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She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You haven’t called.” He said it like they usually had long-winded phone conversations every night.
“I haven’t called?”
“I figured you’d keep me in the loop. I’m finding out from others that you tracked one of the guys who tried to kidnap you, that he’d been shot at a motel. And then there’s all this shit about the auctioneer leading you to the dead guy and attempting to make deals. All of which happened a damn week ago, and I’m only hearing of it now.”
If he’d only heard about it recently, he’d obviously been out of contact with his loner buddies—probably because he was hanging out with his girlfriend and her flock. Havana had kept everyone at the center updated, wanting them to understand that this was serious shit and that they shouldn’t forget for a single moment that they needed to be on their guard.
“What difference does it make if you find out from me or someone else?” she asked. “The majority of loners learned of it through word of mouth.”
Dieter’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, but the majority aren’t your friends. We’ve known each other a while.”
“I’ve known a lot of them for a while, having worked here for a whole lot of years.”
“All right, I’ll rephrase. The majority of those loners aren’t both your friends and people you shared your body with.”
Corbin cleared his throat and scratched his nape. “Yeah, I’ll be in the corner helping the fox with the punchbag.” He walked away.
She began, “Dieter, I get that you’re concerned—”
“And yet, no calls.”
Bristling at his tone, she lifted a brow. “Do you make me aware of everything that goes on in your life? Do you give me personal updates? Do you text me little anecdotes? No. Not now, and not in the past. I heard from you when you wanted to fuck—that was it.”
“And now that I’m in a relationship, you’re shutting me out?”
“Shutting you out of what? You don’t seem to be getting the point. We were never people who kept in contact and shared details of each other’s lives, no matter how serious our personal shit was. But even if we were, I’d have eased up on that to make sure Tabitha didn’t get the wrong idea or feel uncomfortable.”
“While I appreciate that, I’d still rather you keep me in the loop, but you don’t seem to think I’m worthy of your time. Yet, you’ll work alongside a pallas cat you were sleeping with. Oh yeah, I heard just now that you and your landlord were kind of cozy at one time. Heard he even has a couple of his enforcers guarding you, even though you two aren’t an item anymore.”
The enforcers had introduced themselves as Deke and Isaiah, and they’d announced that they’d be tailing her for a while. She hadn’t objected, because having extra sets of eyes was never a bad thing. Plus, it would have meant talking to Tate. She’d completely avoided contacting him in the past week, and he’d given her that same courtesy. While she appreciated it, she also missed the shit out of him. And she often stupidly found herself wondering if he’d been spending any time with Ashlynn.
Dieter puffed out a long breath, making a visible effort to calm down. “I’m sorry I’m snapping at you. I just … This shit is fucked up, Havana. I don’t want to one day get a call telling me you’re dead. I’m worried about you.”
“Don’t be. I’m no easy target.”
“And you have the pallas cat’s protection, I know,” he clipped. “Can I rely on you to call me if you need help, or is the cat gonna be the one you reach out to?”
“His name is Tate. And you don’t have to say ‘cat’ in the same tone as you would ‘cannibal.’”
“I don’t like any species of feline shifter. You know that. Especially not pallas cats.
I won’t point out all the reasons they’re best to be avoided—you already know them, so it confuses the shit out of me that you got involved with one of those crazies.”
“Like my kind are in a position to judge other species of shifter for being slightly insane. Devils aren’t the most mentally balanced of creatures either.”
Dieter grunted.
“Now you need to butt out of my sex life—who I sleep with isn’t your business. And unless you want my foot lodged up your ass, quit snapping at me.”
Wincing, he thrust a hand through his hair. “My insides seize up when you use that alpha tone on me. Look, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have jumped down your throat. Like I said, I just worry about you. But, having not seen you in months, I could have at least said hello first.”
“Uh, yeah, most definitely.”
“Let’s start over. Hey, Havana, good to see you.” He hugged her. “I’ve missed you.”
She hugged him back, happy to find that, hey, she hadn’t actually missed him. More, having him so close didn’t stir her body in the slightest. “No, you haven’t. You’ve been having way too much fun with Tabitha.”
