Page 110 of All I Feel

Kash didn’t mind doing the occasional surveillance. It was simply part of the job he loved to do. But he wasn’t quite sure how much longer he could stand this.

It wasn’t that he wanted to see Tessa hurt or in some dangerous situation, but Kash hadn’t seen so little action on a case in his life. He only wished he had something to report to Ace Townsend. Hell, at this point, he would’ve settled for Hastings doing something more than just going to work and heading home, something he expected would be happening any minute now.

Just as he let out another sigh of frustration over the case, Hastings walked out of the building. Just as expected.

Kash took in the man and noted that something felt off. His expression was worried, and his footsteps hurried. After weeks of watching the man, neither of those was normal.

Perhaps today would be Kash’s lucky day.

As Hastings got into his SUV and pulled out of his spot, Kash left the parking lot behind him. He’d been doing this long enough to make sure he’d never be made. Of course, hedidn’t think Hastings was the kind of guy who paid attention to anything like that anyway.

Minutes later, an unwelcome feeling settled over Kash.

He watched as Hastings parked, got out of his car, and walked up to the front door of a home that wasn’t his. Kash was further distressed when Hastings knocked on that door, waited barely ten seconds, and was allowed inside.

Kash pulled out his phone, not looking forward to making the call he needed to make. Ace Townsend had just mentioned that he and his girl had a fight this morning, and he had no idea where she was.

And now, Tessa’s ex-boyfriend had just walked inside her home.

Kash couldn’t be certain, but he was relatively confident Ace was going to be crushed.

TWENTY-EIGHT

ACE

I was justtwo minutes away from Tessa’s salon when my phone rang.

Glancing at the screen, I saw Kash’s name. My heart pounded at the sight of it, and I grew more concerned than I already was.

“Yeah?” I answered.

“Ace, man, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I know where your girl is.”

The words should’ve been enough to offer me some relief. To some extent, I guess they did. But it was Kash’s tone and one thing he had said that prevented me from fully leaning into that relief.

He hated to be the one to tell me. That meant he had bad news.

“Where is she?”

I asked the question even though I alreadyknew that Kash had been surveilling Hastings. If he knew where Tessa was, that could only mean one thing.

“Hastings left work almost as soon as you and I got off the phone earlier,” he started. “Something felt off about how he was moving and the way his face looked. I followed behind him out of the parking lot, and I just watched as he walked up to the front door of your girl’s place.”

My brow furrowed. “Why would he go to Tessa’s home?”

“My guess is that she invited him, considering he knocked and the door opened not more than a few seconds later.”

My stomach plummeted.

It was my worst fear realized. I’d spent so much time trying to give Tessa and me time together before we took things too far. I allowed my feelings to take over and told her about them long before I should have.

She wasn’t ready.

She wasn’t over him.

And his sweatshirt on her body this morning had been her way of telling me, despite how vehemently she’d denied feeling anything for him.

Fuck.