Page 100 of ILY
‘Where did you get them?’
‘A new store. Guy who sold them to me told me I needed them. Probably looked stressed.’
I giggle. ‘Shop name?’
‘Cloud Nine,’ he spells.
I think I’ve heard of it. I’ll have to check it out, especially if things with my house go sideways. If they find bodies in the cellar.
God, there are bodies in the cellar, aren’t there? It’s why Aunt Lynda had it sealed shut. It’s why I can’t get down there. The stress of it all starts bubbling up in my chest like acid reflux, and Robbie notices because he shifts more onto his side and taps my arm.
‘You okay?’
I nod, stop, then shake my head no. ‘Did I tell you I found a human tooth in my backyard?’
Robbie’s eyes widen, and he leans up on an elbow. ‘Human? You sure?’
‘Yeah, Thorne thinks my aunt was a serial killer.’
‘Wow,’ Robbie says and then purses his lips. ‘You know, the name serial killer wasn’t coined until the 1970s. Before that, they were called mass murderers.’
He’s such a fucking teacher sometimes, but I love it. ‘Well, my aunt is one, apparently.’
‘You think there are bodies buried in your backyard?’
‘Or under the house. The cellar is sealed. I can’t get in. I think Thorne is going to do some digging around to see what he can find.’
Robbie sits up further, his eyes glinting. This is not good. ‘I want to join. I can help. Deaf eyes.’
Of fucking course he wants to play PI. I shove at him and shake my head. ‘He won’t let you. It’s my property, and he made me leave today. Something about FBI protocol.’ I hesitate for a second because Thorne asked me not to say anything about his job, but he must know that if Denver’s aware, everyone else already is too. And from the way Robbie doesn’t flinch, it’s obvious he knows everything Denver does about my current boyfriend.
I lie back with a sigh and think about what Thorne must be doing right now. Maybe I should have fought harder to be there, but the stark-naked truth is, I am not excited for anyone to go digging around for corpses or bones. Not the FBI, and certainly not myself.
Robbie falls back down. ‘Fine.’ He closes his eyes in both a pout and exhaustion and lies there like that until Dex and Thom start back toward us.
Since he won’t be able to feel the vibration of their feet in the grass, I nudge him gently until he rouses. His eyes are still a little red, and they fix on Thom, who’s smiling down at him.
‘Do-do?’ Thom asks and Robbie flips Thom off.
Thom chuckles, and reaches down, pulling Robbie up onto his feet and into a kiss.
I scowl at Dex when he tries to pull me up too. ‘Don’t touch.’
Dex grins and ignores me, holding out a hand because he knows that now that I’m down, I’m not getting up on my own with the way I feel. I take it and let him pull me to my feet.
‘No more walking,’ I say and sign. ‘Feet tired.’
Thom and Dex nod and then lead us to the apartment. ‘We can relax now,’ Thom says but then adds, ‘Until noon, then we go to spin class.’
Robbie groans and makes it obvious he’ll do no such thing, and I want to say the same thing.
But maybe an aggressive workout class will help me forget the horrors in the farmhouse. And maybe, just maybe, Thorne will figure out what’s going on with the cellar while I’m gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THORNE
The house is tooquiet with Leaf gone. I don’t think I like it. He’s become a fixture in my life since the moment I walked into that dingy motel and saw him standing in the room, looking haggard and entirely out of place.
