Wicked Game by Mercy Celeste Page A

looked at him with those smoky blue eyes and his entire world suddenly became more complicated. And he sure as hell did not need complicated in his life right now.
    That’s when the first package arrived. Cass always left the mail on his desk. Apparently, complicated now came in FedEx envelopes. He didn’t recognize the return address but opened it anyway. After viewing the contents, he felt queasy. The accompanying letter left him downright nauseous. He filed the entire thing away in his safe, so that Cass couldn’t find it, and made a mental note to hand the whole thing over to Mitch just as soon as he could figure out a way that wouldn’t completely ruin him or Cass in the process.

Chapter Twelve
    A few days before Jaime was to leave for camp, Cass found him walking the perimeter of his property. He was acting strange; okay, stranger than usual. Up until now, she’d never seen him touch the plants that covered the brick wall that surrounded the property, but she really wouldn’t call what he was doing gardening. It was more like he was searching for something. And he spent a great deal of time at the back gate that led to the trail down to the beach. He even had the security code changed on the lock.
    Then there were the private, whispered calls to his lawyer to consider. The questions about the people she’d met during her daily trek about town. She had to swear on a stack of bibles that she’d never told anyone who she worked for, and that included deliverymen bringing in furniture and workers bringing in whatever they were doing.
    “What’s going on, Jaime?” She finally asked the Saturday before camp started, he was holding a FedEx package as if it might bite him, his face a sickening shade of pale.
    “Nothing I can’t handle, Cass,” he said, but she knew the smile he flashed her was forced. Besides, he didn’t call her Pepper, which by itself was enough to worry her. “Uh, how would you like to take one of those vacation weeks this week? I’ll fly you anywhere you want to go, or you can go home and visit your Mom. This week is just going to be me at camp and you all alone here.”
    “I’m not really interested in going anywhere right now, and my mom went to Vegas with her Red Hat group. She said thanks, by the way, for sending her the money.”
    “I didn’t send her any money.”
    “I know. I did; I just said it was from you because she refused to take it when I offered. She wants me to start a retirement fund and open up a savings account and not spend money on frivolous things like trips to play the slots with a bunch of old ladies. But she has no qualms about spending your money.”
    “Your mom is hardly old. She’s what, maybe fifty?”
    “Forty-eight. She was twenty when I was born. My dad ran out on her a couple of months later, and well, she’s never had much of a life. So if she wants to go gambling with a bunch of gray-hairs, then I say more power to her. Besides, after I paid off my debts, I don’t have anything to spend my earnings on. Some groceries here and there, and Barnes and Noble is getting rich off of me, but after that…” She shrugged; she never liked to talk about how she grew up—not poor but not far from it. There was always food and everything she needed, but there was never anything extra, like trips down to the beach or anywhere the other kids got to go. “I’ve never been to Disney World. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that—just thinking out loud.”
    “Then I’ll take you to Disney World before the crazy of the season. Just you and me.” He stopped talking, his eyes looked funny, then he cleared his throat. “Unless you want to go this week, but Disney is not fun when you’re alone. I was just offering to keep you company is all.”
    “How about we wait until the season is over, after you win that ring like you keep saying you’re going to. Don’t they always ask what you’re going to do now after you’ve won the Super Bowl? You can