"And why would it be me and Roderick to go?" Liv asked, brow raised, seeming to pick up on the dancing of her friend's eyes as well.
"You and Cam would never leave me with a strange man. I might get ideas and start... toying around with him or something."
I got the impression that the toying she was talking about was not the toying it sounded like, but I couldn't seem to understand the undertone, the implication that those around me clearly grasped immediately.
"Well then you and I could go."
"Don't you think Eddie would have given this new contact your descriptions? Just for safety purposes?" Astrid shot back. "What's the big deal? Is there some reason you don't want to go with Roderick? Alone. In a hotel. In a sort of high-risk situation where all the juices get flowing and..."
"Fine," Liv cut her off. "Roderick and I will go. But I need you guys on your game then. Like you said, this could be a dead end. I need you guys to keep trying."
"I was the one to suggest it," Astrid said in a way that implied duh.
"Do you need to run this by your boss?" Liv asked, looking over at me, pointedly avoiding Cam who was clearly trying to catch her eyes.
"I have free rein until my time runs out."
"And that SUV you have parked outside..."
"At our disposal," I agreed.
"Good. Then give me five minutes to pack. Cam, I know, but come on," she told him, walking toward her room with her angry friend in tow.
"Don't you just hate it when Mommy and Daddy fight?" Astrid asked, shaking her head.
"Camden doesn't trust me."
"In his defense, he genuinely doesn't trust anyone. At least not of the male persuasion."
"You're his girls. And I am going to assume he has reasons not to trust men around you," I added , not prying per se, but it never hurt to get a little information whenever you could.
"Find me a single woman who doesn't have reason to distrust men," she shot back, tone guarded. "One woman who doesn't jump at shadows when walking alone or have that gut-drop sensation when a guy on a first date gets pushy. Cam can't protect us from it all."
"No. But he can damn sure try."
"You have sisters, huh?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"Because you understand Camden. I guess it is because you have sisters, and know that over-protective feeling. How do you protect your sisters from so far away?"
"They live not far from me. And when I'm away, they know they have the whole MC should they need them."
Astrid said nothing to that, everything about her tensing up, making me wonder what I had said that had been so wrong.
With nothing else to do, I fetched the sleeve of paper travel mugs I'd found when I had been cleaning up the night before, brewing a new pot of coffee, and pouring us each a cup, putting on the tops, waiting. And waiting. And waiting.
I wasn't sure how the two managed to communicate, but that must have been what they were doing since Liv came out in a huff, her heels stomping harder against the floor than they needed to, a bag slung over her shoulder.
"Cam wants you to know that if anything happens to me, he will personally hunt you to the ends of this Earth then slice you up piece by piece. Right, Cam?" she asked, giving the man a look that screamed Are you happy now?
"I know how you feel about these girls. I won't let anything happen to her," I promised him, letting the conviction slip into my words.
"There. All the manly chest-bumping is done. Let's hit the road. I will call you as soon as we stop. Come on. Before Cam changes his mind."
"You shouldn't be mad at him," I told her, voice soft as we walked down the street toward my SUV. "He's just looking out for you."
"I'm not mad at him. He's just... he forgets that I handled myself before he came into the picture too. It's sweet, but borderline insulting that he thinks he is the only one who can protect me."
"Has he been with you a long time?"
"Ah, I guess I was Astrid's age when he... joined up. Six years or so."
"That's a long time for him to be allowed to be your champion. Then to suddenly tell him you don't need him."
"I do need him. Just not to give me the disapproving eyes when I decide to go out of town for a day."
"Well, at least you don't have to worry about Astrid while you're gone."
"She is actually really good at what she does. She just hides her competence behind all that attitude of hers. If this ends up being fruitless, I'm sure she will have something by the time we are back." She fell into her seat, clicking her belt then letting out a long sigh, leaning back against the headrest. "I'm really starting to regret stealing from you."