Page 81 of Rastor

Tomorrow, I'd find out more. For now, my options were limited. With an effort, I forced myself to sit back down. Trying to keep my tone easy, I managed to say, "Yup. Tomorrow morning. You still have the day off?"

"Oh yeah," she said, sounding happier now.

And whywasthat, exactly? Because I'd stopped asking all those hard questions?

Damn it. What the hell was wrong with me? I reached up to rub the back of my neck. "You still want to get together?" I asked.

"Definitely," she said, with a smile in her voice. The smile was real. Even through the phone, I could hear it loud and clear. And suddenly, I was glad that I hadn't made an ass of myself.

Whatever was bothering her, it obviously wasn't about us. Or at least, it sure as hell didn’t sound like it.

I shoved aside the distractions and focused on the upside. Tomorrow, I'd be seeing her. There was a lot to say, and too much of it couldn’t be said over the phone. Over the next couple of minutes, we finalized our plans to meet the next day.

The plan – Chloe's idea – was for her and Chucky to swing by my place around noon. "We can all go for a walk," she said. Her tone grew teasing. "For old time's sake."

"Don't forget new time's sake," I reminded her. "And Chloe?"

Her response was soft and breathless. "Yeah?"

Screw the doubts. They were just noise, messing with my head. Chloe was the girl I loved, and I wasn't about to let some random phone call come between us. I lowered my voice. "I've gotta tell you, I'm missing you like crazy. The other night, I was thinking…"

I heard a beep. I tensed. What was that? Another call?

Chloe cut me off. "I'm really sorry, Lawton, I've gotta go. See ya tomorrow, alright?"

And then she was gone. No goodbye. No "I love you." No "I'll call you back." No nothing.

What the hell was going on?

Chapter 38

Early the next morning, I stood motionless on the sidewalk, telling myself that I wasn't seeing what I thought I was seeing. It was almost eight o'clock, and I'd just returned from Vegas.

Unable to sleep and eager to get home, I'd bumped up my flight to get home faster.

And where was I now? Standing like a dumb-ass in front of Chloe's place. Her driveway was long and lined with trees, so I wasn't exactly lurking outside her front door. But I had eyes, and I didn’t like what they were seeing.

Whowasthat guy? I shook my head. And who was he to Chloe?

I wasn't spying on her – or at least that's what I told myself. I'd come here for a reason. It was because of our conversation last night. The way she'd been acting, it had me on edge. Something was off, and I wanted to know what.

The idea had been to walk by, check things out, make sure everything was okay. Yeah, I knew she'd be asleep, so I didn't plan on ringing the bell or anything. But I could still check for busted windows or a broken-down car – because the more I'd been thinking about it, the more I decided that Chloe was in some sort of trouble.

Nothing else made sense – not unless I was willing to think the worst of her. And I hadn't been. I'd learned my lesson the hard way. Chloe wasn't like that.

Or so I thought.

From the far edge of the sidewalk, I took a good, long look at the guy leaving her front porch. He was some slick-looking guy around forty, maybe fifty years old. He wore dark sunglasses, dark slacks, and a tailored sports coat that screamed old money.

Asshole.

I'd rounded the corner just in time to see Chloe give him a little wave before shutting the front door behind him.

She'd been wearing tiny black shorts and that lacy yellow tank top, the one that was so thin, you could practically see her nipples. I felt my muscles bunch into tight, angry knots. She didn't dress like that in public. She dressed like that for bed – when she wasn't naked, that is.

My jaw clenched. Naked.

I felt my fingers tighten into fists. Had she been naked with that guy? It sure as hell looked like it.