Chapter Nine
Jason
The idea had been brilliant, actually, and I could tell that Brett had instantly regretted not asking her himself. I had won that round, but he didn’t seem too pissed about it. Maybe he would just back off and let me have her. But judging by the way he looked at her in the dress I had sent over, that was probably a heap of wishful thinking on my part.
I didn’t want her to think that I was trying to get in her pants because that would set us instantly on the wrong path. That’s why I had emphasized that she was to be my assistant at the party and nothing more. Plenty of my business associates would be in attendance, so it made sense for her to be there. Maybe by being at my side, she’d find some interest in me instead of Brett, and I would be able to keep her from falling for him.
All eyes were on me as I walked into the party with Mackenzie on my arm. Assistant or not, everyone was envious of me.
She looked up at me and beamed when we walked in. God, she really was beautiful. Whether or not she wanted it to happen or not, sparks were flying between the two of us. I couldn’t help but feel warm all over when she stood next to me.
“Brett, where’s your date this evening? I would have thought a handsome man like yourself would have a beautiful woman on his arm,” Mackenzie said.
I hated hearing her talk to him like that—it drove me nuts.
“Actually, my date fell through at the last minute. She’s probably at home washing her hair right now.” Mackenzie giggled. “But that’s okay, I don’t mind hanging with the two of you this evening.”
Great, I probably wouldn’t get a minute alone with her all night. Irritation at my friend welled up inside of me. We had never fought over the same girl, and I couldn’t figure out why it was happening now. Maybe it was because Mackenzie was the first worthy lady the two of us had met at relatively the same time.
Brett wandered off for a moment to talk to a few of his colleagues.
“No offense, Mackenzie, but maybe you could focus less on Brett and more on the fact that you’re here as an employee,” I hissed in her ear. The look on her face stopped me cold, and I instantly regretted my outburst. I had hurt her feelings.
Good one, Jason. I’m sure she’s just minutes away from falling in love with you now.
“Could you be any more of an asshole?”
“Mackenzie, I didn’t mean—”
“Forget it. I’m going home with Brett. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Stunned, I stood there as I watched her walk away. I looked around the room and couldn’t see Brett anywhere. I hoped she wouldn’t find him. I wasn’t sure what she meant by going home with Brett, but I didn’t like the insinuation. The very idea of her sleeping with him made my skin crawl.
I did a lap around the party and talked to some of the associates I had wanted to see while I was there. But the entire time I spent talking to other people, I couldn’t stop thinking about Mackenzie. Why had I behaved like that? How was I going to win her affection that way?
I decided to hunt down Brett and confront him regardless of whether Mackenzie was with him or not. He needed to know how I felt about her and that I wanted him to back off. If he was truly my best friend, he would do so without question.
I left the main area to go looking for him, hoping he hadn’t already left with Mackenzie. The image of them naked together entered my mind once again, and my stomach soured.
I found Brett standing outside of the men’s bathroom. I approached him and asked, “Where’s Mackenzie?”
He looked confused. “I thought she was with you. She’s your assistant after all. Why would she be with me?”
“Because she told me she was going home with you.”
“What? Really?” he asked with a broad grin, “Well, where is that lucky lady?”
“Stop. You really haven’t seen her at all?”
“Nope. I assumed she was with you. I was actually just going to come find you.”
“If she’s not with you, then where did she go?”
Brett shrugged. “How long has she been gone?”
“An hour.”
“Whoa. Looks like she left without you, bro. I do wish she would have told me. I would have gladly have driven her home.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I bet.”
“Relax, man. I’m sure she just went home. You’ll see her in the morning.”
“I guess. So what were you coming to see me about?”
“Aside from wanting to see Mackenzie again, I’d just gotten some alarming news from the hostess that I thought you’d want to know.”
“News about what?”
“One of the items being auctioned off tonight has been misplaced…or stolen. One or the other.”
“What?”
Dread filled my heart, and I knew exactly what had happened. Mackenzie had happened. She had totally tricked me. Telling me she was going home with Brett so I wouldn’t check up on her. How had I not seen that coming? She’d totally played me. I was too busy doing laps around the party and licking my wounded pride for it to even occur to me she might not be with Brett. She had robbed the auction that was to be held that night and had run like the wind. Was she gone forever? Could I even track her down at that point? My head was spinning, and I couldn’t quite get a handle on my thoughts. She was a sneaky little one, and I wondered how long she had been planning that con.
“What was the stolen piece?”
“Oh man, I don’t know if it was stolen. They may have just misplaced it.”
I shook my head. “No, it was stolen. Trust me. What was it?”
Brett looked at me, his expression confused. “It was the stellar painting that you donated.”
Of course. She didn’t get the art pieces she’d originally wanted, but she still got something of value. She would certainly make a lot of money off of that piece. How could I have been so foolish?
“Shit.”
“What? And how do you know the item was stolen?”
I sighed loudly. “I know it was stolen because Mackenzie stole it.”
“What are you talking about? Why would she do that?”
With no small amount of displeasure, I filled Brett in on the events of the night I had met Mackenzie. First, catching her in the act and choking her before realizing I was dealing with a woman. And then, explaining how I had detained her to question her by handcuffing her to my table. Brett was grinning like an idiot the entire time, and that ruffled my feathers even more. He was certainly enjoying my absolute blunder.
I explained how she had surprised me by being a cool chick instead of just a petty thief like I’d originally supposed her to be and ended my explanation with how I had blackmailed her into working for me to avoid jail.
Brett was laughing by the time I finished. “Man, you sure can pick them. I can’t believe your rotten luck, man. How do you get robbed twice in one day?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe how much he seemed to be enjoying himself. “Well, technically it wasn’t twice in one day. The first happened over a long period of time—I just found out yesterday who was responsible.”
“Whatever. Jason. You get robbed a lot. My next question is, what did you expect was going to happen? You think you can blackmail a professional thief into working for you, and it’ll work just like that? Why would she want to be your assistant when she could make thousands, even millions, off the stolen merchandise she gets from people? You couldn’t possibly have thought she would just stay with you and never go back to the only thing she’s known.”
“Hell, I don’t know what I was thinking. I just knew I liked her, and I thought if she worked for me, I could keep her out of trouble.”
“I don’t blame you, man—she’s gorgeous. But I can’t believe she’s a thief. I can’t believe she almost robbed you blind last night,” Brett said, laughing, “and I also can’t believe that you choked that poor thing till she passed out!”
“Shut up, Brett. How is this helping me right now?”
“I guess it’s not. Sorry. But how could you think of bringing her here? Of all places? She knew exactly what she was doing. She probably had it all planned out.”
“I don’t know. It was honestly the last thing on my mind. What are we going to do? She could be anywhere by now.”
“Let’s find her.”
So that was our plan—we were going to try to track down the elusive and mysterious Mackenzie. The girl would be lucky if I didn’t choke her again when I found her. She had made a fool out of me and stolen yet another one of my paintings.
The hunt for Mackenzie was on.