“Exceeds it, I think. You don’t agree?” I asked when he made a face.
“I might be a little biased. My family owns an Italian restaurant.”
“Better than this? I might have to add that to my bucket list one day.”
“When all this is over, I’d be happy to rent the place out to show you.”
“It’s a date,” I said, giving him a smile.
“I’d like to give you a ride…”
“But we probably shouldn’t be seen together,” I finished for him. “I’m not that far from home. Thanks for lunch.”
And the life-changing money.
A way out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Roe
By the time I made it back home, my feet were killing me, but I’d managed to walk off the too-full feeling from lunch.
That, combined with no longer being in such close proximity to Milo and all his disarming attractiveness, made me think a lot clearer.
And the dominant thought was: what the fuck?
One could make a case for the money drowning out any argument against doing this.
The money was still incredibly tempting. Especially since my TV was becoming pixelated and my laptop had been glitching so hard that I could barely use it anymore. There were upgrades my life needed. And, yes, an exit. A future.
Milo’s money could provide all that.
That said, the risks for me were high.
My relationship with Frank was tenuous at best. It was a careful dance, one where the music and steps were changing constantly as it was. Making me have to engage with him more was only going to make it harder to keep myself safe.
Also, I was aligning myself with a man I didn’t even know. I didn’t even know his real last name.
But I was trusting him.
To pay me, first of all.
And to keep me safe if things went bad.
“Maybe I have two investigations to work on,” I told Alley as she climbed up on the arm of the couch to hang with me.
She wasn’t an affectionate cat. She didn’t make biscuits on my leg or figure-eight between my legs. She never climbed on me to ask for pets and only tolerated touch if she knew a treat was coming her way. But she did enjoy hanging out with me wherever I was. And she seemed to like when I talked to her.
Since I had no actual friends to do it with, I liked talking to her too.
“I can earn my money by trying to look into Frank. But I can also start looking into Milo too. If I’m going to align myself with someone, I should at least know who it is, right?”
Alley slow blinked her one blue eye.
“Exactly. I don’t want to be anyone’s pawn. Well, it’s time to tidy up. So you might want to go hide under the bed because I’m going to have to take out your arch-nemesis,” I warned her, meaning the vacuum.
I climbed off the couch and gathered my supplies. Because I was usually too busy during the week to catch up on housekeeping. But also because I thought better when I was cleaning.
