Bad Boys Do (Donovan Brothers Brewery 2)

None of his coworkers knew the specifics behind the divorce: that he’d been sleeping with his teaching assistant. That Olivia had found out when she’d caught an early flight home from a trip to attend her grandfather’s funeral.

She’d agreed to keep the truth quiet, her last concession to Victor’s career. Still, she’d been shocked at how carefully he’d constructed his deception. That was when she’d realized how good he’d been at lying. As far as his colleagues knew, Olivia and Victor had broken up by mutual, civil agreement. Just a sad split of two people.

But if she told the truth, Victor’s reputation would be tarnished. He wouldn’t lose his position, but he’d no longer be the golden boy on a straight path to department chair. And there had been other women. Allison, for example, had once been in Victor’s class. Olivia was sure it must have started then, as it had with Olivia so long before.

By God, she’d been an idiot, thinking she was the only one. That she’d been special. The truth was that certain men liked the worship of young women. They liked to be the wise mentor, the sexual teacher, the position of authority. And some girls liked that arrangement, too, or once had, long before.

Olivia shook off the memories. That wasn’t her anymore, and hadn’t been for a long while.

So, if Victor hadn’t turned her in, then who? Who else knew? As far as Olivia could figure, Gwen was the only other person who knew both that Jamie was in the class and that Olivia was dating him. But it couldn’t be her. No way. So maybe it was circumstantial. Maybe a fellow student had seen them out and been concerned about favoritism. But why? This wasn’t a credit course. There wouldn’t even be a grade assigned.

Maybe, in the end, Victor was the one who’d called, and he’d simply counted on his ability to lie his way out of any confrontation with her.

When she pulled into her garage, Olivia’s mind was as muddled as it had been when she’d stepped out of Lewis’s office. She couldn’t think. Didn’t want to think. And she only knew one way to stop her mind from working, so she changed into her running clothes and set out for the trail.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS right now,” Jamie muttered. “I have a bar to run.” He hefted up the tray of clean glasses and headed for the swinging door, but Luke followed him all the way to the bar, wearing his official serious cop expression.

“There are only two people here. I think you can handle multitasking for a moment.”

“I’ve already told you everything that happened with Monica. There’s nothing else to tell.”

“I’m not asking you for information. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”

Jamie tried to roll the tension from his shoulders. “What kind of heads-up?”

“She did it before.”

“Jesus, do I have to drag it out of you? She did what before?”

“Monica slept with a man so her brother would have a chance to break into a business.”

Jamie felt his hand tighten too hard around the glass he was holding, so he set it down before he cracked the damn thing. His stomach rolled, but he very calmly grabbed a towel and began polishing the bar. “Did she tell you that?”

“She hasn’t admitted to it, but we don’t need her to. It happened. She slept with the owner of a construction company after a Christmas party at his office. Five hundred social security numbers were stolen from his office the same night.”

Jamie polished harder. “Are you surprised?”

“I’m not. I just wanted to be sure you weren’t blind-sided by it if it comes out. We’re using the information to pressure her to set her brother up. We’ve warned her if she doesn’t cooperate the information could leak.”

“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?”

Luke laughed. “We finally untangled that mess of a so-called charity operation. Graham raised $435,000 with his last golf tournament. He donated exactly $12,275 to the cancer charity that was supposed to be the focus of the tournament. And that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to all the people he screwed over with his identity theft scam. She was part of that.”

“Yeah.” Jamie finally gave up on the bar and carefully folded the towel into a perfect square. “Was she getting a cut?”

“That’s the thing…. I don’t think so. I think it was the thrill for her. The rebellion. That family is screwed up.”

The thrill. Right. The thrill. Of deception. Of seduction. Of sex. Of power.

Jamie would’ve hated her if it had been worth it. Instead, he just hated himself a little more. “Well, thanks for the notification, but I’m fine.”

“You’ll tell Eric?”

“Sure.” That would be a fun conversation. Hey, remember that woman I had sex with who was only using me to get the alarm code? Good news. I’m not the only idiot who fell for it! That would go a long way toward regaining his brother’s trust.

“So, listen,” Luke said. “About Tessa. And the house…”