“Yep.”
“Well, holy fuck.” I shake my head. “This’ll cost my father an arm and a leg in lawyers.”
“For sure.”
Wow, Audra. Slapping a cop. What a piece of work.
“So, what’s the story with Carly Adler?” I ask.
“Still digging.”
“Still digging?”
“I’m not finding much. Confirmed she has her Bachelor’s Degree in Business with a marketing concentration. University of Buffalo. Lots of parking tickets. Always paid, but she’s a little speed demon. Working-class parents. She’s got a junkie for an older sister who’s had some legal problems, who’s about to get picked up for violating her probation. Carly just broke up with someone a few days before she headed to Cali. Two-year relationship with a guy who works in an insurance call center. Really nothing exciting so far.”
“What about your text?”
“My text?”
“The don’t trust the chick in your apartment text?”
“When?”
“Couple hours ago.”
“What the fuck?” Jude sounds genuinely perplexed. “You gonna be at the office long?”
“What the fuck, Jude?”
“I didn’t send it. You gonna be there a bit?”
“Maybe twenty or thirty minutes. Got a work thing I can’t cancel.”
“Be there in ten. I didn’t send the text, Aiden. I wanna see your phone. Don’t use it until I get a look.”
“What the fuck?”
“See you in ten.”
“I’ll meet you in the lobby,” I say, and then I get a few things done, pack up, grab the still-dead phone, and head downstairs.
When I hand it over, I tell him I couldn’t get the phone to charge. He tells me he’s got the same cord and asks for my password. I tell him my phone doesn’t have one and he reprimands me for it. He tells me to grab myself a burner phone and text him the number. He hands me another business card of his, so I’ve got his number handy.
It’s Friday, close to six o’clock, and the place i
s mostly empty. Forty of our people are at the laser tag place. I glance at my watch. I need to be there by 6:30 for it. The games start at 7:00 and my father wants all the leadership team to be there.
I really don’t have time for this shit, but it’ll give me a chance to talk to Austin. Talk to my father.
And shit. Carly’s gonna be there, giving me that sass after me tipping my hand unintentionally today.
She was both confused and betrayed-looking. And then she looked absolutely furious.
The fire in her eyes got me really fucking hard, too. At that stage, I’d given up the idea of fucking her because instead, I was going to destroy her, and the hard-on pissed me off.
Now? Fuck… I can’t process this shit yet. I need facts.
***