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“I will not accept your charity.”
Then she was gone.
As soon as he heard her bedroom door shut, Trees lost his shit. “See what I mean? She’s going to drive me crazy.”
Zy shook his head, his face full of sympathy. “Take a breath. One day at a time, okay? You’ll get through this.”
Right now, it didn’t feel that way, but arguing wouldn’t change a thing. “Let’s talk about something else. What’s up with you and Tessa?”
“I don’t want to bore you. I don’t understand it enough to explain, anyway.”
“She’s pushing back?”
“She’s pushing me away.”
What the hell? “I would have sworn that woman loves you.”
At least in her way. But maybe money had become more important to her than love.
“I thought so, too, but she’s never said that in so many words. And now she’s barely answering my texts. Something is…weird. Something is wrong.”
“Well, that’s definitely not right.”
“I don’t know. Maybe I pushed for too much too fast. I told her at Christmas that I love her. About three minutes after we got the all-clear to have more than a working relationship, I asked her to move in with me. She said she needs time to think. But it doesn’t feel like she’s thinking; it feels like she’s just putting daylight between us.”
“So what if you’ve moved fast this week? I don’t think you rushing her is the issue. After all, you two have been eye-fucking and exclusive for months. You wanting to start a life with her didn’t come out of left field. It’s something else.”
And Trees could only think of one thing. She was guilty.
“Yeah. I was at her place a little bit ago. She actually begged me to leave.” Clearly, it was killing Zy because he was so in love. “And she’s been lying to me. Sure, about little things like her headache. But still, lying.”
“Any chance there’s someone else?”
Zy pondered, then shook his head. “No. I think it’s me.”
“Or…she’s guilty and she has something to hide.”
“I don’t see it.”
“Because you don’t want to. Keep pursuing her, man. You’ll never be happy if you just walk away from her. But while you’re doing that…look into her. Take her seriously as a suspect. Do your fucking job.”
Zy sighed. “I don’t have a choice. I guess that’s priority one.”
“Sorry, man. It’s better to know than not.”
“Roger that. You need anything else or are you two set?”
Wasn’t that a good question? Honestly, Trees wasn’t sure. But if Zy wasn’t staying to spell him, then he might as well start dealing with Laila on his turf and figuring out what came next. He had a feeling they were in for a battle.
When Laila hung up with Valeria, tears streamed down her face. Jorge’s condition had not improved. That worried her a great deal. So did her sister’s exhaustion. If the boy wasn’t better tomorrow, supposedly Kane would take them to a doctor. That was good news, but Laila hated not being there to tend to her nephew and support her sister. And she hated that, just like Trees had told her, Valeria refused to let her come there and help because she feared it wasn’t safe. Arguing with her sister had done nothing to change her mind.
Trees had known that when he’d told her he would bring her to Louisiana. He had twisted his words to mislead her, then hidden her less than an hour from her family.
So close…yet so far away. It seemed cruel.
His deception hurt more because, despite plotting to seduce him, when she had given her body to Trees, he had somehow slipped under her skin. Because of the way he touched her. The way he had given her pleasure. The way he seemed to care.
For the first time, for a brief moment, she had felt treasured.
Now? He merely seemed terse and happy to put distance between them. She would oblige him. It was more important to focus on finding ways to help her family, especially ending the danger to her sister and Jorge. If that meant she had to offer herself as bait, she would.
Swiping the wetness from her face, she availed herself of the warm shower. The house was older but meticulously kept. The bathroom was entirely bright and white, except for the black penny floor tile.
Once she was clean, she dressed again in her dirty clothes and tiptoed out of her bedroom. The house was quiet. The motorcycle that had been in the front when they’d pulled up was absent. Zy must be gone.
She and Trees were alone.
Pressing her hand to her nervous stomach, she made her way toward the only other light on in the house—the kitchen. He stood in front of the stove, heating something in a saucepan. It smelled good. Spicy. She was starved.
“You hungry?” he asked, pulling a can of green beans from his nearby pantry.
