“I swear to you I am,” he sighs. “He’s not taking the bait, and he knows something is up.”
“Make him suspicious, then he has no choice but to show up, and when he does, you call me.”
“Got it.”
“Check back in later. I have to go,” I tell him and hang up.
“Everything good, Baby?” Leo asks from the back.
“Yeah,” I run my hand through my hair, “Except Ghost can’t get that meeting with Spinner.”
“He’ll show, Pretty girl. Eventually, Viktor will wonder where Xander is,” Gage says, swinging his car to a stop in front of the house.
“I hope so. Spinner is the lead I need on Viktor,” I reply and climb out of the car.
We follow Leo up to the door, where he unlocks it letting us in. The house is eerily quiet since Evander sent his staff home since he’s staying with me. The only person left behind is one of the housekeepers, Luna.
“Hello, Mr. Perez,” Luna greets politely, “Ms. Poletti. Mr. Lawson.”
Gage shivers. “Please call me Gage.”
He hates being called Mr. Lawson because of his dad. Saying his dad is awful is an understatement. He was a mean drunk that did everything in his power to make Gage’s life miserable after Gage’s mom left when he was seven. I asked my dad once why he kept Gage’s dad Conner around, and he told me it was because our house was the only good place Gage had. The first thing I did when I took over was run Conner off because Gage didn’t need him there anymore.
Luna smiles. “Is there anything I can help with?”
“No,” Leo smiles back, “I’m just packing some things up. Evanderand Mateo will be by tomorrow to pick up a few things. Why don’t you go on home?”
“I just have a few more things to do.” She smiles again and disappears from the room.
Leo shakes his head, walking to the stairs. “That woman doesn’t understand the word rest.”
We walk into Leo’s room, and I realize this is the first time I’ve been in here. It instantly smells like him, and the room is done in a mixture of blues and earth tones.
Gage swan dives into the middle of the bed.
“You’re such a child,” I laugh, walking around the room and looking at the pictures he has hanging on a bulletin board. Gage rolls off the bed, walks up behind me, and slides his arms around my waist. I lay my hand on his and glimpse Leo’s life before me. There are pictures of him, Evander, and Mateo smiling at whoever is taking the picture, and that’s when I finally see the slight similarities between them. All three have the same smile and crinkle around their eyes. I look further up. “Is this your mom?” I ask, pointing to one in the corner.
Leo pokes his head out of the closet. “Yeah,” he answers before disappearing.
“Damn, he looks just like her,” Gage comments.
“She’s beautiful,” I say with a slight pain in my chest for my own mom. Then I see one of the pictures we took together hanging there. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was our fourth date, and we wanted a cheesy kissing picture. So, we placed our lips together, and Leo snapped the picture with his phone. Because of how ridiculous it was, you could see us smiling around the kiss, but I never got to take the cheesy couple pictures. Now my camera roll is full of photos of the guys and me.
“You guys look so happy here,” Gage says, running his finger down the picture.
I smile. “We were.”
Gage hugs me tighter. “You ever feel like all this shit was meant to be?”
I frown. “Like fate?”
“I don’t know if I believe in that,” Gage replies. “I just mean, everything does happen for a reason, right?”
I want to believe that, but that doesn’t explain all the bad stuff we have to go through to get here. Do I feel like everything is where it’s supposed to be now? Yes. I just don’t know if I can agree with something like fate.
“Do you have feelings for him, Gage?” I ask quietly, just for his ears.
He’s silent for so long that I don’t think he’ll answer. “I’m getting there.”
