Page 2 of Shark’s Rise

“I told you I’m not hungry.” My stomach actually pitched at the thought of eating.

“And I told you, I’m responsible for your well-being. You need to eat something.”

“Let me make the call first.”

“No.”

“Elijah! Damn it!” I shifted from one foot to the other, deciding how far to go with an explanation. “I’m not feeling well,” I began. “I’m assuming it’s stress, and I think if I talk to my business partner, some of that will be alleviated. Then maybe I will feel more like eating. I would like to make the phone call first.” I explained it with barely veiled frustration—and then dawning recognition. “And why do you have cell service here while I don’t?”

“Your carrier must not service this area.” He shrugged as if the answer was obvious.

“That’s not true. I looked online”—I was able to do that, thanks to the Wi-Fi in the house—“and I should have a cell signal here. Something’s wrong with my phone. I need to go to a store and have it looked at. Can you take me? Or loan me a car so I can do it myself?”

“You can use my phone to call Grant. We’ll worry about the rest when Sebastian gets here.”

I frowned. Deeply. For some reason, I sensed he wasn’t being honest about this. About all of it or some of it, I had no idea—but my bullshit meter, honed by years of dealing with every crooked food-supplier in Los Angeles, was crackling like an out-of-control Geiger counter.

“I don’t want to talk to Grant,” I told him. “I want to talk to Rio Gibson, my business partner.”

“Grant is with Rio,” he explained while already dialing. “He can put her on the line.”

I took his actions as progress—until, as the call connected, he stood and walked away from me a few feet. Despite how I tried to linger close by, he continued the conversation at a volume next to a whisper, ensuring I couldn’t make out a word of the conversation. Finally, Elijah turned back to me. With a couple of efficient steps, he closed the space between us.

“Is she there now?” he asked his friend with a grin. “Oh, I can just imagine. If it’s anything like what I’m dealing with…”

He cut in on himself with a long laugh. The full, hearty sound had me imagining all the mischief my sister-in-law was probably committing upon Sebastian’s best friend, the equally bossy Grant, as he hung around our Inglewood prep kitchen.

“Let me talk to her.” I held my hand out expectantly, and Elijah gave me a reproachful look. Clearly these three men had all attended the same “Dominants Do It Better” correspondence course. I rolled my eyes just to piss him off and gesticulated more aggressively for the phone.

Finally—thank God—he gave in. As soon as Elijah gave me his phone, I began walking away from him.

“Stay. Here.”

“I’d like some privacy,” I snapped back.

“This is the only place there is a signal. You’ll drop the call if you wander too far.”

“Then would you mind?”

“Not at all,” he said with that grin he always wore. He settled back into the lounge chair, clearly having no intention of relocating.

“Asshole,” I mumbled before catching Rio’s groan on the other end of the phone line.

“So I’m not the only one having my patience tried? I guess there’s some comfort in that, at least,” she muttered from her end of the call.

Despite her grousing, I relaxed immediately when hearing her voice. “Hey, sister. What’s going on?”

“I think I should be asking you that, no? How much longer am I going to have to put up with this one here? I want you to be safe, Abs, more than anything, but this guy is pushing every single button I have and others I didn’t even know I had, too.” She laughed, but there was still a bit of tension underneath the sound. Okay, maybe more than a bit.

“At least he’s not hard on the eyes, right?” I offered in the way of consolation.

“Mmmph.” Her sound wasn’t an opinion either way. “That wasn’t exactly answering my question.”

“I know,” I soothed. “And I wish I had a better answer for you, but I haven’t even seen Bas since I’ve been here.” I dared to take a few tiny steps away from Elijah. The signal strength on the call remained strong. I almost glowered at the back of his head but decided not to waste the time. I wouldn’t put it past the guy to feed me a line just to keep me within earshot so he could monitor the call.

Asshole.

I managed to keep the insult to myself this time. Rio’s comforting croon helped with the effort. “I’m so sorry, Abs,” she said. “I know that has to be tough on you. Is the place nice at least?”