“You sure as hell didn’t have a problem deceiving me.”
Temper flashed in his eyes. “Don’t go there. Do not even start to go there.”
Frustrated, I kicked the wall hard, then again for good measure. “Dammit, Tyler—”
He held up a hand. “Enough. Neither one of us is clean on that score, so let’s just drop it.”
“Fine.”
“But even if I was willing to keep what you are a secret, Evan and Cole wouldn’t go for it.”
That I knew I couldn’t argue with.
“You can come in,” he said. “Sit down with the girls. Ask them if they know anything. It’s the best I can do, Sloane. Take it or leave it.”
It wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t even close to good enough. But unless I could figure out a way to convince Tyler otherwise, it was going to have to be.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll take it.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Well, at least we know that she got another job,” Candy said. It was just after ten in the morning, and I’d called her as soon as I’d arrived back at my apartment. Now I was wishing I’d called from the car. The cell phone connection inside my place was terrible, and she sounded so far away, making me feel even more alone. “Vegas, huh? Just the kind of place she’d get a kick out of. I just wish she would’ve let me know.”
“Me too, but we both know Amy’s a little bit of a flake. She’s probably just working twenty-four/seven. Either that, or she’s quit this new job and took off with some guy to party. She’ll call. More likely, she’ll just show up on your due date.”
“I hope so,” Candy said.
“Just chill,” I said. “I’ll tell you if you need to worry. And right now, there’s nothing to fret about.”
I told myself I should believe that too, but somehow couldn’t quite manage it. For now, I was willing to believe Tyler. But that didn’t change the fact that Amy had fallen off the planet right when Candy’s baby was due. And that just didn’t sit right with me.
Dammit, I wanted inside Destiny. I wanted to talk to the staff and the customers and see if I could figure out where Amy had gone, if for no other reason than my friend’s peace of mind.
Tyler’s offer to let me talk with the girls might seem generous on the surface, but it wasn’t going to do me a damn bit of good. People clammed up when questioned. But when they’re chatting casually, memory flows, gossip flies. Chat with someone, and you get the story. Interview them, and you get facts.
More than that, I wanted a closer look at the man who’d gotten under my skin. And I wasn’t going to get that by sitting down with a bunch of girls he’d handpicked who’d tell me he was the best boss ever.
Shit.
I tried to pace the small apartment I’d rented for the op, but there wasn’t even room for that. I had a whopping two hundred and fifty square feet in the up-and-coming Pilson neighborhood. The kitchen was a joke, the pullout sofa doubled as a bed, and I should demand that the unstoppable bathroom mold pay rent.
As a model of taste and style, it failed miserably. As a place to park my ass while I was working, it did the job just fine.
Currently, my ass was parked on the end of the bed, which I hadn’t bothered to convert back into sofa form.
“Thanks for doing this,” Candy said. “I know I shouldn’t have worried, but I’m blaming it on these damn hormones. They’re making me crazy. Plus, I’m the size of a whale.”
I lay back on the bed, smiling. “I haven’t been gone that long. You were maybe the size of an elephant when I left. That’s a long way from a whale.”
“Bitch,” she said with a laugh, which was exactly what I was going for. “I mean it,” she added when the laughter bubbled away. “It’s solid of you. Taking the time, I mean.”
“It’s what I do.”
“Yeah, well. I’m just—I’m sorry about the stuff with the guy. That’s a real kick in the gut.”