Page 88 of Hide From Me

I glared. She wasn’t going in dressed like that with that detective. I didn’t like the way he looked at her.

“You’re a giant prick. If I didn’t have some kind of morals, I’d stab you.”

I pulled up to the curb in her car, even if she was denying it was her car.

“Look, Blossom. Zeid had a point. I should have had that piece of shit totaled years ago. The mechanic would have gladly done anything I asked.”

She shifted to stare at me. Or, rather, gape at me.

“You knew my mechanic?”

I dragged my teeth over my lip and gave a little nod.

“What in the hell?” she damn near screamed.

“What did you think? You just randomly won free oil changes for a lifetime?” I asked.

I reached over, placing my finger under her chin, and closed that sweet little mouth of hers.

“I mean. Yes. He said it was a contest that the school put all the juniors and seniors in.”

Well, I guess I’d played on the fact I hoped she was naïve, but now? It was going to make filling her in on all the truths a pain in the ass.

“Right. Well. Here’s my jacket again. Fucking wear it. We can talk later about the car.”

I would never have guessed that she not only unnerved me, but she fucking challenged everything I thought I knew about me. Shit. She challenged my authority, and it should piss me off, but instead, I was practically here just waiting for the next fight.

She threw the jacket at me, and I grabbed her camera bag, keeping her from leaving.

“Just wear the fucking jacket, Rylee. I already let you win and didn’t force you to change. Fucking hell, if you just untied my shirt and wore that, it would be more coverage than that dress. Why do you do this shit to me?”

She smirked, and I knew that whatever was going through her head was not what I wanted to hear.

“You abandoned me, or pretended to, and then you stalked me? I think you have years of making up to do. And you know what?”

She pushed the door open, grabbed her bags and the jacket, which surprised me.

“What? And what Rylee?”

She stood in the open door, bending down to look at me.

“It’s my turn to torture you, and I’m really starting to enjoy it.”

She knew this damn game better than I thought and slammed the door before I could yell at her or fucking threaten to punish her.

All I could do was watch her sexy little ass walk into the front of the building she’d been in hours ago with a guy threatening her. The newest cluster fuck I needed to sort out.

Once I watched her disappear inside, I checked her phone for tracking. It wouldn’t tell me everything, but I could see her walking around, getting to the elevators and heading up. At least one prick was dead. I just really fucking hated her being dressed like that with that asshole detective. The issue was, it wouldn’t work out well for me to just hang out upstairs with the man I’d killed. So instead, I called Zeid and waited for him to pick up.

“You figure out anything about what that PI was saying?”

I’d distract myself with finding out Rylee’s past. I should have known there was more, but all those years ago, I’d just been relieved to know she wasn’t going to be in a group home and she wasn’t going to be here.

I’d given her an out, and she just hadn’t fucking taken it.

THIRTY-THREE

rylee

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