“Who?” Cara couldn’t look away from Wes’s profile. His familiar, she’d seen it a hundred times next to her on the sofa watching Star Trek, profile.
“Martin. My friend?”
Cara stared at her blankly. “Oh, right.”
“Are you going to freak out?” Skye asked, following her attention to the bar. “Wes is a nice guy. He made a mistake. Just ask him about it. He probably thinks you already know.”
Cara shot Skye a ‘yeah, right’ look.
Wes turned to come back to their group, her drink in his hand. Acid rose in Cara’s throat. “I’ve got to go to the restroom.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Wes watched puzzledas Cara bolted from the bar.
“Everything okay?” he asked when he rejoined the group. No one would meet his eyes. “Is Cara okay?”
Skye heaved a heavy sigh and pointed at Jerrod. “This idiot just told Cara about…” Her face contorted, her gaze sliding away.
Foreboding settled over him. “About?”
“About what happened at Tech,” Todd said quietly.
Wes took a step back, his brain scrambling. “What about Tech?”
Skye rubbed her nose. “About your arrest for breaking into the university’s system, and then your work for the government…”
Wes swallowed convulsively, his chin tucked to his chest.
How the hell did they know about that?
He certainly didn’t broadcast it. Wes’s eyes flew to the door, his mouth going dry.
Fuck.
He needed to explain it to her. What if she’d left? Panic twisted around his heart. Cara appeared in the doorway, and Wes sucked in a breath.
“Man, I’m sorry,” Todd said, but Wes only cared about the stone-like mask Cara was wearing.
Her eyes faced stubbornly forward when she reached his side, taking the drink from him. Wes wanted to beg her to look at him. He needed her to listen.
Wes could only imagine what was going through her head. He frowned when her hand trembled as she lifted the glass to her lips.
“Cara,” he started to say, but she turned her back and looked over to the bar, only to whirl back to their group, her face a frightening blend of whitish green.
Her hand gripped his forearm, and she lifted her eyes to his. Fear, stark and vivid, shone in her violet eyes.
“What is it?” Wes looked over his shoulder to see what had scared her. He heard Skye ask Cara what was wrong, but his attention had been caught by a group of men sitting at a low table near the bar.
One of them stared fixedly at their group. His expression looked confused or maybe disbelieving. With the dim lighting, it was impossible to make out which. As Wes watched, the man nudged his friend and gestured toward their group. Cara’s death grip on his arm loosened, and she tipped her glass up, downing the entire contents. Wes’s eyebrows lowered.
“I’m going to the bathroom.”
Cara pressed the glass into his hand and slipped away, walking briskly out of the bar. Skye, Todd, and Jerrod looked bewildered.
“Again? Is she sick?” Jerrod slurred. “Maybe you should check on her, Skye. I thought she was going to hurl. I’m not sure I’ve actually seen anyone that color. Well, without theatrical makeup anyway.”
Their words came to Wes from a distance. He was torn between wanting to go after Cara and approaching the group of men who were now in an argument with a woman.
