“He cares about—”
“No. Nope. Non. Niet.”
“Add—”
“Stop,” I hissed. “We are not talking about him. He is dead to me.”
Asher laid his hands on my shoulders. “Okay, sissy, he’s dead to you, but the fact remains, you’re going to have bikers on your tail to make sure you get out of town safely.”
“The man takes liberties,” I grumbled.
“I’ll be sure to let him know you feel that way.”
“Let’s go,” I said with a sigh.
We headed downstairs and Asher loaded our bags into my car.
“Where’s our tail?” I asked.
“You won’t know they’re there,” he said. “That’s the deal.”
“Whatever.” I started my car and waited while Asher and Dylan said their goodbyes.”
“Be careful,” Asher said, leaning in through Dylan’s window to kiss her again. “No getting kidnapped or shot at. Either of you. And call me when you get there.”
“Yes, Mom,” I sassed.
Asher scowled at me.
“We’re going to the most boring place on earth,” Dylan said. “There probably isn’t even a thief. I bet one of the seniors with Alzheimer’s is accidentally wandering in the rooms of other people and taking things they believe are theirs. We’ll have this case solved before you know it.”
Personally, I was hoping the case would take us at least a week.“Afterwards, maybe Dylan and I will take a long vacation somewhere. It’s not like we’re looking forward to coming home and being locked in the condo.”
“That reminds me, stay close to your phones. Jake is putting together a list of suspects based on your descriptions of the Spiders you saw with Candy. He’ll be sending you both the link when he’s done so hopefully you can identify the suspects,”Asher replied.
Knowing I had to stay in contact with Jake made my stomach roil. “I’ve already blocked his number,” I ground out.
“No you haven’t,” Dylan blabbed.
“Well, I was going to today.”
“He’ll need to talk to you about the case, sissy. I can’t be the go-between on this one, so will you take one for the team?” Asher asked.
I wrinkled my nose, not wanting anything to do with Jake or thecase, but I knew I had to deal with this one on my own. “I guess I can wait until afterwards to block his number.”
Chuckling, Asher shook his head and planted another kiss on Dylan’s lips. Apparently, the two of them had come to some sort of terms since last night.
“All right, lovebirds, we need to get on the road. We’ll call you, Ashey. Now get your head out of my window so I can drive.”
He straightened and waved us out of the garage.
Dylan navigated, leading us away from civilization and over the picturesque beauty of Mount Hood to a desert town where the dirt was red and the trucks were lifted. We stopped for dinner at a steakhouse with a giant carved bear out front.
This was when I noticed two motorcycles pulling into the parking lot.
“That must be our babysitters,” I hissed.
“Just ignore them,” Dylan suggested, and I nodded, glancing out my front windshield.
