Page 101 of The Twilight Theft

“No need for that.” Drew shot up from his spot on the floor, and the smiling woman stepped back.

The other dug into her purse. Was she going for pepper spray or a gun?You have to rescue him, Jayce.I groaned inwardly.

I swung the door open, and Drew stumbled back a half step. “Come in before you get yourself in trouble.”

“Thanks, sweetheart.”

“Shut up.” I forced as much of a smile as I could for my would-be saviors. “Thanks for that, but he’s not dangerous.”

Except to my heart.

And my brain.

And my ego.

The women nodded and continued down the hallway as I closed the door.

“What do you want, Down-avon?”

He stood in the middle of my hotel room, with his bow tie hanging loose and the top buttons of his shirt undone. His gaze flitted around the room. “You said you were icing your knee.”

“Yeah.”

“Where’s the ice?”

“It melted.” I folded my arms. “I need to get more.”

“You’re not a very good liar, you know that?”

I rolled my eyes. He was right, but no way was I admitting that. “You said we need to talk?”

“Wyatt fooled all of us.”

“Seriously? You came all this way to tell me that?”

He shrugged. Shrugged!

I reached for the door handle. “If that’s all you’ve got, you can leave.”

Drew lunged forward, his hand landing on top of mine as he pushed the door closed. “You can’t take it personally.”

“Well, duh.” It wasn’t as though I was obsessing over how royally I’d screwed up. Or was trying to drown my sorrows in food. Or was foolishly pacing back and forth with an injured leg, while doing logic puzzles, because that usually centered me. “I don’t take anything personally.”

He took in a breath and held it, gaze raking down my tattered and dirty dress. “Why haven’t you gotten changed yet?”

I wrestled my hand out from underneath his—immediately missing the connection—and forced myself to walk normally to the middle of the room. As normally as I could without giving away the truth about my leg. “Because as soon as my leg’s ready to go, I’m heading back to Mosaic. My team needs me.”

“You can’t take it all on your shoulders.”

I spun to face him, pain ripping through my knee and up my thigh. I should have put the brace on. “I’m not.”

“Your team can make do, just like mine can.”

“You heard Scarlett—your job’s done. The chip is safe in Liana’s hands, and we spoiled Wyatt’s theft.”

“Youspoiled it.” He finally let go of the door and took a few steps toward me.

“You should be celebrating your big success with Miss Blonds-A-Lot.” I sidestepped as he moved closer. “You shouldn’t be here.”

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