With Vengeance (16 page)

Leaning back in her chair, she sighed. How
pathetic was she to rely on a tech support dude for comfort? Well,
pathetic or not, he was all she had to turn to. She drummed her
fingers on the arm of the comfy office chair Klement had put in her
guest room. Besides, they’d known each other for years. Surely it
was natural for a friendship to have developed.

Oh, and they did need to get that software
update done.

Before she clicked send on the email, her
gaze alit on an icon at the corner of her screen—an icon that had
always been there but she’d never paid any attention to. Google
Dialer. She could just freakin’ call him from her laptop! Why the
hell hadn’t she thought of it before? She was just about to get up
from her chair to close the door to the bedroom when Geddy jumped
up on her lap. Kat smiled and scratched his ears. Oh well, she’d
just have to talk quietly.

She dialed IT Guy’s number from memory. The
screen telephone icon turned from red to green.

She waited. Some techno tune played faintly
down the hall. Kat recognized it as an old video game theme. On her
screen, just like on a cell phone, a little time-ticker counted the
seconds. This software was working, but she didn’t hear any
ringing. Maybe Google Dialer didn’t make a ringing sound.

“Alpha Tech Services, how can I help
you?”

IT Guy’s voice hadn’t come from her laptop.
It came from Klement’s office.

“Alpha Tech Services—”

The cat jumped off her lap as Katana jerked
in her seat. Her eyes darted back to her laptop screen, and with
shaking fingers she fiddled with the volume. “—can I help you?”

Her fingers froze before she could raise the
volume all the way. The voice now came from her computer
and
down the hall. Her jaw dropped, she jerked the mouse arrow across
the screen and clicked the END CALL icon.

Klement’s voice—IT Guy’s voice—still echoed
faintly from his office. “Hmmm…”

The Google Dialer icon flashed an incoming
call and listed IT Guy’s number. A faint ringing chimed from her
laptop speakers, so Kat quickly turned the volume all the way down
and closed the Dialer window. Heart pounding, she slowly got out of
her chair and crept to the door, closing it as quietly as possible.
She then tiptoed to her bed and sat down hard. All the strength had
left her legs.

Klement and IT Guy were the same person? Her
breath seized in her lungs as she tried to process the insanity of
that. Her mind raced between the memories of years of tech calls
and all the conversations she’d had with Klem since he’d first
called her to offer her an audition with Bleeding Vengeance. A
croaking laugh escaped her lips when she remembered she’d mistaken
him for IT Guy at the time because “their voices sounded the same.”
Their voices had sounded the same because they were the same
guy!

Her head spun. Was she dreaming? Confusion
and a tinge of outrage infused Kat’s shock. Why the hell hadn’t
Klement told her who he was? He’d known her for years, but now it
seemed she didn’t know him at all.

For a moment she wondered if he was the one
who’d messed with her car. Was it a ploy to get her into his
house?

Kat shook her head. That didn’t seem
reasonable. First off, why make her late to the studio in such an
attempt? Secondly, she’d already accepted his invitation to stay
when her fuel system was trashed. Besides, why would he give
himself such hard work? And why have her pop the trunk and check
her tire if he’d been the one who slashed it? Why leave Cliff’s car
at the bar for bait?

The muscles in her back relaxed slightly as
she considered. There was no way she could see Klement doing
anything harmful to her or Cliff. Kinley might think that he was
crazy—amusingly, she said the same about IT Guy—but he wasn’t
that
type of crazy. So, there had to be some other
motive.

Was he using his IT Guy persona to spy on
her? To make sure she wasn’t saying anything detrimental to the
band? He’d only asked generic questions like how she was doing and
then gave her positive encouragement. Hell, he’d even advised her
to stand up to the group about Cliff taking her solos. And her
relationship with him as Klement was only a few months old, and
only a week in person. She’d worked with him as IT Guy for three
years, and their friendship had developed two years ago.

Around the same time he found out she was a
guitar player.

She bolted up from the bed as the impact of
that fact struck her full force.
That
was why Klement had
been so quick to give her an audition when Quinn asked. It wasn’t
just that he owed Quinn a favor. It was because he already knew she
could play. As IT Guy, he had praised her talent with vehement
sincerity. As Klement Burke, he had done the same. So he might have
already been considering auditioning her.

A tendril of warmth coiled around Kat’s
confusion. Whatever was going on with Klement’s dual identity, he
didn’t appear to have bad intentions. But she still wondered why he
was keeping the secret from her.

Part of her wanted to storm into his office
and demand to know what the fuck he was doing. The rest of her, as
always, was terrified of confrontation. What if he got angry when
he found out that she knew? What if he fired her from the band?

Her lungs constricted and her heart raced, so
Kat dug in her purse for her Xanax. Just as she opened the bottle,
a knock sounded on her door. She jumped at the sound, and the
bottle flew from her hands. Little peach-colored pills scattered
across the bedroom’s hardwood floor.

“Y-yeah?” she stammered.

“I’m going to make a sandwich. Just checking
to see if you wanted one too before we get back to work on the
car.”

Klement sounded so carefree that Kat’s chest
tightened further.

“The chemical treatment’s been soaking long
enough in your tank that I think we can safely call it coated and
I’m ready to go back in.”

“Sure. I’ll be out in a minute,” Kat said.
She bit her lip, marveling at the casual tone she’d managed. So why
didn’t she have the balls to say anything?

Her shoulders slumped as she knelt on the
floor and picked up her pills. The problem was more than worry
about her discovery causing detriment to her position with the
band. It was…how would it affect her relationship with Klement?
What if he never smiled at her again? Hugged her again? Kissed her?
In spite of her revelation of Klement’s deception, she couldn’t
stop reliving the heat of his embrace. Couldn’t stop wanting
more.

Once her medicine was back in the bottle, Kat
took a deep breath and popped a pill, coming to a decision. She
would keep quiet about this for now and see what he did, see if
anything in his behavior—as Klement
or
as IT Guy—indicated
any reason for keeping such a strange secret. However—Kat glanced
at her phone—she would get hold of Kinley ASAP and find out whether
her friend or Quinn knew anything about Klement’s many
vocations.

Straightening her shoulders, Kat went down to
the kitchen, repeating a silent mantra.
Must act normal, must
act normal
.

“Hey there.” Klement greeted her with a smile
that made her belly flip over. Was it just her, or did he look even
more sexy than usual? His hair tumbled down to his shoulders,
curling slightly at the ends and glistening molten gold in the
sunlight streaming through the window. Sometime last night or this
morning he’d shaved, and the sight of his smooth cheeks and sharp
jawline made her want to caress his face.

“Hey,” she said.

She grabbed a roast beef sandwich from the
counter and bit into it before he caught her ogling him. But, as
she ate, she couldn’t stop stealing glances at him. This was her IT
Guy. In the flesh. For years she’d wondered if he was handsome.
Where he lived. If he was single. Now she had her answer.

She just couldn’t believe it. Her friend of
many years was sitting beside her. She was in his house, eating
food that he’d made for her. She was in his band, a band that was
her favorite of all bands she’d ever heard. And only the other
night he’d held her in his arms and kissed her.

His voice halted the dangerous train of
thought. “Should we get to work?”

Still in a daze, Kat nodded. Then she
followed Klement outside. One of the patrol cars that Officer Shaw
had sent to patrol the neighborhood drove by, and a cop waved. She
tamped down an instinctive flinch and waved back.

In the garage she did her best to concentrate
on working on the car, but it seemed the universe conspired against
her. Putting the gas tank back in required them lying down beside
each other while he held it in place and she threaded through the
retaining bolts. Even with the strong shop odors of oil and
gasoline, she could smell his enticingly clean masculine scent, and
by the time they slid out from under the car, her panties were
soaked with arousal.

“You okay?” Klement asked as he reattached
fuel hoses to the throttle body. “You’ve been really quiet
today.”

Her hands fumbled with the screwdriver. She
needed to say something, anything.

“What’s really going on with Cliff?” she
asked finally. “You said someone was messing with him, but you
didn’t say exactly what they’re doing.”

Klement’s gaze lifted from the hose clamp and
darkened. “Someone delivered a dead cat in a box. He thought it was
a crazy ex until we found out that your car was being tampered
with.”

Kat shuddered. Thank Christ her Xanax was
kicking in, or the horrific mental images of poor dead kitties
would have sent her into a full blown panic attack. “Oh my God,
that is sick!”

Klement nodded, face somber. “I know. It’s
why I didn’t want to tell you.”

Kat crossed her arms. “Why? To protect my
womanly sensibilities?”

“Partly.” He sighed. “But mostly because it
was so horrifying that I don’t even want to think about it,
myself.” Concern filled his blue eyes. “You didn’t get any odd
packages when you were at that hotel, did you?”

She shook her head. “No. I got a weird
feeling, though. But besides my flat tire, nothing happened. Still,
I can’t imagine it was one of Cliff’s exes.”

Klement raised a brow. “Why not?”

“It may sound sexist, but I can’t imagine a
chick doing that. Handling a dead animal like that.” She stopped as
her horror intensified. “Did it look like they killed the cat,
too?”

“No.” Klement hugged his arms as if cold. “It
was obviously roadkill. Still, I’m keeping a close eye on my
cats.”

Admiration filled Katana that he cared so
much about his kitties. Surely a man who was kind to animals
couldn’t be a guy with bad intentions. She’d point that out to
Kinley when she talked about his secret profession.

“Hey, have you talked to Kinley lately?”
Klement asked suddenly, almost as if reading her mind again.

Kat jumped. “No, but I was going to try to
call her in a bit.” She couldn’t help but add, “I also need to get
hold of my IT Guy for that update we were supposed to do yesterday.
He never answered the phone.” She gave Klem a sideways glance
through lowered lashes and wondered if it was her imagination or
had he reddened a bit?

“Um, well, could you ask Kinley if she or
Quinn told anyone about you joining Bleeding Vengeance?”

“Sure thing,” Kat said.
And a whole lot
more.

Still, between the story of the dead cat and
Klement actively pursuing information to find a connection with
things that had happened to her and Cliff, she was convinced that
he hadn’t been the one to tamper with her car in the first
place.

Cliff and Roderick pulled up in the driveway
and got out of their cars, chatting about the stuff they’d seen in
town.

Klement turned to Kat. “Well, I’m up for a
break. Later I’m going to finish putting your throttle body back
together, and then hopefully she’ll fire right up.”

Kat looked up at the man whom she’d
discovered had been her friend for years. Half of her wanted to
smack him and demand answers; the other half wanted to throw
herself into his arms and tell him about all the times she’d wanted
to meet him in person.

Instead, she walked away.

Chapter Fourteen

As the guys headed up to the music room, Kat
unplugged her phone from the charger and went out on the deck to
call Kinley. She crossed her fingers for four rings before her best
friend answered.

“Hey, Kat!”

Kinley’s voice was a welcome haven of
stability after the morning’s unsettling discovery, and Kat didn’t
waste any time. “Did you know that Klement is our IT Guy?”

Kinley’s shocked gasp was all the answer she
needed. “
What
?”

“Yeah.” Relieved that at least her best
friend hadn’t been keeping anything from her, Kat told Kin what had
happened. “I tried to call IT Guy to run an update on our site and
I heard Klement answer from his office.”

“Holy shit! What did you say to him?”

Kat’s shoulders slumped. “Nothing. I was too
shocked, so I hung up.”

“But didn’t he see it was you from the Caller
ID?” her friend demanded.

“Nope. My phone was dead, so I used Google
Dialer on my laptop.” Kat’s eyes widened as a realization struck
her. “Oh my God, that explains why he didn’t answer the last couple
times I tried to call him. He was right beside me.”

“I can’t believe it.” Kinley’s awe was
palpable over the phone. “Klement Burke, bassist of Bleeding
Vengeance, has been doing routine tech support for Metalness.com
for the last four years. That is so fucking surreal.”

“Did Quinn know?” Kat had to ask.

Kinley’s tone darkened. “No idea, but you can
bet I’m going to ask him as soon as he gets back from grabbing us
dinner. Have you told Klement you know yet?”

Her friend’s footsteps echoed over the phone,
like she was pacing, and Kat walked back and forth along the deck
to match. “No. I have no idea what to say. I mean, what if he’s
upset that I found out? And why did he keep this a secret?”