“Yes. He didn’t say when but I think I need to do this. There must be other places. I can’t steal your bed forever.”
He heard the frustrated sigh in her voice and decided it probably wasn’t a good time to explain to her that he planned on them sharing it soon.
He couldn’t tell her what to do. Not if he didn’t want to deal with her bad mood and he didn’t have the caterer. “I’ll call Cutty right now and ask him how we get the ball rolling.” He dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed the bastard’s number.
“Hey, buddy! Faith was just asking about the ID you said you could get her? She wants to start apartment shopping.” Lars smiled as he made his way towards the door that led downstairs, waving toward Faith that he’d be back in a few minutes.
“Lars? Is that you? Why do you sound so weird? Like cheerful and shit?” Cutty asked.
The door shut and when he was sure Faith couldn’t hear him, he let loose. “You. Fucking. Idiot. Why’d you tell her that shit about getting her an ID? Are you being stupid on purpose?”
“Ah, now here’s the Lars I know so well. It happened a few days ago, before our meeting. Why you so pissed? She was over here and looking all sorts of sad. I was trying to make her feel better,” Cutty said, every laid back and relaxed word coming from his mouth a tiny encouragement for Lars to get in his car and go punch his face in person.
“And now what are you going to do?” He walked the rest of the way downstairs and out into the back parking lot, needing the space.
“I don’t think it’s a horrible idea.”
“What do you mean? Keith tried to kidnap her from your house and killed her brother. It’s a horrible idea. You want to send her out there alone?”
“Why don’t we set her up in one of the buildings you own? You could easily secure it and we could still keep tabs on her.” Lars owned several apartment buildings scattered throughout the Carolinas, and every one of them was almost as safe as his place.
“No. They aren’t secure enough, and it takes time and energy to do that,” Lars said it with a force that surprised him. “Plus, the other guys would never feel comfortable with that. We all agreed last night,” he added for good measure.
“All of your buildings are protected, so don’t give me that shit. There’s no way you haven’t done that. We all know how you are with your shit, and we both know she’d be plenty safe.”
That’s what he got for being around Cutty so much. The guy knew him so well it was becoming impossible to lie. “We still don’t know what her connection to Keith really is. All we know it what she’s saying.”
“I think you guys are wrong. We should trust her. Just a gut feeling but I do.”
“No. No to all of it.”
“If she wants to leave, I don’t think we force her to stay.” Some frustration finally leaked into Cutty’s voice.
“We’re doing it for her own good.”
“What the hell is wrong with you guys lately? First Fate and now you? What are we becoming that we dictate people’s lives for them? I never wanted mine dictated to me and I won’t dictate hers.”
“It’s not about dictating. We don’t know if we can trust her,” Lars said.
“Lars, I know this chick is affecting you in some weird fucking way, but you’re crossing a lot of lines lately.”
“I’m not crossing a line and she’s not going anywhere.”
Was he crossing a line? No. He was right. There was a heavy silence on the phone while he waited to see how far he was going to have to push Cutty to get him to back off. He didn’t need Cutty getting Angus and Bic all worked up too.
“I don’t—”
Lars cut off whatever Cutty was planning on saying. “Cutty, I’m going to tell her that you’ll reach out to your contacts. Then in a few days, you’re going to tell her you couldn’t get in touch with them. Do you hear me? We can reassess in a few weeks’ time.”
There was a loud sigh. “Fine.”
“Good.” He hit end before Cutty could complain again and headed back up the stairs towards where Faith was. He had other pressing matters that needed to be handled.
***
Faith was still sitting at the table when Lars walked back in, his eyes narrowed and he was looking a little tenser than he had.
“What’s wrong?” she asked even though she didn’t want to know. She couldn’t handle any more bad news today, not after getting Arthur’s ring yesterday.
“Nothing at all. Cutty is going to get in touch with his connection that handles the IDs.”
“Oh good,” she said, even though she suspected something had gone wrong with that conversation. But if he didn’t want to talk about it, she wasn’t going to press.
She stood and went to get another cup of coffee, and he reached into the fridge and poured milk into her mug without her asking. She took a step back, even more sensitive to his proximity than normal after last night. It was probably only natural to feel self-conscious after she’d clung to him like stripes on a zebra. Or had he stepped closer to her?
He inched forward and she realized he was definitely invading her space, not the other way around, so close that she could feel his heat and see how perfect his skin was.
She backed away quickly and went to sit at the table again, afraid to linger after she’d thrown herself at him. She thought back to yesterday and remembered how he’d climbed in bed with her. He’d been trying to comfort her and she’d been trying to sleep with him. Even though he’d said it was part of the thing he’d done to her, she wasn’t completely sold on that, not with the way her fingers itched to touch him every time he was near.
“I’ve got to go meet up with someone over in Charleston today. Want to come along for the ride? Might be nice to get out, change of scene for a while?” he asked as he looked down at the screen of his phone like it wasn’t a big deal either way.
“I don’t know. I should probably get back to the shop finances. I really wanted to get them organized yesterday—” Her words died suddenly when she thought of what had interrupted her.
He walked over to where she was and stopped on the opposite side of the table, resting his palms on the surface as he leaned over. “It’ll be good for you to get out of here. Rick doesn’t need you to help him in the shop. Take a break. It’s safe. I’ll be with you the whole time.”
He had that slight smile on his face that was so unbelievably charming and made her insides turn to mush. He was dangerous, and not just to people he didn’t like. She was fairly certain he could inflict a lot of physical damage if he wanted but she was more concerned about her psyche at the moment.
She knew she wasn’t the only woman he affected. She’d seen them around him. The way they got all giggly and flirtatious. He had an effect on them that was almost uncomfortable to be a bystander to, or at least she found it distasteful. They threw themselves at him and he barely noticed, as if it were so common he’d become immune.
But oh man, did she want to get out of here for a while, especially after yesterday. She felt claustrophobic knowing Keith had eyes on this place. It was getting to the point she didn’t feel comfortable taking a step past the door alone. The idea of getting out of this place, and miles and miles away was too much temptation.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”
Chapter 23
They’d driven most of the way in silence and he didn’t press her to talk. He knew she was coming to terms with her loss. He also knew there were no words found in spoken language that could soothe some hurts.
He glanced over at her, as he had done every so often on the drive. She’d hung Arthur’s ring, free of blood, onto a string around her neck. He watched as her fingers toyed with it, but she’d be okay. She was tough, more so than she even realized. More than he’d realized when he’d met her. There was this sheer force of will he felt in her, like she’d never truly give up on life, no matter what happened.
She finally spoke as they were driving through Charleston. “What did you have to do here? I don’t think you ever told me.”