Page 54 of Shattered Dreams

He grimaces. “It hasn’t been that long. Stella and I were holed up, and we slept longer than I thought we would.”

“Ah-huh.” There’s sleeping, and then there’ssleeping.“You should have called. I could’ve told you over the phone that I haven’t heard from her.” I force all the nonchalance I can muster into my voice. If Zarah wants to hide, I have to let her. I can’t tail her every time she runs. She needs to stay on her own or our relationship will never evolve to the next level.

I pull two beers out of the fridge and offer him one.

He shakes his head.

I put one back, slam the door, and guzzle half of mine. After the talk Viv and I had this morning, not taking this personally is pretty fucking hard.

Zane’s waiting for me to say something, do something, but hell if I know what. Finally, I shrug. “I don’t know what to tell you. She’s obviously having a problem with me, and what am I supposed to do? Chase her every time she decides we’re moving too fast? Run after her every time she thinks I’m no good for her?”

He meets my eyes. Doesn’t speak until he has every ounce of my attention.

“Yes.”

I blow out a breath. “Fuck.”

Zarah knows what to say if she wants me to leave her alone and she didn’t say it.

“Fine. Did you track her phone?”

“I didn’t want to. I wanted to find her some other way first.”

“Well, your other way doesn’t know where she is. Youdidput the app on her phone that traces it, didn’t you? When you took it after her breakdown?”

“I might have,” he mumbles, “but only for her own protection.”

“Then do it. If she’s okay, you don’t have to approach her, you can let her be.”

Zane presses on the screen and opens the app.

“I don’t know why you didn’t do this earlier.”

“I run a billion-dollar company. I don’t—”

“Scrape gum off your wingtips with a pocketknife?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. I know what he’s saying, but he’s gotten his hands plenty dirty. He doesn’t need to hide that from me.

“Something like that.”

“Pretend all you want. You were best friends with a man who sold women—” and his sister but I don’t say it— “you fucked a hooker for five years—” while Stella was locked up, but I don’t say that, either— “and you worked with a dirty FBI agent, who, incidentally, managed to keep his jobandget promoted, if I remember correctly. You’re not fooling anybody.”

“I’m trying to move past that. I know I’ve made mistakes. I know I’m fucking lucky Stella still loves me despite all the shit I’ve done, and we might need Banks again before all this is over.”

I finish my beer. “Where is she?”

Zane frowns and zooms in on the map. “It says she’s still at the airport.”

I resist rolling my eyes like a little girl. “She probably got scared about going after all, and now she’s hiding. Pick her up,bring her home, and tell her it’s okay. It was a big step and something she shouldn’t have tried by herself.”

“Come with me. You’ll be able to talk her down better than I can.”

“Is this my life now?” I push boots onto my feet and grab my jacket. I don’t think this is going to go as easily as I want it to, and I shove on my gloves and hat.

Zane grins. “Isn’t it great?”

“A fucking blast. Baby, come.”

“You think we need her?”

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