God help me, Icouldn’tleave Miller behind. It would rip me in two. I might as well just put a bullet intomybrain instead of Julian’s.
No. I’d have to take Miller with me when I bolted.
I’d just have to find a way to persuade him.
CHAPTER46
MILLER
It tooka while the next day to persuade Jack to let me go home and pick up some clothes. “I’ll buy you a whole new wardrobe,” he offered. “Take you to Rodeo Drive and you can do a wholePretty Womanthing. Except you can use your own credit card.”
“First up, fuck you,” I said. “And second, no. Ilikemy clothes, and I also want to check in at home, see if my Dad’s left any messages. It’ll be fine. There are security guards there—”
“And they weresouseful when Harper Connelly was creeping around the place.”
I gave a wry smile. “No doubt they’ve learned their lesson.”
Jack said nothing until I looked his way. “Still don’t like it.”
“I was going to say, you can come with me,” I said with a shrug.
“That wasneverin question.”
We’d spent the morning chasing down dead-end leads, throwing around ideas and theories that just wouldn’t hold water. And then we ended up in bed again, where we enjoyed each other slow and unhurried. It was after the second orgasm that I’d said I wanted to go home and check on things.
And so I drove over to the house in the Hills in the late afternoon, a silent and mutinous Jack making as black a cloud next to me as the ones that were gathering in the sky. The storm had been brewing for a while, and I’d received more than one severe weather warning on my burner phone that morning.
When we got there, Tony was waiting at the house as usual, and jumped to open my door with a nod of greeting.
“Everything been okay here?” I asked.
“Far as I know, no more mysterious break-ins,” he replied. “Mrs. K made pierogis, if you’re interested.”
“I amalwaysinterested in pierogis.” I began to hand my keys over and then hesitated. “You know what? I’mma leave the car out front. Fuck my dad, right?”
At that, Tony grinned. “Whatever you say,” was his diplomatic response.
“Keep a close eye,” Jack said to Tony, coming around the car. “No one goes near this vehicle. Understand?”
Tony gave a mock salute.
“Calm down,” I sighed as we walked in. “Let’s check out the kitchen first.”
Jack loved the pierogis as much as I did, and Mrs. K seemed to lovehim. She sat him on the barstool at the kitchen bench and kept putting more food on his plate before he’d finished the last lot. She fussed around making him a fresh lemonade, and she put a bunch of leftovers into some plastic tubs for us to take away when I said I wouldn’t be home for a while. “Wherever you’re going, you’ll always need food,” she told me firmly. “Although I must say, I’m relieved that you’re leaving this house. It’s about time you moved out.”
I stared at her in surprise, my cheeks bulging with pierogis, and she arched an eyebrow at me.
“You think I haven’t noticed you wasting your life away over the last few years, Miller? You need to find your way. Weallneed to make our own way in this life, even when the path is full of thorns and rocks. I know it’s a difficult time for you, but it’s good to see you stretch your legs at last. And with such aniceyoung man.” She gave Jack a motherly pat on the shoulder as she left the room, and he choked on the pierogi he was chewing.
“Nice young man?” he coughed, clearing his throat.
“You sure can fool ’em,” I told him with a laugh.
He gave an embarrassed chuckle, poking at the pierogis on his plate. “Is she right?”
“Well,Ithink you’re a nice young man, too.”
He looked pleased, but gave a little shake of the head. “Was she right about you? Finding a path to walk?”
