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Holding up his hands in surrender, Truck tried taking the heat off himself. “Hey, I didn’t keep it from her.” Looking from Hemlock to Charlie and back, Truck decided that was his cue to leave. “I should go. Call me if you need me,” he said, then headed to the door quickly.

When the door closed, Hemlock shrugged. What was there to say? Charlie didn’t look like she wanted to hear his reason for not telling her. She probably didn’t want to know he had put a tracker not only on his car but on her phone as well. He knew where she was at all times. Day or night, he knew. He also knew it was best to keep somethings to himself.

“You know I’m mad right now.”

“Yeah. I’m aware.”

“Is there anything else I should know about, Hemlock?”

This was one of those trick questions the brothers talked about. Questions that women asked when they wanted to trip a guy up. It was the ‘does this outfit look bad on me’ question. He was damned if he told her and damned if he didn’t. The only thing that mattered was if he wanted her pissed at him or when he wanted her pissed at him. Now, when things were calm, or when she was reeling from yet another incident. Then again, was therea right time to have her pissed?Best to get it over with,he thought.

“There’s a tracker on my car.” He held up his hands, shutting her down before she got started. “Before you get all pissy with me, I wanted to make sure you were always safe. And there’s also one on your phone,” he mumbled the second part hoping she’d missed it.No luck there,he thought when the throw pillow came whizzing past his head. When the second one sailed towards him, Hemlock simply grabbed it and tossed it on a chair.

“Are you done throwing a tantrum?” he asked her, his voice firm, he was done being pissed at the situation… over worrying about if she would be angry at him or not. If Charlie had a problem with it, she could get over it.

The calmness she’d settled into was gone… replaced with an anger she hadn’t known was laying just below. “I can’t believe you would track me like some damn animal.”

“I’ve been tracking you to make sure no one kidnapped you or worse, killed you.” He saw the look she gave him. “Don’t look at me like that. You and I both know your exes are crazy.”

He had her there. Crispen and Ashley were crazy. The question was how crazy were they? “I know what you’re doing is for peace of mind. It’s just intrusive.”

Hemlock closed the distance between them. When he stepped up to Charlie, he widen his stance so he could look into her eyes. “You think me tracking you is intrusive? Sweetheart, you have no idea the lengths I’ll go to keep you safe.”

She wanted to stay angry, but the way Hemlock said he’d go to great lengths to keep her safe had Charlie sighing. No man had ever said things like that to her and meant them. Sure, herhigh school boyfriend said he’d die for her. But they were fifteen at the time and he clearly wouldn’t have died for her. He just wanted in her pants. At the first hint of danger, he would have run screaming faster than she would have.

“I’m not sure what to say, or how to act at hearing you sat that,” she confided as he stared into her eyes. Damn, the guy was sexy. When he stood in front of her all Charlie could do was stare at him.

“I want your word you won’t go anywhere near Ashley or Crispen. I want you topromiseme you won’t go anywhere near them or the apartment.” Watching as Charlie’s eyes looked away, Hemlock said, “Charlie, look at me.”

“I promise,” she said, her voice heavy as her words came out breathy.

“Thank you.”

She was about to offer to make it up to him when Hemlock silenced her with his finger. Before she balked at him, she heard the faint sounds of someone outside the front door. The heavy knock startled her and made Charlie jump.

Hemlock looked at Charlie. “Stay.” Smirking, he headed for the door. He was sure she’d have something to say about him speaking to her like she was a dog. Snatching open the door, he half expected Truck or the cops to be standing there. Instead, it was Razor. Leaning outside, he looked around. “What are you doing here, Razor?’

Looking at Hemlock, Razor almost chuckled at seeing the brother’s agitation by his intrusion. “I didn’t get to look at your foot.”

“Why aren’t you at the clinic?” Hemlock asked, his voice short.

Raising an eyebrow at Hemlock, Razor stated the obvious, “We close at two a.m.”

Checking his watch, Hemlock was shocked at the time. “It’s that late already?”

Razor shoved off the wall. “Yes, it is. Now are you going to let me in or not?”

“Come on in.” Moving back, Hemlock let Razor inside and closed the door.

When they entered the living room, Charlie stayed long enough to hear Hemlock recount what had happened earlier. She felt like a magnifying glass was hanging over her every time something happened… every time one of Hemlock’s brothers looked at her.

Hearing Razor and Hemlock wrapping up about the things that happened, Charlie said goodnight and headed for the door, then upstairs, leaving Hemlock and Razor alone. She needed time to settle her thoughts. There was no proof that Ashley or Crispen had thrown the brick through the window. Just as there wasn’t any proof they had been sneaking around the condo weeks ago. Or behind the tire being slashed. Nothing that had happened to the car or around the apartment could be traced back to them.

The diner wasn’t in the best of locations. Whoever had been sneaking around the cars could have easily come back and broken the window to get back at Hemlock for shooting at them. All of it could be wrapped up in a nice, neat package that said it was all a coincidence. Not one piece of evidence led back to Ashley and Crispen.

If she took them out of the equation, all she had left would be the apartment, the break in at the hotel, and the scene at the library that had their smudgy fingerprints on. Those few things bugged her the most. She wondered what was the point.

Climbing the stairs, Charlie thought about the 1990s movieSingle White Female. It was about one roommate’s obsession with the other one to the point roommate one starts to pose as roommate two trying to become the roommate. Shaking her head, Charlie went to lie down. Clearly, she was grasping at straws trying to rationalize why Ashley had inserted herself into Charlie’s life.Single White Female, what ev!