Page 47 of Pretty Lies

TEN

“AT LEAST IT’S not a dive.”

At her comment, Cory glanced at Della sideways as she shrugged off his jacket, handing the item over to him. “Really? That’s what you were worried about?”

She eyed the entry to his apartment, considering his question before answering. Maybe her nerves were a little too frayed because of Luis, or it could have been that once she realized Cory was bringing her to his place, she didn’t know what to expect. Or rather, what he expected.

“I mean—”

He gave a shake of his head, not even bothering to let her say anything at all. “Doesn’t matter, girl.”

She had to stare at his back when he headed deeper into the apartment. The skyrise in downtown Chicago was decent. A doorman downstairs and a whole lobby with three women working a reception desk for those in the penthouses. She almost considered asking Cory why he wasn’t in one of the penthouses on the higher floors, but maybe that shit wasn’t his style. The guy had to have some kind of money, considering who his family was and all, but he didn’t really show it that much.

Della found herself curious.

Not that she had any business being that at all.

Wonderful.

“I can go home,” Della called at his retreating back. “I’m not staying here.”

That had Cory turning around.

Smirk firmly in place.

“Yeah, you are,” he returned.

Excuse me?

“I have my own place,” Della said, knowing good and damn well that she couldn’t just let this man railroad her every step of the way while he was made to watch her. “I don’t see why I can’t just go home tonight.”

“Because that’s the first place Luis’s guys would go, Della. Don’t worry, I’m sure he had someone follow us to make sure you were really going wherever I was. I don’t doubt he knows you’re here. It’s a lot harder to hit an apartment skyrise and get out clean than it is a fucking townhouse with a shitty little gate in front of your place keeping them away from the door.”

Well …

When he put it like that.

It wasn’t like Cory didn’t make good points. Della just … she really hated feeling like someone else was making the calls when it came to her. Especially if that person was a man. They all thought she couldn’t handle herself. That she was stupid or silly. A girl. They could and would do it better—she didn’t even get the option to show them how she might handle a bad situation.

Hell, Cory called her a girl moments ago.

Problem was, they had yet to let her prove differently.

Della was over it.

“Someone could be outside while I was home,” she snapped.

Cory arched a brow. “Yeah, me?”

She shrugged. “Isn’t that your job?”

He just laughed.

“I don’t see what’s funny, Cory.”

“You wouldn’t.”

He turned to head further into the apartment. Her annoyance blew to higher proportions.