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“And what have you found?” Gavin asked, sounding annoyed.
“There’s a man,” Luca finally said. “One of those addresses is a man’s apartment. We don’t know who he is. It’s almost like he knows how to keep out of view of his windows. We’ve seen him at her place too.”
I swallowed. “Is she . . .” I couldn’t finish that. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“We’re not sure.” Noah’s voice was low.
“We’ll find out this weekend,” Gavin said, back to taking charge. “We have to get answers, even if that means being more aggressive and getting closer.”
Luca agreed. “This is going to end, Ave. We won’t let your dad propose without knowing the truth.”
The others agreed, and I leaned against the counter.
“Are you okay?” Sky asked.
I tried to nod, but that was a lie. I was all mixed up. I hated this. I hated having to stalk Juliet to figure out what she was hiding. I hated that the woman my dad loved wasn’t just a wonderful woman whom he could spend the rest of his life with. Why couldn't anything be easy for us? After all we’d been through, I was beginning to wonder if life would ever give us a break.
Gavin reached over and started rubbing my shoulders. It was a small gesture, but not something normal for him. I felt Sky watching us and looked away.
I knew my face was probably turning red, but I didn’t want to move from under Gavin’s comforting touch. Even when he pulled me back against his chest and kissed the top of my head.
My heart was hammering, but it felt too good to be held by him. It was so unlike how he normally was in front of the rest of them. He was more reserved, rarely the one to make the first move, but now? Could everyone see the change?
I glanced back at Sky, and he was still staring.
“Something happened,” he said.
I started to shake my head, but Gavin answered, “What are you talking about?”
“You two.” His eyes narrowed. “Something’s different.”
I swallowed. I couldn’t lie. He would announce it to everyone.
Gavin tightening his grip on my shoulders. “Leave it alone.”
Sky looked wounded for a half-second before finally looking away.
“Are you guys all right?” Luca asked, sounding like he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.
“We’re fine,” I answered. Each of them was watching me, and I could feel the questions building up. Damn Sky. Why did he have to be perceptive this one time? Normally, he was too busy eating or joking to pick up on anything. Why now?
Gavin dropped his hands and took a step back. “We should head over there around noon on Saturday to get in place, and maybe a few of us could go to the second location to see if we can narrow down the possibilities of what she’s doing there.”
The change back to business seemed enough to make the guys forget, but I could feel Sky’s eyes on me. He wasn’t going to drop it. I knew it, but what was I going to say? I wanted to ask Gavin for help, but if I pulled him away now, they would all know something was going on.
They came up with a detailed plan and went back to eating while I pretended to be listening. Since they were going on Saturday, I most likely wouldn’t be able to be there, so I tried to focus on the slice of pizza in front of me. I picked off each topping and popped it in my mouth until there was only sauce and bread.
“You okay?” I jumped at the sounds of Sky’s voice behind me. He stepped around to face me and stared down at me like he was searching my face for answers.
“Yeah,” I said automatically.
“Come with me.”
Oh, no. He took my hand and led me outside to the back patio. We sat on one of the swinging benches, and he turned, pulling one knee up so he was facing me.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
It wasn’t a demand, more like a plea. He was convinced something was wrong, and I wasn’t sure how to make him believe I was fine. More than fine.
