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“I don’t.”
“Oh, yes, you do. This little muscle twitches when you see something you like.” He points at his jaw. “Tick-tick-tick.”
I frown at him, tempted to touch my jaw, but that would just be confirmation that I’m happy about my cards.
He changes the subject as he lays down a royal flush. “You spent the night on the couch.”
“Oh, what the hell?” I drop my flush on the bed and roll my eyes. I swear to God the man is just lucky with cards.
“Why were you on the couch, Mateo?”
“Yeah, I wanted to be here if you needed something,” I say as I shuffle the deck again.
“Julia was here. You shouldn’t have to cram yourself on that little couch.”
“It was fine,” I lie, dealing out another hand.
He arches an eyebrow at me. “I thought you were starting your new job today.”
I keep my eyes glued to my cards but don’t really see them. Dad’s sniffing around, I can feel it. “Yeah, I talked to John. I’m starting next week instead.”
“Mmm… any particular reason you need to be here?” he asks, discarding and drawing two cards. “Because I don’t buy that you’re that worried about me and a little pulled muscle.”
I ditch most of my hand, drawing three new cards and coming up with three kings. I don’t say anything.
“Mateo.”
“No stress, Dad.”
“It’s stressing me out to be kept out of the loop.”
“Fine, don’t tell Julia I told you anything. You don’t say a word to anyone, you got it?”
Dad nods, dropping two pairs on the bed and sighing when I put my three of a kind on top.
“There’s a doctor from the hospital. Julia reported him for drinking on the job and he found out. He threatened her. He’s trying to intimidate her. When I got here yesterday to see you, he was at the front door and his behavior was… aggressive.”
Dad’s face is turning red.
“Be calm,” I warn him.
He holds his hands up. “I’m calm.”
“Yeah, right.” I eye him skeptically. “Look, I’ve got it covered, okay? John is fine with me starting next week or whenever I’m ready. He even has his tech guys helping me out. Once this asshat gets picked up, everything will go back to normal.”
“Picked up?”
“Yeah, the police are looking for him right now. It looks like he was involved in a hit and run.”
Dad glares at the cards I deal him. “She should have told me.”
“You know Julia,” I say, shaking my head. “I had to drag it out of her. You should have seen the fight she picked with me when I told her I was crashing on the sofa. She is… aggressively independent.”
Dad laughs at that. “Well, if that ain’t the truth. If you say you’re handling it, I trust you.”
We play cards for a while, but when the pain pill kicks in, I can see it. It hits him like a tranquilizer dart. His eyes droop and he all but forces me out of the room so he can take a nap. I check my phone, frustrated that I haven’t heard from Dillon. I’ve been fighting this internal debate over whether or not to tell Julia about the hit and run. I wanted to wait and see if Dillon would send me an update, but as the hours drag on, I’m feeling less and less confident that the police are going to track the doctor down.
I’m lost in my thoughts as I plunk down on the couch. I should probably tell her… I decide to give it another hour. It won’t hurt to hold off a little longer. I hear water running and a minute later, Julia comes strolling down the hallway in a loose black tank top and bright red, skin tight leggings. She steps into the center of white yoga mat. I can’t believe I fucking missed that thing sitting in the middle of the room, and even if it blends into the carpet, I’m pissed at myself for being so unobservant.
