Free A Midsummer Night's Scream (The Dulcie O'Neil Series Book 7) by H.P. Mallory Page A

knows what’s up. He’s been around the block and …”
    “And you don’t think I’m capable of handling him,” I interrupted, my lips tightening. I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until my lungs forcefully exhaled it.
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “You didn’t have to,” I snapped. “I could tell from the inflection in your voice.”
    He sighed and grew quiet for a few seconds. “Dulce, you know you’re great at your job, and I know you’re great at your job; but you’ve never come across a Jax Rochefort before. He attained his stature for a good reason: he’s treacherous and dangerous. It’s not about my confidence in you, and it’s not about me doubting your abilities. It’s just that I don’t want you anywhere near him! I don’t even want him to know you exist! I don’t trust him.”
    “He already knows I exist,” I pointed out the obvious.
    “Doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want you anywhere near him.”
    “You might not have a choice,” I pointed out. “I mean, who knows how long you’re going to be stuck out there? Meanwhile, he’s here!” When he didn’t respond right away, I continued. “Seriously, Knight, what’s the worst that can happen? That I don’t ask the right questions? Or he refuses to give me the answers we need? Maybe he’ll feed me a line of bullshit? Regardless, those stakes aren’t very high, Knight.”
    “That’s fair enough,” he replied with another distracted sigh.
    “So rather than ignoring a possible gold mine, wouldn’t it be better for you to coach me on how to interrogate him? Just tell me what information I need to get from him. You know your load is already too heavy, and dealing with Jax would be taking on more than you can handle right now.” I inhaled a deep breath and figured my argument was persuading him because he wasn’t arguing with me. Well, not yet anyway. “You know I can help you, Knight. Just tell me what I need to know about Jax, and advise me how to approach him.”
    “Dulce,” he started.
    “Help me help you,” I finished.
    “It’s not that simple. You…”
    “I know I can get him to talk,” I interrupted. “It’s not like I’m the new kid on the block. I’ve been doing this for a long time, Knight.”
    He paused for another few seconds. “You make arguing with you very difficult.”
    I smiled as soon as I heard his exasperated reply because it meant my victory. “You’d think by now, you could have learned that it’s better to agree with me from the get-go; if only to spare us this back-and-forth.”
    Knight chuckled. “Guess I’m just slow.” He was quiet for another few seconds and I heard the sounds of high heels clicking on the floor in the background. “And on that note, Dulce, I gotta run. Caressa just walked into my office. It looks like there’s another emergency fire we have to put out. I’m sorry.”
    I could tell he was flustered. “It’s okay,” I replied calmly.
    He’d given me the answer I wanted, even if I didn’t have all the information I needed. Now I had the green light from Knight to discover whatever I could. Granted, I imagined there was no way he would find any time in the near future to come up with a prioritized list of questions for Jax, but I wasn’t really concerned. I had faith enough in myself; I knew I could get the answers we needed from Jax. What was more, there was no way I was just going to sit on the treasure trove of information known as Jax Rochefort in the hopes that Knight would school me on everything he wanted or needed to know. Nope, I had to take the proverbial reins now and handle Jax all on my own.
    And, really, whatever Knight didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
    ###
    “We meet again,” Jax greeted me the next morning with a polished smile. Unbeknownst to him, his attractive smile was wasted on me. I’d already severed all relationships with my hormones and left them at the door. Now he was dealing with the cold, hard, fact-seeking