“Yeah, me too. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Steff disconnected the call and looked up. “I thought I’d check with Cynthia to see if she got a box too.”
“I’m guessing from what I heard she hasn’t?” Dalton sat beside her.
“No, she hasn’t received anything.”
Dalton squeezed her knee. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ll get you answers and find out who sent this to you.”
Chapter Eighteen
All through thedrive to Steff’s place, Jag picked up on the way she became tenser and tenser. She continually clenched her hands into fists. He had a fair idea why her nails had been long and pointy. He’d seen her do the exact same action at Angelica’s party as she was doing now.
He didn’t say anything, but he was proud of her for cutting them. If she wanted to tell him about why she had them the way she did, he would listen and make no judgment. If she didn’t then he was fine with that too.
Jag wanted to reassure her that everything would be okay when they got to her place. That nothing would be waiting for her. Or someone wouldn’t be there to deliver another parcel for her.
He couldn’t though, because he didn’t know if that would be the case or not. He hoped it would be. There was no reason to suggest otherwise.
A melodic tone filled the cab of his car. He waited for Steff to grab her phone because he knew that wasn’t his ring tone, but she remained still, staring out the window. He would bet his favorite Glock that she wasn’t seeing anything at all.
“Are you going to get that?” he asked when it appeared she wasn’t going to pick it up.
“What?”
“Your phone? It’s ringing.”
“Oh! Right.” She leaned forward and grabbed her bag, rummaging through it. The ringing persisted. Did she not have voicemail? His phone would’ve stopped ringing by now. “Hey Cynthia.”
Considering they’d only spoken to each other not long ago, he wondered why Cynthia was calling again.
“I’m almost home. I was out with Dalton today. I called you from his place earlier.” She paused, and he shouldn’t be listening, but it was kind of hard to tune it out considering they were in the car.
He pulled into a spot not far from the front of her building. He would’ve preferred to get one closer, but there were none available. Maybe he’d come down later and see if he could park closer.
“We’ve just arrived. Oh, I see you. We’ll be right there.” She disconnected the call. “Cynthia’s here. She brought takeout for dinner.”
“That’s good. I can disappear if you want to be alone tonight. I can go see one of the guys. Fox doesn’t live far from here.” That was the last thing he wanted to do, after all that had happened today, but if she wanted to spend time alone with her friend, he’d give her that.
She laid a hand on his arm. “Thank you for the offer, but I want you to stay, and I’m sure Cynthia will too.”
His relief was instant. “We’d better go then, don’t want the food getting cold.” Jag was pleased to note that she didn’t make a move to get out of the car. He liked opening the door for her. It was old-fashioned, but his dad always opened doors for his mom. It was a habit Jag had had no problem picking up.
As they made their way to meeting Cynthia, Jag kept scanning the area. There wasn’t anything within him that was yelling out to be careful, that there was danger lurking in the bushes, but it paid to be on alert even when things seemed to be okay.
“Hi Jag,” Cynthia said as they walked up to her. Her smile was friendly, and when she hugged Steff, he was, once again glad that they’d reconnected. “I’m sorry for turning up unannounced, but after your call, I just had to see for myself that you’re okay.”
“You didn’t have to do that, but I’m glad you did,” Steff responded with a smile, and Jag could tell she was happy her friend had come to see her.
“Hey, let me take that bag for you.” He held out his hand, and Cynthia gave it to him.
“Thanks.” She hooked her arm through Steff’s. “Tell me, how are you really doing?”
He let them chat and walk ahead of him. He imagined this was how close they’d been before they’d been taken.
This was another step forward for Steff.
