“Okay. I just needed to hear you say it.”
“I know. And I’m glad you asked.” He kissed the top of my head. “We good?”
“We’re good.”
“What you on for the rest of the day?”
“It’s my movie day. I plan to take myself to the matinee. I’ll pick what I watch when I get there.”
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, shocking me
“I don’t want to mess up your workday.”
“You couldn’t dare mess up my workday. I was moving shit around when you came in.”
“I’d love that, but we need to go like now.”
“Okay, leave your car here, and I’ll drive us. And let me guess, you’re going to Renaissance Theatre.”
“How did you know that?”
“Lo, you’re a classy, classic woman, and there’s only one matinee worth going to for a woman like you.”
His phone rang, cutting through the moment. He glanced at it, frowned, then silenced it.
“You can answer if you need to,” I said.
“It’s fine. Unknown number. I've been declining this call for weeks.”
But it rang again. And again.
“DaVinci, just answer it.”
He sighed, picked it up, and,rolling his neck, trying to loosen up,“Bryns.”
The voice on the other end made his entire body went rigid.
“What?” I mouthed.
“It’s from the detention center.”
Panic flared.“Is it Cassie?”
“Shit, it has to be. I don’t know anybody else in there that would call me.” He stared at the phone as if it were a snake. He hung the phone up and tossed it down. It immediately started ringing and going off again.
“Find out what she wants.”
He looked at me, and I could see the conflict playing out on his face. He wanted to just be done with it all, and I respected that, but this hoe needed to be in a psych ward, not a detention center. He also needed to gather as much evidence of her harassment as he could so he could keep her where she needed to be.
“Answer it,” I said. “Put it on speaker.”
“You sure?”
“I want to hear what this crazy bitch has to say.”
His eyebrows lifted, but he pressed accept and speaker, setting the phone on the desk.
“Hello?”
