“What?” Carly shrieks.
“I don’t think I have a choice. He’s figuring me out and he’s going to lead the bad guys to the people I love here if I stick around. You do know I love you, right, Carly? You’re the sister I always wanted. I’m Iron Mountain… me, not you. And I haven’t been Iron Mountain to keep stuff from you for the sake of being a bitch. I would physically stop a speeding train with my bare hands to save you.”
Carly’s lower lip wobbles and she squeezes my hand. “We need alcohol slushies.”
“I had to take off from my old life and hide. And I’m bad at hiding. Duh, obviously. And I’m so stupid, because Jude started digging into me for the company background check and figured out I don’t exist, so confronted me and I told him it was none of his business what my real name was and he threw down and made a bet with me in order to keep that secret temporarily, which isn’t because I’d ever do anything bad to my friends, at my job either. But I wanted to protect myself and hoped he just wouldn’t figure it out, so made this dumb bet to buy myself time. But of course he won the bet because I was a dummy who used my real passport to go to St. Kitts because I had no time with the whirlwind wedding to get a fake one and couldn’t not be there. Though, clearly my Ally Kingston cover didn’t stop Jude from figuring out there’s no Ally Kingston so I’m not sure why I paid so much goddamn money for it. Dirty money, so serves me right. I was so stupid because he got his hands on the passenger list or whatever the fuck you call it and there my real name was in black and white. I can’t put anybody at risk and so I think I have to just go because if he can figure out who I am from here, then the bad guys can probably figure out where I am from there!"
“Ally, you’re going so fast. I’m so confused.”
“I can’t tell you guys any more than that, so please don’t ask.”
Her phone makes noise from the nightstand where it’s charging, so she grabs it and glances at it. “Um… one sec. Be right back. Hang on. Calm down. I’ll be back with more alcohol. We will figure this shit out but know right now that you will not be moving to Japan! Okay?”
I take another stuttering big breath and another big sip of wine.
“Bill the Boob Looker?” Carly then says belatedly and makes a screwy face.
“I know. Decoy. He showed up all excited, thinking he was gettin’ some but I was just trying to send a message to Jude.”
“He showed up at Buchanan’s and went all alpha?” Adele asks. “Sounds like he got your message.”
“He carried me down the street like a caveman. Well, not by my hair but you know…caveman enough.”
Adele’s mouth drops and then she says, wistfully, “I love my husband. I do. He’s a-freakin-mazing as a partner, as a dad, changes diapers and everything. But I have gotta say, sometimes these stories of these guys who go all alpha caveman make me wanna feed Dirk some pure testosterone to see what’ll happen.”
“Be right back,” Carly says when her phone pings again.
“Jude is pretty bad ass,” Adele continues, “And hot. Though that’s besides the point. Seems to me a badass like that can likely help with whatever this problem is. He’s connected with the cops, too, Aiden told me. Said he has a few friends there. And as long as he’s in your apartment I bet you’re a heck of a lot safer than being alone.”
“But he could get hurt.”
“Well, he’s got a bigger chance of getting hurt if he doesn’t know what he’s dealing with, right?”
Ouch. That hurts. And I guess she’s right.
Imagine if my apartment got broken into one night by the bad guys while we’re asleep and Jude gets killed? It’d be my fault for not letting him know the danger he’s in.
“Ugh. I’m awful. I suck.”
“Sorry, girl, but I think you should lay it all on the line and give the man a chance to do what he does. Security. Surveillance. Safety.”
“Ugh. Is Carly bringing more alcohol sometime this year?”
“But what about this bet? What did you lose in the bet?” Adele asks.
“It’s a sex bet,” I whisper.
She gasps, then leans close, whispering, “There are a lot worse things you could have to do… I bet he’s good at it.”
“He is,” I whisper. “And this is another problem.”
“You’ve gone there?”
Carly’s coming back in with frozen drinks.
I nod. “I’ve been trying to push him away since I figured out on our first date that a) he wants more than a fling and b) that he’s smart enough to maybe figure out my secrets. But then I got drunk one night and felt sorry for myself, so I instigated a booty call. I can’t go there again, or all might be lost.”