Page 62 of Burden of Proof

At five on the dot, Smith called me. I stared at his name on the caller ID until the very last second, swiping to accept the call because avoiding it would have been worse.

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

I leaned my hip against my dresser, holding the phone to my ear. After spending a lazy morning at Hunter’s, I’d spent the rest of the day at home, cleaning up and unpacking things I’d been ignoring since moving into the smaller studio apartment. I hated being there, and I hated being alone, but it was something I was going to have to get used to. I’d texted with Silas on and off throughout the day, and it was messages from him that confirmed Hunter had told Smith about us.

Silas

I knew it.

Marshall just called.

Okay?

Smith had lunch with Hunter today.

I am shocked, Lincoln.

I thought for sure you and Smith were hooking up.

When did you even meet Hunter?

It’s complicated.

But I thought you’d already figured it out.

“What are you up to?” I asked Smith.

“Just got off work.” His frayed nerves were almost louder than his voice. “I wanted to see if you wanted to go pick up a second Cassandra.”

“I’m not sure the point of it.”

“So you’re not alone,” he said softly, trailing off before making a thoughtful sound.

“Hmn?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Just realizing what brother I am.”

I forced out a laugh, wondering if it was loud enough to make it around the elephant in the room. “The cryptic one?”

“Do you want to meet me somewhere or do you want me to pick you up?”

“If you want to pick me up, that’s fine,” I said.

“Alright. See you soon.”

We hung up, and I tossed my phone on the bed, wringing my hands together, desperate to know for how long we were going to ignore the fact I was in a relationship with one of his brothers. The answer was apparently thirty-four minutes, because as soon as I sank down into the plush leather passenger seat of Smith’s Range Rover, he turned to me with as much steel in his eyes as I imagined he could muster.

“So, you and Hunter?” he asked.

“Me and Hunter,” I said. “I…we didn’t want to keep it from you. He wanted to be the one to tell you is all.”

“He’s like Marshall sometimes.”

“Are you mad?”

“If I was mad, do you think I’d be chauffeuring you to the pet store to get a new fish?”