Scala eyed her up and down. “More than you’d like me to know,” he murmured.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
Scala shrugged a shoulder as the home team switched with the visitors. “Catarina had a membership there.” His indigo-colored eyes gleamed back at her. “Are you hiding a dirty secret, Miss Taylor? Something you don’t want to share with the class?”
Autumn let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding and ignored his question. “We’ve already gone down that avenue. It’s a dead end.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched a smirk spread across his lips, “Blue Navarro will not tell the police a damn thing, Miss Taylor.”
“Oh, and he will tell you everything, I suppose?” Autumn retorted.
“A hell of a lot more than you know.”
Autumn turned back to him. Her eyes moved to his smiling lips, then to those exotic eyes. What was he playing at? “Stop beating around the bush, Scala, and spit it out.”
“I plan on meeting with him soon.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I thought maybe you would like to come with me.”
Autumn shook her head, and a dry chuckle released from her lips. “And if I say no?”
“I know about your brief vacation in that basement in Seattle. What was that, ten years ago?”
He reached out and almost touched the scar on the side of her nose. “And this here. The reports said he didn’t touch you.” He examined her face before coming back to look into her eyes. “Did he really have a harem down there? Did you—”
“Stop it.” The words ripped from her throat. Autumn’s heart beat a staccato in her throat, and a whirring sounded in her ears. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“The eyes.”
“Please! Help us! You can save us!”
Autumn flinched. She lowered her lashes, then opened them again, “If I don’t go along with your plan, you're going to blackmail me?”
Scala leaned back in his seat and rested his arm along the back. He turned to the field as the visiting team was heading to the dugout. “I never said that did I?”
“You implied,” Autumn spoke through gritted teeth.
The announcer called out for everyone to rise for the national anthem.
Autumn put her hand over her heart, but she didn’t hear the words from the song. She smelled the sulfur from a smoking gun, then saw the bullet hole in her captor’s head and the door above getting smashed in.
“You can sit now, Autumn.”
Autumn blinked twice.
“Hey lady, you’re blocking the view!”
Autumn glanced behind her to see a man with a beer gut glaring at her. His beard was damp and food particles dotted the bushy mess.
With a sharp exhale, Autumn sat down. She was aware of Scala’s eyes on her. She felt naked, even though she was fully clothed. Someone rushed by them holding popcorn and cups of soda.
“Excuse me! Coming through!”
Autumn stood to let the gentleman by, but the man nearly ran her down, which made Autumn lose her balance and fall sideways into Scala’s lap.
She heard the breath whoosh out of the lawyer, and his hands moved to her shoulders. He stared into her eyes. “Are you alright?”
Autumn glanced down at his lips. They moved, but she couldn’t hear the words.
Were they descending closer? Or did she move closer to him?
