“I think AJ knows, I can try to find out.”
She felt her eyes light up. “Really?”
He nodded, but he was still looking her up and down. “Are you okay? Really?”
“Yeah, Brock just showed up, and he wouldn’t leave, but…it’s fine.” She didn’t want to think about it.
Niko looked past her. “Is that your phone?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Oh yeah.” It was on the ground by Brock. He’d taken it from her, so it must have slipped from his hand.
She started to go get it, but Niko stopped her and went to pick it up. She could see he was really tempted to kick him or punch him while he was down, but he didn’t. He picked up her phone, dusted it off, and brought it to her.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Looking for you.”
“You found me.” She smiled.
He lifted his hand and brushed a stray curl behind her ear. “I was worried when you didn’t come home after your classes.”
“I did actually.”
His forehead wrinkled. “You did?”
She nodded.
“Do you want to go for a drive?”
They’d started going for drives when Niko found out it was one of Tiana’s favorite pastimes. She didn’t love driving, but she loved being a passenger and looking at the scenery, especially someplace as picturesque as Hope Falls.
“Yes.”
He helped her into the SUV, and as they were driving away, Brock was starting to come to. She wondered what he would think when he woke up, and no one was around.
They drove for a little bit before Niko asked, “When did you come home?”
“When Jessie was there.” She took a breath. “I heard her say that the PR stunt worked and that people believed we were a couple. That you hired paparazzi, and that’s what really sold it.”
He looked over at her. “Did you hear what I said?”
“What you said?”
“When she said that, did you hear what I said?”
“No, I just left.”
He pulled the car over to the side of the road, a road she wasn’t even sure she’d ever been on, it was in the woods surrounded by trees and he turned off the engine. “I didn’t hire any paparazzi. It was Brock.”
“Brock hired papara?—”
“No, he hired a private investigator who has been following you even before he came to town. And that P.I. sold those pictures.”
“A P.I.”
“I told Jessie I didn’t hire the pap, and she let it go, but I didn’t. When she left, it bothered me, so I called AJ. He called me back in twenty minutes and told me the name of the P.I.”
“Is he still following me?”
