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Then he stormed from the room without a backwards glance.
What the hell had just happened?
A new flush of heat decorated my cheeks, but it was made of embarrassment, because somehow, what had felt so good had gone bad.
I climbed into my bed and drew the covers over me. It wasn’t that late, but tiredness followed my confusion.
I fell asleep with a knot in my gut from getting something so wrong.
Chapter 18
Jackson
My fucking heart wouldn’t stop thundering. I was twenty-eight, not a kid who’d got his dick wet for the first time and thought himself in love. So why the hell had I wanted to scoop Ariel up and declare my undying devotion?
I threw myself down on the sofa. Snapped open my laptop with a need to lose myself in work. A message had landed from Valentine, titledUgly fucker.
I opened it to find three colour photos, taken from a good-quality CCTV camera. They showed two guys from different angles. One in a loose basketball kit and with shaggy hair, the second taller and in a T-shirt and trousers.
Larson.
Holy ugly fucker.
I dialled him. “Got your intel. That’s our guy?”
“Daisy confirmed. The one in the shorts is her pothead roommate, Justin. Larson’s the other.”
“When was this taken?”
“A few months ago when Daisy was still living there and he was sleeping on the couch.”
We’d asked Daisy to try to recall dates she remembered Larson staying over while hanging out with her roommate. After that, it was a simple call to the building’s maintenance office to find someone who’d get hold of the camera footage. For a small fee, of course.
Ben had talked me through the process for when we needed to get intel on people who’d repeatedly threatened Leo. If they had a relevant criminal record or history of doing this with other celebrities, they were fair game. There was always someone who’d give over information or pictures so we could make a file.
It was the first time Valentine and I had worked it through, but it had been a success.
I studied the face of the man who had scrubbed himself from the internet. Memorised him. Small eyes. A long chin with patchy facial hair. Now, we had him from three angles.
“Exactly as I pictured him,” I said. “He screams creep.”
“A face women should run from and men need to punch,” Valentine agreed. “Can ye show it to Ariel? If she last saw him when she was a kid, he’ll have changed.”
“She’s asleep, so in the morning.”
There was a pause, then Valentine returned, not so cocky. “All okay over there?”
“Why, is the bunkhouse lonely without me?”
“Naw. I can scratch my balls without ye throwing a cushion at me. I just mean ye sound tense.”
I was tense. Stressed to fuck over emotions that were far bigger than they should be and wouldn’t stay in their fucking corner. Saying that out loud would make me sound insane. “It’s fine. I’ll bring Ariel over to the hangar tomorrow so we can fit her bracelet. Then we’re going to see her car.”
“She’s not taking it back, is she?”
“No, it’s been repaired, and I just want to see it again.”
He paused. “Bug sweep?”
