Page 30 of Theirs to Hunt (Girls Like Us #1)

Chapter thirty

I feel the buzz in my pocket again. The third time. I don’t look.

Reagan tilts her head at me, amused, a knowing glint in her eyes. “You gonna check that? Might be your girlfriend. Or your parole officer.”

I lean closer, my forearm still braced against the window beside her. “If it’s important, they’ll wait.”

Her brows lift. “Doesn’t seem very responsible of you.”

“Neither is inviting a strange man to dinner,” I murmur.

“Yet here we are.” She sips her drink slowly, eyes on mine the whole time. “Are you strange?”

“I’m something,” I admit.

“Guess it depends on who’s telling the story.”

“As long as it isn’t Dateline,” she deadpans.

“You never answered if you had a girlfriend, or a parole officer. I have to tell you, one I can deal with. The other will make me walk out of here.”

Another buzz. I glance down.

She huffs and rolls her eyes. The impudence will drive Grayson crazy. Me? I love the fire in her.

I lift my brow. “Do tell, want me to guess which one?”

“I don’t have a girlfriend, unless you’re applying.”

I finally reach for my phone. Damn it, the move stalls her reply. I tilt the screen so she can’t read it.

Three messages from Dad.

You've had long enough.

End it. Now.

Or I will.

I let the screen go dark.

“Everything okay?” she asks lightly, but there’s something sharper underneath. She senses the shift.

I smile. Slow. Controlled. “Just someone used to giving orders.”

“Ah,” she says, her voice velvet over steel. “And you’re not in the mood to take them?”

“I’m busy,” I murmur, brushing a stray lock of hair off her shoulder. “Besides… I’d rather see what happens when I stop obeying.”

She blinks. Her armor flickers. Then her eyes narrow in challenge. “Careful. It’s starting to sound like mutiny.”

I grin, all teeth. “Only if the Lieutenant can catch me.”

From across the street, I know he’s watching. I also know he won’t wait much longer.

But tonight? Tonight is mine.