Then I needed to go off alone because there was far too much noise with so many people. It was a precarious balance and all of it was fucked for me right now.
Mainly because of the woman standing before me. All I wanted to do was fix anything she asked me to.
I peeled her fingers back from the other stick she was holding. Her neon pink nails were chipped and a hairline scrape made an angry trail up the back of her hand to her forearm.
I shoved my sticks in the back of my running pants. There was no doubt they were my walnut sticks. I had them specially made because it was one of the few woods I didn’t snap with the force of my drumming.
I brushed my thumb over the scratches. “Let’s go up—”
Her phone started vibrating and blaring out a trumpeting ringtone.
My eyebrow shot up.
She fumbled for her back pocket. I wasn’t quite sure how she fit her monster phone in those tight pants, but girl shit was a miracle on a number of levels.
“Lila,” she said. “I don’t want to miss her calls.”
“Can’t miss that ringtone.”
Her fingers shook so bad, I slipped the phone out of her grip and hit decline.
She snatched the phone away from me. “Are you crazy? I just said that was Lila.”
I took it from her again and shoved it in my pocket. “You need to tell me what’s up before we talk to her.”
She gnawed on her lower lip and glanced over her shoulder.
“Are you looking for someone?”
“No. I don’t know.”
I swallowed down a growl. “You’re going to tell me exactly what going on.”
“You’re not the boss of me, Cooper Dallas.”
“Get your perfect ass on that elevator.”
Her gaze narrowed. “You shouldn’t be talking about my ass.”
“Don’t try to be cute. It’s not going to stop me from interrogating you.”
Her huge eyes went wider then she crowded in on me. “We might be friends—best friends even, I guess. Maybe. Whatever. But you can’t push me around. I won’t stand for it.”
Considering she didn’t even reach my chin, it was usually difficult not to grin down at her. Today, not so much. She’d been holding something back from me for awhile and Lila’s last meeting had started to clue me in to what. If she was going to shove me into this damn friend zone, at least I should get more than one key when she had fifteen freaking locks on all her secrets.
At first, I’d liked that she didn’t spill all her shit. The women in my life were far too open about some things in my opinion. My sister, Jenny, saw fit to share way too much. From boyfriends to her cycle, there was no off switch on her information highway.
Teagan? I knew her favorite movie was Hocus Pocus, her favorite color changed with the days of the week, and she made me ache in ways I hadn’t known were possible.
But I didn’t know jack shit when it came to her past. Except that she had a piece of shit ex she didn’t want to tell us about. I had enough strangeness in my own history to not want to air all my past crap, but total lockdown? Nope. That wasn’t me.
With Teagan, however, there was something big. And I sucked at being patient.
“Get in the elevator.”
She crossed her arms. “I’ve never been here.”
I frowned. That was true. Not that I shared my sanctuary with many. I’d been to her place a bunch of times. Her place was an old school brownstone, cozy and sweet like her. The couch had seen a thousand naps, at least a dozen of mine for sure. “Then get in there and I’ll show you my place.”
“We should really talk to Lila.”
“You should give me the details first and then we’ll get our story straight.”
“Why do you assume I’ll need my story straight?”
“You’re still shaking.”
She huffed out an annoyed sigh and stalked ahead of me then stared at the elevator. “Where’s the button?”
I held up the little fob on my keys. “Only have access to my floor. People like their privacy here.” I waved it in front of the unobtrusive scanner. It lit up white to let me know it read my chip and the doors opened smoothly.
Her boots clicked on the marble as she glanced up at me. “This seems pretty swank.”
“What, for me?”
“Kinda.”
I snorted. “Thanks.”
“I mean, I was expecting something a little more…rustic.”
“I have a cabin for when I need to get out of the city. But I like this place. It’s quiet for the most part. People don’t want to get into your business, and best of all, no one wants to make friends.”
“That seems cold.”
“I have enough friends. And fans can’t get past the front desk. Even better, neither can reporters. There are tons of security-conscious people living here. They expect and require privacy. I’m happy to add myself to that list.”
“Huh.” She nibbled her lower lip. Then said it again.
“What?”
“It just doesn’t seem very you.”
“Wait until you see the view.” The doors opened and I waved her through. She stepped forward with a gasp and hustled down the two steps into my place.
I tried to check it out from her point of view. I’d lived here for so long I didn’t see anything beyond the slightly messy mancave of a living room and wall of windows showing off the biggest thing that had made me buy this place.
From the way her gaze darted around, she didn’t seem bothered by my slightly unkempt living room. I had a service who came in to keep things up while I was out of town, but I didn’t like people in my place while I was home. And I was used to being tidy most of the time from living in hotels and on busses for so long—not to mention my former army life.
She
