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“Who’s ‘us’?” Ford asked, and I turned to face him, wondering why he wasn’t shutting him down right away. And why the hell would Justin say that anyway? He’d met Ford a few minutes ago and was already offering up his place.
“Me and Curtis,” Justin said, his gaze not veering off Ford’s. “He’s my roommate, works here too.”
“Where is Curtis?” I asked, interrupting the conversation. Whenever we were here, so was Curtis, especially on a Saturday night because tips were his life.
Justin leaned back in his seat, his eyes meeting Stella’s briefly. “He had to go home a couple days ago. Said there was a family emergency.” He paused and cleared his throat. “His mom is in the hospital.”
“Oh…” I’d never met any of Curtis’ family, but when I really thought about it, he hadn’t really spoken about them either. We’d had conversations about seemingly everything, but when it came to all our families, we seemed to stop sharing. “Well, I hope it’s nothing too serious.”
The conversation lulled, and I shuffled in my seat, taking another drink of…what the hell was this anyway? It definitely wasn’t alcohol.
“I’m good staying with Belle,” Ford finally said, and for a second, I wondered what he was saying, and then remembered what Justin had suggested.
Justin nodded, and then Stella whispered something in his ear, and I knew what was about to happen. This was the exact reason why neither Curtis nor I liked to be a third wheel. They’d go off into a world of their own, and within seconds—yep, there it was. Now they were practically swallowing each other’s faces.
I felt Ford lean closer to me, his shoulder brushing against mine, and then his breath brushed the side of my neck. “Do they do this often?” his deep voice whispered.
“All. The. Time,” I replied, not turning my head to face him. I knew if I did, we’d only be inches apart, but the temptation was almost too much to resist. I lifted my drink again, then slammed it back down onto the table. “I’m going to get a real drink.” I didn’t wait for Ford to reply and pushed on his arm so he would move out of the booth. He raised his brows at me, and I raised mine right back. “I need to get past,” I told him. He shrugged and didn’t make to move, so I climbed over him and made a beeline for the bar, ordering a shot of tequila.
I’d wanted to try and forget all about what had happened over the la
st couple of days, but being here, the music pumping throughout the bar and Ford’s watchful gaze focused on me, made me think about it all the more. I needed a break, something to lull my thoughts into a false sense of security. So, as the girl behind the bar handed me my shot, I ordered another one and downed them both.
I turned, looking right at Ford, and then sauntered onto the dance floor, intent on losing myself to the music, and giving my mind a break.
Chapter Six
FORD
College had never interested me. I didn’t see the point in going to school for an extra four years just so I could party and then leave with a degree I probably would never use. So being here in this college town wasn’t the highlight of my life.
I’d expected Belle to not know her limits, to get so drunk I’d have to carry her home, which was why when she’d ordered a tequila last night, I’d gotten her some froufrou non-alcoholic cocktail—a cocktail was what the bartender had called it. I should have known she’d have gotten herself tequila anyway, but I hadn’t expected her to only do two shots and then spend three hours dancing away.
Stella and Justin had left sometime during her dance-a-thon, and I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off Belle the entire time. Several guys had tried to dance with her, but she’d brushed them off without a second thought. And that was when I realized I wasn’t the only one who had been watching her. I hated to admit the jealousy than ran through me, but the longer she was out on the dance floor, the bigger it grew, until I was ready to grab her and throw her over my shoulder so we could leave.
But then she turned to face me, her gaze meeting mine, and she drifted closer. Her hips swayed, her arms moving gently by her sides, and I was entranced. Her skin was soaked in sweat, but the giant smile on her face was worth me not stepping in and going caveman on her. She was a grown-ass woman, and I had no right to tell her who she could and couldn’t dance with, but that didn’t mean I liked it.
She didn’t talk much on the way back to her apartment, and as soon as I opened up her new door with all the security measures, she pushed inside and went right to her bedroom.
And now I was here, at five in the morning, wide awake after having three hours of sleep. My brain was on overdrive, my mind going over and over every piece of evidence we had on Garza. He shouldn’t have gotten bail. He should have been locked up and never let out again. But he was out. He was on the streets, and we had no idea what his next move was. An unpredictable man was a dangerous man.
I unlocked my cell and opened up my email to send an encrypted message to Brody, asking for an update. The secretiveness we had when I was undercover was no longer needed, but the security of our conversations was.
Rolling on the sofa, I gritted my teeth at the lumps pushing into my back. I’d told Belle I’d slept in worse places, but goddamn, this was one of the worst. I’d have been better making a pallet on the floor. In the end, I decided I wouldn’t be getting any more sleep, so I sat up to type out the rest of the message. I wanted an update on Garza’s last known location and details of any units which were following him. I needed a heads-up if he was nearby because I needed the time to be able to get Belle to safety if necessary.
I locked my cell, threw it down next to me, and leaned my head on the back of the sofa. The ceiling was an off-white, but I was sure it wasn’t meant to be that color on purpose. It hadn’t been updated in years, much like the door which had been replaced. The super of this building didn’t give two craps about the safety of the people living here, most of whom were college students.
Why the hell did Brody give the okay for Belle to live here in the first place? She could have stayed on campus and in the dorms where it was safer, but if she had been there, I wouldn’t have been able to stay with her.
My eyes drooped the longer I stared at the ceiling, and I could feel sleep overtake me just as a door closed and footsteps neared. I shot up off the sofa, knowing it was still dark outside because of how early it was. My hand was reaching for my gun, ready to confront whoever it was.
I widened my stance, waiting for the person to come into the living room, and then… “Belle?” I blinked and frowned, letting my hand drop beside me. “What are you doing up?” She wasn’t just awake, but she was fully dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a hoody.
“My shift at the shelter starts in thirty,” she answered, not looking at me as she moved into the kitchen. I stared at her, wondering how the hell she managed to get up after only a few hours’ sleep and look like she’d just slept a full eight hours. She turned to face me, her brow raised. “Well, are you going to get ready?”
“I…” I scraped my hand over my face and through my hair, trying to wake myself up. “Yeah.” I took two steps back and then shook my head. I’d known she volunteered at the shelter thanks to all the intel which had been gathered by other people, but I hadn’t realized she did shifts this early. This would be prime time for Garza to make his move—still dark, and early enough to go unnoticed.
I gathered my bag and stomped toward Belle’s bedroom. I’d been using her bathroom while I was here, but I didn’t take any of her room in as I walked through it and then into the bathroom. All I was thinking about was the need to switch up her usual schedule. If someone was watching her, then we needed to make them second-guess where she was and what she was doing. We had to keep them on their toes so we would be one step ahead of them and not on the back foot.
