Page 85 of Never Tear Us Apart

“I’m not. I was serious last night when I said I was going to help you. Plus, you’ll need a ride back to Cherry Cove.”

“But shouldn’t you be with your friends, not here, with me?”

“They’re fine.” He spears his eggs and takes a bite. “And this is important. So finish breakfast and get ready. You tell me where we’re headed and I’ll drive.”

He finishes his breakfast in no time then pushes back from the counter and makes his way over to the sink. “Can I get you more?” he asks.

“No, thank you.” I wasn’t close to being done, and he’d already powered through his breakfast. “This is good. I can clean up.”

“No way.” He rinses off his plate and puts it in the dishwasher. “I made the mess, it’s mine to clean.”

The way he says it, candid and without a smile, makes me wonder if perhaps he’s not talking about breakfast but something else entirely.

“So what, I just eat and run?”

“No…” He gives me a sexy grin. “You eat and walk away slowly so I can watch you.”

Heat creeps up my neck as he laughs and turns to the stove to get started on cleaning up.

When I finally finish my breakfast, I rinse my plate off as he washes a skillet in the sink. “Thank you. That was delicious.”

He looks up and smiles. “My pleasure.”

“I’m gonna…” I hike a thumb over my shoulder.

“Yup.” He sets the skillet down on a towel and rinses out the sink. “Meet you downstairs in an hour.”

I make my way upstairs to get ready and while his attention was down a moment ago, I know he’s watching me. I can feel his eyes on me as I walk away and you know, I don’t mind, not one single bit.

***

“So what’s the plan?” Cruz asks as we make our way out the door and head to his Jeep.

Seeing as Momma and Antonio took his car for the weekend, I’d planned to use hers today, but honestly, I preferred the Jeep. I loved feeling the wind against my face and hearing the hum of the tires on the road.

“Well…” I reach into my crossbody bag and pull out my sunglasses, slipping them on. “First, we hit the DA’s office, then the Medical Examiner. I’d say we hit the newspaper as well, but there’s probably staff there, working on the Monday edition.”

“Anywhere else?” he asks wryly.

“Actually, yeah.” I snap my fingers. “The library. I want to check out the archives and make copies of the news stories from when my father died.”

“Alright.” He slides into the driver’s seat. “Hop in.”

I yank the door open and slide into the passenger seat, twisting my hair around my neck and holding it like I used to do when he’d drive us to school. The wind in your hair was one thing, strands of hair slicing across your eyeballs was another.

He starts the engine and puts the car in drive, pulling away from the house. “So, this is a bit of déjà vu, huh? The two of us, heading into town like we’re going to school.”

“Oh, you mean high school when you were a miserable jerk?” I reply dryly.

He looks over at me and places a hand on his chest. “You wound me, Butler.”

“Truth hurts,” I shrug.

That year and a half we attended Elmhurst Prep together hewasa jerk. I used to dread the morning drive and even more so, the first few minutes after we arrived. He’d stroll up the front steps like a King entering his castle, while I slinked over to my group of friends, who would watch him, enamored.

When I returned for my junior year it had been a dramatic shift. It was no longer Cruz who owned the school, but me, and those friends I once stood with off to the side, was now the group everyone else was enamored by.

Only, that coveted inner circle that ran the school…they weren’t really my friends. They were a means to an end. In school, that end was living a life where I didn’t mourn Cruz. And this summer, that end was getting what I needed to find out who was behind this little campaign against my father.

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