Page 26 of Liv Parrish

“Yeah, as well as a camera mounted outside her door in the hallway. I’m busy tracking the feed to see where it leads.”

“Or we could just go to the source. Luke told Liv he looked us up, so a phone call shouldn’t be completely unexpected.” Riley mulls this over for a moment.

“I guess, but you should check with Liv first. You know she’s squirrely about the things she considers private. Best to just be open and tell her exactly what you plan to do.”

“Yeah, I know. How was she this morning?” He quirks a brow at me, and I instantly regret the question. “Our weekend ended on a bit of an awkward note yesterday …”

“She didn’t say anything about that. We talked about Mike and Kate, and about Natasha. Just superficial relationship stuff.”

“It might seem superficial to you, but there’s a big difference between what Mike and Kate have, and what you have with Natasha. I don’t want Liv drawing comparisons and coming to the wrong conclusions.”

“So, I’ll say it again. Talk. To. Her. Make sure you’re both on the same page. And while you’re doing that, tell her you want to talk to Luke. You should probably do that sooner rather than later, because I don’t like the look of this stuff. The listening devices are high tech, custom made. If Luke planted them, he might be more than just a Marine looking out for his sister.”

“You think someone else is spying on her?”

“I don’t know, which is why I’m tracking the feed. It’s what we’d do for any other client. Didn’t think you’d want to start making exceptions now.”

“Okay, I hear you. Keep me updated on what you find.” He doesn’t respond, just goes back to work, leaving me to mine.

§§§

It’s been an exhausting day, but the idea of going home to my apartment holds zero appeal. Instead, I pick up some Chinese and make my way through the evening traffic to Liv’s. I had hoped that she would reach out to me during the day, but she didn’t, and I’m done waiting. I don’t know how to make it more clear to her that I’m serious about her, but she’s obviously not getting it, so we’ll just have to go over it again. As many times as it takes for her to believe me and trust what I’m saying. I know with her history it will take time. I expected that and am ready and willing to put in the work. What I did not expect, is for Wyatt to open the door when I finally make it to her apartment. My heart stalls in my chest and my body turns ice cold, the bag of take-out in my hand suddenly too heavy a burden.

“Here, enjoy.” I shove it into his chest and then turn away before he has a chance to say hello, or see the expression on my face, which must be pathetic.

“Whoa dude, wait up.” He reaches for me, but I jerk away and start walking back the way I came, until I hear Liv’s voice.

“Heath? Where are you going? Dinner is almost ready. Aren’t we going to talk about the devices Riley found? You didn’t respond to any of my messages.” I turn back to face her.

“I didn’t receive any messages, Liv. I just wanted to see you, but–”

“I sent you a couple of messages, Heath. Please check? And come inside. We should talk.” She steps back into the apartment, not waiting to see if I’ll follow, so I take a moment to check my phone and sure enough, three texts sit unread in my inbox.

Liv: Hey, missed you last night. Riley just left. Thanks again for making the arrangements. Let me know what you find

Liv: Any news? Tried to get hold of Luke, but no answer

Liv: Want to come over for dinner? Wyatt is stopping by. Said he had some info to share

Fuck! How did I miss them? She’s been on my mind the entire day and the one thing I wanted from her, some form of contact, went completely unnoticed. My shoulders slump and my feet feel like lead as I shuffle into her apartment. Liv’s in the kitchen, stirring something on the stove while Wyatt sits on the sofa, but his attention immediately turns to me when I enter the room.

“Everything okay?” He keeps his voice low so that only I can hear him, and I do the same.

“No.” I don’t bother lying, but I don’t elaborate either. Instead, I make my way over to the kitchen where the Chinese food sits on the counter. Liv looks up at me, and then over to the food I brought.

“You didn’t have to bring anything, I wanted to cook for you.” There’s no display of emotion from her, nothing in her voice or gestures to indicate that she’s upset, but I know better. I can sense her distress from where I’m standing and hate that she’s thrown those walls up between us. Even more so that it’s my fault.

“I’m sorry, Liv. I didn’t see your messages. I swear, if I did, I would have responded to you right away. I don’t know how I missed them.”

“It’s okay,” she says with a shrug, trying to play it off. “It happens. Why don’t you take a seat? I’m almost done here, then we can eat.” I want to say something more, because she’s letting me off the hook when I would have blown a fuse if the situations were reversed. She’s being gracious, but I can see she’s hiding her feelings from me, and I hate that I caused this. However, I don’t want to get into it in front of Wyatt, so I nod at her and then take a seat on the sofa. Wyatt obviously feels the tension and as usual has no idea what a filter is.

“Fuck, this is uncomfortable. Who the hell doesn’t have a flatscreen in their home these days? Isn’t it a minimum requirement or something?” I huff out a laugh, because above all else we are still friends. This man has put his life on the line for me more than once and he’s now looking out for my girl too, so I owe him for that at least. He carries on talking though, as if nothing’s wrong. “Look, I’m not here to cramp your style, okay? I have some news for Liv about the crew that’s been harassing the kids at her center and once I’ve told her, I’m out of here. The night’s all yours.”

“Nah, you should stay. If nothing else, there’s plenty of food.” He chuckles at this.

“I noticed. You got something against a home cooked meal?”

“Don’t be a wise ass. I didn’t get her texts, or I would have been here sooner.”

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