He stood in the hallway, wearing jeans and an expensive-looking, black pullover, partially unzipped to reveal the white T-shirt underneath.
He jerked his head behind him, his perfectly styled hair not moving. “The bedroom.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “I was just in there,” I told him. “And you weren’t.”
There was a bed and candles and a dresser and nothing else. Where was he? Hiding in the closet?
I realized I was breathing hard, so I forced myself to calm down.
“I rang the doorbell and called out. It was like no one was here,” I said.
But he ignored me, looking bored as he asked, “Did you bring the blueprints, keys, and codes like I asked?”
His stern expression looked impatient. Okay, fine. I’ll have to get in here and dig around soon, anyway, so I could wait to be nosy.
“In the car,” I answered curtly.
He nodded and walked for the stairs, taking them down and knowing I would follow.
We stepped out onto the porch, and his gaze instantly found David and Lev sitting in the SUV, waiting.
Kai turned his dark eyes on me. “You’re with me now. Tell them to beat it.”
I hooded my eyes in aggravation. But I turned around and headed down the steps, toward the car, while he walked for the side of the house toward his.
David rolled down the passenger side window.
“Go back to Thunder Bay,” I told him, reaching in and gathering the files for The Pope and the roll of blueprints off the seat. “I’ll see you tonight.”
He thinned his eyes, looking uneasy.
“It’s fine,” I assured him, starting to walk away. “Finish the collections, don’t forget the inventories for Weisz’s and Brother’s, and make sure Ilia got the kennels done.” I glanced at the time on the dash. “And remember, De Soto’s coming in at three. Make sure a car picks him up.”
I turned around before he had a chance to respond and walked toward Kai’s Audi. He backed down the driveway, the heavy rain slowly washing away the thistles all over it, but he stopped when he saw me heading toward him.
Rounding the car, I climbed in the passenger seat, tossing everything in the back and wiping away the rain on my face. I could feel the water seeping through the fabric of my hat, and I wanted to take it off, but I’d have to wait until I was alone.
Without speaking, Kai let off the brake and backed the rest of the way out of the driveway, and I shifted my eyes anywhere but to him. He shifted the car into first, and my breath caught, feeling him move next to me as the smooth whir of the engine vibrated under my feet.
He hit the gas and raced down the avenue, pulling down into second and up into third as the car propelled us faster and faster.
“You don’t live in that house,” I said in a low, even voice.
He held the wheel, the top arm locked steel-rod straight as he stared ahead.
“You think I can’t rough-it?” he joked, reaching over and turning up Emotionless playing on the radio.
“Rough-it?” I hid my smirk. “I think Howard Hughes was less anal than you. You would never live in that dump.”
“I lived in one for two and half years,” he replied, his voice turning hard. “Things change.”
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, seeing his eyes drift off faraway, impassive. I swallowed through the sudden dryness in my throat, shutting up for the moment.
It was easy to forget, given his clean fingernails and expensive clothes. But not long ago he was in a three-dollar T-shirt and locked in a cage with people telling him what he would do with every minute of his day.
Still, though, he deserved it. He did the crime.
“You’re not staying at the Torrance’s anymore,” he told me, shifting into fourth and laying on the gas. “You work for me now. I want you in Meridian City.”