Page 90 of In the Dark

Jasmina

IT WAS ONLY A few days later that Mia asked me to go to the country club with her. She’d helped me unearth the lullaby I finally remembered, so I felt like I might owe her.

Or maybe I felt like I needed someone on the inside of the Diamonds.

Surely, it wasn’t because I wanted a friend. She would never be that, I reminded myself, but I told her I would go if she could get us to the library first. She agreed and didn’t even ask why.

I hated that I was using her as a tool, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

When Callahan waltzed in without knocking, I glared at him from the seat at my vanity. “Next time you walk in here without knocking, I hope I’m naked for every one of your men out there to see.”

He immediately glanced over his shoulder as if he did need to protect me from wandering eyes and then whipped back around. “If they’re looking, they’ll lose their eyes, Jas.”

I chuckled, because I had to admit I loved his protective comments even though we weren’t even sleeping together yet. “It’d be your fault, not theirs.”

“Do you really not like them outside your door?” He seemed confused.

Leave it to a man to not listen to exactly what I said.

“Of course I don’t, but I also don’t like you just opening my door without knocking.”

“Why not?” His hands were on his hips now.

“Because what if I’m doing something privately?”

“There’s going to be nothing private between us as husband and wife, Viper.”

I rolled my eyes, not willing to get into it with him today. I had other goals. “Never mind. You don’t have to work in here today, actually.”

“Why? Where are we going?”

“I’m going to the country club to meet Mia for tennis.”

“You’re going to the country club to meet Mia for tennis?” He echoed like he was in shock. Then he blubbered, “Wait, what?”

“Exactly what you said.”

“You didn’t inform me or Archer.” He rocked back on his heels, dressed in slacks and a collared shirt and looking like a businessman that was about to take control. “If you’re going somewhere, you need security, Jas. If I haven’t made that clear—”

“Why? Paradise Grove is secure. Is it not?” I asked him. It wasn’t an issue I’d pushed until now.

I had my tool that helped. Mia wanting to be my friend gave me all the reason to not want to be followed around by Callahan and Archer. She might have been my only hope in getting away from them long enough to do more digging.

“For Diamonds,” he said.

“I’m about to be a Diamond, am I not?”

He gave me a look. “You’re pushing the limits. You saw what happened at the gates—”

“And you saw I could handle myself, no? You can’t watch me forever, Callahan.”

He growled, “Archer goes with.”

I sighed. “How will I explain that to Mia?”

He dialed a number in his phone. “If you’re taking my fiancée to the club, you’re having security on you.” He waited as Mia must have said something more. “Why can’t you go to the library later?” And then … “Fine. Archer can drive.”

He hung up and barked at Archer outside my door that I needed an escort around town before he turned to me and said, “All set. Guess she wanted to go to the library again to return books.”