Page 46 of Nothing At All

I wasn’t touching that. An occasional ride, a daily perimeter check – none of that constituted taking care of her.

She faltered a moment under my silence before her smile reappeared, wider and brighter.

And fake.

“Here’s your phone.” She tugged it out of her purse. “We found it in the ER this morning.”

I took it, glanced down, and cleared the fingerprints smudged on the screen with my thumb.

“Could I ask a favor?” She fluttered her lashes, an innocent, imploring look. “Could you check in on Nicole later today? I’m worried about her.”

“Not my place.” I shook my head.

Her face shut down, ugliness flickering through her blue eyes. “You’re really a selfish asshole, aren’t you?”

I shrugged. “An asshole who understands boundaries.”

“She doesn’t know what those are.” Chuck leaned sideways to mock whisper behind his hand. He was the most forgiving guy I knew, but his face held none of that when he straightened to stare at her. “Invisible lines you don’t cross.”

She smiled. “People who never cross lines spend their whole lives never getting what they want.”

I twisted my mouth sideways, considering, then glanced at Chuck. “You have to cross any lines to get Deanne to marry you?”

“Nope.” Hands tucked in his pockets, Chuck rocked back on his heels.

With a disgusted sneer, she lifted her index finger between us. “Someone needs to take you down a peg or two.”

Spinning on one boot, she stalked to her SUV. I watched her go, a shiver of revulsion running down my spine, the skin on my thumbs prickling. “What did your brother see in her?”

“He was young, and she made the sex easy.”

“His wife’s better than that, right?”

“Absolutely. She’s a doll. Deanne loves her.”

I watched Allison snatch her seatbelt into place, then glanced down at my phone. “I don’t trust her.”

“You shouldn’t.” He gestured at the device I rotated in my hand. “Can she get in that?”

“Pfft.” I had a nosy younger sister. My shit stayed locked down. “No.”

“Good.” Chuck clapped a hand on my shoulder, and I winced. He flicked his hand between Allison backing down the drive and Nicole’s back door. “Watch out for them. The two of them can’t be a good combination. Destructive.”

“Yeah.” People who played foul usually were. Allison’s behavior was just weird. So was Nicole’s. And weird didn’t necessarily mean dangerous. Besides, Allison’s actions proved to be more self-destructive than anything.

I had bigger things to worry about than the two of them.

Like how the woman I loved might never love me back.

Chapter Fourteen

Lila

I needed to slow down and think.

Normally, that involved excessive cleaning, but I’d deep-cleaned over the weekend so that option didn’t work. I’d already called out for the day, and now the space and time stretched before me. Although I was exhausted and sleep-deprived, a nap wouldn’t work because energy buzzed through my body.

A run. The movement and sunshine would provide room for my thoughts to sort themselves out.