Page 9 of Fish out of Water
Right as she turned toward building L my phone started to ring, sounding like a siren in the silence of the night.
Her head snapped my way, eyes wide.
I ducked into the darkest spot I could find, tucking tight to the building as I scrambled to silence the sound giving me away.
She leaned closer, narrowed eyes shifting a little as she scanned my hiding spot. Then they stopped.
“Ew.” She pointed at me. “I see you, Grant Servantes.”
Damn it.
I stepped out of the shadows. “I’m just making sure you get home safe, Banana Pants.”
Her pointed finger wiggled. “Stalker.”
“Fine.” I threw my hands up in the air. “If you want to risk getting abducted then get abducted.”
They’d bring her back within five minutes anyway. She’d drive them crazy before they got out of the parking lot with her.
Banana Pants stuck her tongue out at me before storming toward the steps leading to the upper floors of the building.
I should have left her on her own. Should have kicked her out of the apartment the second I walked in.
My night would have been a hell of a lot easier.
I walked back to Vito’s apartment, looking as I went for any sign that the reason he’d skipped town had shown up, but the cars in the lot were all empty.
I unlocked the door and went in, locking it behind me before tossing the key onto the counter where Banana Pants was perched when I came in.
What in the hell was she doing? No way was it feeding that damn fish.
I bent down, going eye to eye with Vito’s most prized possession. “Too bad you can’t tell me what she was up to.”
A section of gravel in the corner of the aquarium was disturbed, pushed to one side enough that the glass bottom showed.
I went to the sink where she’d dropped her tools of choice and pulled them out. One alone didn’t reach the bottom, but when you put the two of them together they barely touched.
Banana Pants was digging for something.
Something that wasn’t there now, which meant chances were good she’d taken it with her.
I rubbed both hands over my face, scrubbing away the desire to just walk the hell away. Leave Vito to deal with his own problems for once.
But if Banana Pants took something from that tank then Vito might not be the only one with a problem.
Chapter Three
Julia
“JULIA.” MRS. SHERLING caught me the second I stepped out of my apartment. Her brown eyes looked me up and down from behind the cat-eye frames she thought made her look ten years younger. “What are you wearing, dear?”
I glanced down at the shorts and t-shirt I pulled on after spending the night tossing and turning. “What’s wrong with it?”
“You’re never going to catch a man looking like that.”
“We’ve talked about this.” I bit into the powdered donut I brought along on my excursion, continuing to talk as I chewed. “I’m not trying to catch a man.”
Her mouth tipped into a disapproving frown. “Not with that attitude you’re not.”
