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Figuring it was best to accept what they were saying, I nodded. “Okay.”
Before anyone could get another word out, Banks reappeared and said, “Alright, we’re all set for now. Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
His eyes moved away from mine and to the two other women there, narrowing on them. “What’s going on here?”
Liv shook her head as Avalon replied, “Nothing. Nothing at all. But I will say that this hasn’t been nearly enough time to hang with Rhys. You and Lamise need to figure out a time you want to go out and do something fun, so I can drag Damon over to your place and watch this little guy.”
“Oh, yeah. Me too. Brix and I would definitely like to watch him for you. We get to watch him the next time,” Livadded.
Banks shook his head, his lips twitching, as he moved to lift Rhys out of Avalon’s arms. “Lamise and I will figure that out, and I’ll let you know when.”
Avalon perked up in her seat. “Really?”
“Were you not serious?”
“Oh. Oh, yeah. No. I was totally serious.”
“Me, too!”
Banks cocked an eyebrow, assessing Avalon and Liv again. Following a beat of silence, he took my hand in his and said, “I’m taking these two home. I’ll be back shortly.”
“Okay. See you soon.”
“It was great meeting you, Lamise,” Liv said.
“Yeah. You, too.”
Banks didn’t wait around. As Avalon and Liv called out varying versions of goodbye to our departing backs, Banks led me out of the office.
And the whole way back to his house, I couldn’t stop wondering what was so different about me that Banks seemed to have done a complete turnaround from the way he’d been with Violet.
TWENTY-ONE
Lamise
What a day.
I was sitting on the couch in the living room at Banks’s house, feeling grateful I’d managed to get through the day.
Not long after Banks brought Rhys and me back to his place after our morning at Harper Security Ops, he took off again to head back to work. Rhys and I quickly fell into our usual routine, Rhys heading down for a nap almost immediately after we’d returned.
I’d taken some time to clean up around the house, doing it while I allowed the thoughts about everything that had been happening around me to swirl around in my mind. There wasn’t anything I didn’t think about—Graham’s murder, Henry being alive and dognapped, that I was staying with Banks in his house, and everything Avalon and Liv had shared with me while we had a few minutes to talk at the Harper Security Ops office that morning.
Rhys provided the best distraction from all of that whenhe was awake, so I was bummed each time I had to put him down for a nap.
Because most of the thoughts I’d had about everything had been almost too much for me to handle. I just couldn’t manage to sort it all out, and I’d seriously considered giving my sister or Tabitha a call to get their opinions.
But I ultimately decided against it.
After everything I’d been through the last couple of months, after all they’d seen me through, the last thing I wanted to do was call them with more bad news. Granted, learning that Henry was alive was good news, but that I was likely now in danger because I’d realized that was the very opposite of good news. For months, my mom, Jolene, and Tabitha had done nothing but worry about me. They didn’t need to worry more.
Until I had good news to give them, something I knew they’d be happy about, I decided to hold off on sharing anything negative. I didn’t intend to hide it from them, but I just needed to make sure there was something positive to sprinkle in with it.
Even if I wasn’t quite sure how it would go, I had a feeling if I really wanted to clear my head, then the best thing I could do was talk to Banks about it.
So, when he descended the stairs after having given Rhys his bath, putting him down for bed, and taking a shower of his own, I did my best to try to appear relaxed.
