Page 51 of Toxic Things I Love About You

I’d never hadto work for a woman in my life, and here I was, trying to stay far enough away that she didn’t see me. Something about her told me that if she wanted independence, I better give it to her. For now anyway.

It wasn’t some sixth sense. She all but said it. What kind of insanity was this?

I didn’t see myself letting this go on for long. She was talking to someone on the phone, and I was just controlling enough to text Parks. The answers I got weren’t what I wanted to hear. It wasn’t him, nor was it his wife. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

Well shit. Who was she talking to?

Her body language was stiff, her hands moving fast and erratic. She was arguing with someone. If it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Parks, who was it?

There was a hard set to her face. It wasn’t another guy, probably. That made me a little happier knowing that whatever was going on in that woman’s head, this person wasn’t making her happy. It wasn’t another man, not one she wanted anyway. Not with the way she scowled. If it was another man, I would make sure he never made it to whatever date he was trying to talk her into.

One more problem. Fucking hell, this had anger sizzling within me. My hands itched to strangle something or someone, but here I was acting like a jealous teenager, just hoping for a glimpse of her. Nothing she did next though made sense.

Me: Who has her number?

Parks: No one.

Me: Then it has to be your wife?

Parks: No.

Fucking hell, his short fucking answers weren’t helping to keep away whatever this new damn feeling was. I rubbed at my chest and struggled to swallow as she looked like she was on a damn mission. She paused at the crosswalk, and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. She could murder a man one minute and the next, obey the simplest of laws.

Me: She’s heading toward 1st street.

Parks: Heading there now.

I paused until she became swallowed by pedestrians, and then I pushed myself to follow. Fucking hell, I was wearing a suit and loafers in the middle of the early morning, because this shit hadn’t sunk in. I was still ready to go to work, not chase after Emilee.

There was no way she was leaving me over one single body. No way. I was just fucked in the head enough to think that pretending like this was another normal day would fix it.

It hadn’t, and she hadn’t even tried to contact me. It was positive at least that she hadn’t made the effort to get another phone and try to ditch the one I’d given her.

But now? Where was she going and who was she secretly talking to? I skipped the cross walk and damn near got hit by a car. Fucking hell. This woman was making me crazy.

I picked up the pace. She hadn’t gone far, a block, but there was a car and some bastard was letting her in. She didn’t fucking have any sense of self-preservation. That wasn’t my driver, and I knew that Parks was always with her. She didn’t go anywhere alone. He was nowhere to be seen, because he was on his damn way. I’d fucked up.

“Emilee,” I shouted, but there were still too many people and too much distance that she didn’t hear me. I pushed myself and noted the license plate. I pressed the button on my phone to record the fucking number as I punched the window just as the damn car pulled the fuck away. The driver didn’t even pause to see what had happened, and the windows were too fucking dark for me to get a glimpse of who was in there with my butterfly. My hand throbbed.

“Emilee,” I screamed once more and watched the fucking car head in the direction I’d just come from.

What the fuck was that, and why was it here?

Parks ran his motorcycle onto the sidewalk as he watched me watch the car.

“Fucking follow her.”

He looked at me and at the car.

“Find your own ride or I’ll let you know what I find. You are not riding bitch behind me.”

Fucking hell.

“Like hell I’m not.”

I got on as he pulled out and if it were for anyone other than Emilee, I’d have thrown the fucker off the bike and just gone after her. At least this fucker could drive. We wove in and out of traffic like he’d done a car chase or two in his time. Probably had. I needed to up my game.

“There,” I screamed over the roar of the engine and the honking of every damn car.

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