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Now that’s just…enough. I shove back, or try to, but he isn’t messing around.
In his grip, my shirt pulls taut around me. “She’s been here the whole time, hasn’t she? She was here when I got the call about her Jeep being towed—that’s why you didn’t call me back to check on her, because you already knew where she was. Isn’t it?” He gives me a teeth-rattling shake that stirs my ire all the more.“Isn’t it?”
His breath is hot in my face, and I bore my gaze into his. “Yeah. She was here.”
Another rattle. “Then why the blazes didn’t you tell me!”
I grind the words through my teeth. “Because she didn’t want me to.”
That gives him pause, and I let him stew on the rejection. I hope it hurts.
“Where is she now?” His eyes flick up the stairs. “You’ve got five seconds.”
Tripp and I are near-matches in strength, but with his adrenaline and his extra inches, he’s got the advantage. But that doesn’t mean I’m waving the white flag. My wrath has only just begun. I jut my chin. “I’m not telling youjack.”
Fury streaks his face as he stares me down, trying to look into my soul. Trying to decide if I’ll break if he goes harder.
I won’t.
“Tripp…” It’s Avery weighing in. Of course she’s on her soon-to-be husband’s side, but I hear the plea to back off.
He let’s go so abruptly and with the hint of a shove, so it’s a good thing the staircase is there to keep me upright. I tweak my shoulders until my shirt falls back into place. “You ever stop to wonder why she doesn’t answer your calls, Walker? Why she’s got you playing hide-and-seek?”
It’s not his glare that gets me, but rather Avery’s pleading eyes.
“Tell you what I’ll do.” I go for the phone tucked in my shorts.
Tripp’s hand makes a move for the holster I know he’s wearing under his loose-fitting shirt.
I freeze. “Seriously?”
A rare sensation rips through me, like a knife slicing head to toe. My friend…
It’s like my heart doesn’t beat, my lungs don’t breathe.
Tripp has the decency to look chagrinned, but it’s too late for that.
I extract my phone and pull up Annalise’s number. Yes, I have Annalise’s number. That night at dinner I watched her open her phone when her thumbprint didn’t register. I watched her type in her passcode and committed it to memory. Why? Force of habit. These are the kinds of things I’m trained to do. So, when I came across it during my cleanup, I took advantage of the moment and got her number, saving it into mine.
I fire off a text, praying she’s nearby and able to answer.Marco here. If you value my life at all, call your brother NOW.So I embellish a little—but not much. Tripp’s still got smoke coming out his ears.
I shove the phone back into my pocket and spread my hands. “Ball’s in her court now.”
I practically hear his molars grinding. His mouth pops open but before ugly words spew out, a ringtone shatters the rigid silence. His eyes flare, but he thaws and digs his phone from his jeans. “Lise!”
The air in my lungs seeps out, a slight release of the tension that’s had me in its grip for the last however-many minutes. Avery shoots me a look containing a hint of sympathy but leans into her fiancé, straining to catch any bit of conversation she can.
Whatever Annalise is saying is clearly not what big brother wants to hear. Doesn’t sound like she’s giving him any answers at all.
Good, because it’s what he deserves.
A minute later, he ends the call and stares me down, a dozen questions he’ll never get answers to, not from me anyhow, ping-ponging through his glare.
“All better?” I quip with the fakest of smiles.
“Why I should—”
“Tripp.” Avery grips her man’s arm.
