Page 23 of Tripp

“I don’t know. I. . . .” My words drifted off, but it wasn’t long before Carla picked up on exactly what my worry was.

“Where are you, Reece? Are you safe?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“What do you mean you think so? Where did Tripp take you?”

I hesitated for a moment, knowing my answer would certainly raise some flags with her. “Back to his place.”

Carla gasped. “Why? Why wouldn’t he take you to your motel room? Well, I guess I understand why he didn’t take you there. I’ve told you that place is dangerous, that you’d be much better off staying someplace else, but what the hell do I know, right? I’ve only lived around here my entire life.” She rambled on for another minute before finally taking a breather.

“Are you done?” I kept my tone non-defensive because I knew Carla had my best interests at heart, and she was only worried about me.

“I think so.”

“Good. Now can I continue?”

“Go ahead.” Her smile had returned. I just knew it.

I wavered before letting her in on what Tripp said on the drive home. “He felt the same way . . . about me staying there, and since it was late, and I had nowhere else to go, he just took me back to his place.”

“Where is he now?”

“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. “He said he had some stuff he had to do for his club, and that he’d be back sometime tomorrow. That’s all I know. But until then, I can’t leave because he set the alarm and never told me what the code was. So I’m essentially trapped here.” Closing my eyes, I tried to picture Carla’s reaction, but the only image I could muster was of Tripp. The concern in his eyes when he’d crouched down in the private room at the club to make sure I was okay. The annoyance on his face when I’d told him where I’d been staying. The way his full lips kicked up in a smirk when he told me I was free to hit on him anytime.

“Tell me where you are. I’ll have someone close up for me and I’ll come get you,” she offered.

“I don’t really know where I am exactly. He lives out in the middle of nowhere.” Then I suddenly remembered that his brother was at the club. Or at least he was when we left. “Is his brother still there?” I asked, hoping she’d say yes.

“Hawke? No, he left already. One of his buddies came to get him about a half hour ago.”

“Oh, okay,” I dejectedly responded. “I guess it’s just as well, seeing as there’s still the small issue of his alarm.”

“Oh, I don’t give a shit about that. I’ll bust you out of there and he can deal with whatever happens.”

“You’ll bust me out of here?” I laughed.

“You know I will.” Carla’s amusement faded, quickly replaced by a serious tone. One which kind of freaked me out.

“Do you think I’m in danger here? You can tell me the truth.” My heart rammed against my chest in anticipation of her answer. She obviously knew Tripp more than I did because of the way she spoke to him when he was in the midst of dragging me out of the club earlier.

“With Tripp? No. Not from what I know of him. He can be quite intense sometimes. Other times . . . he’s laid-back, joking around to stifle a tense situation. He’s a good guy. I don’t agree with him taking you to his place, however. Although. . . .”

“Although what?”

“I’m sure I read it wrong.”

“Carla,” I said as sternly as I could. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s just . . . the way he kept looking at you. I don’t know. It was off.” What she told me momentarily freaked me out, until she finally explained herself. “Sorry, what I mean is . . . I’ve known Tripp for some time now and I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he was looking at you tonight. Yeah, I’ve seen him interested in women before, but not like he was with you. He seemed bothered by the fact that you were even there, all while being intrigued at the same time. Again, I could be reading too much into it, so. . . .”

Out of everything she’d just said, it bothered me when she mentioned him being interested in other women. A small pang of jealousy surfed through me, even though I realized it was ridiculous for me to even feel such an emotion.

“Reece? You still there?”

“Yeah, sorry.” I expelled a deep sigh. “I’m just thinking about what I’m gonna do for a job now.” Then a thought suddenly came to me. “Carla, do you think you can talk to Tripp? Make him reconsider and let me come back to work?”

“Do you think that’s such a good idea? Especially after what happened?”

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