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Niles looked at the detective. “Same deal applies to this one.” Then to Matthew, “It’s your lucky day, Matthew Prism.”
“If you think spending the night in jail is luck, then I hope you don’t play the lottery,” Kruger muttered. “Actually, you should. Hope you lose.”
Niles ignored him. “Draw up the paperwork, please.”
The detective did my lawyer’s bidding, and minutes later, Matthew was free just like me.
“I’ll be in the car,” Niles told me. “Do not keep me waiting.”
“Just go without me,” I told him.
He eyed me. “You know it doesn’t work like that.”
Resigned, I nodded once, and he went to wait in the car. The second he was gone, Matthew turned to me, his stare bouncing between my eyes. “I can really go?”
I found it oddly precious that he looked at me for approval—and maybe even with a little awe—as if he were shocked I’d kept my word and made sure he was free. Feeling all the things, I merely nodded.
A uniformed officer stepped over, handing us each a clear bag filled with everything from our pockets last night.
Matthew’s eyes lit up, and he reached inside the bag instantly, closing his hand around an AirPod case. His fingers tremored slightly when he flipped the top open and pulled them out, sticking them into his ears one at a time. Once they were in, he snapped the lid shut and hugged the empty case to his chest.
Kruger came over and took the bag, reaching in for his phone, and proceeded to unlock the device.
Irrational, hot anger rushed through my veins, and I snatched the phone out of his hand. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I accused through gritted teeth.
Kruger met my eyes. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“I just watched you unlock his phone. You think you can sift through it in front of me? What the hell kind of friend are you?”
“The kind who has his fingerprint saved on it so I can sift through it anytime I want.”
My tongue slid over my teeth at his arrogant tone. I’d never had a problem with Ben Kruger… until now. Until he stood there looking so smug about the access he had to what was mine.
I turned to Matthew, hitting him with an incredulous look. “You can’t just give people access to your phone, Matthew.”
Kruger snorted. “Guess I shouldn’t tell you I have a tracker on him too.”
My hand shot out to fist the front of his shirt so fast that we both were surprised when I dragged him across the floor to get in his face. “You stalking him? You a stalker?”
“How about you get your face out of business that don’t concern you,” Kruger said, no hint of the easy sarcasm he lived by in sight. “I appreciate you helping my bro out with the jail situation, but I’ll take it from here.”
“You aren’t taking anything,” I said, my tone matching his.
Long, cool fingers wrapped around the hand still fisted in Kruger’s shirt and pried it away. “Get your hands off him.”
I glanced at Matthew, incredulous. “Me? He’s the one going through your phone and openly admitting to stalking you.”
Kruger made a rude noise and snatched the cell phone back out of my hand. I growled and moved to grab it back, but Matthew slid between us, laying a hand on my chest. It reminded me so much of when he’d done the same last night that it stopped me in my tracks.
“Kruger has access to my phone because I gave it to him,” he said quietly. “And he isn’t stalking me. We all have trackers on each other’s phones.”
“What?” Was this a friend group or a cult?
“Here ya go, P. I put on your favorite.” The phone appeared between us, and I glanced down to see what was on the screen.
Matthew took the phone as my hand curled around his wrist. “What is that?” I demanded, hearing my heartbeat in my ears.
He attempted to pull his hand back, but I gripped his wrist tighter. “Nothing.”
