Page 83 of The Deals We Make
Her arms wrap tightly around my waist. Another time, I’ll look back on this moment as monumental. Having a woman I love on the back of my bike.
And, Jesus, now is not the time for such big revelations.
I don’t have time to bask in that love right now either.
I look behind us and don’t see a car, but I do see a woman walking towards us who seems vaguely familiar, though I can’t place her, and I don’t have time to figure out who she is now.
When I don’t see the black sedan, I pull out onto Ocean, driving down the shore. I keep looking in the side mirror, expecting to see it pull out behind us. But it doesn’t.
Calista buries her hands beneath my thick leather jacket. I can feel how cold they are. Why the woman isn’t wearing any gloves, I don’t know.
I weave in and out of side streets, doubling back and looping around until I am certain that no one is following us.
Once I’m confident, I ride back to my house, but I immediately ride the bike into the garage before killing the engine.
I help Calista off the bike and climb off myself before she throws her arms around me. “Thank you.”
She buries her head into the side of my neck, her feet dangling toward the floor. I press the button on the garage wall to close the door and enter the code on the panel to let myself into the mudroom off the kitchen, all without putting her down.
It’s only when she hears the door click shut that she looks up and lets go of me to drop to the ground.
“I should have told you before,” she says. “Although, that could have been nothing. The car was gone once you got to me. Maybe it was just?—”
“Calista.” I cut her off firmly. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”
She stumbles to lean back against the counter and slips her bag off her shoulders until it reaches the floor. Her fingers cover her lips as she swallows. “I took a photograph. It’s blurry, but I took one.”
“Go take your coat off. I’ll make coffee, and I’m going to call Halo to see if him and some of the guys can look for the black sedan and see if they can be ready based on what we can find out.”
Calista does as I say, and when I finally hand her the coffee after speaking with Halo, she wraps her fingers around it.
“Can’t running a badass organization be enough for you?” I say.
“What?” Calista’s face shifts.
“You don’t usually get stalked and chased and followed through doing legal shit. Have you still not learned when enough is enough?”
I pace with my own cup, then take a breath. Adrenaline is ruling me right now. And I almost forget the conversation I had with Switch.
“Fuck.” I place my mug down on the wooden mantle and then grip the thick wood with both hands. “When it comes to you, the wires between wanting to look after you and wanting to kill you are always going to get crossed.”
Calista huffs. “Guess I have a fifty-fifty chance of surviving then.”
I turn to face her. “Really?”
“I don’t know. Inappropriate humor is a deflection from the brooding man by the fireplace. Your hair looks good, by the way.”
“My sister still does it.” I reach for the photograph of the two of us camping and touch my fingertip to her cheek. “Maybe it’s time we found those kids we used to be.” I grab my mug and move to sit next to her on the sofa. To the right of her like I always used to. “The ones who would tell each other everything.”
“You really believe we can go back to that?”
“To being friends? Yeah. Sleeping together doesn’t change that.”
Calista leans back on the sofa and starts to tell me everything. All the details I overheard on the phone. About the people they have investigated. About Orson, the man doing the investigating. About the girl with the one-night stand.
Everything.
When she’s finished, I look at her. “You know what we should do?”
