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I knehat this was Round two of the gaht

I reached for the phone again but this time before I could dial, Falkov said, "Don't bother He won't answer"

His words causedhad happened to Cliff that would prevent hiest of men, nor was he in the best health

"Is he all right?" I asked even as I droppedfor Cliff to not answer calls from the office, but I had his private cell phone number that few people were privy to

My fingers actually shook as I tried to find his contact infor over mine

Falkov's hand

The contact caused an instant and almost violent reaction But not the bad kind of violent So ht in ers to the top of ly, ers brushingneed to notmine, that was equal parts joy and pain

People didn't touch me That was just an unspoken rule Yeah, I shook hands with customers and clients and such, but no one ever touched me

No one

"He's fine, Jude," Falkov said The timbre of his voice caused that rubber band of need inside e that Cliff was okay should've been enough to release some of the tension, but the physical contact with the beautifulthat impossible I yanked my hand fro my throat to him, but I had no choice

"You can call me Mr Archer," I bit out My rudeness did what I needed it to The momentary softness I'd seen in Falkov's eyes, had heard in his voice, disappeared just like that

"Daddy Hayes won't answer your call because even he's done with your games," Falkov said "Jude," he added "And I know you couldn’t care less, but you can call me Nik"

"Fuck you, Nik," I said "Yeah, that has a nice ring to it," I remarked snidely I hadn't missed how he’d referred to Cliff He wouldn't be the first to believe the rumors ofto correct hiht