I worked my jaw and turned back to the house. I had to try and make some friends if this is where I was going to live, right? God, this is why people lived in the city.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to him. “Relax.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “I am relaxed.”
I shot a glare at him. “Not you, Lucy.”
Lucy straightened, but her ears remained back, her body tense.
He looked at the dog and back. “Lucy? She’s well trained.”
“In most cases,” I muttered, walking up to him. I held out a hand. “Liv.”
He took it, eyeing the dog again. “Wade.”
I shook it once and took my hand back. “Yes, I’m just moving in. My dog and I. Needed a change of pace.” The air was fresher out here, but I recognized nothing. I had lived downtown for the last three years, there was no point in coming this way.Out to the ‘burbs, as he said. Why would there be? Everything was so…similar. And cohesive. There was nothing chaotic or unpredictable, just the same things everywhere.
Exactly what I needed after…well, my entire life.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Liv. And you, Lucy.”
She growled.
“She’s protective,” I told him when he took a step back. “Where do you live?” I flinched. Shit, I didn’t want to come off as some creep. I’ve had enough of those in my life, I didn’t want to become one. “Am I allowed to ask that?”
He chuckled and turned, gesturing to a place across the street. “Two places down. I moved in a couple of weeks ago.”
My brows furrowed as I studied the place. “You knew who lived here though? You know what the inside looks like?”
He shrugged. “Everyone talks and most of these houses are built exactly the same, something to get used to. We know everything. For instance, Ms. Berry, who lives two houses that way,” I followed his finger, “just got her cat back from surgery. The cat ate a doll sock. Mrs. Dahlia sells her Oxy on the side just to earn some nail money, if you ever wanted something for fun. And Mr. Hass,” he gestured with his chin in a general direction, “divorced his wife three years ago, but sneaks her in and out before sun-up so the people on the street don’t start talking.”
I frowned, finding his eyes again. “We are talking.”
He laughed and nodded as if it were some inside joke we should have shared. “He failed.”
I felt too tired to smile, to bring attention to the scars. But I did appreciate his observation. It was one of the biggest parts of my job, observation. The only way to be a great writer was to observe, read, and research. I excelled in those as much as I could, but I wasn’t perfect at it, clearly, or else I would have noticed some man in a mask studying me as well as Everett had. “Okay. What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a cop, and you?”
Goddammit. “A writer,” I answered nonchalantly. “I write books.” A fuckingcop?Deep breath. This could be a good thing. If Everett came around, I could just scream really loud, and Wade would come running. Perfect. I could use that to my advantage.
“Oh? What kind of books? Maybe I’ve read them.”
I really didn’t think he’d like them. Not many people I met in real life did. “Um…” I shook my head. “Psychological thrillers.”
His lips curled, but guilt filled his features. “Not my genre.”
Thank God.
“I live in that, I don’t need to read about it too, sorry.”
I held up a hand, grateful that I could still keep some decorum with the neighbors. “Don’t apologize, I wouldn’t have told you the names anyway. I write under a pen name so people won’t find me.”
He nodded, a glint in his eyes. “Smart, especially with the genre you write. I gotta get going, my shift starts soon, but if you need me, there is an envelope under your welcome mat with a list of everyone’s number. Customary,” he smiled at my grimace. “Never know when you need help.”
Right. “Thank you. It was nice to meet you, Wade.”
“You to, Liv.” He gave me a warm smile, his eyes falling over me as he turned away.
