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Almost is Never Enough

Page 56

by A.M. Myers

“He’s at a bar over on the other side of town so we should be in the clear if you want to go now.”

My jaw drops. “And how do you know where he is, Dalton?”

“Oh,” he says, letting out a little laugh as he runs a hand through his hair. “Uh… I put a tracker on him?”

I purse my lips fighting back a smile as I narrow my eyes at him. “And yet, you asked if he’d shown up here in the last two days like you hadn’t been tracking his every movement and watching from the street.”

“Yeah,” he answers and he has the decency to look slightly ashamed of himself but it passes fairly quickly. Before I can say anything else, Mila walks back in from her break.

“I’m back,” she calls in a sing-song voice and she pauses behind the counter when she notices Dalton. “Oh, hey, D.”

He tips his head in her direction but doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Hey, Mila.”

“What’s up?” she asks and when I glance over at her, she has a smirk on her face and her brow quirked.

“Nothing,” I say, way too fast, as I toss the rag down on the table. “You think you can hold this down for a bit? I need to go back to my old apartment and get the rest of my things.”

Her gaze flicks to Dalton before returning to me, her eyes filled with concern. I told her all about what has happened with Owen, including him coming in here the other day.

“Is he going with you?”

“Yeah,” Dalton says before I can respond. “I am.”

The grin is back. “Yeah, I can hold it down here. Take your time.”

What in the hell is that grin for?

“I brought my bike so if you have a lot of stuff to get,” Dalton says, dragging my focus back to him. “We should probably take your car.”

I nod. “Uh… yeah, that’s fine. It will all fit in my Jeep.”

“Have fun, you two,” Mila calls as I untie my apron and toss it onto the counter. I shoot her a look. She winks back at me and I shake my head.

“My keys are upstairs.” I point to the ceiling of the bakery. “I’ll just go grab them.”

He nods. “I’ll be here.”

As I race up the stairs to grab my keys, I try to make sense of the last twenty minutes but my brain feels like mush. I don’t know what to make of Dalton or his behavior and right now, I don’t have the energy to delve too deeply into it. All I can focus on is getting over to my old apartment and getting my things. Maybe after that is done, I’ll have the mental bandwidth to analyze this whole damn situation. Once I have my keys, I head back downstairs and Dalton follows me out to my Jeep. He eyes it before glancing over at me.

“Nice ride,” he says. “It’s very you.”

I flash him a smile. “Thank you.”

Dalton heads around to the passenger side as I slide behind the wheel and as soon as the engine comes to life, I roll down both of our windows. It’s too damn hot in Louisiana in July to go anywhere in this thing with the windows up. As we roll out of the alley, my mind begins to turn to what will be waiting for us at the apartment. My belly flips.

Oh, God.

What are we going to find?

There is no part of me that believes Owen has spent the last five days cleaning up after himself. And Dalton said he was at the bar.

Wait.

How the hell does he even have money for the bar?

I sigh and shake my head. Nope, not my problem anymore. After I get all my stuff, this chapter of my life is officially over.

I glance over at Dalton.