And then he was gone.
My hand was steady as I let myself in the house, but my heart pounded. I turned on the light as soon as I stepped inside. The foyer was empty. Wherever Rix was, it wasn’t here.
I closed and locked the door behind me and set the alarm. Pulling my phone from my purse, I read the single word of his text again.
MINE.
Where was he? I hadn’t realized I was expecting to see him again tonight until that moment. Walking through my empty house gave me far too much time to think. I’d always loved my space and my time alone, but now it didn’t seem to be enough.
Things were changing. I was changing. I needed to decide what I wanted, and then figure out if it was even realistic.
I wandered into my studio and selected a fresh canvas and set up a mirror. It was time for an introspective, and what better way to do that than a self-portrait?
“WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR problem, man? I told you I was coming,” I said as soon as I was back in my car. “This better be a fucking emergency.”
“Shit’s going down tonight. A big deal. My CI just called me, and we need to get there and see who’s doing the buying and selling,” Fortier replied.
“Where am I meeting you? I’m in my Jeep.”
He relayed an address, and a quick search of my mental map told me I was heading into the hood. Worked for me as long as it got us another step closer to bringing down the head of a drug ring. Cartels getting their claws into my city pissed me the fuck off.
“I’ll see you in ten. And you owe me a night without this bullshit because you hijacked my date,” I said, not waiting for a response before I ended the call.
My mind was on Valentina as I backed out of her driveway. She’d been acting strangely all day, both earlier at the gallery and then tonight.
The fact that she’d admitted she was seeing another guy surprised me. That could be what was causing her off behavior, but I wasn’t entirely sure yet.
I’d find out, though. She was the first woman to grab my attention like this in a long time. Before she’d been off-limits, and now . . . now I’d decided that those limits weren’t relevant anymore. Life was short. You had to take chances to get what you wanted or you’d miss your shot.
I could handle a little healthy competition. Hell, I thrived on competition. I just had to find out who my competition was.
SHE DIDN’T RESPOND. I DIDN’T expect her to, but like a little bitch, I kept my phone close all night. Buying. Selling. Another day in my shadows.
How in the fuck had this woman become the shaft of light that showed me exactly how dark my world was? And now that I knew it, what was I supposed to do about it?
I wanted her in my bed, but I couldn’t take her out in this city like the cop she was with tonight—and that burned. I lived in the shadows and she was the light. We couldn’t coexist peacefully, and yet I couldn’t just leave her alone. Not yet. I wasn’t ready.
The image of her face as she rode out her orgasm rose in my memory. Hottest fucking thing I’d ever seen. Life-changing even.
And she was dating a cop.
That had to end. I would make it end. I didn’t share, and I wasn’t going to start now.
“Yo, Rix. You comin’ or what?”
Eight-Ball waited for me on the far side of the warehouse. Product was supposed to change hands tonight, but Eight had gotten a tip that the cops were on the move, and called it off before even talking to me. Healthy fear of going back to prison made him quick on the trigger with decisions like that, but also made him a good second-in-command.
“Right behind you.”
I surveyed the empty warehouse once again. The cops wouldn’t find a damn thing here thanks to Eight’s quick thinking. When I shut and locked the door behind me, I caught sight of a Jeep across the street, tucked between an abandoned building and a burned-out van. I would have missed it, but since the van was destroyed, I could see through it in sections.
Well, there they are. Hello, Five-0. Nothing to see here tonight.
I climbed into the passenger seat of Eight’s Yukon and watched the Jeep from the side mirror until we turned the corner.
GIRLS’ NIGHT WAS ONE OF those things that women who had a bunch of other female friends did. I’d been a loner for so long that I barely understood how this kind of thing worked, and I felt even more guilty about going because Trinity was still locked up somewhere and I was helpless to get her out. Distraction. This was all a distraction.
While I waited in my portico for the car to pick me up, my thumbs hovered over the screen of my phone. No update from Rix, and no sign of one coming.
Screw it. I needed to know what was going on. I didn’t give myself time to think as I fired off a text.
VALENTINA: Update?
I waited semi-patiently for five minutes. No reply. The car pulled up and Elle threw open the door. I hurried outside, about to shove my phone in my purse when it vibrated.
RIX: You let him touch you?
“Hey, girl!” Yve called from inside the car.
Elle was waving like Miss America before she switched to motioning to the open door like Vanna White. “Your carriage awaits.”
Smiling despite my urge to strangle Rix, I slid inside.
Yve and Elle’s excitement could be explained by the bottle of Fireball in Yve’s hand. “We’re meeting the others at the restaurant, and then after we’re going to a jazz club for a little atmosphere.”
“Okay.”
Yve handed over the Fireball. “We’re doing a little pre-gaming, old-school style.”
Elle laughed. “More like I grabbed the fifth that was on the counter right before you rolled up in this fancy car, and you decided it was a great idea.”