Page 23 of Death is My BFF
David smoothed his tie with a hand. “You’re at the top of the food chain right now. Working at the D&S Tower would be a life-changing opportunity for anyone. We have top-notch internship programs and surefire scholarships for all our young practicums.
Devin must have seen some remarkable traits in you.”
The way he’d called his father by his first name was unexpected.
“I appreciate the compliment and I’m grateful for the opportunity your father offered me. But I came here because—”
“Or maybe he hit his head on the steering wheel,” David joked.
“Do you want to know why the last girl ran crying out of my office?
I’m sure you’re dying to know.”
I set my glass on a coaster. “Low self-esteem?”
“No, she lied to me. She wasn’t here for a counseling position.
She was trying to dig up some dirt on me to sell to the tabloids.
Unfortunately for her, it was pretty easy to figure out, so I made her a promise. One phone call, and she’d never work a press job in this city again.”
“You’re not really going to do that, are you?”
“I have to, I promised her. Always keep your promises, Faith, and never lie.” A slow, provocative grin broke through his serious expression. “Speaking of lies, let’s have a look at your qualifications.”
For the next two minutes, I watched him flip through the various scanned copies of my art. I’d only shown my family and my art teacher my personal paintings.
David flipped another page and my stomach fell. The willow tree from my dreams. It filled a plastic divider, and I didn’t remember putting it in there.
David sat in silence, analyzing the painting in what appeared to be admiration. “Beautiful. Do you have any other landscapes?”
“Not in my portfolio, no. I-I don’t normally paint landscapes.”
“You should.” David turned the page, and we both seemed to cease any movement. There, in the next two plastic dividers of the binder, were identical drawings of the mismatched green eyes. When he turned the page, there were two more scans of the eyes. I thought I might have a heart attack or hurl up my lunch.
“Um,” David said. “This your boyfriend or something?”
I fought the urge to lunge over the desk and slam the portfolio shut. “I’m—I’m sorry, I must have made a mistake and grabbed the wrong portfolio.”
“No worries, it happens.” He set the portfolio aside. “Well, I’m impressed, Faith. You’re talented.”
“Thank you—”
“Which is a pleasant surprise, considering the only reason I gave you the time of day today is because you have a hot rack.” He wrote a comment down on his notepad, snickering.
Was this guy out of his mind? I dug my fingers into the armrests of my chair, engraving my nails into the leather. “Excuseme?”
“You seem confused. Isn’t that whatguys with reputations likeminego around saying to girls?”
He’d held a grudge after all.
David rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, drawing attention to his biceps and the way the fabric strained against his wide chest. As I noticed the black Rolex on his wrist, I was reminded that we were from two different worlds. This was his territory and we both knew it.
“Now, here’s how this is going to go,” David said, his eyes now gleaming with devilry. “If you want your car back, of course. My version of the game Twenty Questions and a list of your positive and negative attributes. I have two columns drawn on this piece of paper.”
David held up a piece of printer paper with scribbles on it. All I could make out was a tiny doodle of boobs in the positive column next tonice tits. “One side is negative, the other side is positive,” he explained, indicating to each side with his pen. “As of now, you have several attributes listed under negatives and only one attribute listed under positives.”
Any other time, I would have walked right out of that room after his degrading remark, but I couldn’t move. “Is this some sort of joke?”