“I get it.We can head over there now.”
Atticus glanced back at the barn.“I can’t.Archer and I need to keep pushing on this.Brantley’s waiting for a timeline.We’re making real progress.”
“I’ll help.”
“Not yet,” he said, realizing he’d said it too quickly.“And it has nothin’ to do with Archer.Brantley wants us fully focused, and while I appreciate your offer, it would be … too distracting.”
Yeah, he might’ve tacked on a little glimmer in those words.
Slade’s gaze perused his face.“Distracting how?”
“If I have to spell it out for you, then maybe you weren’t there last night.”
That worked.A spark of heat flashed in Slade’s eyes.
“Oh, I was there all right.”
Atticus couldn’t deny that thinking about it was all it took to cause his cock to twitch and swell.Last night had been incredible.
“Maybe we’ll get to round two when I get home,” Atticus offered.
Slade nodded, more of the tension easing from his shoulder.“All right.”He looked down.“I’ll tell my folks you got hung up with work.”
“Raincheck, for sure.”
Slade took a step back.“Yeah.”
“I’ll see you when I get home,” Atticus told him.
“Okay.”He started to turn, then turned back.“I’m gonna go to the homecoming game.My mother’ll want to be there.Plus, my cousin told me the statue will turn up before the game.I want to make sure it does.”
Atticus exhaled his relief.“That’s fantastic.A prank?”
“That’s what he claims.”
“You’ll have to tell me about it when I get home.”
Slade nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets.He looked disappointed, and Atticus couldn’t really blame him.While he didn’t particularly want to have dinner with Slade’s parents—he wasn’t sure they were at that point yet—he had committed, and this felt a lot like backing out on purpose.
Atticus waited until Slade turned away.He continued to wait, watching until Slade’s truck pulled out of the lot.When he tapped in his code to get back in the barn, he figured he should come up with something to explain.Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure how, since this wasn’t the first time Archer had witnessed Slade’s inexplicable reaction to Atticus talking to another guy.A co-worker at that.
Then again, Atticus didn’t really understand it himself.
When Atticus returned, Archer turned to lookat him, purposely shifting focus to what they were working on.He understood all too well that feeling of being put on the spot to come up with excuses.He preferred to bypass that part of the evening.For both their sakes.
“Luca provided some information on Allison Bogart.”
Atticus looked surprised and relieved to have a topic other than whatever had just happened between him and Slade, so he kept going.
“He did a deep dive on her.”Archer tapped the screen, pulling up the full dossier.“She was born and raised in Dallas.Graduated halfway through her senior year, went straight to Texas State University in pursuit of a degree in criminal justice.She was twenty-four and armed with a master’s degree and two years of experience interning with the FBI Forensic Science Research Lab when she went to work full time for the FBI.”
Atticus moved closer.“Looks like she was a real go-getter.”
“You’d think that, right?More like Martin Calloway moved her up the ladder because he had another agenda.”
“Why would he do that?Why her?”
“I assume because of this.”Archer zoomed in on a section outlining Allison’s upbringing.“Her mother is the illegitimate daughter of Stewart Crawford, the big oil tycoon.”
