Can’t take it back now. It would be a dead giveaway that her plan is working. We can’t have that.
I just have no idea what I’m going to get when I come home, and I hate to admit it, but fuck, I’m nervous.
I take a deep breath and get out of my car.
I close the door quietly. You know, just in case. I don’t need to warn her of my arrival. Maybe I can catch her by surprise this time.
Okay, Beck, she isn’t out to get you at all times of the day.It’s two in the afternoon. She’s at work.
Or is she?
I’m still not fully convinced that she has a job. She leaves every single morning as if she does, but when I drove by her supposed offices the other day, the place looked vacant.
I’d ask her, but she’d just make a smart-ass comment that would get me nowhere.
Normally, I’d go through the garage, but since I’m trying this whole “don’t make a sound” approach, I check to see if the door is unlocked.
It is.
Shit.
Okay, breathe. That doesn’t mean anything.
It means she’s home, and fuck.
Be on alert. I repeat. Be on alert.
My heart is hammering as I push the door open. Soft music is playing in the empty living room. I walk slowly, peeking into the kitchen and down the hall. Not a sign of her. I head for the basement steps but pause at the top. The lights downstairs are off.
Huh, where is she? I move for the hallway to her room, then my phone rings louder than a blow horn at a football game.
“Fuck!” I shout and hit the wall, pulling my phone from my pocket.
Calla’s name is on the screen.
“Yeah?” I try to even out my breathing.
Jesus, coming home today has really shown me how much cardio I do not do. I can barely catch my breath.
“Yeah,” Calla says in a mimicking tone. “Always so polite.”
I don’t move as I wait for her to continue—but she doesn’t.
“Why are you calling me if we’re both home?”
“Oh good, you’re home. I was actually calling to tell you that I think I left the front door unlocked when I came home for lunch. I hope everything is okay.”
“Everything is fine.”
“Cool,” she says in a chipper tone. “See you later.”
She hangs up, and I just stand there.
I can’t believe her. Making me paranoid to walk around my own house.
This is the game she wants to play, huh? Fine. Two can play, and I guarantee, I will not be the one to break.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
