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“Sometimes I have a roommate.” That was as honest of an answer as he was getting, and I only divulged that much in case he knew more than he was letting on.
“Boyfriend?”
I immediately thought of Rhett, a vivid memory of the two of us rushing to the forefront of my mind. We’d never put a label on what we had. It wasn’t necessary. I was undeniably his, and he was irrefutably mine. Less than twenty-four hours ago we’d been tangled together. The things he’d coerced me to say, what we did in his bed…
I grabbed two glasses and sat them on the island with more force than was necessary.
“Sore subject?” Gabe laughed.
I forced another smile and shook my head. “No boyfriend. Haven’t had one of those since high school.”
“Yeah, Janine told me you were all alone out here. I didn’t believe it at first.”
Years of perfecting my poker face was the only thing that stopped the unease I felt from making an appearance. If he knew I was alone, why did he ask who I lived with?
“Janine?” I feigned confusion.
“The secretary down at Parker Realty.”
Oh, the man was an idiot. And a fucking liar. No surprise there. Everyone I encountered as of late lied about something.
I went to the fridge and fetched a lemon, not letting on that he’d outed himself. Mispronouncing the name of Mr. Parker’s very own company could have been overlooked as a simple mishap, but I knew that wasn’t the case right now.
I placed the lemon on the island, trading it for the glasses. Reaching past Gabe gave me ample opportunity to examine the envelope he had yet to relinquish his hold on.
He was gripping the top of it with both hands, failing to hide that he’d already opened it.
“Do you know what’s inside the file Lance left?” I asked, filling our glasses with water.
“Some papers on your house, maybe?”
Seriously? What bullshit. “Oh, yeah.”
I placed the glasses back down and grabbed a knife from the chef block on the counter. Gabe, if that was even his name, didn’t bat an eye at my choice of cutlery. He was too busy staring at the back of my checkered shorts.
“You know you didn’t have to drive all the way out here. I would have come down to the office.”
I cut into the lemon, splitting off a piece to hang on the side of his glass.
“Did you tell Janine that?”
“She would have already known.” I slid the water to him and pretended to busy myself with my own lemon slice.
“Hm,” he hummed beneath his breath.
A silent clock ticked inside my head. With every second this man sat at my kitchen island, the desire to get him out of my house grew. My intuition was screaming at me that he wasn’t here on a friendly social visit. Not to mention he’d already looked at something he had no business seeing.
Your average person wasn’t going to open a package addressed to a stranger. It was silly to think he’d be here to help me. Anyone on my father’s side kept winding up dead. Was that why he was here?
Shit. No. I was such an idiot! I knew what he wanted. The same thing the person who killed Pamela Reedsy, and the Parkers, had no doubt been after. What I’d killed to keep hidden.
Drumming four fingers on the smooth marble, I flashed Gabe another smile and took a sip of my water. He was nearly done with his already, greedily chugging it like he was parched from days in the sun.
I sat my glass down, and discreetly grabbed hold of the knife I’d used for the lemon, firming my grip on its solid handle. Gabe shifted slightly in his seat. I caught a small glimpse of the gun he’d managed to keep hidden from me.
Why did he have that? He obviously wasn’t a cop, and I’d just confirmed my suspicions that he wasn’t here for the reason he said he was. All these things placed him firmly in enemy territory.
Like a switch being flipped, everything but self-preservation vanished from my mind. If he went for his piece, my chances of doing anything other than what he wanted were non-existent. I wasn’t faster than a bullet.
