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He snorts. “Yeah. I can imagine.”
He says it like he knows her and knows just how annoying she can be. Under other circumstances, I might try to figure out what the deal is between the two of them, but this doesn’t seem like the moment for that.
“Okay, as long as it’s not illegal or immoral,” I say. “You might as well tell me.”
“I gather from Ian that he told you about his ex, Ava.”
“I didn’t violate the contract. He told me about her. I never even googled her. Or him, for that matter.”
“Don’t worry about that. The important thing is, you know they dated. You know she’s bad news. Right?”
I think of how tied into knots Ian looks every time her name comes up. The way his voice catches when he says her name, as if he doesn’t want to talk about her, but also can’t not talk about her. “I think that’s an understatement.”
“I’ve reason to believe she’s going to try to get Ian back.”
“How could you know that?”
“Didn’t you just say you didn’t wanna know if it was illegal?”
“Okay. Continue.”
“She’s back in Austin. She got in this morning. And I don’t know who she bribed or blew to find out, but she knows where Ian lives now and she’s on her way out to see him.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t trust her. And I don’t trust him to be alone with her. She has a way of … getting into his head.”
“I don’t know what you want me to do about it?”
“You’re there. Can you just go down to his house and hang out. So that someone else will be with him when she shows up?”
“I don’t think that’s—”
“I was in Dallas for the weekend. I’m on the way now but I’m at least an hour away.”
“He’s a grown man. He doesn’t need a chaperone.”
“You don’t know what she’s like.”
No. I don’t know what she’s like. But I know he loved her. Loves her?
God. I am so in over my head on this.
“You don’t know what you’re asking me to do. He’s an adult. If he wants to see her, I don’t know how I can keep him from doing that.”
“I’m not asking you to physically bar the door from her. I just think that if there’s a third person there it might… I don’t know, keep her from getting in her claws into him.”
“She’s not a vampire.”
“Close enough. She’s a greedy manipulative bitch. She wants him for his money and his influence, nothing else.”
“But if he loves her—”
“He doesn’t. Trust me.”
“So, what do you want me to do? Just go down and hang out in his house until she shows up?”
“Just go and be there. I don’t care what excuse you give. As long as he doesn’t have to be alone with her. I’ll be there in three hours. Just stay there until I get there.”
