Page 47 of Devoured

“I know,” Haley said. “Don’t worry.”

After a while of catching up, we walked to the front of the house. At the edge of her driveway, there were two SUVs parked, completely black with tinted windows. Had they always been there?

“Did you hear about Jake?” I asked, my eyes still on the cars. “Fifteen years.”

“It should have been more with what he did to those women,” Haley said. She shook her head, but her eyes were on those cars too. “I’m glad I never got to know him.”

“Me too.”

In the windshield, I caught a glimpse of a man in a plain black suit, sunglasses over his eyes.

“Are they with you?” Haley asked.

After a few seconds, I nodded, hesitant at first, then gave it my all.

“Security detail,” I lied. “Perks of being the new manager.” In all honesty, I had no idea who they were. But I hoped I was right, that it was Roland’s doing somehow.

“I’ll let you know about the club,” she said. She walked me to my car. “Take care, Mama Bear.”

“Stay out of trouble,” I said, and she laughed.

Sure enough, as soon as I turned out of the driveway, the cars followed me closely. On the highway, one car went in front of me, sandwiching me in between them. I wasn’t the president, for fuck’s sake. I was no one. Roland needed to lighten the hell up.

I hoped it was Roland.

At the Dahlia District, the two cars parked in the back of the lot, while I took the spot right in front, where Dahlia used to park. I found Roland in the surveillance room of my apartment, eating an apple and working on a laptop, the security displays in front of him empty, save for the Greenhouse. Most of the servers were still waking up.

“Hey,” he said. “How’d it go?”

I had to hold back a smile. He asked it as if I had gotten back from my first baseball lesson.

“About as well as can be expected,” I said. I took the apple from his hand and bit into it; crunchy, tart, and sweet all at the same time. “This is a Honeycrisp?” He nodded. “You have good taste in apples.”

He gave me that devilish grin. “I have good taste in everything.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s an apple, Roland.”

“It could be the forbidden fruit,” he said. I smacked his arm and he laughed. I sat beside him.

“So what’s with the armed guards following me?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Thought you might want some backup.”

“Why now? What’s important about visiting my old friend?” I asked.

“They’ve been tailing you for a while. This was the first time you went out by yourself.”

“By myself?”

“You haven’t ventured out without me since the courthouse. They were there too, waiting outside until I arrived.”

That morning had passed in a blur, I could hardly remember anything out of the ordinary. Still, it didn’t explain Roland’s reasoning.

“What did you think I was planning to do with my friend?” I asked.

“Doesn’t matter what.”

Uh, hell no. “Come on, Roland. I’m not a killer. I’m not a high profile celebrity. I’m the manager of a brothel. And besides, screw all of that, I’m a domme. I can beat someone’s ass if I wanted to.” I sucked in my cheeks. “You need to tell them to get off my case and leave me alone.”