Page 100 of Just Between Us

Kai groans. “Can’t. Sorry. Promised Jenna and Marie a wine night.”

I pout and Kai laughs, coming over to kiss me again. “You’ll have me for the whole weekend. You can keep me locked in the house the entire time if you want.”

“Please don’t give us ideas.”

I stay working late. Meetings run over and I have way too much work to catch up on because of the weeks I missed. By the time it’s eight in the evening, the entire office is empty, and my stomach is begging for me to put some food inside it.

The parking garage is almost empty when I reach the level my car is on. It’s a sleek black Mercedes Benz SL that I had specially customised with a coffee-coloured interior.Between Cole and I, I’m the car person. I’ve loved them since I was a little boy when my father got me into Formula One.

Only, when I reach it, something is off. The hairs on the back of my neck stand and I almost drop my laptop bag when I see my car. All four of the tyres have been slashed and the exterior has been completely keyed. The gashes in the rubber look like they’ve been made by a screwdriver, and the lines on the black paint are thick, peeling back the silver like some animal clawed on it.

I suck in a loud breath, my eyes darting around me to see if anyone else is around, but the garage is empty.My eyes zoom in on my car again, at the garish scratches and the wrecked tyres.

My movements are almost automatic—I pull out my phone and call Cole.

“Hey, Evie,” he answers almost immediately. “On your way home?”

“Uh no,” I say looking at my car.

“What’s wrong?” I hear him shift, his tone growing serious. “Are you okay?”

I keep staring at my car, slightly confused. I can’t think of anyone who would want to do this. “I’m not sure,” I say slowly.

“Levi?”

I take in another calming breath. “I’m fine,” I say. “But my car isn’t. Someone keyed it and slashed the tyres.”

“Where are you?” he asks. I can hear the edge in his voice.

“The office.”

He appears in a terrifyingly short time and engulfs me in a hug as soon as he sees me. Daniel appears behind him too, his intimidating exterior amplified by his frown as he inspects my car.

My mind drifts to Adam for a second but I don’t think he is the kind of guy who would risk getting caught by security cameras. I can hardly imagine him in anything other than a dress shirt and khakis.

“Are you okay?” Cole asks, holding my cheeks, green eyes scanning my face in one quick swoop.

“Yeah,” I say. “Fine. I just came downstairs, and my car was like this. I called security but they said they didn’t see or hear anything.”

One of the security guards clears his throat behind me. “We are checking the security cameras, and we’ve called the police as well, Sir. They should be here any minute.”

“If this wasn’t random then we think whoever did this probably has access to the building already for them to know where Mr. Bellamy parks his car or at least what it looks like.”

“The person who was following me,” I say. I turn to Daniel. “Have you seen anyone when I’ve gone running since that incident?”

Daniel’s eyes meet Cole’s. He rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat. “Ah, no, Sir. There was no one.”

As I predicted, Cole had someone watching me again as soon as I told him about the hooded man. Nothing has been out of the ordinary since then though which makes this weirder.

When the police show up, an officer circles the car with narrowed eyes.His partner, a short, stout guy, pulls out his notebook. “Sergeant Hollis,” he says by way of greeting. “Is there anyone you think would do this? This is an expensive car, whoever it was could have known you specifically.”

I shake my head. I doubt anyone hates me enough to vandalise my car. “Anyone from your past or your partner’s past? A jilted employee?” His eyes look between us.

Next to me, Cole still has his arm curled around my waist and I’m flush against him, my hand on his chest. “None that would do this,” he says.

I’ve only ever met one of Cole’s exes and they were only together for a few months non-exclusively. She looked like a supermodel and when I introduced myself as Cole’s boyfriend all she’d done was smile and say, “Oh, that makes so much sense.”

“Uh, no. I’ve never really dated anyone seriously enough for them to key my car except for Cole.” I pause. “There is someone else though, but I don’t think he would do something like this. It doesn’t seem like him.”

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