Ridge threw his hands up in aggravation. “Nobody can track Katy.”
She smiled like he’d given her a compliment and not more proof she was a public menace.
“You’re going home right now,” I said, hoping to get her under control.
It was a wasted effort.
“I am not. And I do whatever I want, wherever I want, whenever I want.”
Frankie’s eyes grew wide in irritation as he stared at her. “You were supposed to leave through the side door, not hide. What if I’d been meeting Ben Schiano from New York?”
Katy wasn’t fazed by the number of men who glared at her a few feet away. “Well… I would not have stayed for a meeting in that case.”
“You couldn’t have known who’d be in this meeting until you were already in the closet,” Frankie sputtered and then turned back to the men at large. “I swear I told no one of tonight’s meeting. I have too much at stake in the situation.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her,” I said trying to calm Frankie. He might’ve been our ally now, but that didn’t mean any of us wouldn’t switch roles at any point in time.
Katy glowered at me, but I pushed my way past Detective Anderson and latched on to her arm, giving her a look that said, “Shut up and follow along.” For the first time in her life, she listened and came with me willingly. At least until we reached the exit of Frankie’s office, where she turned back with a smile.
“See you later, boys.”
“Do you have to antagonize people while they’re holding guns?” I asked before leading her through Frankie’s front room and out the door.
“Don’t you think the citizens have a right to know the five of you get together for these late-night meetings? How often do they happen?”
Katy followed me off the porch steps and we turned onto Bayside Street, headed back to our homes. No way in hell did I plan to drop her at her place. Katy was coming home with me. She just didn’t know it yet.
“Since dead bodies continue to show up throughout town, we need to meet more often.”
“You can’t hold my arm and pull me all the way back to my house. I can walk, you know.”
“This isn’t for your benefit,” I snarled. “This is to remind me I can’t simply toss you in the ocean and watch you drown.”
It was dark, and I didn’t see her expression, but I heard the quiet growl. “Did you forget I worked as a lifeguard in high school?”
I’d never forget the image of Katy wearing a white bikini and sunning herself on the side of a pool, so no, I hadn’t forgotten the lifeguard job.
“You’re not going back to your house. You’re coming to mine where I can keep an eye on you.” If she didn’t watch herself, I’d be forced to give her a one-on-one bodyguard whose only instructions included to stay within six inches of her at all times.
She jerked out of my grasp. “Like hell I am.”
Katy wasted breath arguing with me. I planned to win on this.
15
Katy
Pierce let go of my arm, but for whatever reason I continued to follow him down Bayside to both our homes.
It’s been established that I’m stupid.
We walked right past my house and I didn’t even attempt to diverge in that direction. I’d lost my mojo. Pierce continued on right up to his house as if he didn’t expect me to complain, and as soon as I set foot over the threshold into his mansion he turned around and locked the door behind me.
It was one thing to follow him to his house against my will, but another completely to lock me up like a prisoner. I crossed my arms over my chest to let him know how irritated he made me. This was beyond hands-on hips annoyed.
“I’m not staying here.” Technically he hadn’t asked me to stay, but it felt important for him to know I didn’t plan on it.
He rubbed a finger over his eyebrow and I swear I saw it twitch. “Yes, you are.”
