“Is that what you think?” I ask.
“Is it true?” she asks and her face fills with hope. She hopes she’s about to feel relief that I don’t know her name. And I’m pissed.
I’m pissed because she’s lying to me. There’s no way it’s no big deal that she’s been hiding her identity. And I’m pissed, too, because she’s not coming clean and letting me help her with whatever the fuck it is that’s got her so goddamned scared.
I hate the feeling spreading through my gut when I take in her expression. She’s really fucking scared of something.
And whatever it is, I want to annihilate it for her. Now, so there’s not another minute coming at her where she needs to feel this level of fear again. But how can I do that for her without knowing what it is? I’m going to fucking find out.
“Is it true?” she tries again. “That you’re just macho posturing right now?”
The elevator dings our arrival on the fourteenth floor.
“No,” I burst her bubble and nab her hand again as I head out of the elevator. “Absolutely not.” And then I add in a low voice, “Alyssa.”
Immediately, she stiffens and then jerks her hand away. She backs away from me like she’s going to walk the other way.
“Come on. Let’s go in and talk,” I grab her hand again.
“How?” She looks freaked.
I unlock the door and open it.
She reluctantly follows, still holding my hand, but I can feel hers trembling and it’s gone clammy.
“Did you search my room?”
“No,” I say.
I close the door. She leans against it and moistens her lips.
I can’t wait another second, I’m on her, my mouth attached to hers and her face in my hands.
“No. Don’t,” she cries out.
I back up and hold my hands up.
“You have to tell me how you know. You have to. It’s very, very important.”
“Baby, whatever this is, I’m gonna need you to level with me. You’ve got me concerned. Very.”
“How?” she yells.
She’s coming unglued.
“Shh. Come sit down.” I reach for her.
“No.” She waves me away. “Tell me, tell me now. I need to fucking know so I’ll know if…” She covers her mouth with her hand to muffle a sob.
“You used your real passport to go to St. Kitts for the wedding. Pretty basic stuff.”
She’s trembling hard. “How-how’d you get that information?”
“Aiden booked and paid for the charter, so we have access to the manifest unlike if it’d been a commercial flight. You made it easy.”
She sinks on the couch and takes a big breath before stuffing her face into her palms and taking a few stuttering breaths.
“Can anybody else look that up? Search by my name to find out which flights I’ve been on?”
“No. Not at all.”
She’s shaking.
“Okay, so it’s very fucking obvious that this isn’t no big deal, woman, start talking.”
“I can’t. I’m saying nothing. Sorry.” She crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a firm shake of her head.
I stare.
And I stare.
And she stares at the blank television screen and I can see what she’s doing. She’s summoning the walls to surround her. She’s in some serious trouble and she’s refusing to let me help her.
“Fine. Then it’s time to fuck.” I rise, pissed off. “Your bed or mine?” Maybe I’ll make her edge until she tells me.
She gives me a startled expression.
“Pick one,” I demand.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Either we fuck, or you talk to me. You pick.”
She flinches.
“That’s right. Tell me the truth, all of it, or we fuck.” I shrug. “And then I’ll get the truth out of you anyway while I make you edge.”
I take a couple slow breaths to calm down.
“Fuck you,” Ally says.
I drag in another couple breaths, calming my shit marginally.
I sit down again.
“Yeah. You’re gonna do that. But I’m gonna feed you first. Give you a chance to open your mouth and talk to me. Do this the right way, or do it anyway.”
The cat comes in from down the hall. She’d been lounging on my bed when I left. She jumps up on the couch and walks onto my lap and then curls into a ball and yawns.
Ally’s eyes bounce between the cat and me. I pet the cat’s back.
Ally stares.
“What’s her name and what’s this story? You know, besides, you trying to make me leave thinking I’m allergic.”
She glares at me, watching me pet the cat. I lift it up and it rubs its face on my jaw.
“Georgia. Her brother Ralph is having surgery today that you paid for. And you’re an even bigger dick. The biggest.”
“My family devoured those cupcakes, too, Sweet Cheeks. Baka figures you made them to thank her for coming over the other day and cleaning and making food. I didn’t bother correcting her.”
She rolls her eyes. “I can’t believe you faked a cat allergy.”
“Does it make me a dick that I faked it, or does it make you a dick for gettin’ a cat just to fuck with me?” I ask.