I had to bite back my knee-jerk reaction of asking him why. The brothers hated it when a prospect questioned them… to the point they did their damnedest to force a question out of us.
“If you insist,” I muttered.
“Is there a problem?”
“No,” I lied. I didn’t need one of the brothers coming down here. That would be too much, and it would freak out Alexandra.
“Good. I hate going to Gainesville, but if it appears that you need help, we’ll ride out.”
We said our goodbyes, and I found Alexandra’s charger. It was compatible with my phone, so I plugged it in to charge, and went to shower.
I had just rinsed the shampoo out of my hair when I thought I heard a noise through the spray pelting down on me. Then Alexandra’s dense bar of fancy soap fell off the shower caddy and hit the top of my foot.
“Sonuvabitch,” I hissed, picking up the sudsy brick.
The shower curtain whipped to the side and I straightened.
“Hey, baby…” Porter muttered, then stopped, realizing I wasn’t Alexandra.
I clenched a fist around the bar of soap and punched him in the face.
He yelled and put his hands to his nose. Dripping wet, I dropped the soap in the tub, stepped out of the shower, and rushed him out of the small bathroom.
I shoved him against the wall in the hallway. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Get off me, you sick fuck,” Porter yelled.
I had four inches and at least fifty pounds on this asshole. He hadn’t learned how to defend himself any better since yesterday, so I put my forearm to his throat again. “How the fuck did you get in here?”
“Unlocked,” he rasped out.
I narrowed an eye at him. Then I recalled that Alexandra gave me her key. She couldn’t lock the door behind her, and I hadn’t done it either since Blood called right after she left.
Shit.
Still… his willingness to just come inside didn’t mean hewasn’tthe person who broke in last night.
“You just wander inside whenever the fuck you feel like it unannounced? You didn’t even ring the doorbell.”
“Knocked,” he croaked when I let off his throat enough for him to speak.
My lips curled. “Why in the fuck would you knock when she’s got a fuckin’ Ring camera?”
“In case she was sleeping,” he rasped.
None of this shit made sense. My gut said Porter was lying. I ran my tongue along my lower lip and realized I could use his help. “Where does Brantley live?”
I let up on his throat a little so he could answer. “I’m not telling you that?”
I exhaled through my nose. “You got two fuckin’ choices, asshole. I call the cops and turn your ass over to them for trespassing at best and breaking and entering at worst—”
“I didn’t break in!” he cried.
I replaced my forearm hold with my free hand at his throat. “You weren’t invited inside, numbnuts. Seeing as we had a cop here last night because of a break-in, I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you.”
“I already answered their questions.”
“Doesn’t explain why you’d barge in here uninvited. Hell, maybe you decided to be a copycat. I don’t give a shit. Your other choice is to tell me where to find Brantley.”
