Page 70 of Out to Get Her
“Cheer up?”
Zach was coming dangerously close to getting thrown out in this weather. She’d rather mope alone than with a Pollyanna through this cursed storm.
“Yup,” he said with a shit-eating grin, as he began tossing cards face down, back and forth between them. “You’re about to witness an epic ass-whooping.”
Erin tried and failed to hold back a laugh. “Just shut up and deal.”
ChapterTwenty-Three
Erin lostinterest in cards after two hands of gin rummy and declined Zach’s offer to pick a different game. She’d lost her stomach for kicking his butt.
“So what now?” He gathered the cards into a pile and began scooping his pennies back into the plastic bag.
“What are our options?”
Not that she wanted to do anything right now. The only thing she really wanted to do was get in her car and find Samantha to work this out.
Maybe she’d overreacted.
Probably.
It was kind of her thing.
There must have been some other reason for Samantha’s swift and secretive departure. Erin couldn’t believe that she would choose to protect Nathan for any reason, but whatever information had Samantha running out in this storm must have had something to do with the case. And if it didn’t point to Nathan, it had to implicate her cousin.
But Samantha had given no sign before this that she’d put her integrity aside to protect a family member. Maybe that sister of hers, but some random cousin?
It didn’t make any sense.
“Snacks?”
“I’m not hungry.” The thought of eating anything right now made Erin nauseous. She was too upset, and not about the weather.
“Think I remember seeing puzzles around here. Want to start one?” He patted the little lantern beside him. “I’ve got plenty of batteries for this thing.”
“Sure.”
Truthfully, she didn’t want to do that either, but she needed to dosomething.
Zach handed her the lantern and took the small flashlight with him as he stood. “Get a drink and clear a space. I’ll pick a puzzle. Requests?”
“Anything. I trust your puzzle judgment.”
Erin went into the kitchen and moved a couple of bags of chips from the table to the counter beside the sink, but she didn’t bother making a drink. Her earlier buzz had worn off, and at this point, she’d just end up drinking too much and wallowing. Or follow through on some impulsive whim, like chasing after Samantha in the middle of a hurricane.
Her phone rang, and she felt a little pinch of disappointment when she didn’t see Samantha’s name on the screen. But once the actual caller registered in her brain, a pit of panic opened up in her stomach.
“Hey, are you guys okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, we’re fine,” Trey said. “You?”
“Yeah, all good out here, too. Well, Zach and I are good.”
“Where’s Sam?”
“Ran off to the station to hide some evidence or cover some other way for her cousin or that rat bastard of an ex she’s got.”
Okay, she really didn’t believe either of those, but Erin didn’t know what else to think at this point.
