“We’ll bypass the big chain stores,” Slade said as they got back in the truck. “They see so many people in and out, probably wouldn’t find anyone who recognized him anyway.”
Atticus nodded in agreement, although he only half heard what Slade said. It took a second for the whole sentence to form, and he was happy to say he still agreed.
Yeah. This was so not where he’d seen this day going, and he wasn’t talking about the kidnapping. Tragedies were something you couldn’t plan for, but he was referring to spending the day with Slade. He had so many questions, each more personal than the next. Which was why he knew they were inappropriate. Every one of them had to do with Slade and Carson and the history they shared.
“You have the list from Luca?” Slade asked when they were back in the truck.
“Yeah.” Atticus pulled up the modified list from Luca after he had split it so that other people could help. “You want the one that’s closest?”
“Works for me.”
It took a couple of minutes because the addresses didn’t appear to be on any of the main roads that Atticus recognized, so he had to pull up a map of the area to figure out where they were.
“I think this is the closest,” he told Slade, rattling off the address as Slade typed it into the truck’s navigation.
“Five minutes to get there,” Slade said as he started the truck and pulled out of the parking lot.
Although Atticus tried to keep his personal drama on the back burner because he wanted to stay focused on the case, the silence became too much after about two minutes.
“Why did you and Carson break up?”
“We were never together,” Slade answered quickly.
“That’s not an answer, and you know it.”
Slade exhaled heavily. “The simple answer is it ran its course.”
“Who lost interest first?”
Atticus was watching Slade, trying to gauge whether he was telling the truth based on his expression.
“It’s complicated.”
“Dumb it down for me.”
This time, Slade blew out a puff of air as he stopped at a red light. “Carson was lookin’ for somethin’ I couldn’t give him.”
“A relationship?”
“No. Carson doesn’t do relationships.”
Ouch. That wasn’t what Atticus wanted to hear. After last night … well, he’d honestly thought there might be something between him and Carson. Hell, he could still hear the man’s voice in his head.
I don’t know what it is about you. I can’t stop thinkin’ about you.
Granted, it could’ve been a line. Atticus was all too familiar with those because he’d said them more times than he could count. Some guys liked to be seduced.
Atticus frowned. Was he one of those guys? There was no denying he liked that Carson was pursuing him. Atticus found himself reflecting on their conversation as much as the sex. Both had affected him in ways he hadn’t anticipated. Sex was sex. At least, that was the motto he lived by since nothing good had ever come from one of his brief flings. Not even a friendship.
Why was it different with Carson? More importantly, was it over now because Atticus had fallen for it? Should he be worried that the only message he’d received from Carson since he left his house was the one Carson sent to both of them about JJ?
“What was he looking for?” Atticus asked Slade, refusing to let his mind go down that fucking rabbit hole.
“Somethin’ I couldn’t give.”
Atticus’s frustration was growing with every evasive answer. “Goddammit, Slade. Just fuckin’ tell me.”
Slade’s eyes cut to him briefly, his lips a flat line.
