Page 95 of Chasin’s Surrender

But before I did, which meant before the flow of information would stop, I needed to know one thing.

“Do you think Bent is my stalker?”

“Yes.”

Damn. So did I.

“He has the code to my gate,” I informed him.

“What gate?”

“When I was upstairs, I was thinking about everything. The way Bent was acting, the things he was saying. I mean, he said I would be on my knees. That’s weird, right? On my knees. I guess he coulda meant it like he said it, I’d be on my knees begging, but what the hell? That’s just creepy. So I was thinking about everything and about the break-in at my house. There’s a front gate, you need a code to get in, or someone has to open it. Since I don’t think anyone opened it to a stranger, and as I far as I know, since Bobby was out, I was the only one home in my studio. Which means they’d have to know the code. Bent knew my code,” I finished my long-winded answer.

“Why did Bent have your code?”

“He’s been to my home studio.”

“And you don’t change your gate code?”

Well, when Chasin asked in that aghast tone, I felt pretty stupid for not thinking about it, but no, we’d never changed the code, until after the break-in.

I shook my head and watched his lips tighten.

Oops.

“Nowhere in the detective’s reports did he mention a gate code,” Holden stated. “Are there cameras?”

“Yeah. But they weren’t working. And not because they were tampered with. They were being replaced at my request with better ones,” Bobby answered. “The new ones hadn’t been installed.”

“We need a goddamn print match,” Holden barked.

“Jameson’s working on that,” Chasin informed him.

“How long’s it gonna take?” I asked.

“Evie…” Chasin drawled. “Music. House. Career. Moving. That’s all you’re concentrating on.”

“Fine,” I snapped.

Then Chasin’s face softened and some of the irritation slid from his features.

“Did you get any work done?”

“No. I was too far in my head thinking about Crazy Bent.”

Chasin sighed and I could tell he wanted to say something more about Crazy Bent but he changed the subject. “This weekend, we’re goin’ to Nix and Micky’s for a barbeque. I’d expect one, if not all, of the women will be calling to talk to you about it.”

“We are?”

“I know you’re going stir-crazy being stuck inside. I thought you could use a change of scenery. We can get you and Bobby to and from Nix’s place without being seen.”

There it was, another way he was taking care of me. My heart swelled, my chest started to burn, my nose tingled, and my eyes stung. But it was more than just him taking care of me, it was everything.

“You don’t care I’m Vivi Rush.”

“What?”

“You don’t care I’m Vivi Rush,” I repeated, as if the second time around he’d get it.