“Brad says they’re going back to his place.” He puts the car in drive, slowly pulling out to follow them. We have officers in his neighborhood already, but they won’t move in until we tell them to. Oakley is with them, and I’m attempting to keep him updated in between keeping myself in check.
We follow him at a close enough distance to keep eyes on them, but the entire drive to his house I have a bad feeling deep in my bones. It’s no longer worry; it’s a gut feeling that shit is about to hit the fan. The same feeling I had before repelling from the helicopter that broke my hip and back.
Chapter 39
Rina
My stubborn tendencies may have taken things too far this time.
Planning this sounded easy. Getting information felt like a necessity, especially with other women in jeopardy. But as I’m sitting here attempting to eat a bite of my steak, I’m second-guessing everything.
Tyler’s anger and aggressiveness from the last time I saw him are nowhere to be seen, but there’s something lurking just under the surface. His smarmy smirk sends a tremor down my spine every time its attention is focused on me.
“Sooo…” I know I need to push conversation with him, but all I want to do is run far away and straight into Arlo’s arms. “How’s work going?”
“The usual, nothing exciting. I’d rather talk about you and why you ghosted me.”There’s the aggression.His tone is firm and annoyed.
“The man I was with, he’s from my past and I needed … closure. There was some bad blood, and I wanted to hear him out, but that-that wasn’t fair to you. I apologize.” Do I sound earnest enough? God, I hope so.
He holds my stare for an extended moment, and all I can do is hold my breath and hope he believes me. Everything relies on this.
“Is he out of your life now?” His curiosity shines through his attempt at a bored tone.
It physically hurts me to give him the answer I need to, especially after our conversation at the falls earlier. “Completely out. It was just for closure, I promise.”
He pops a piece of steak in his mouth, chewing slowly as he contemplates if I’m being truthful or not, I assume.
“Let’s start fresh. I’d like to just forget about the last time we saw each other. I wasn’t at my best,” he says.
“We can do that.”
“How’s business going? Had any interesting requests lately?”
It’s an odd question and very specific. I build furniture and that’s not a question that’s common, but it instantly brings the request for my dream bed to my head. Is he digging for that? Does he want my reaction to receiving that weird-as-fuck request?
“Umm, I had one that was kind of flattering.” It wasn’t, but if it gets him more comfortable opening up to me, I have to run with it. “They wanted me to construct my dream bed. It’s not something I’ve really thought of, so I haven’t gotten back to them yet. I need to come up with a plan first.” I smile.
The small smirk on his face tells me I did well and fed right into what he wanted.
“A very interesting request. You’ll have to keep me updated on the progress of that one.” He takes a small sip of his drink, and I hold in the cringe that wants to break free. I’ve never been more aware that I rarely hide my emotions on my face and how hard it is to hide them right now.
“Absolutely.”
He talks about mundane things for most of dinner, nothing too in depth, and I’m thankful because I’m trying to figure out how to broach the subject of getting in his house. I know that’s where I’ll get the mostinformation, whether it’s from what I see or from him being more comfortable in the privacy of his home.
There’s a lull in the conversation, and I decide to go for it. If I have to sit here any longer and fake it, he’ll catch on to my disgust and fear of being in his presence.
“Would it be possible to take this somewhere more private?” I go for sultry, although I’m not sure I pull it off.
He tilts his head as he looks at me. Right now would be a great time to be able to read minds, but unfortunately, I’m just a plain old boring human.
“Where did you have in mind?”Damnit, he’s not taking the bait as easily as I hoped he would.
“Well, I don’t live here, so we can’t exactly go back to my place. Maybe yours?”
God, I hope that wasn’t too forward.
“You want to come back to my house?” I almost fist pump at the excitement peeking through his question.
