“Whitney found the fucking box the night Jones went down.”
He tilts his head to the side, jaw still working like he’s preparing to chew through steel ropes. “The box? The one you told Deacon weeks ago you gave back to her?”
“I didn’t—” I grip the back of my neck.
“You’re an idiot!” Ignacio points to the bird as if doing so qualifies it as truth.
I happen to agree with both of them right now.
“I told him I took care of it.”
“Meaning you returned it.” Flynn stares at me, refusing to let my eyes drift away.
“I got it out of the office and took it home. She found it in my closet while looking for a blanket.”
“Idiot,” Brooks mutters, his arms crossing over his chest. “Why didn’t you just trash it.”
“That doesn’t solve the problem,” Flynn interjects. “Deacon will be home in a few days from his honeymoon, and no matter how happy and in love that man is, he’s not going to be very happy with the way shit went down while he was gone.”
“I’ll fix it,” I promise. “I’ll figure out a way to make it all work out, and then no one will have to even breathe a word to him about my stupidity.”
“He already knows,” Flynn says with a pointed look.
I feel the color drain from my face. “H-he knows? How does he know?”
“He does,” Flynn confirms. “I’ve been sending him case notes.”
Slow blinking doesn’t make the interim boss change his story.
“Don’t look at me like I’ve betrayed you. This is damn business. If we’re using company assets, then we’re tracking company assets. Not doing so is how people get shut down and thrown in prison.”
“I’m going to return these,” Finn says holding up the ski masks.
“And maybe stop using the company credit card for illegal shit,” Flynn mutters to his back as he leaves. “I have to fucking track everything.”
“Just go to her and make her listen,” Brooks says with a quick shoulder shrug.
“I can go smooth the way for you.” Ignacio marks his offer for help with a wink.
“They’ll never find your body,” I threaten.
“I don’t care how you do it, short of breaking the fucking law, but straighten this shit out. Deacon is already going to be out for blood when he returns. The calmer the situation is, the easier it’s going to be on all of us.” Flynn sighs, and only now do I see the shadows under his eyes, and the lines that crinkle with the stress. “I’ll be lucky if I still have a job after all of this. The man is gone for the matter of a week, and I run this place into the fucking ground…”
His voice trails off as he leaves my office.
“Go get your girl,” Brooks says, reaching under my arm to urge me from my desk chair. “You aren’t going to get anywhere just sitting here and moping.”
“She’s fucking gone.” I shrug off his insistence.
“Gone?”
I point behind me to the screen. “Do you think she would board her cat at that damn place if she was in town?”
Ignacio chuckles.
“And people think I’m the one who struggles to catch the clues. She’s in California.”
“Then why isn’t your ass on a plane right now?”
“I can’t go across the country and make her listen to me.”
“Do you care for her?” I scoff at Ignacio. “I’ll take that as a yes. All I can say is don’t give up. Walking away and never looking back will eat at you for the rest of your life.”
Brooks tilts his head, looking at his friend with confusion, but he doesn’t ask questions or for historical proof of how Ignacio would know something like that. I ignore the opening also because I’m too damn wrapped up in my own dilemma right now.
“Just go get her? It can’t be that simple.”
“Didn’t say it was going to be simple.”
“It won’t be,” Brooks agrees. “But it’ll be worth it if it works out.”
“You have three days before the boss man gets back. Better act quick.” Brooks slaps me on the back before following Ignacio out of my office.
“I love the beach!” Puff squeals, wings flapping like I just offered him a dream vacation.
I’m not going to take him with me, but I can appreciate the fact that having him with me while she’s there would be one hell of an ice breaker.
Chapter 34
Whitney
“You can go to work if you need to,” I tell Sarah, keeping my eyes closed and my face pointed toward the sun.
California is just what I needed, and the salty air is the perfect distraction from the thoughts warring inside my head.
My friend doesn’t answer, and when I look over, I find her frowning with her eyes directed down at the phone in her hand.
“Sarah?”
“Hmm?” She doesn’t raise her eyes as her fingers rush over the screen of her phone.
“Do you need to go to the office?”
“No. I can take care of everything from here. Besides, I have plans for tonight.”
“Really?” I try to hide the disappointment in my voice, but it’s nearly impossible. I’m a jerk for thinking that she could drop everything at a moment’s notice to tend to my shattered heart, but that doesn’t prevent the pain from creeping in.
“Yes.” Her eyes finally find mine, and the mischievous glint in her eyes makes me suspicious. “We’re going out.”
“Out?” I hate the sound of anything that doesn’t include lounging on the beach and feeling sorry for my life choices. “I’d rather stay in.”
“And that’s the reason we need to have a little fun.” Her phone buzzes once again. “I’ve got to take this, but wrap your head around it, Whitney. You’ve pouted long enough. It’s best to just get back out there after a disappointment. No sense in dwelling on something you refuse to change.”
I scowl in her direction, watching her walk away.
I don’t have the ability to change anything. Giving in
