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I saw things in a different light.
“Do you have everything with you?”
“They didn’t strip-search us, if that’s what you’re implying.”
His eyes were so cold, staring at Jess for a beat without blinking.
She frowned, a little.
So did I. For doing something nice, he was being abnormally chilly.
He led the way, taking us down a back stairway and opening the door to an empty street. He motioned to the left. “Down the block—you have vehicles waiting for you.”
Vehicles?
Jess took off at a brisk clip.
I moved past him, studying him from under my eyelids before choosing to leave without saying anything. I stepped down to the street, but it didn’t feel right. I turned. “Hey.”
He paused, starting to close the door. He didn’t say anything.
I motioned toward Jess and myself. “Thank you.”
He nodded, that cold look not thawing at all.
I started again for the vehicles.
“Hey.”
I stopped.
He nodded beyond me. “Be careful with him.”
Him? Ashton.
“He’s the reason for this?”
Jake didn’t answer right away. “No. You’re the reason for this.” He went inside after that.
Me? I didn’t understand.
But as I headed to where Jess was waiting at the end of the block, I glanced over my shoulder. He was gone. The door shut firmly behind him.
“You okay?” Jess asked once I got to her.
I nodded. “Yeah, just a weird feeling. That’s all. Also, I want to talk to you about something.”
She nodded beyond us to where two SUVs were waiting. “Okay, but heads up. They’re not happy.”
I almost laughed because at this point, that was the norm for Ashton and me.
She indicated the first one. “That’s me.”
That meant Ashton was in the second one.
As we approached, Elijah stepped out from the front passenger seat in the second vehicle, and another large man did the same from the first one. As if they’d rehearsed it, they both opened the back doors, and we separated. Jess looked back, mouthing, “Call me.”
I nodded, giving her a thumbs-up. She would be my bodyguard. Hell yeah.
I moved to Elijah and paused, grinning up at him. “Heya.”
His eyebrows flickered, and the corner of his mouth twitched. “Heya back.”
“Molly,” Ashton groaned from inside the SUV.
I flashed Elijah a last smile before climbing in, and I beamed at whoever Ashton was to me now because I hadn’t the first clue anymore. “Do I have a day to tell you about.”
His face schooled into a mask. “I heard. Another gun in your face?”
I nodded. “I went a little nuts. The switch happened. And I got violent, super violent.”
He eyed me. “Did you like it?”
Did I?
If anyone else had asked me that question and looked at me with a seriousness like Ashton was, I would’ve laughed it off. I would’ve denied it and shoved that down inside of me, deep down. That was anyone else. Not Ashton.
And since it was Ashton, and since he seemed genuinely curious, I told the truth. “I don’t know.”
His head cocked to the side, like he wanted to look at me from a different angle, as if that would help him study me better. Maybe it did this time because he said, softly, “There’s darkness in every one of us. We have to do what we have to do to survive at times. You’ve been in a few of those situations.”
Maybe. This didn’t feel like that, though.
“Also.” He had me looking back at him. “I’m glad the switch happened. I’m glad you’re safe and alive.”
I smiled.
He smiled back.
It felt right. I sighed and relaxed back into the seat as the vehicle pulled into traffic. “So, my cousin is now missing.”
“No, he’s not.”
“He’s not?”
“He works for me. I’ve known where he was this whole time.”
“Where was he?”
“He’s staying at a safe house in case something happened, which just happened at his place. When he’s at Easter Lanes, my men are there.”
I flattened my mouth. “He closed Easter Lanes on Sunday. That’s not cool.”
“He closed Easter Lanes at my request. I was worried about retaliation.”
That made me pause. “Retaliation?”
He nodded, studying me.
“For what?”
“For business that’s none of your business.”
I glowered. “You saying that and half smiling when you say that isn’t helping, and it is my business since my father’s involved. Remember?”
His smile faded. He grew solemn instead. “It’s bad guy shit. I’d rather keep you out of it as much as possible.”
“Does it have to do with my father?”
“No.”
“Oh. Well, then you have a point.”
He reached out, taking my hand, and linked our fingers. “Tell me about your day.”
“I thought you already knew?”
“I’m finding I like to hear you say it anyways.”
That was . . . a whole warm feeling pulsed through my chest, deep inside. “You’re not mad we left the house and went to Easter Lanes?”
“I’ve come to expect the unexpected from you, and also, I know what today is.”
Sunday night. The old Kelly-and-Justin bowling night.
“I wanted to bowl with my friends.”
