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I spear a dumpling with my fork, but he snatches the utensil out of my hand and takes the bite himself.
My lips twitch. “Hangry?”
He grunts again.
I slide my plate to him. I was done anyway.
“I wasn’t going to gloat.” I definitely was but he seems a little sensitive right now.
“You’re still wrong. He’s playing you.”
“I think I would know if I was being played.” I guess I didn’t for a whole year with Justin, but I’m not about to admit that in my moment of victory.
Caleb aims a fork at me. “And you’re eating it up. I thought you were practically a spy.”
I run my finger over the edge of my glass. “I’m in spy-adjacent territory.”
“Then tell me this.” He continues on as if he didn’t hear me, taking a much bigger bite of food than I tend to do. “Why is a man like that, a man who has been accused of everything from theft to murder—”
“Murder?” I screech.
Heads whip in our direction. Caleb’s eyes bulge, and so does a creepy vein in his neck.
I cough. “I left my goldfish with you for two hours! Two! How did you kill him in two hou—”
Caleb grabs my hand, putting an end to my display. A shame, I was on a roll.
“Sorry.” I cover my mouth with my hands. “Sometimes I get carried away. Once upon a time, I thought I’d be a great actress. Tonight, I definitely sold it.”
“Amelia.” He groans.
I lower my voice, going back to the issue at hand. The big issue. The whole murderer thing. “You said he hurt people. You never said anything about him killing people! How many people has he…” I glance around, “unalived?”
Caleb takes his time swallowing. “Unknown. One for sure. But there have been others who wind up dead when Liam is around.”
This time my shout is more in the realm of a whisper. “You let me go out with a man who killed an unknown amount of people?”
His eyebrows squish together. “You said he was innocent.”
“And you believed me? What do I know? I’m not a secret agent! I like to see the best in people.” My voice rises again and I have to consciously pull it back down. I take a deep breath and drain the rest of my soda, feeling every painful bubble burst in my chest. I slam the glass down then yank my jacket off, taking big breaths.
Caleb only sits there watching me while devouring the rest of my food.
“Okay. I spiraled a bit there.” I pick up the wine menu and use it to fan my overheating body. “But you have a problem on your hands.”
He gives me a look that says no duh.
“I think I can help,” I say.
He polishes off the last of the gnocchi and sits back. “No. You’ve helped enough, and we are grateful for that. We won’t be putting you in danger anymore.”
As if to prove his point, he picks up my phone and deletes the listening app.
That’s a very considerate notion. But I’m already in this. And he won’t get rid of me. He just doesn’t know that yet.
Thirty minutes later Cruz pulls the van into my apartment complex. She refused to stop for ice cream on the way home. And I’m still upset about it.
A date with a dangerous man deserves two pounds of ice cream as payment.