Page 66 of Good Girls Beg

I stepped back into Oak's room and carefully closed the door behind me.

"You look like you're in a hurry." Fade's voice out in the corridor made me freeze.

Shit.

On my toes, I trotted over to the door and tentatively peered out.

Where was Fade? In the kitchen, if I had to guess.

Please stay there, I thought. Just for another few seconds.

I stepped into the corridor and pulled the door closed behind me. Winced at the click as it shut.

Trying to look like I wasn't sneaking around where I shouldn’t be, I walked to the powder room and washed my shaking hands. I dried them carefully on the pale blue towel that hung on the ring beside the sink.

That should be enough time. I took several deep breaths, opened the powder room door and stepped back out again as Hel and Fade appeared out of the kitchen.

"You're home already.” My voice was a little too high and breathless to be natural.

Great job, Teddie, they won't suspect a thing, I thought sarcastically.

"Where have you been?" Hel demanded.

Shit, he knew.

"Um, I've been…" I tried to think quickly but he looked as though he could see right through me.

"We know you had lunch in the city," Fade said, as though he was making some kind of point.

Wait, was that what they were getting at? Did they know what happened with Oak? Had he gone and told them how I pissed him off? If he did, I was more than happy to set the record straight. Assuming they were willing to listen.

"Yeah, I had lunch at Heartbeets," I said easily. "Oak was there some of the time. Then he left."

"Why didn't you leave with him?” Hel tucked his hands into his pockets, but his eyes were narrowed, accusing. As if I've done something wrong.

Fucking Oak.

"I hadn't finished eating," I said evenly. "Also, believe it or not, I'm not going to chase him when he needed some space. I thought it would be appreciated." Clearly, these two didn't appreciate it. Or him if their expressions were any indication.

"What did Oak tell you?" I asked. "Because, whatever it was, there's two sides to every story." If they were going to blame me for the way he stormed off…

The side of Hel's mouth twitched to the side. Why did I get the impression I'd caught him off guard? Did he assume I'd let him take Oak's word for the events? He didn't know me very well if that was the case.

Before he could say anything, his phone vibrated. The sound was audible in the corridor before he pulled it out and glanced at the screen. Fade glanced at it too. They both shared a look, their expressions more guarded than before.

"I'll take care of it," Fade said.

"Anything I should be worried about?" I asked, almost certain they weren't going to be forthcoming.

As I suspected, Hel nodded to Fade, who disappeared toward the front of the house.

"Come with me." Hel gestured toward his office.

I considered arguing with him, but instead I stepped inside and let him close the door behind us.

"If you need to deal with anything, we can have this conversation later." Or not at all, because his expression had me on edge.

He stepped past me and sat behind his desk. Apparently, he was ready to have this conversation right now. Whatever 'this conversation' was.