Page 54 of Angels & Whiskey

As I droveto the gym, I thought about Rich and how he didn’t come home—and how he wasn’t wearing the same tie he’d had on when he’d left that morning. Something didn’t add up. If he wasn’t cheating on me then why’d he change his tie?

The more I thought of him being with another woman while he was with me, the more my blood boiled. I was furious as I walked into Club 24. I thought running would help, but it didn’t. I ran for a good twenty minutes until Gabe showed up and the only thing to get me out of my funk was his smile that made my insides turn to mush.

And how in the hell had I let Gabe talk me into moving in with him? I’ll tell you how. It was that damn smile of his!

He convinced me that getting a divorce from Rich and moving in with Paul and him was the best plan, but the only way to ensure my safety was if Rich were in prison or dead. The latter was probably a no go, so I needed to find out what he did for a living and turn him into the police. I was certain he did things illegally. Maybe not lending money, but when client’s didn’t pay and they met Remo—well, he was the “handle it” guy, so I was certain he scared the shit out of people. In my head, I pictured him eight feet tall with the ability to lift a car over his head without breaking a sweat. In reality, that was impossible, but it still put fear in my blood when I thought about what he did for Rich.

“Wait!” I yelled as Gabe started to walk toward the racquetball door. “I just thought of an idea. I’m not going to Starbucks, but I’ll meet you here tomorrow to workout, okay?”

“Where are you going?” He frowned.

“I’m going to pay a visit to my husband at his work.” I was taking a gamble that was for sure.

“Is that safe?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’ll just tell him I want to have lunch with him since I didn’t get to have dinner with him last night.”

“And what’s the point of you going to his work?” He raised an eyebrow.

“To dig up dirt, duh! Get with the program, Mr. Green Eyes.”

He gave a hard, belly laugh. “Mr. Green Eyes?”

I blushed, realizing what I’d said. “That’s what I called you when I didn’t know your name,” I confessed, turning my head away from him so he couldn’t meet my eyes.

“And why’d you have to refer to me before you knew my name?”

I looked up at him slowly. “I …”

“Spit it out, angel. I’m dying to hear that you gossiped about me.”

“I didn’t gossip about you,” I snorted.

“No? Then tell me why.”

“I …”

“Come on, angel. I told you why I call you angel. That was embarrassing for me.”

“Not like this!” I protested.

“Enlighten me then.”

He was smiling at me as if he knew. Fuck, he probably did. I walked closer to him. “I thought about you while I …”

“Go on,” he smirked with a nod.

I stepped closer and whispered into his ear. “While I got myself wet for my husband.”

Before he could respond, I reached out, turned the doorknob and made a run for it. I looked over my left shoulder to see if he was following me before I ran up the stairs to leave. He was standing in the doorway of the racquetball court, staring at me with a huge smile.

Just before I took my first step on the stairs, I heard him say, “I’ll remember that, angel.”

My palms became sweaty the closer I got to Rich’s work. Nervous would be an understatement. I’d only been to his office a handful of times in the last three years and that was only with him. His office was never on myto-do listfor the day.

If my suspicions were correct, Rich might already know I was at his work. It frustrated me to think he had a tracker on my car, but I wouldn’t put it past him. Hopefully, he wasn’t monitoring whatever device he needed to watch to know where I was because I wanted to catch him in some sort ofact.

Pulling into the packed parking lot, I found a space and hurried to the lobby door, noting Rich’s car in a parking space in front. His work was in a ten story building he owned. His office took over the entire top floor while he rented each floor to other businesses.