“Nope. I asked Preston about it the other day. He hasn’t seen him either.”
So, if she was having a tryst with a younger man, she was doing a good job of hiding it—but the whole thing seemed unlikely. From everything I’d heard, she didn’t strike me as the type. Plus, she sounded too uptight to have had sex anytime recently.
I put away the meals, shut the fridge, and set my gaze on Colin, noting his street clothes. My tone was dubious. “You ready?”
“Let me drop off my bag and change,” he said, “and then I’m all yours.”
He probably hadn’t meant anything deeper, but a thrill shot through me. Yes, I thought. You are mine.
Before he turned to leave, a chime rang out from the speaker on the desk, followed by an electronic voice. “Unfamiliar person at the front door,” the system said.
We paused, unsure what to do. The security system was linked to Nina’s and Scott’s phones, not ours, and we’d been instructed not to answer the door. But last time the doorbell went off, it’d been Judy, and she’d been pissed she’d had to wait for Scott to open the door.
Swift footsteps grew louder as someone moved through the living room, but rather than go toward the entryway, the person headed toward the kitchen.
It was Nina, and she pulled to a stop when she discovered us standing there. Her attention swung from me to latch on to Colin.
“This guy is at the front door asking for you.” Was she irritated? “Do you know him?”
She thrust her phone forward, and I couldn’t help but look at the screen too.
Holy shit.
“Is that Riley?” I asked.
I turned to stare at Colin with disbelief. We weren’t supposed to tell anyone where we lived, and he’d told motherfucking Riley of all people?
“Yeah, I know him,” he said quickly, “but I don’t have a fucking clue how he knows I’m here. I haven’t told anyone, I promise.” He scowled as he stared at the live image of Riley waiting impatiently on the front porch. “I’ll take care of it.”
He didn’t wait for a response from either of us, and as he stalked toward the entryway, I followed. Maybe he’d been too focused on Riley to realize I was behind him, because when he went out the door, he nearly closed it on me.
“Mads, no,” he uttered under his breath, but it was too late.
Surprise hit the other guy as I stepped out onto the porch, pulled the door closed, and stood next to a disgruntled Colin. He’d wanted to deal with his former frat brother himself, but that wasn’t going to work for me. We were partners.
Tension held Colin’s shoulders tight as he glared at Riley. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
He tried not to look intimidated, even though Colin was taller and stronger. “I was leaving my sociology class and I saw you on your bike.” He rested his hands on his waist, maybe to look bigger. “I’ve been trying to talk to you, but you won’t answer any of my text messages. So, I followed you.”
It was then I noticed his Lexus parked in the driveway. Colin’s expression darkened and he took a step forward, causing Riley to retreat down the porch steps and put up his hands.
“Look, man, I just wanted to talk about getting an audition for Petal Productions,” he said. “When I saw you, I thought maybe you were heading to work, and I could talk to the director myself.” He tried to peer around us and through the windows beside the front door. “Is that why she’s here? Are you getting ready to film right now?”
“Leave.” Colin’s voice was frosty. “And don’t come back here. You feel me?”
Riley’s face contorted, and I could practically hear the thought in his head. He didn’t follow Colin all the way over here just to give up. “Okay, I will, but you need to do me a solid. If I send you something, will you pass it on to the director or your—I don’t know—manager?”
“Not a chance.”
He frowned like this was unreasonable. “Why not?”
“A bunch of reasons,” Colin snapped, “but mostly because of what you did to Mads.” His posture straightened abruptly as the thought occurred to him. “Maybe if you apologize to her right now, I might reconsider.”
Riley laughed, thinking it was a joke, and his amused look soured when he realized it wasn’t. “What do I have to apologize for?”
Oh, my God. Was he serious? “You cheated, and then you lied to everyone about it.”
He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “So, I got in your way a little bit, but we were just having some fun.”
My mouth dropped open. “Fun?”
He smirked. “I mean, you looked hilarious when you were chasing after the baton, but then you had to go and make a big deal out of nothing.”