Page 44 of Covert Affair

Stacey Mae: Uhm. You. Duh. Moving his whole business here. The ex from back home. I’m guessing you haven’t seen the front page of NT Weekly.

Me? What the…

I take a minute and pull up this magazine she’s talking about. Yup. Right there, sure as shit, is my ugly mug and a headline that reads “Hometown Ex is back in town. Could he be here to save his damsel in distress?”

Jesus. Christ.

Me: I go out to the bar for ONE drink and suddenly I’ve become tabloid fodder.

Stacey Mae: Welcome to Nashville. Lol.

Me: I really could have done without seeing my face plastered all over the internet.

Stacey Mae: Should have never dumped me and broke my heart.

Me: Ha. Ha.

Stacey Mae: How did location scouting go today? Taylor said you narrowed it down to a few.

Of course he did. What is it with everyone I know gossiping about shit?

Me: I think we found a place. Should know something soon.

Stacey Mae: Oh. That meeting with Grady’s record label went well. Working through contracts.

Me: That’s great. Glad to hear it.

When she doesn’t reply after a few minutes, I figure our little text exchange is over and decide that it’s time to check in with Hunter before I head home.

Hunter answers on the first ring. “Cody. Have you stopped poking around yet?”

I chuckle. “You know better. Have they given you a trial date for this asshole yet?”

“You know, part of me wants to ask what the urgency is but after seeing your face on the cover of NT Weekly at the grocery store this morning, I think I can figure out why,” Agent Hunter laughs.

“Whatever you think you know, you have no idea.”

“Whatever you say pal.”

* * *

“You do realize that your obsession with Stacey’s ex makes you just as creepy as you said this guy seems to be,” Robert somehow reads my mind as we load more boxes into the back of the U-Haul truck.

“Are you saying that if the roles were reversed you wouldn’t be doing the same if it were Vera? Especially if he was a creeper?”

He chuckles. “I know you haven’t forgotten about the background check I ran on Vera when I thought she was lying to me about her family.”

“And how pissed you were when you kept hitting dead ends,” I laugh at the memory.

“Only to later find out that her father is a Five-Star General and the guy that was constantly following her around really was her bodyguard,” he shakes his head. “She was so pissed at me for scoping them out.”

“And do you regret it?” I challenge, knowing damn well that he doesn’t regret it for a minute.

“Hell no.”

“Then quit giving me shit,” I elbow his side.

“Yeah, yeah. Come on, I think we’re almost done.”

---