Page 31 of Look My Way
Oh, great. I know what that downturned-brow look means. He’s not going with me after all. “I’m sorry, baby. I really need to find my badge. I’ll make it up to you the next day I have off, I promise. I’ll leave you some extra spending money on the entryway table so you can get all the honey and fruit you want, or whatever it is people buy at a farmer’s market.”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“I knew you would, because you’re such a good boy like that.”
He uses that word whenever he needs me to forgive him and not hold any of his fuck-ups against him. It’s a magic trick of his, and it only took one time of saying it for him to see how easily I complied and forgave everything he did at the drop of a hat.
He doesn’t realize he uses it wrong, but with how starved I’ve been to hear it, my mind gives him a pass. I hum as he touches my cheek, and I hate how I still am, nodding and with my disappointment already leaving my expression. It’s mostly because I think of Zavier touching me and saying, “He’ll be gone soon, and you can choose what you really want now.”
“If I can’t find it, I’ll have to go through the process of putting in a request for a new one or see if there’s a spare in my locker.”
“So you might miss dinner too?”
His lips wrinkle and he kisses my nose. “I’m really sorry, baby. I’ll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.”
Whenever he says this is when he gets home the latest. Is this really about his badge? He keeps looking at his phone, texting someone, and I can’t stop questioning whether this is nothing more than an excuse to be somewhere else. Somewhere he can’t tell me he’s going.
I want to care like before, but instead I walk him to his car and wave him off, my smile not at all forced as he drives away. The window lowers halfway and he blows me a kiss. “I can’t wait to hear all about your first time there when I get home. Love you.”
“Love you too,” I shout back, the words raw on my tongue.
I don’t go back inside until his car is no longer in sight, and I pick up my phone as I look over at a business card on the fridge, sending a message I shouldn’t.
Me:Instead of bringing me food, want to accompany me to the farmers market in two hours and we can grab food together afterward?
Unknown number:Sure. I’d love to.
Me:Great. Pick me up at eleven?
Unknown number:I’ll be there.
My phone buzzes again and the wrong name shows up.
Daniel:Looks like they need my help at the station with something, so I’ll be here a while.
Me:It’s okay. My editor wants to meet up anyway.
I guess we’re both coming up with reasons not to spend extra time together now.
Fifteen
Zavier
Iturn up the radio, anger boiling in my blood. That’s the third body found this month. They all bear the same markings and similar traumas. They’re all red heads with blue eyes too. Some fucker is hunting these men down and forcing them to spend their last days in absolute hell. The police aren’t putting an end to it quick enough, so I’ll have to intervene, but whoever is behind the murders has been good at covering his tracks, dumping each body in a different place each time and wiping his DNA from every inch of their skin.
They mention the victim’s descriptions again and my carino flashes in my mind. I won’t let anyone hurt him. No one. Good thing I’ve been close by keeping an eye on him. He’s safe as long as I do.
An unsettling sensation in my gut says I’m not doing a good enough job, because Daniel is still in his life and there’s something off about him. My phone buzzes and I look at the new message, my lips curling ever so slightly. Stealing Daniel’s badgebought me more time with Liam, and now I get to be the one taking him out today instead.
His mind went to me first when his fiancé had to bail on him, probably for the hundredth time. Doesn’t that man know if he’s not there to take care of what’s his, someone else might come along and do a much better job?
I watch as Daniel leaves the house, using the tracking app on my phone. He goes to the station as expected but doesn’t stay there for long, and since I have some time to kill before meeting Liam at his place, I turn my truck around to follow the fast-moving dot.
He’s speeding down the road and I’m eager to find out why he’s in a hurry to get to where he’s headed. Was losing his badge a good excuse for him to get away from Liam? Is what I did driving him into someone else’s arms?
Is he cheating on my carino? He’s dumber than I realize if that’s the case. Here I thought he was one of those guys who put his job before everything else, but he might not be working as many days as Liam assumes he is. I thought having some work ceremony on a Sunday was odd.
Who the hell would want to purposely be away from Liam?
