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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

ST. CLARE

“He should be back by now,” I mutter, refreshing my social media feed for the third time in the last minute. I have no idea what’s actually on my screen when I’m so in my head, but every minute that ticks by is another minute of nervousness I need to sit with. “Maybe we should have gone with him?”

“Why? So we could hand whoever is after you an easy kill?”

When he puts it like that … “Isn’t that what we did with Perry?”

Lars pauses whatever he’s doing on his laptop. He can say he hates Perry for trying to kill me all he likes, but we both know that Lars is a good guy, and when it comes down to it, he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. Plus, Perry is growing on him. I know he is.

“You need to keep some distance from him,” Lars warns. “At least until this is over.”

“Why?”

He throws me an unimpressed look. “You know why.”

Because we’re planning to trade him off for my brother, and there’s still a slight chance that he might want to kill me when I’m already missing half of my ear, thanks to him? “Small details.”

“You’re worried about him. That’s not a small detail.”

“That’s only because we need to know who’s after me.”

“There’s only one person who’s likely to be after you. If he comes back with any name other than Yanni’s, I’m going to be shocked.”

“You never know.”

“True. I currently have the urge to kill you right now.”

I set down my phone. “What did I do?”

Lars almost looks like he wants to laugh. “Like, position? Because I wasn’t in the room, so I can’t say, but whatever it was, it sounded like Perry was enjoying it.”

“Shit.”

Now he laughs. “Yeah, shit.”

“You heard that.”

“You were very loud.” Lars drops his laptop onto the cushion beside himself and leans forward. His elbows meet his knees, and he picks up a coaster that he starts absently tapping against the coffee table. “What were you thinking?”

“He’s really hot.”

“ Other than that.”

“Is there anything else?”

The tapping pauses. “Well, if you’re going to be alone with some guy who tried to kill you, it would be a relief to know it wasn’t just about getting off.”

I can’t answer that. Was that all last night was? Absolutely. I have no regrets over what happened. Perry is fucking gorgeous, and there’s something about him that I like. Something that’s beyond surface attraction. Like all that unrestrained sweetness and enthusiasm is mine to harness, and I can’t deny that it was a big part of the turn-on.

Lars’s amusement drains away. “I can’t protect you, I can’t do my job, if you’re making stupid choices like that.”

“You really think Perry’s a killer?”

“It’s not about what I think. It’s not about him as a person at all. It’s about the facts. And the facts are that he tried once. He can say he’d never do it again all he likes, but if he did it once, he can do it again.”

I can see his point, but I dunno. I think now that I’ve had my tongue down Perry’s throat, I’ve gotten to know him a whole lot better. “Listen, I can completely understand your concerns but I stupidly trust him. Yes. I can hear myself. Yes, I know it’s misguided. You don’t need to point any of that out. But I can’t stop from trusting him anyway.”

The tapping starts up again. “Okay. You’re a big boy, and I really hope your trust doesn’t get you killed.”

“You know what? Me too.”

He laughs. “How did we get into this mess again?”

“I’m still asking myself the same question. It’s pretty fucking extreme just because Yanni didn’t want a bit of competition.”

“Cute that you think you’re competition for them.”

“ I don’t. They clearly do.”

Lars chews on his bottom lip. “I know you trust Perry, but do you think we should head somewhere else for a few hours? Just in case?”

“You think he’s going to rat us out?”

“Unfortunately, I get where you’re coming from. Perry doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d throw us under the bus, but I also get the feeling that Perry doesn’t have to make our lives harder on purpose. He’s perfectly capable of doing it accidentally.”

I had the same thought. I hate that I had the same thought because I don’t want to underestimate Perry or make him feel bad, but the confidence I have in him thinking things through isn’t high. And hey, I wouldn’t be so damn attracted to his spontaneity if he was the kind of guy who assesses risks.

Unfortunately, that’s great for sex, bad for survival.

“You might be right,” I allow. “But where the hell do we go? We’re only here because we ran out of options.”

Lars tosses the coaster back onto the table. “My parents’ place, probably.”

“You really want them to be caught up in this mess?”

“I don’t think I have a choice.”

I shake my head because the fewer people we involve, the better. Lars’s parents are the kind of people you’d expect to be smiling from the front of a muffin box. Or as the American ambassadors to The Great British Baking Show . Even mentioning contract killers around them would be enough to make their sweet brains short-circuit.

“We’d be going to my parents’ place before yours,” I point out.

“Except there’s a chance they’re being watched.”

That reminder sits heavy on my chest. I’m trying not to reach the point of everything feeling helpless, but I’m already so on edge with radio silence from Colin and now Perry that I’m not sure how much longer I can spend sitting around doing nothing.

A pounding on the front door makes me jump, and Lars immediately stands and pulls out his gun.

“Perry, you think?”

“He’s got a key.” Lars points to the bedrooms. “Go.”

But even as he says that, a key turns in the lock, sending him on high alert. Lars shoves me off the couch and dives toward the doorway that opens onto the hall. The front door opens, and I hold my breath, waiting for shouts or a gunshot or anything that will make all hell break loose.

Instead, a sort of familiar voice shouts, “Perry, where the fuck are you?”

“Margot?” I look out from behind the couch to see her and Elle walking along the hall. I’m up on my feet before Lars throws his arms up.

“Do you want to be fucking killed?” he asks.

“But … it’s only them.”

“And them could be here to kill you.”

Margot comes to a fast stop. “Kill him?” Her eyes fly to Lars’s gun. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Yeah …” Elle steps around her girlfriend and takes in the room. “I don’t think my brother will be too impressed if his charitable act ends up with bullet holes in his walls.”

Lars subtly lowers his gun but doesn’t put it away. “Why are you here?”

Margot scowls his way, and I don’t blame her. We’re the ones borrowing this place. “Because my brother sent me a concerning fucking message this morning, and now he’s not answering my calls. Where is he? ”

Well, I’m not going to be the one to answer that. “He’s having issues with his phone.” Given how old it is, she’d have to believe that.

She glares at me instead. “That didn’t answer my question.”

“He went out for groceries.”

“Then we’ll wait until he gets back.” Margot crosses her arms and throws herself back on the couch, challenging stare never leaving mine. It’s so weird that she and Perry are related when they couldn’t be more opposite, at least in personality. Their thick black hair, dark eyes, and angular faces give them away as siblings.

“Anyone want tea?” Elle asks, hovering, like she’s torn between taking Margot’s side or making sure everyone is comfortable.

“I’m good,” I assure her, and Lars finally tucks his gun away.

“I’d like a tea. I’ll help you.”

The two of them disappear into the kitchen, and I’m terrifyingly left alone with Margot. She’s still watching me, and I’m doing everything I can to cement the view of Seattle to memory so we don’t have to address the way she’s doing the same with my face.

“If anything has happened to him,” she whispers, “it’ll kill me.”

Maybe not as literally as it will kill him, but I have the good sense to keep that to myself. “What did his text say?”

“That he wanted to let me know he’s sorry and he loves me.”

Fuck. “Well, that sounds ominous.”

“You think?”

This is probably the part where I’m supposed to reassure her, but I’m feeling pretty fucking unassured myself. Perry was confident going into this thing, which made me confident as well. If he was secretly texting Margot messages like that though, I have to question if he knew more than he let on.

“Maybe we should all go back to your place,” I suggest weakly .

“No. We’re all staying right here until Perry gets back. From grocery shopping. For the first time in his life.”

“Everyone has to eat.”

Her glare deepens.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want the truth. Why are you here? Who even are you? And why is my brother sending me sketchy messages at eight in the morning when he struggles to get up by then on a good day.”

“It’s really not my place.”

“Well, I tried questioning him, and now he’s not around for me to do it. That means you’re up. And you need to start talking.”