Chapter 86

After a moment of awkward silence, one of our guards spoke up. He had dark hair, very dark brown eyes, and a nose that looked like it had been broken more than once during training. He wafted the scent of cumin each time he moved. Admittedly, this didn’t help my hunger.

“I’m Agent Malik,” he said. “Excuse us. Being assigned to you has been both an easy and a difficult assignment all in one. It’s not at all what most of us were expecting to be doing with our time. We do know the restaurants around here pretty well. So if you would be kind enough to tell us what type of food you like to eat, we can probably match you up with something.”

I glanced at Charles. “I don’t know about you, but I really have a craving for Thai food.”

He smacked his lips appreciatively. “I could go for some Pad Thai tonight.”

“Ooo, or Tom Kha soup,” I said.

“Green papaya salad.” He smacked his lips. “The hotter, the better.”

I turned back to Agent Malik. “There you have it,” I said. “Do you know a good Thai place? And we really do need to stop at a grocery store. If you think we’re bad hungry, you don’t wanna be anywhere near Charles tomorrow morning if he doesn’t get his coffee.”

The guard, who wasn’t Agent Malik, sighed. “I’m Agent Bell.”

I took a good look at Agent Bell, trying to make sure to memorize what each one of the agents looked like. That way, in the future, if they were still in their nameless uniforms and giving us the silent treatment, I would have a better idea of who was who. Agent Bell had soft brown curls around his ears, hazel eyes, and he smelled of coffee.

Under other circumstances, I might have found him handsome. As it was, it was hard to think of any of them as anything besides pricks. Their attitudes certainly weren’t helping me warm up to them either. But I didn’t need to antagonize them any further.

Agent Bell continued what he’d started saying. “You can order most of the household essentials through a delivery app. I can help you install it on your phone if you’d like.”

“I’d like that. Thank you,” I said.

Charles snatched my phone before I handed it to Agent Bell. “Food first, Honey. We can do that later. I’m starving.”

Agent Bell opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then shrugged and headed for the door. Charles snatched the moment while they were inspecting the elevator before they allowed us to get on to whisper in my ear again.

“Don’t give them your phone,” he hissed. “Spyware.”

It was the only other word he got out before they came back and ushered us onto the elevator. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that whatever app Agent Bell had wanted to put on my phone might have tapped my phone calls, tracked my location, or any number of other unpleasant things.

This was really getting annoying. If I was going to survive our new way of life, I was going to have to start thinking like a spy. And I was going to have to learn fast because these guys made an art of being up in our business.

In the car, I thought maybe Charles had overestimated the subtly skills of our security guards. Charles and I were tucked in the back seat together, and we’d barely gone a block from our new building when Agent Malik turned, eyeing us a moment before asking a very blunt question.

“It doesn’t seem like you trust us. After all that about working together, how are we supposed to work with you when you’re treating us like we’re the bad guys?”

“Fair enough,” Charles replied.

Charles launched into a story about his family, and I listened with as much attention as the guards. I knew the Charles from high school, or at least as much as I’d been able to observe. I knew he came from a wealthy and powerful family like most alphas. But after he’d left for college, I didn’t know what he’d been up to.

In fact, the longer he talked, the more I realized that I didn’t know Charles nearly as well as I thought. I knew the way he ran his business. I’d seen his heart go out to people, and he helped with humility and no complaint, enjoying the work. I loved that Charles.

I knew the smell of him. I could identify him in the darkest place on that alone. I knew the taste of him, the way he lingered on my lips long after we’d parted our kiss. I knew the way he felt inside me, the way he both filled and fulfilled me at the same time.

But the Charles he spoke of was a stranger to me. In that moment, I resolved to learn as much about Charles as I could, past, present, and his dreams for the future. Hell, I didn’t even know if he wanted a wife or kids. But the next chance I got, I would be sure to find out.

“After graduating from college,” Charles was saying when I caught back up with the conversation, “I went straight home so I could take over the family business. In my last term, my father had fallen ill. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and his health deteriorated very quickly.”

Charles shook his head sadly. “My father was a shrewd businessman, and the business was running smoothly. I should have been able to tend to him to make sure all possible treatments were explored. My mother did the best she could, but my sister was still in school and needed her, too.”

“But right after I took the helm of my family’s business, a scandal broke. Stupid stuff about my father and other women. My mother knew it wasn’t true because when this was supposedly happening, my father was already ill.”

He gazed sadly at me. “You know how quickly these things get out of hand, no matter what the truth is.”

I nodded, a knot forming in my stomach. I certainly did know.

“Before I could get the rumors sorted out with the truth, the business had taken a significant hit to both the finances and the reputation. Our customers, investors, and clients shied away from us. Oh, I fixed everything. I had to. Without the business, what would my mother and sister live on.”

Charles’ face visibly tightened. “The worst part is my father passed away while I was neck-deep trying to save my family’s source of income. I feel like I failed him, missing out on his last days to be in a board room and press meetings.”

Charles tossed a bitter look at the two guards. “I investigated for months afterward, trying to find the source of the rumors. Any evidence was gone like smoke in the wind. The only partial trails I managed to catch before they completely disappeared all led straight back to the Alpha King.”

His expression went cold, bitterly so. “I have no solid evidence, but pardon me if I mistrust those in Lupinton connected with the Alpha King. I have no idea what my father or I could possibly have done to him. But I’ll be damned if he gets another shot at me or mine.”

He focused an uncomfortably intense stare at the pair of guards. “I’d never suggest insubordination. But I highly recommend you take the time to learn exactly who and what you serve.”