleanser on the board to erase a stray
mark.
“I don’t know what to make of you.
The past few days you’ve been quiet,
devoted to the job.
And in those clothes, a perfectly harmless little mouse.”
She laughed.
“Well, not
little
.”

Oh no, she didn’t.
Kelly started to toss back a retort of
her own, but Diana cut her off.
“So what can I do for you?
I’m guessing you
didn’t shut us in here so you can sign up to bring meatballs to the company
picnic.”

“Hardly.” Kelly crossed her arms over her chest and decided
she didn’t have time to pussyfoot around.
“I know you slept with Spencer
Saturday night.
I hope it was good for you, considering he’d just been with me
that afternoon.”