Chloe watched her sister’s bravado crumble like a dry cookie.“I-I don’t know, he was across the street.Hoodie, I think?Or a jacket.Maybe brown.Or gray?”She flicked her hair, flustered.“It was dark-ish.”
“What time?”Kayne pressed.
Danica looked at Chloe helplessly.“I don’t know exactly.Maybe around three?”
When she should have been at work.
“Did you go into the apartment?”Kayne asked.
“Well, yeah.I needed to borrow Chloe’s, uh, mixer.”
“You said blender earlier,” Chloe said.
Her sister wrinkled her nose.“Same diff.I need it to make margaritas.”
“You tried to steal my blender,” Chloe muttered.
“Borrow, steal, semantics.”Danica flapped a hand, already bored with the interrogation.
“Was the apartment messed up?”Kayne wanted to know.
Danica scoffed.“Are you kidding?Chloe is a neat freak.Everything has to be in its place.”
“How did you get in?”
“I know where she stashes the key in the light sconce.”
Chloe’s stomach dropped.If Danica knew, then so did anyone watching.
“You should’ve asked me first,” Chloe murmured.
“You would’ve said yes.”
Kayne redirected instantly.“The man.What did he do?”
“He just stood there,” Danica said.“He didn’t move.When a car drove by, he stepped back into the shadows.”Her eyes widened theatrically.“It was super horror-movie-esque.But I didn’t want to freak you out, so I—”
“You should’ve said something,” Kayne cut in.
The temperature shifted like a pressure change before a storm.Danica definitely felt it.She visibly shrank back, finally understanding this wasn’t about her.
Kayne stepped closer, not threatening, but not gentle either.“Listen to me carefully.If you ever see someone watching your sister, you tell us immediately.Understand?”
Danica swallowed.“Yes.Okay.”
“What direction did he go?”Kayne asked.
“I don’t know.I glanced down at my phone, and when I looked up, he was gone.”She tried a smile that landed closer to a grimace.“I figured he was a creeper, but not, like, adangerouscreeper.”
Kayne exhaled slowly.“They’re the same thing.”
Chloe’s hands were trembling now, and she didn’t even notice until Kayne did.He moved behind her, one palm brushing her shoulder to steady her.She leaned into it before she could stop herself.
Danica eyed the gesture.“Your taste is impeccable, Chloe.”And then, completely misreading the room, she said, “I’d love to stay and talk, but I have calls to make.”
Chloe resisted the urge to stick her foot out and trip her.How could she not have said something?How could she have decided this was nothing?
Worse, how long had someone been watching her, close enough to know where the key was hidden?
