Page 71 of Hurry Up And Wait
“I have a fantastic personality,” she scoffed.
“What you have is a truly fantastic way of pissing off men. I credit you. You’re a wonder to the human race.”
IKE strode back in, sparing Riley a glance before his eyes met mine again. “The house is clean. I’ll show you how to use the alarm system before I go.”
“Oh…you’re leaving already?”
He shifted, his hands sliding easily into his pockets as he took up a relaxed stance. “I have business to take care of.”
And by business, he meant something terrible and horrible that I didn’t want to know about. Despite him basically warning me off spending too much time with him, I couldn’t deny that I felt safer in his presence. And while I wanted to come home, I sort of hoped he would still be in the vicinity, just in case. But this was what I wanted. I didn’t want Shawn to hold any power over me, and if I was relying on IKE to be here, that was still letting him win.
“Well, thank you for your assistance.”
A smirk filled his face as he slowly walked toward me, his hand sliding out of his pocket to pluck a dangling curl hanging next to my face. His voice was low as it skittered across my skin. “Just remember what I told you. Keep a thick skin and you’ll be fine.”
Shivers raced down my spine as his finger slipped free of my curl and slid across my jaw. Then he was out the door, leaving only the faint scent of cigarettes behind.
I blinked several times, trying to clear my head in the wake of his sudden departure. When I finally looked up, Riley was staring at me with wide eyes.
“Holy shit. Who did you say he was?”
16
KAVANAUGH
“Are you sure about this?”Red asked for the fifth time.
“Not sure why you’re asking. He already jumped on a flight and we’re five minutes away from the house,” Eli snorted.
I turned to Red and glared. “Why wouldn’t I be sure?”
“Well, you can’t seem to make up your mind about what you want. You’re there. You’re here…I mean, you haven’t seen this woman in years. You’ve slept with her one time.”
“One time is all it takes,” Eli grinned. “In fact, I would go so far as to say that some men don’t even need to sleep with a woman to know it’s special.”
“She’s worth it. Trust me,” I snapped, irritated that they were still talking about this six hours later. “I just need to see that she’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Eli baited me.
“Because she chose to go home without protection,” I snapped.
“She’s a grown woman. She can make her own decisions.”
“Not when it comes to her safety. When have you ever known a woman to make a logical, coherent decision when it comes to something like this?”
Red winced. “You know, he may have a point. Look at Sarah.”
“No kidding. She made friends with everyone who was trying tokill her. Not that Zoe would be much better. She’d probably offer them a part in her movie playing the killer.”
“Zoe is so much better than Sarah,” Red snapped. “At least she didn’t befriend her would-be rapist.”
“I think we’re forgetting that this is all about Isla and her inability to make a good decision.”
I couldn’t agree more. “So, you see why I had to rush home.”
“IKE took her. Maybe he thought it was safe,” Eli shrugged.
“She’s alone in that big house?—”