Page 69 of Levee

It was a long, lingering kiss that I tried not to think felt a lot like goodbye.

“Naked with an apron,” she said afterward. “Just to protect the assets,” she added, getting a little laugh out of me, lightening the mood, before slipping into her car.

I stepped back but watched her car until it disappeared down the street.

When I turned back around, Velle was there watching me.

“She didn’t tell you, did she?” he asked.

“No. And I didn’t push. Was that a mistake now?” I asked, stomach tensing.

“I don’t think so. You established trust by not pestering her with questions. I think this will make it so she reaches out to you on her own about it.”

“How come you don’t have a girl if you know women so well?” I asked, following him around the back toward the pool.

“Understanding them doesn’t necessarily mean I’m any good at relationships with them,” he said, shrugging off that little confession. “I hope you’re seeing her again soon, though. That was some sizable damage to her face. Don’t like the idea of her dealing with that alone for any length of time.”

“Tomorrow or the next day,” I said, knowing we hadn’t set an exact date, but figuring I could swing that without seeming too needy.

“Good,” he said, nodding. “Could it be an ex?” he asked.

“I doubt it. She told me about her only ‘serious’ boyfriends. They sounded like the artsy, kind of beta, sort. Not the kind to put their hands on her. At least I don’t think so. She talked about them kind of fondly even though she said they just weren’t good matches.”

“Something in the neighborhood then, maybe. You said it was a rough area, right?”

“Yeah. It was bad when we grew up there. Seems to be the same now. Lots of local crews. Deals going on in broad daylight. Pimps and sex workers all night long. Not to mention all the other shit.”

“Hopefully, it was just an isolated incident. Maybe she was walking around when some sort of deal was going on and they were trying to scare her.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

But the knot in my stomach said it was more than that.

I was just going to have to wait until she opened up to me about it.

I just prayed she would do so before it was too late.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jade

The comfort and ease that had been growing with each moment spent at the clubhouse with Levee slipped away little by little with each mile I drove away from there and back to my own life.

I tried to rein in my increasingly scattered emotions, reminding myself that this was the best possible time for me to head back to my apartment.

It was bright out.

People would be milling around.

And I was going to just make a mad dash into the building and then my apartment. If I didn’t slow or stop, the chances of anyone being able to corner me were really low.

Then, well, I would just keep my butt in my apartment. With the locked and alarmed door. Maybe a knife nearby.

And I was damn sure going to stop. Stop looking for Harvey. Stop trying to figure out who T was and what he or his men might have done to Harvey.

I was done.

Snooping around nearly broke my nose, cut up my face, almost did worse.

---