One of them was Ally Nightingale.
The other was a very well-healed Darius Tucker.
His gaze was locked on me.
He looked good, so good,too good.
Did God hate me?
What did I do?
Really, I wanted to know.
Ally made a move, which meant I was forced to rip my gazefrom Darius and watch her jerk a thumb to herself, then over her shoulder athim.
“Private investigators,” she concluded.
Not news since I already knew it, and now Liam talked aboutit all the time, proud as all hell Darius had gone to work at Lee’sinvestigation firm after he got out of the drug business and now he was ahotshot PI.
“You take Toni home, I got Malia,” he ordered low.
Uh-oh.
I wasn’t at one with that plan.
“Wait,” I said.
Toni didn’t wait.
She took off toward Ally, Ally turned when she got to her,and Toni said while they walked away, “Girl, can we stop on the way home to geta drink?I’m parched.And by the way, you grew up badass.I’m impressed.”
“Thanks.Now, are we talkingcosmoparched, or beer parched?”Ally asked.
“You’redrivin’, you choose,” Tonianswered.
Their voices faded away.
This left me in a dark hall, alone with Darius.
It had been five months since his near-fatal run-in withAlly’s stalker.
In those months, we’d negotiated a visitation arrangement,doing this using our son as an intermediary.
Yes, that was weak.
No, obviously, I didn’t have it in me to do it differently.
Now, Liam shifted every week between his father’s house andmine.
And it was Liam who delivered my envelopes to me.But it wasno longer cash.It was a check, signed by Darius.
I had received reports about Darius’s recuperation progress,but I hadn’t seen him or spoken to him.
Until now.
“Follow me,” he grunted.
“I have my car,” I told him.
