Page 25 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
I waved a hand. “Concentrate on the job, Buck. Don’t ask questions.”
“Curiosity is part of the job, Ev, you know that. But fine. Over two hundred names, you know, and I think I found your guy.”
“Enough with the foreplay already,” I growled.
He snorted. “I feel sorry for your missus. So, I compared the handwriting of the exit interviews with the samples from the books you sent me. Guy sounds like a fucking wanker though, just saying.”
“For fuck’s sake, Buck—”
“Jesus, so impatient. Here’s your guy. Timothy Smith. He was a member of that fine institution twenty-three months ago. Generic name though. Luckily for you, he used his passport number as a proof of identification when he was admitted to the facility, which I found out after a little more persuasion of Nurse Flora. I think she likes me.” He grinned, and I shook my head. Yeah, she probably did, fucking charming bastard. “I talked my buddy over at Consular Affairs into doing a little search for me, and he pulled the guy’s travel records for the last little while. And by little while, I mean since he was born.”
I blinked. “I’m glad you use your skills for good and not evil.” Inside the notebook was a printed sheet of paper, and it merely had dates, airport codes and flight numbers. I frowned. What the hell? “Can I keep this?”
Buck waved his hand. “Of course. I’ll add the notebook to my expenses.”
I rolled my eyes at him but snapped the book shut, shoving it inside the inner pocket of my jacket. “You did good, Buck.” I pulled out my phone and transferred him the remaining chunk of his payment. “You sure you don’t want to join my security firm? More interesting than chasing cheating husbands around.”
“Yeah, but the benefits aren't as good. Like all those angry wives want an instant rebound guy, and who better than the sympathetic Private Investigator with the rippling six-pack, who’s conveniently right there?” He slapped me on the back. “It’s great seeing you, Ev. You look good, too. We’ll go out and have a beer soon, yeah?”
I smiled at Buck. I considered him a friend—one I only ever saw once a year, but he was such an easy-going guy that it was always like we’d hung out just yesterday.
“Just name the time and place. Take care, Buck.”
We walked off in opposite directions, and I frowned as I thought about the notebook inside my jacket. It changed things.
I went the long way around again, though there were some photographers who’d wised up to the maintenance exit in the apartment building. They didn’t pay me much mind as I walked up to the door and used the master key I’d lifted off the Super to open it. I guess I looked like an employee and not like I lived here.
I still didn’t know how I felt living in Sampson’s apartment with the guys. Listening to them making love to Aviva had been torture. But she somehow managed to make us all feel wanted and needed, and with four guys, that was pretty fucking clever.
I took the elevator to the top floor, stepping out into the lavish foyer, complete with intricate parquet flooring. The whole place oozed money, and I stood out like a damp stain on a pristine plaster ceiling.
I kept my footsteps muffled as I walked further into the apartment, out of habit mostly. Once you learned to walk silently, it became a reflex. Hendrick and Sampson were playing something on the TV, the sound of gunfire punctuated by smack talking. Aviva was sitting down at the end of the couch, reading a book, her round reading glasses perched on the end of her nose. Fucking cute as hell.
As if she could feel my eyes, she looked up and smiled brightly.
Painfully cute, even. It made my heart clench in my chest, that smile.
“Evan!”
She tossed down her book and jumped over the back of the couch, skipping toward me until she could throw herself into my arms. I kissed her lips softly, still hesitant to take too much in case she woke up and regretted it one morning.
Chaos didn’t know how to be hesitant though, throwing herself into the kiss. I held her tight to my body, the feel of Hendrick and Sampson’s eyes on us like tingles on my skin. Finally, I pulled back.
“Missed you too, Chaos.”
“You’ve been gone less than an hour, Evan. Stop being such a simp,” Sampson grumbled, but he went back to playing and didn’t seem tense.
“Fuck off, Sampson Rubio. If Evan wants to say that being without me is unbearable, then I wanna hear it.”
I snorted a laugh. “I wouldn’t sayunbearable…”
She slapped my arm. “Traitor.” She leaned forward to kiss my cheek, and I resisted the urge to purr, because I really wouldn’t live that down. “How’d it go?”
I sucked in a deep breath, pulling out the book from inside my jacket. “We should sit down. All of us.”
Chapter15
Aviva
