Tenor, however, had known me for a long time. After Mia had made it inside, he looked at me. “It’s obvious you’re having a shit day. If you don’t want any company, Mia and I will leave as soon she gets back.”
“It’s fine. You can stay and drink your beer,” I said, trying to decide if I should tell them about Bri to get it over and done with or if I should wait. While Mia was always cheerful, even Tenor had an air of joy surrounding him at the moment. I didn’t relish being a killjoy.
“If you’re sure.” He pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’ve known you since we were in third grade, and you usually prefer to deal with shit alone.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Why do you always insist on saying that?”
“Saying what?”
“That we’ve known each other since the third grade. I didn’t make it to the States until I was thirteen.”
“Because I’m an ass, and I know it irritates you.” Tenor was actually speaking to me in a roundabout way. It wasn’t the way he spoke to me when he’d considered me his best friend, but it was better than how it’d been, and at that moment I took it.
I was saved from having to answer by Mia exiting the building. She held a beer in each hand, and as she stepped outside, she looked over her shoulder and said something to someone still inside.
“I swear she knows everyone,” Tenor grumbled, but he was smiling, and pride shone in his expression.
“Probably a good characteristic for a matchmaker to have.” I gave Mia a curt nod. She sat down and placed one of the beer bottles in front of Tenor. Before he could get mushy and kiss her in thanks, I spoke. “It’s rather fortuitous that the three of us crossed paths tonight. There’s something I need to tell you, and I wasn’t sure how or when to go about doing it, so I’ll take this as a sign.”
“Hell,” Tenor said. “It can’t be anything good with that many disclaimers. You haven’t fucked up again and fired another employee, have you?”
I knew he was referring to the way I fired Mia without his knowledge or approval. However, I wasn’t sure if he was joking or being serious. Obviously, Mia was just as confused, because she placed her hand atop his and simply whispered, “Tenor.”
“To be quite frank,” I said, “if I’d thought about firing her or if I had stayed in her presence long enough to get the words out, I might have done so. But, as it stands, you can have the honor of escorting Bri to the door. That is, if she has the balls to show back up at Bachelor International. My guess is she’s long gone, but people have been known to surprise me every so often, and I’ll be the first to admit that she’s done so on more than one occasion. It’s possible she’ll show up tomorrow.”
Trevor and Mia wore matching expressions of shock when I finished speaking.
“Do you want to tell me what the hell you’re talking about?” Tenor asked.
Mia still had her hand on top of his. She gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure Piers was just getting ready to tell us what he meant.”
I looked at Tenor. “Do I want to tell you what I’m talking about? Hell fucking, no, I don’t want to tell you. But I will because you need to know.”
Neither of them said anything for a long moment.
“Tell us,” Tenor said, lacing his fingers through Mia’s.
“I’m the threat against Bachelor International,” I said. “That’s why we have found nothing in the client files. One of the threats anyway.”
“How could you be a threat and not know it?” Mia asked.
“From what Bri told me, I’m the target of a shady underground organization in the UK.” That’s all I said, waiting for the information to sink in.
Tenor spoke first. “How does Bri know?”
I kept my voice as unemotional as possible. “She works for them.”
Mia gasped.
“Fuck,” Tenor said.
“She told you this?” Mia asked, her forehead wrinkled.
“Trust me,” I said. “I don’t think she wanted to tell me at all, or if she did, she didn’t want to tell me when she did. But we stopped by her apartment to pick a few things up, and a man was waiting inside for her. From what I gathered, he’s a bigwig in this organization. He wasn’t happy with her.”
“Is she okay?” Mia asked. “Did he leave? Is she there by herself?”
I reached up and scratched my head. “He left before I did, and she was fine when I left.”
“But you left her alone and a high-ranking man from a potentially shady company, who you admitted wasn’t happy with her, can get into her apartment?”
It was probably for the best I’d let out the part about the sniper. “Yes,” I said in reply to Mia’s question. “She’d pretty much admitted she came to Boston to destroy me professionally and that Bachelor International was just a casualty.”
“I can’t imagine she still feels that way,” Mia said.
“It doesn’t matter what she feels,” I said. “What matters is what they hired her to do.”
Mia opened her mouth to reply, but Tenor beat her to it. “I think he’s right, Mia.”
“I think there’s more to it that you both don’t see,” Mia said. “You don’t know her, Tenor. Not like I do. And Piers, all you remember is the young girl she was. You don’t know the woman she’s become.”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying that I knew her better than she thought I did. As far as I was aware, Mia didn’t know that Bri and I had been seeing each other outside the office.
“I think we need to focus on the fact that Bachelor International might still be in danger,” I said.
“How probable is it we would remain in danger after Bri’s blown her cover and it’s known that you’re who they’re after?” Mia asked.
“If it’s probable at all, I think it needs to be taken seriously,” Tenor said.
“I’m not saying we don’t take it seriously.” Mia sounded irritated. “I’m saying we can focus on more than one thing.”
I had to admit she was right, but that still left one question. “What else do we need to focus on?”
“You said yourself these people are shady and not happy with Bri.” Mia bit her bottom lip. “I can’t help but worry about her.”
Chapter 20
Piers
I didn’t want Mia to be right. But the longer I thought about it, the more likely it appeared she was. When Bri confessed everything to me, she’d said she no longer believed what the Organization told her about me and that she had been working on her own to prove I wasn’t the criminal or the devil they’d painted me out to be.
I was also finding it harder and harder to fault her for thinking those horrid things about me. How was she to blame because they had groomed her to take me down? The only things she heard were lies. Once she had the information and ability to question those teachings, she did.
Could she have told me what was going on sooner than she did? Of course. But I could also see Bri’s side as well. It made more sense to wait until she had gathered up enough information to dispute the Organization. It was also possible that had she been forthcoming from the start and admitted everything at once that I wouldn’t have believed her. Yes, it was a small possibility, and I’d like to think I would have taken what she said seriously… But the fact remained I didn’t know with any certainty what my reaction would have been. If I wasn’t sure, how could I expect her to guess?