Page 24 of ILY
That maybe he really is losing it over a groundhog.
Almost as if summoned, he appears, walking around the corner of his barn with that goddamn bat in his hand. He’s wearing short shorts and some kind of tiny crop top. On instinct, I start to reach for my gun before freezing and clenching my fingers into tight fists.
He doesn’t look murderous. He looks tired, like maybe he didn’t sleep after I left. Like maybe he tossed and turned all night with a hand between his legs like I did.
He shields his eyes with his free hand, then jerks his chin up in something like a hello.
“You’re here,” he says when I’m close enough to hear him.
“I felt bad about the way I took off last night.”
His mouth quirks up on the left side, an adorable little half smile that makes me want to pin him to the barn wall and bite his chin. “Worried about my feelings all of a sudden, Mr. Dark Web Arms Dealer?”
“I never said I was an arms dealer.”
“Do you run a secret diamond mine funded by the shadow government, then?” he asks.
I sigh and curl my hand around his forearm, dragging the touch down until my fingers reach the bat. He doesn’t fight me when I take it away from him. He doesn’t even look as I toss it down a few feet away from us. Half the nails on it are gone, so I don’t think it would do much damage if he did hit me with it, but it’s instinct to disarm a potential criminal. Although I am doubting myself now that I’m close to him once more.
“You listen to too many conspiracy theory podcasts. There’s no such thing as a shadow government.”
“Exactly what an agent of the shadow government would say,” he answers with a sniff. He steps in closer, then lifts his hand. I fight the urge to flinch away. I don’t like people coming for my face. My vision is important—I can’t afford for it to be compromised.
But he doesn’t do anything other than grab a leaf that must have blown onto my head. He smooths out the part of my hair that had been mussed and gives me a tired smile.
“Do I pass inspection?” I finally ask.
He snorts. “You could show up with a shaved head, wearing a clown nose and a tutu, and you’d pass inspection.” He regards me for a beat. “Has anyone ever tried to pay you with sex?”
My heart begins to hammer in my chest, my pulse so rapid it almost feels like I’m going to choke on it. I take a breath. I am not this flappable, damn it. I have been in literal hostage situations before, and my adrenaline has never been this bad.
“Why?” I’m struggling to hear my voice, but I can feel it, and it seems steady. “You offering?”
He quirks a brow, then shrugs. “I’d rather keep my sex free. Is that why you’re here? For sex?”
I choke on a cough. “Uh…no. I mean, not that last night wasn’t nice.”
“Mm. How nice?”
“Nice enough I jerked off to the memory when I got home.” I had long since learned to use the truth when I was lying. It’s like a weapon, and it’s working because his pupils dilate.
“Seems your head is okay, even after that whack I gave you.”
“Wasn’t all that hard.”
“You sure went down like it was.” I let out a small laugh as he glances down at my dick, then back up at me. “Well, since you’re here, you can help me. I just got done with Michael’s bullshit, and I need to clean up.”
My heart gets going again, but for different reasons this time. What does he mean by clean up? What does he mean by Michael’s bullshit? Am I about to walk into a room full of blood and viscera?
I say a prayer, then step back and let him lead the way into the rickety red barn. The doors are wide open when I take a step inside and…oh. It’s just typical farm equipment—terrifyingly sharp objects hanging above us, hooks used for god knows what, and a table saw for…whatever people use table saws for.
Please for the love of shit let it not be for chopping up bodies.
My gaze turns toward piles of wires on a wooden table and strange contraptions made out of plastic tubing I can’t make sense of, but there are no signs of blood anywhere, so that’s a plus.
Leaf catches me staring at the plastic tubing, and he blushes. “Uh. Yeah. About this. I found some old camera equipment, and I attempted to make a trap for him but failed miserably. My friend shamed me for it enough that I abandoned the project. Which is just as well. I have enough money for a decent surveillance system.”
He points up, and that’s when I see the cameras attached to the corners of the ceiling.
