Page 59 of Locke 2

“Savour it then.”

His usually flat expression shattered like broken glass. He smirked, his gaze returning to the road as he drove. I watched him discreetly, my gaze lingering on his large hand around the steering wheel, at the watch with the broken face, at his ridiculously gorgeous profile. When his tongue poked out to runalong his bottom lip, his gaze buried in thought, I felt a little lightheaded at his oblivious sexual aura.

How could I have ever spent time regretting being dicked down by this savage walking sex of a man? But then I remembered all the complicated strings that came with him, with me, with us, and I felt my being grow heavy.

Within minutes, we were parked out front of my tiny cottage style home. I sat up straighter. The front door was open, and a familiar older man was out front, talking to Hal.

“What’s going on?” I asked Locke, feeling nervous that Hal was back here again. “Why is my landlord out front?”

“Your place is in need of urgent repair,” Locke simply stated. “Quickly gather your things and come back.”

I eyed him dryly.Urgent repair?

I closed my parted mouth and hurried out of the car. He’d parked across the street, so I had to jog to my little home. Holding Dahlia in his arms, Hal appeared distressed. When he saw me, he perked up and ditched our landlord.

“The place flooded,” he rushed out. “We’re being removed so they can repair the leak and assess the water damage. I’m freaking out. I can’t handle this stress.”

I glanced at our landlord Harry. His meaty arms were folded over his big gut, his body leaning against the wall beside the front door. He didn’t appear upset in the slightest. He yawned and fished for a smoke. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Locke would have paid him off nicely.

“That’s awful,” I managed out, hoping I sounded dramatic enough. “Where are we supposed to go?”

“He’s putting us in a motel, all paid for.” Hal rolled his eyes. “The cheapskate has deeper pockets than we realised.”

Yeah, I bet he did now. “Hopefully the motel has a hotter shower system.”

Hal let out a laugh. “Yeah, I doubt I’ll even be there. I’ve got a Plan B in case shit like this happens.”

I smirked. “Do you now? I bet it has something to do with you disappearing on me for days at a time.”

He smiled in that secretive way. “Maybe, but that’s not important. Are you going to be okay? I don’t want to leave you at a crappy motel all alone. I can ask some friends if they have room to take you in.”

I waved his concern off. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He looked concerned as he studied me. Then he glanced behind me, at the car parked across the street. His gaze was filled with questions, and I waited for him to shoot them at me, but he didn’t.

He smiled gently and handed me Dahlia. “We have to quickly pack our things before the repair crew gets here. I hope nothing I own is damaged, but Harry sounded a bit vague when he called me.”

“Did he say how he knew something was wrong?”

“The water detection system alarm went off.”

It took everything not to roll my eyes again. Harry was a cheapskate, and the place was so old. I doubted even the fire alarms worked.

Hal shot him a dirty look and whispered, “He didn’t say the same thing to you?”

“Oh, he said something like that, but I was in the middle of class, and it was so loud…”

“Yeah, he could have just texted it. I was in the middle of a meeting, and I had to leave. I bet I looked so careless.”

His panic filled his face as I followed after him into the house, unable to meet the landlord’s eye as they latched on me. Did he know I was part of this? Of course he did. He must have.

Hal was being sort of dramatic as we entered the house. The floors were bone dry in most places, but Hal let out a few yelps when we passed the bathroom where there was a pool of water on the tile floor. He acted like we were waist deep in water and at risk of drowning. I rolled with it, walking on my tip toes with a hand to my chest and everything.

I didn’t have much to pack. I barely owned anything except the clothes on my back and a couple nice shoes. I stuffed them in a bag, placed Dahlia in her crate and carried her out. Hal and I exchanged a few words and then I was back inside Locke’s car.

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