Page 16 of A Fine Line

I grimace, my face twisting in annoyance. “Fuck my life.”

Darius pipes in, “Did you think you’d be able to eliminate these people without leaving New York?”

I raise a shoulder dismissively. “I don’t know what I thought. Please tell me you’re not gonna make me fly commercial.”

“No. Mayhem trips don’t allow for unwanted questions or customs. You need to go in under the wire.”

“But you guys are coming with me, right?”

Matt points at Darius and says, “He’ll go with you. I don’t have any more time off.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Matt. When are you going to give up that stupid day job?”

“It’s not stupid, Tony.”

Darius places a hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “Come on, Tony. That’s not very nice. You know how sensitive he is about his life’s work.”

Dare’s words are only slightly mocking, so I attempt to tone down my disdain as I relent. “Fine. You stay here and miss out on all the fun. At least Dare and I can go over there and fuck around.”

“And Antoinette.”

“What? Why does she have to come?” I ask in annoyance.

“I’m not even going to bother answering one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Dare says dryly. “Carolina should come as well. Having her there to give visual confirmation on certain people will be helpful.”

“She may not be too keen on going back there.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But I think she’ll want to be part of the action. If nothing else, she’ll want to be as close as she can to her daughter when we locate her. Do you know how long it’s been since she has seen her?” Matt asks as he continues typing on his tablet, likely making flight arrangements for us.

“I’m not sure,” Dare replies with a sigh. “But I imagine it’s been quite a bit of time, considering how long it’s been since I first met her. I’m not even sure how old her daughter is—“

“We’ll have plenty of time on the flight to get more information from her,” I interrupt, giving them my best stern look before continuing, “How about you have Nettie go out to the cabin and retrieve her? Save me the hassle of having to see her face before I’m stuck with her on a fourteen-hour flight.”

Matt snorts, and Darius laughs and taunts, “Oh, yes. Lord knows her face is such a hassle.”

I glower at him, then turn, and walk toward the door. I hear Matt yell from behind me, “Where the fuck you are going, Tony?”

I don’t stop; I just say, “I’m gonna go fuck around and find out. I have my phone on.”

Chapter Six

Carolina

WhenTonysaidthisplace was secure, he wasn’t joking.

I’ll be honest, I took his statement as a challenge. And I’ve tried every which way you could possibly dream up to get out of here to no avail. Then I got bored with the whole thing and gave up.

When my snooping didn’t come up with much, I started my tour with the box beneath the bed up in the loft, and there really wasn’t anywhere to go from there. Not that I snooped too hard, considering I figure most of the personal belongings hidden out of sight probably belong to Darius and Antoinette. Let’s say it’s not their personal belongings I’m looking to creep through.

I did find a reading device which I assume belongs to Antoinette because the content in it seems rather questionable for the likes of Darius or Tony. Of course, I mean questionable in a good way, and I quickly found an enemies-to-lovers, dark romance that had questionable enough reviews for me to assume it must be good. And I wasn’t wrong.

By the time I hear someone at the door, I’ve lost track of how much time has gone by. I don’t bother looking behind me before saying, “It’s about fucking time you came back, you asshole.”

A feminine voice comes back at me, “I wanna argue, but he is an asshole.”

I scramble off the sofa, my legs getting caught up in the blanket, and I end up flopping over the side onto the floor. I lay there for a moment, wedged awkwardly between the sofa and the heaviest fucking coffee table in existence, where I squirm around until I’m able to flip myself onto my stomach. I go to push myself up to stand, but then Antoinette is standing in front of me, so I look up and meet her amused gaze as she asks, “Whatever are you doing?”

I shrug, then push my upper body up until I’m kneeling. She extends her hand to me, and I take it with a much stronger grip than I’m actually feeling. She pulls me to my feet, and she must see something strange on my face because she grips me by my upper arms and leans in close to me as she whispers, “What’s wrong with you?”

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