Victim of Love (6 page)

“Later, I promise. We can talk alone, all right?”

And that was all it took. I was about to jump off a bridge for him. “Okay.”

He nodded. “All right? I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.” With that, he walked away.

Feeling like a gullible tool, I walked to the other side of the barn and stood in line at the register. I spotted the tall, thin black man, still browsing, seemingly uninterested in me, or Beck. This was ridiculous. If Beck had wanted to get rid of me, he could have simply told me to fuck off. I wouldn’t have liked it, but I would have fucked off.

I paid for the stupid statue, then as instructed, left the antique shop and stood outside in the sunshine, leaning against the wall just beyond the door. My mind conjured images of Beck, still inside, laughing to himself at my expense with that huge grin of his.

The tall black man stepped out of the barn. I froze, gripping the little plastic bag with the nun inside. He looked up at the sky, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Beautiful day,” he said.

I glanced around. We were the only two people in sight. He was speaking to me. “Ah, yeah. Gorgeous day,” I said.

He turned his head and smiled at me. “Ah, I see you found treasure.” He pointed to the bag I held. “Sadly, I couldn’t find a thing.”

“Yeah, just a little something.”

He walked slowly toward me. “Let’s see what you got. If you don’t mind, of course.”

“Oh, uh, sure.” I pulled the statuette out of the bag and held it up. The nun glittered gold in the sunlight.

The man’s eyes widened and he took another step toward me. “Oh, very beautiful. Yes, very nice.” He held his hand out. “May I?”

“No you may
not!
” Beck shouted as he stepped out of the door. “Olsen, put it back in the bag.”

The man turned and smiled at Beck, but his brown eyes hardened at the sight of him. “Beckett Turner, what a pleasant surprise.”

“Surprise my ass.” Beck got in his face, jabbing a finger into his chest. “You followed me? You actually followed me here, Quinn?”

“Nonsense!” The other man took a step back from Beck, spreading his arms wide. “I just happened to be in the area.”

“Bullshit.” Beck’s large teeth clenched. “I am on vacation with my
sister!
How dare you show up here?”

The tall man’s pleasant façade crumbled then, and his jaw stiffened. “Vacation my ass, Turner. I heard you’re here on a job.” He took an aggressive step toward Beck. “You
owe
me!”

“I don’t owe you shit, Quinn, and you know it. It’s time to wipe your little tears and get over it. Olsen, take the statuette to the car.”

I still stood dumbly, bag in one hand, nun in the other. I stuffed it in the bag and started toward the parking area.

“Oh, no, no, no.” Quinn stepped to the side, blocking my path. “I’m not stupid, Turner. You’re on vacation? Right. And you happen to come to an antique shop?” His hard brown eyes focused on me now. “You there, peaches and cream. Give me that.”

Beck stepped between us. “He’s not giving you shit.”

“You
owe
me, Turner! It’s time to make amends.”

“You’re wasting your time, Quinn,” Beck said. “The statuette is worthless.”

“Bullshit! I know you. You don’t waste time on
worthless
antiques.”

Beck’s grin appeared. “Quinn. If you want to earn money, perhaps it’s time you went out and did your own work for a change. Inadequate as that work may be.”

Quinn leaned in, face tight with rage. He towered over Beck, and his height should have given him some advantage, but Beck remained unruffled, still smiling sweetly up at him. “You ripped me off, Beckett. Did you think I was just going to let that go?”

“Yeah. I kind of did think you’d let it go. Since I
didn’t
rip you off. The only harm I did was to your ego and you know it.”

“What’s the deal with the nun statuette?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

A group of customers left the barn, glancing our way, then moving on to the parking area. Right behind them, Laurie and Kamal appeared, loaded with bags. They stopped dead when they spotted us.

Beck glanced at Laurie, then back up at Quinn. “That’s my sister,” he said softly. “I don’t want her to know I’m on a job, so just keep quiet, all right? Go on your way, Quinn.”

“Happy to,” Quinn said just as softly. “Just give me the statuette that’s supposedly so
worthless
, and you won’t see me again.”

Beck’s lips tightened into a straight line, his eyes darting back and forth between Laurie and the man standing before him. He growled. “Damn it!” Hands on his head, he walked in a circle, then looked at me. “Give him the nun, Olsen.”

A wide grin broke on Quinn’s face.

“Are you sure?” I said.

Beck rolled his eyes. “Yes, just give it to him. It’s not worth having him tail me all over town.” He pointed a finger in Quinn’s face. “We’re even now. So I better not see you again.”

Quinn held his hand out to me, and I handed him the plastic bag with the statue. “Who is your buyer, Turner?” he asked as he pulled the nun out of the bag and examined it.

Beck grinned. “I’m afraid you’ll have to sort the details out yourself. I’m not gonna do
all
your work for you. And good luck with that. I’m sure it will be a challenge for someone like you.”

Quinn laughed. “Fine. I don’t need your help. I’m more resourceful than you think, my friend.” With that he turned and left, strolling toward the parking area.

Once he was gone, Laurie pounced, storming over with her two giant bags. “Beck! You promised!”

“It wasn’t work!” he said. “The guy thinks I screwed him over and he’s looking for payback. I had no idea he was here. I had to trick him to get rid of him.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said. “You had him meet you here for whatever reason. I know you, you’re like an addict or something. You do this every time we get together. Damn it, Beck!”

Beck looked at me. “Olsen?”

I came bounding to his defense, though I had no clue what in the crazy hell was going on. “It’s true, he surprised Beck. Started going off about Beck owing him and so on.”

“
Did
you screw him over?” Laurie asked Beck.

“No! Look, can we please go talk in the car? People are starting to stare.”

“Fine.” Laurie stormed toward the lot. “Like it’s so unusual for
you
to make a scene.”

Beck glanced at me. “Thank you,” he whispered, and gave me a wink before following his sister.

Kamal looked at me, one eyebrow raised.

“I have no idea,” I said.

He shook his head. “Let’s go.”

When we got to the car, Laurie climbed in front next to Kamal. I guess she didn’t want to sit with her brother, which left me in the back with Beck.

Once everyone was in and the doors were closed, Beck held his hands up. “Okay, look. It was a couple weeks ago. Quinn had an item, but he couldn’t find a buyer. The seller started to lose patience with him, so they contacted me. I found them a buyer, and made the deal.
They
came to
me
. I didn’t even know Quinn had been working for them until after the deal was done. But now he thinks I sneaked in and stole the job out from under him, and there’s no telling him otherwise. There was a lot of money involved so naturally he’s pissed. He only has himself to blame, but he’d rather blame me than admit he’s incompetent.”

I frowned at Beck. “What the hell do you do?”

“It’s complicated.”

Laurie turned around. “It’s not that complicated. My brother left a respectable job at a museum to become a glorified salesman, and he’s always in
some
kind of trouble.” She leaned over and pointed a finger in her brother’s face. “And this job makes him act fucking nuts!”

“I’m not a salesman. I’m an
agent
.”

“You’re a pimp,” Laurie said.

Beck looked my way. “I procure rare items for unique buyers.”

Laurie looked at me. “He finds weird crazy shit for weird crazy people who want weird crazy shit.”

Beck held up a finger, grinning. “Weird crazy
rich
people who want weird crazy shit.”

“It’s exhausting,” Laurie said. “Being around you is always so exhausting, Beck. Can’t you just relax and have fun with me for once?”

“I’m not in
trouble
, Laurie. Quinn’s harmless, he’s just a baby throwing a tantrum because he can’t stand that I’m better than he is. But he won’t be bothering us again this trip, I promise.”

“What was the deal with that nun?” I asked. “Seriously, what just happened?”

Beck’s nose wrinkled as he laughed. “It’s going to take Quinn at least a couple weeks to run around conducting tests and doing research, trying to figure out the value of that statuette. By the time he realizes it
has
no value, that it’s worthless, we’ll be gone.” He laughed hard, wiping his eyes. “Oh, man. He’s gonna be
so
pissed. This is great.”

“Yeah, great,” Laurie said. “That’s just wonderful, Beck.”

Beck turned to me. “Oh yeah, by the way, can I have my cash back?”

I dug the money out of my pocket and handed it to him. “Your sister’s right,” I said boldly. “You are kind of exhausting to be around.”

Beck gave me a sideways glance, and the corner of his lip quirked up in a smirk. “I just move a little faster than most people. It’s not my fault if they wear themselves out trying to chase me up the hill.”

I swallowed hard.
Chase me up the hill
. Interesting choice of metaphor. I thought about last night, and that damn sand dune. The little fucker
did
remember. And now he was toying with me.

“Okay, let’s just go eat, I’m starving,” Laurie said. “Beck you promise, no more work this week, okay?”

He leaned forward and took her hand, kissing it. “I promise. I’m here to have fun with you, that’s it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “You’re forgiven.”

Smiling, Beck fell back and relaxed against the seat as Kamal steered the car out of the parking lot and down the road.

“I feel bad about last night, Olsen,” Laurie said. “We’re gonna have to do a raincheck for you.”

“I agree,” Kamal said. “Perhaps one day we should take a road trip to Provincetown. My partner, James, has some good friends down there we could meet up with.” He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Plenty of
available
men down there, Olsen.”

I wanted to lean forward and strangle Kamal. My face heated with embarrassment. “That’s not necessary.”

Beck glanced my way and smirked, but said nothing.

“Don’t worry,” Laurie said. “My obnoxious brother will refuse to go with you. I think he gets freaked out at the thought of two men kissing.”

It was my turn to offer Beck a challenging smirk. He turned away and looked out the window, crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, do you?” I asked. “Get freaked out at the thought of two men kissing,
Beck?
”

He turned to me, brow lowering over his eyes as his jaw tightened. “I’d rather not
talk
about it,
Olsen
.”

I took the statement for what it was—a warning—and faced front again, silent. Kamal eyed me via the rearview mirror.
Behave
, his eyes said.

I determined to try. My decision to taunt Beck surprised even me. I was the least brave person I knew. I also knew that Beck was a tiger, and I was just an overgrown lamb. Yet here I was poking him with a stick. I wasn’t sure if it was the simple matter that he was the first man to kiss me in a long, long time. Or if I was just crazily attracted to him. But in a matter of hours, my interest in him had started to border on obsession.

There was just something about him that intrigued me. He was an unknown sample, and I wanted to stick him under a microscope and examine him until I figured out exactly what he was, probe and prod him until he made sense to me.

Though I doubted the man would be opening up to me any time soon, if ever. He was back to staring out the window, body language tight and coiled. I’d pissed him off, could feel it radiating from him in waves. And while it should have deterred me, I felt a smug sense of power. I’d never been the one in control as far as men were concerned, especially men I had a crush on. But I had, however briefly, flipped this dynamic on its head. And I liked the feeling.

But I’d bite my tongue, and leave Beck to his secrets. For now.

Chapter Three

None of your Biscuits

Pippa had been true to her word, and had caught a cod roughly the size of herself. We all sat around the long table enjoying the buttery fish and lots of wine, a fragrant night breeze drifting in through the bungalow’s open French doors.

“She wouldn’t accept any help either,” Townsend said. “Her little arm was trembling as she reeled it in, and the boat captain tried to step in, but she insisted on doing it herself.”

“Did you do that?” Beck, who sat right beside Pippa, gave her his charming grin. “Reel that big fish in all by yourself?”

She giggled in a way I’d never heard Pippa do. “I did,” she said. “Want to see my muscle?”

“Oh, look at that.” Beck pinched her bicep as she made a muscle pose.

I watched Townsend’s reaction, noting the slight scowl. Townsend was seated at the head of the table on the left, Kamal at the other end. Laurie was beside me. Across from us, Beck and Pippa sat side by side, and had been, in my assessment, shamelessly flirting with each other throughout the entire dinner.

“I need more wine,” Pippa said, holding up her empty glass. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was tied into loose braids and she looked radiant, her pretty face flushed pink, a combination of a day on the water and the copious amounts of wine she’d consumed.

I picked up the bottle. “You sure about that, Pippa?” I said. “I think you’ve consumed your body weight in wine already.”

She held her glass out and I poured. “I deserve it!” she said. “I provided food for the whole tribe.”

“You did indeed,” Beck said. “We should be worshipping you as our goddess now.” He clinked his glass against hers and Pippa let out that girlish giggle again, making me wince.