Page 79 of Used

“So be a good little girl.”

“I could be a very good little girl tonight. You sure you want to be alone?”

“I never want to be alone.” My cock is hard and does not care about crime scenes or their fallout. There’s a beat while my thoughts line up, and I decide which are allowed to give rise to speech. “There was a house fire at the Palermo mansion. Since Enzo and I had the dust-up, the police could want to talk to me. When I see you, I don’t want to be interrupted.”

Her silence makes me regret mentioning violence. Will it cause her to pull back? That would be tough to take right now.

When she speaks though, her voice is soft and sweet. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m good. I’m not involved in what happened tonight. Rock-solid alibi.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Definitely. Hey—?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t have to go. Tell me how work’s going. Heard they gave the green light for you to work remote.”

Her soft laughter makes me smile. “I knew you had him reporting back to you.”

“Not me. The reports go to C.”

“Oh. Lovely.” She coughs. “And C tells you?”

“No, I told him not to.” I rub the bridge of my nose. “But then, every couple days, I go in the system and read them.”

Her laughter is louder now and makes the air worth breathing. I walk to the window and look out.

“So work?”

“This is why—I think I blame Kathleen.”

“What?”

“I met your sister Kathleen for lunch.”

“Did you now?”

The smile’s evident in my voice. Kathleen and I are cut from the same cloth. The second I told her about Laurel, Kath was angling to meet up with her. I counted on Kathleen making that happen. Kath knows nothing about the FBI sting Laurel was involved in. So unlike my crue, she isn’t out to mistrust her. And Kath can steamroll anyone’s reservations about me, being unabashedly Team Trick.

“And you know what I realized about you?”

“What’s that?”

The phone beeps. C on call waiting. I don’t switch over, which is one for the books.

“You lived with all those women who were counting on you. That’s why you’re so good at figuring out what people need and getting it for them.” After a pause, she says, “Three women, including Ash who I hear talked nonstop as a baby. I guess you couldn’t help but become a good listener, whether you wanted to or not.” She chuckles. “You always make me feel heard. Though you don’t always use your powers for good. Listening like you do makes people fall in love with you, and then they can never fall out.”

The call waiting beeps again.

“Including you?”

“Presumably yes.”

Soul-crushing. All she had to do was leave that presumably off. Still, as bait goes, it doesn’t get any fucking better. “Hmm. I’d like to learn more about myself from someone more expert than me—”

She laughs. “God, I miss you.”