“Promise.”
He kissed me again and as his lips pressed against mine, the sun shone through the window and warmed my skin. And for one second, just one, I let myself believe him, let myself believe that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me, that nothing could touch us, that we were free.
Molly’s Coffee Shop was almost more of a shack – it was housed in a tiny building on the corner that looked like it had previously been a house. The exterior was covered in peeling blue paint, and the inside had creaky wooden floors and booths with cracking fabric.
Caleb could have picked anywhere in the city to take me, and yet he’d chosen this place? I spotted him in the back, looking completely out of place in his pressed grey suit. The place was pretty empty – only a couple of guys sitting at the counter, nursing cups of coffee and eating greasy breakfast sandwiches – but Caleb still stuck out like a sore thumb.
“Interesting choice,” I said as I slid into the booth across from him.
“I wanted to pick somewhere close to you,” he said, not unkindly.
“This place isn’t close to me,” I said.
It was true. This place was on the other side of the city, in an equally rundown area than the one I’d just come from, and it struck me again how out of touch this guy was. He obviously thought that I would be comfortable any place that wasn’t nice or fancy. It was all the same to him.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“No.” I pushed the menu that had been set in front of me away. If he thought we were going to be having a friendly interaction where we chatted over food and coffee, then he was wrong.
“Are you sure? My treat.”
“Just tell me what you want from me.”
Caleb sighed and shifted in his seat, and I saw his face change, just like I’d thought it would. He wasn’t interested in being nice to me, he was interested in trying to get me to trust him.
“Information.”
“What kind of information?”
“Anything that will help us.”
I shifted on my chair and shrugged. “Okay.”
He eyed me suspiciously, then leaned back in his chair and took a sip of coffee. He put it down on the table and ran his finger around the handle of his cup. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean why are you suddenly willing to help us?”
“Colt has nothing to hide. So why wouldn’t I?” It was half bluff, half truth. There were things going on at Loose Cannons that were illegal, but there wouldn’t be anymore. So therefore, technically, Colt didn’t have anything to hide. At least not anymore.
“He told you that?”
I nodded.
“And you believed him?”
“Of course.”
Caleb bit the inside of his cheek and closed his eyes. “Are you sleeping with him?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Jesus Christ, Olivia,” he said and his hands tightened around his cup as he shifted in his seat. “Are you insane?”
“No.” My palms were sweaty and I wiped them on my jeans. I wished I’d ordered something, anything, even a glass of water so I’d have something to do with my hands. My mouth was dry and I licked my bottom lip.
“Does he know you’re here?”
“No, of course not.” The lie slipped from my mouth easily, but there was on way around it. If I told Caleb that Colt knew I was here, he would immediately discount whatever information it was I was going to tell them.
“Good. You can’t tell him, Olivia. Do you understand?”
“I’m not an idiot.” I rolled my eyes, like I thought it was completely absurd.
Caleb stared at me, his eyes searching mine, as if he were trying to figure out if he should believe me or not. I kept his gaze, refusing to look away.
“He’s a bad person, Olivia,” he said. “He won’t change.”
He’s not a bad person, I wanted to protest. But I couldn’t. So I bit the inside of my cheek and tried to quell the rage that was building inside of me. Even so, I was doubting myself, just a tiny bit, the seeds of discontent being planted in my heart. How could I really be sure about Colt? How could I ever trust myself again when it came to knowing who was good for me and who wasn’t? I’d been wrong about Declan, maybe I was wrong about Colt.
Caleb sighed and pressed his fingers to his nose, and I realized he didn’t like this situation any more than I did. He needed my help, but when it came down to it, I wasn’t his ideal choice for an informant.
I wiped my palms on my jeans. “So what do I have to do?”
“You’ll use a listening device,” Caleb said. “You’re to have it switched on whenever you’re at Loose Cannons.”
“So it’s like a wire?”
“Sort of.” He looked at me, and his eyes fell on my star necklace. “Give me your necklace.”
“What?” My hands flew to my neck instantly, my fingers tightening around the metal protectively. “No.”