Across the room, Mila paced heel to toe in front of the window, listening to her caller and responding with terse replies.
“How did you become friends with Dixie?” Cassie asked.
“You know I provide information to Arran? I was waiting outside his office one evening, and she sidled up to give me some advice.” I put on her voice. “Don’t flirt with him, he’s got a new woman.”
“Always with the gossip. There’s nothing she loves more than having juicy details to share.” Cassie’s fleeting amusement dropped. “She told me a few things before she vanished. Actually, before she was attacked.”
I leaned in, clutching my mug.
“She wanted time off to do something cagey. She wouldn’t tell me what, but promised that if she needed help, she’d ask. Then she got hurt and her personality changed. Her spark had gone, and she refused to discuss anything after.”
My heart beat faster. “You think that’s to do with her disappearance?”
“If it isn’t, I’m going to have to hang up my Skeleton Girls Detective Agency crown. I wish I’d pushed harder, but I was trying to give her the space she needed to heal. Instead, I let her down.”
Mila came back to join us. She dropped into a seat and picked up her tea. Taking a sip, she griped about the fact the solicitors had gone from avoiding her to begging for help.
Thankfully, Cassie rolled with the conversation change, heeding my need to keep my search on the downlow.
I hardly heard in my battle to contain my rush of thoughts. I got it now, the reason why Kane was so intense and so private about what he was up to. His family was at the heart of this. Still, if I was wrong, it could hurt Mila, which meant keeping a lid on my guessing game until I had the facts.
One thing was certain: I needed my car back.
First to go see Molly and get the code, then second, to pursue Dixie wherever she’d gone.
A knock on the door brought Convict into the apartment and Mila directly into his arms. The way Cassie and Riordan interacted was like magnets crashing together. An unstoppable and uncontrollable draw. With Mila and Convict, it was more like a connection. Both of them taking a breath of relief at being back in each other’s orbit.
I wish I knew what it was like to be wanted in the same way the two couples had with each other. No,neededwas a better word. Like they were only complete when together. I’d never experienced anything like that, just like I’d been a stranger to good sex. My overblown emotions killed off my last relationship, and it was possible I’d never get the chance again.
“Ready to go home?” Convict asked Mila softly. A bruise stained his forehead next to where a scar ran into his dark hair.
I hoped my father hadn’t done that, though it wouldn’t surprise me.
She nodded then glanced at us. “Sorry to love you and leave you, Skeleton Girls. Lovelyn, I just wanted the chance to thank you. We can have a proper catch-up in a day or two.”
I took a final sip of my tea and stood, setting the mug down. “I’d love that. I don’t have a lot of time today either. I need to bus it to Leith to fetch my car. I’ll walk out with you.”
With another hug from Cassie, we headed to the main corridor that separated the Divine and Divide clubs on the warehouse’s ground floor.
Kane emerged from the management office. I shivered. He smirked.
Mila addressed her brother. “Are you busy?”
He shrugged. “I don’t officially start work for a couple of hours. Why?”
Her eyes twinkled. “Lovelyn needs a lift to get her car from Leith. Considering all she did for the skeleton crew yesterday, I think it’s the least you can do.”
Kane’s smug gaze returned to me again.
I stared right back, challenging him. Mila slid a look between us, her eyebrows drifting up. But she was way off the mark. So was Kane if he thought he was the hunter.
A whole lot had changed in the past thirty minutes.
Another of his shrugs had me leading the way outside. And when he once again ordered me, “Get in the car, Lovelyn.”
This time? I didn’t hesitate.
Chapter 6
