“Tuesday.” He had the decency to look ashamed. “That’s when Hicks called.”
He’d been sitting on this information for days. “And you didn’t think you should tell me?”
“I didn’t want to freak you out. I thought we’d find this asshole by now, but he’s buried his tracks.” Levi scrubbed a hand through his short hair. “I’m only tellin’ you now, because you can’t go home. Not until we find this fucker.”
“And what if he comes after you?”
Levi leveled a stare at me. “I wish he fuckin’ would.”
My cousin was angry, but so was I. “You should have told me.”
He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. “Yeah, but I didn’t. Hindsight’s a bitch. I just… God, I hate this fucker.”
It wasn’t an apology because he wasn’t sorry. Levi had been spot-on when he’d mentioned his superhero complex. He wanted to save me. Even from the truth. Even from my own guilt. But now that it was out there, my brain wouldn’t stop serving up images of Polly, her beautiful face caved in by rocks. Was that why her mother had ordered Polly’s cremation? Because someone had beaten her to death with stones? My stomach churned at the thought. I jumped to my feet, knocking my chair back in my haste. “I need to get out of here for a while.”
“And go where?” Levi asked. “There’s a sick fucking son-of-a-bitch looking for you.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped, my voice rising. Even though I wanted to deny it, I couldn’t. “But if I don’t get some goddamn air, I’m gonna go all sorts of ape shit on this laptop.” First, I’d bash it against the wall. Then I’d smack Levi upside his thick skull with it. Anything left, I’d use on myself for getting Polly and Rishi killed.
“There’s a coffee shop across the street,” Hound said, standing. “I can take you.”
I’d been so involved in my discussion with Levi, I’d almost forgotten Hound was still in the room. “Thanks, but I’m sure that’s not necessary.” I appreciated his offer, but I wanted to be alone. Hell, I wanted the murderous asshole to findmesoIcould extract some revenge.
Levi leveled a glare at me. “Take Hound or you don’t go.”
I met his glare and dug my heels in. He was supposed to help me, not imprison me.
Levi smirked, looking every bit like the stubborn, deranged lunatic he was. “I can do this all day, Meals. I can also lockdown this building so you can’t get out. You know I’m right. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t need my help.”
“Biggest mistake of my life.” Not that I had an issue with Hound, per se. It was the principle of needing a babysitter to quite literally cross the street. That, and I was on the brink of losing my shit at any second, which was something I preferred to do in private, not in front of Hound.
He chuckled. “Yeah, well, now it’s personal and I’m not about to let this asshole win.”
My existence had devolved into a pissing contest between my cousin and my would-be killer. Awesome. “Fine.” I slid my purse over my shoulder and headed for the door not bothering to wait for Hound.
“Don’t let her out of your sight,” Levi said.
“Yessir,” came Hound’s clipped reply. “You want anything?”
“Sure. Grab me an espresso. Here. I’ll buy for everyone.” Levi slid open his desk drawer and tossed Hound a couple of bills.
I flung open the door and stalked away with Hound on my heels. Once we were out of Levi’s office, I lengthened my strides, hurrying to put as much distance between me and my stubborn, bone-headed, irritating jackass of a cousin as possible.
Hound had to hurry to catch up. When I glanced behind me, I saw him wince, and felt like a total bitch for hurting him. It wasn’t Hound’s fault I was pissed. Hell, it wasn’t even Levi’s. The person I really wanted to beat the shit out of was me. A sob tried to rip its way out of my chest, but I forcefully shored up the fissure, unwilling and unable to allow myself to crack just yet.
I slowed down, so Hound could catch up.
“He’s worried about you,” Hound said as we rounded the corner into the common room.
Irked by the way he was defending Levi, I fired back, “Then he shouldn’t withhold valuable information! If I had known this was about me, I could have narrowed down my search. Maybe looked for people in my past instead of focusing on those Polly and I had in common. Now I’ve lost valuable time on the wrong suspects.” Of course, if Polly hadn’t been my friend, she’d probably still be alive, but I couldn’t think about that. I had to hold back the guilt or it would crush me.
“Pride is a funny thing.”
“You think?”
Hound watched me. I could feel his gaze burning into the side of my face, but refused to look at him.
“Sorry. Levi brings out the worst in me. He always has.”
