Page 106 of Covert Mission
I gape at her. My mouth even falls open as I let out a shocked sound. “No! And ick. That’s gross. Not, Lucas. I mean, Ralph.”
“That has to be what this is about. Otherwise, he wouldn’t do anything so rash. You hurt his itty-bitty ego.” And then she smirks. “Lucas, huh?”
My eyes widen. “Beast. Don’t call him that, please.”
She grins. I’m still in shock from her saying Ralph wanted to… ick. Just gross. “Are you serious that you think that’s what happened?”
“Serious as a case of head lice. I heard Pembrook crudely discussing you and Beast with Brian this morning when they were walking by the open window.”
Gulp.
That’s also gross. “That kind of makes me want to hurl.”
“Pembrook makes me want to hurl all the time.”
I’m still scratching my head over this news. “How would Ralph get someone here so fast?”
Belle scrunches her nose as if she’s just gotten a whiff of something foul. “Ralph’s a parasite, they multiply fast. But seriously, he’s got contacts all over this damned country. He used to work in the field before he glued his ass to a chair at headquarters.”
I close my eyes and think about smacking myself. “Crap, girl. I’ve really done it now. I can’t believe I was such a fool.”
Her eyes get a sly slant to them. “At least tell me the sex was worth it.”
Belle’s expression makes me worried. She looks like she might grab me and shake the information out of me any second.
I bang my head a few times against the wall behind me. “Oh, it was good?—”
“Good?!?” she whisper-hisses. “Honey, that man left ‘good’ behind when he was fourteen. He’s gotta be an animal.”
It’s official. I’m flaming with embarrassment. My core is also clenching at the memory of how big Lucas really is.
With an excited wiggle, Belle laughs. “I just got all the answers I need. Any second, you’re gonna be a puddle.”
I groan and bang my head some more. “Okay, he was… exceptional.”
She scoffs and manages to look totally offended. “That’s a word for fine wine. Not sex with a tattooed badass with eyes like razors. I mean, come on. It’s got to be so much better than exceptional.”
I glare at her until it feels like I’m going to pop something. She’s not going to let this go. I can see it in the set of her chin.
“Okay! He was a pussy-wrecking sex god. There, areyouhappy?”
A devilish grin takes over her entire face. “Camile, my friend. That’s worth getting fired over.”
“No, it’s not!”
Unfortunately, there’s an internal debate about that statement between my pussy and my brain. Somehow, despite the flood of sex hormones gushing through my veins, my one remaining brain cell prevails. “As good as it was, it wasn’t worth wrecking my whole life over.”
Her grin slowly vanishes when she sees my distress. Her tone gets soft. “Oh, babe, I’m sure that something will work out. You’re going to find another amazing job, where you don’t have to deal with bone-heads like Ralph and company.”
Now my throat is stinging and my muscles are turning to ash. This can’t be happening. All because of dick.
“I worked so hard my whole adult life to get here.” I sigh and drop my forehead into my hand. “It’s far worse than anything I can even explain.”
There’s a shuffle of feet, then a rustle of clothes. She sits on the floor beside me. “Try me.”
I shake my head. “It’s complicated, and some of it—I really can’t talk about right now.”
There’s no way I’m telling Belle that by losing the FamFind job I’m going to cost myrealemployer a fortune.