Page 30 of Crossing the Line
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Waverly gave him a curt nod with a chilly glare. She waved to the driver and practically skipped toward the pool house.
She found Kate inside, spreading out pizza and paper and a rainbow of colored pencils on the table.
Waverly threw herself at her friend’s feet. “Oh my God, you’re the best! Now take off your clothes.”
Ten minutes later, fortified by a slice of Kate’s pizza and her friend’s sweatshirt and baseball hat, Waverly bounced from foot to foot in the kitchen.
“Kate, he’s never leaving!” she moaned as she willed Xavier’s SUV to pull out of the driveway from the security feed on her phone.
“Maybe it’s a sign you shouldn’t go,” Kate said, shading in a cartoon super hero’s bulletproof corset.
“If I don’t get away from everything Waverly Sinner-related for a few hours I can’t be held responsible for my actions. Did I tell you what he said to me?” she spun around, sending her ponytail whipping over her shoulder.
“Mmm. The part where he acted all jealous over Dante or the part where he wouldn’t let you have a burrito and told you your business is his business?”
Waverly rolled her eyes. “I can tell that you’re absorbed in your art, so I’m not going to hold your inattention against you.”
“Appreciate that,” Kate said, taking a bite of pizza and selecting another pencil. “I still think you going out tonight is kind of dangerous. We know that that Ganim guy is here in town and looking for you.”
“But he’s not looking foryou,” Waverly pointed out. If she didn’t get out, get away, she was going to suffocate. She could feel it creeping over her like a dark cloud.
Kate kicked back in her chair and gave Waverly the once over. “I think with sunglasses you’ll pass on the security feed. Just go now while you still have daylight to enjoy. It makes me nervous when you ride at night anyway.”
Waverly shoved some cash and her license into the back pocket of her jeans. “You’re the best friend slash assistant slash artist a girl could have.”
“Just please don’t get caught…by Creeper or Saint. I’m not sure which one of them scares me more.” Kate scrubbed a hand over her face. “If X Factor finds out I helped you escape your ivory tower, he’ll turn that stern look on me, and I’ll turn into a puddle of fear and lust.”
“You, my friend, are into some weird stuff. But I respect that, and you’re totally getting an amazing present for this.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t get murdered,” Kate called after her as Waverly danced through the door and locked it behind her.
Waverly slid on a pair of sunglasses that hid a good portion of her face and hurried to Kate’s SUV. She slid behind the wheel and turned the key and was battered by the wailing guitars of an eighties rock ballad.Fitting, she grinned.
She put the Explorer in drive and started to ease around the circular drive.
Shit.Shit. Shit.Xavier chose that exact second to walk out the front door.Be cool,she told herself.You’re just Kate headed home.
She raised a hand in a casual wave and held her breath when he returned it as he unlocked his SUV. She wasted no time navigating the curving drive and didn’t breathe again until the gates closed behind her. Her eyes stayed glued to the rearview mirror, but by the time she hit the stop sign at the end of the street with no sign of Xavier speeding after her, she punched the volume on the stereo and rolled down her windows.
She was finally free.
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Xavier’s mood hadn’t improved after his short briefing with the Sinners.
He’d explained the incident with Ganim and also gave them a toned-down version of Waverly’s run-in with Geneva St. Regis. But Sylvia seemed more excited than concerned. It was a measure of her daughter’s success, she had gleefully informed him. Stalkers and public feuds were good for a few gossip site mentions.
Robert, on the other hand, seemed ambivalent to the entire situation. Neither of them seemed to care to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Their daughter had a stalker who was fixated enough that he moved states to get closer to her. If that wasn’t a loud and jarring warning bell, he didn’t know what would be.
He saw Kate in sunglasses and her ball cap guiding her Explorer around the drive. She sent him a wave, which he returned. His hand was on his door handle when he felt the buzz. Something wasn’t right. He watched the taillights on Kate’s SUV as it pulled down the driveway.But that wasn’t Kate behind the wheel.
He took off at a dead sprint around the side of the main house, skirting the pool, to the pool house. The front door was locked and he wasted precious seconds fishing in his pocket for the keys.
“What did you forg—oh fuck.”
Kate stared at him wide-eyed from the kitchen table. She jumped up and pulled her chair in front of her as if facing a lion. It was then that Xavier realized his fury had carried him all the way into the room.
