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I wasn’t wanted here. Kian had made that clear. And Rebel…last night hadn’t changed anything between us. It was just sex. Not a big deal. I didn’t need to be here to take care of her. I’d make sure she had money. She had Kian and Fang for whatever else she needed. “I’ll talk to the cops for you, but I’m not some sort of private investigator. We need to leave that to the professionals. I’m sorting out this will and the funeral and then I’m out of here.”
Rebel’s face fell, her voice turning quiet and cold. “Fine. I’ll send you a postcard from prison.”
I blinked, shocked at the way one single sentence set my plans to flames. I barely knew Rebel. I should have just been able to walk away. And yet I knew if I did, that expression on her face would haunt me. “Fuck, you do guilt trips better than my mom does. Like seriously, did you take a course on that or something? Is it just a chick thing?”
She didn’t say anything.
Her silence screamed in my head, mixing with memories of her bruises and the shitty little apartment she’d lived in. Images from last night replayed over and over, her head thrown back in pleasure, hips rolling, wild, free, and so fucking beautiful. She had friends who loved her. A job she adored.
I craved what she had.
I craved her.
Last night had proved that.
“Fine,” I said stiffly. “Let me take another look at that. I guess we have some work to do.”
I tried to ignore the way she beamed at me. It did things to my insides that only cemented the idea, even if I did run back to California, she wouldn’t be so easy to forget.
25
REBEL
I had to go to work, and War called some sort of club meeting that required Fang’s attention, so our amateur sleuthing was put on hold after we’d made our suspect list. But I was distracted all night while I pulled beers and bussed food to tables. Every name on the list rolled around in my head, along with a ticking bomb, just waiting to explode.
I had no idea if or when the cops would come for me. But if Vaughn’s lawyer was right, it seemed like it could happen at any time.
I couldn’t think about that too much or the panic would consume me. I’d seen too many innocent people go to jail to think it couldn’t happen to me too.
I fell into my big soft bed in Vaughn’s house after my shift and tossed and turned until the tiny hours of the morning, when exhaustion finally took over.
I could have sworn it was only ten minutes later when Kian bounded into my room and cannonballed onto my bed. “Wake up, Little Demon!”
His heavy weight sent my much smaller body nearly right off the bed. In my half-sleep state, I grappled at the sheets, trying to get a grip on something that would stop me sliding right onto the floor.
The covers just came sliding down with me.
I hit the carpet with a bone-jarring thud that ricocheted right through my body.
Kian’s handsome face peered over the bed at me. Eyes wide with surprise, he barely held back laughter. “What just happened?”
I reached up and pushed his face away. “You catapulted me off my bed!”
He burst into laughter that made his handsome face way too attractive for this time of the morning. “It was not my intention, but at least you’re up. Let’s go!”
I glanced out the window, and my mouth dropped open. I pointed at it. “Is that sky orange because the sun is still rising? What the hell time is it?”
“Five thirty.”
“Five thirty in the morning?”
“Best time of the day, and you’re missing it. Come on!”
He grabbed my arm and dragged me up off the floor, though I would have preferred he’d left me there. I wasn’t fussy about where I slept. I just wanted to actually get some.
But Kian shoved me toward my walk-in closet. “Go. Get dressed. We’re going running.”
I stopped, and then it was my time to laugh. “Ha, that’s funny. I thought you just said running. You meant, you’re going running and buying me a bucket-sized coffee on your way home, right?”