AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He sat there, quiet for a beat too long, and I almost told him to forget it, but he finally spoke. “She insists that it’s real. Her and Trevor. I know she’s lying—I’m not stupid, son—but I don’t know why. Before you came in here today, I figured she was protecting you. And since I heard hide nor hair from you since thisengagement, I assumed you knew exactly why it was happening.”
All this time, he’d thought this was somehow about me.
And he hadn’t even considered trying to talk Dove out of it? Of course he hadn’t. He would have known that if I was involved, there would be no reasoning with her.
“It’s not me, Bob. And if it’s not me, then…” I paused for dramatic effect, knowing that he could put two and two together without me having to spell it out for him.
“I’ll be in touch,” he said, and it sounded so cold.
I started thinking that he might be mad at me before realizing that his head had to be spinning, searching for whatever it could be that Trevor had on him if Dove wasn’t protecting me.
“We have to save her,” I breathed out.
He rose to his feet, stormed around the desk, and pulled me in for a hug.
A couple slaps to the back, and I pulled away, more emotional than I wanted to be when I left his office and walked into a room filled with watchful eyes and gossiping mouths, who would no doubt be focused on me. This entire town had been talking about me for months, but I’d done my best to block it out.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to pretend like what they said didn’t matter.
DINNER WITH DAD
DOVE
Iwasn’t in the state of mind to play the dutiful and doting fiancée tonight, so I called Trevor and told him that I started my period unexpectedly. The kind that bled through tampons minutes after putting them in. I overly exaggerated, hoping to sufficiently gross him out enough that he’d keep his distance from me for at least a couple of nights. I needed to buy myself a little time.
“Dove, don’t tell me things like that,” he complained, his tone disgusted.
Even though he was pissed, he accepted my excuse. After, of course, he told me to take some Midol. Guys were so fucking clueless sometimes. Talk about a little blood and cramps, and they got all squeamish. Well, most guys anyway. Not Dominic…of course. He was always attentive and caring if I was ever in any kind of pain. It was like he couldn’t bear to watch me hurting.
God, I miss him.
Picking up my cell, I stared at it for a second before double-checking all of my settings, like the kid at the phone store had shown me. He’d informed me that my location sharing had been turned on and that some of my apps had been set to share with Trevor only. I’d turned them all off and only allowed my location to be shared with two people—Dominic and my dad. I was pushing my luck whenever Trevor eventually found out, but this was one fight I wasn’t giving in on. My being tracked twenty-four hours a day had not been part of the agreement.
I fired off a text to my dad, asking if he was home and if I could stop by. He always took too long to respond, and I should have just called him instead, but this time, his reply was instant.
Was going to see what you were up to tonight, kiddo. Come on by.
Responding that I’d be on my way soon, I changed quickly into more casual and comfortable clothes. I walked out to my Range Rover before wondering if it had a tracking device on it as well. I’d ask my dad to check for one once I got over there. I knew that he had some type of scanning tool that could tell us if there was anything on it.
My thoughts had been a tangled-up mess even more than usual. Seeing Dominic today had pushed me over the edge. I’d been able to pretend like keeping him at a distance was easy as long as there was no communication between us. But once I’d looked at him, all of those half-truths had been shot to hell.
When I pulled into the driveway, the garage door opened, and I saw my dad standing inside with a smile on his face. I smiled back, wishing he didn’t look so old and tired. Cutting the engine, I stepped out, and he was right there, pulling me in for a hug.
“Is there any way to check if there’s a tracking device on my car?” I asked, cutting right to the chase.
He pulled away from me, his eyes narrowing. “Do you think there might be?”
Nodding, I answered, “It’s possible. I just want to be safe.”
“Dove,” he cautioned, “what’s going on? Are you in some sort of trouble?”
“I’mnot.” I emphasized the wordI’m. “Can you check? It’s just me being overly cautious and paranoid. Trevor’s getting higher in the political circuit. It’s not out of the question that his opponents might do something like that, right? Maybe bug my car to listen in?”
Once I started spinning the lie, the rest kept coming easily. It sounded plausible to me that Trevor’s line of work might lead to some not-so-legal things happening to those he cared about. As his fiancée, I’d top that list.
“I guess not. I’ll check. You go inside and make sure the food’s not burning.”
“You cooked?” I asked through my surprise, and he let out a deep laugh.
