Bait (Wake, #1)(41)

“Did you go to the store already?” I knew what he wanted. My lasagna.

“Yeah, I ordered groceries from work after you called. My doorman let them up a little while ago.”

His new building was nice, I-wasn't-dressed-well-enough-nice. He parked us in the garage attached to the side of the high-rise that housed his place.

He got my luggage out and we took an elevator straight up to his floor. There were only five doors down his hall, and his was the one on the very end. Inside, it was clean and minimalistic. He had a view of the Chicago skyline on one side and a view of the lake on the other. I walked straight to the window to look out.

“It's a pretty spectacular view, huh?” I heard him walk up behind me. “I put your bags in the spare room. Want a drink?”

“Wine. I'll take wine,” I said and laughed.

“Good, you'll spill your guts faster.”

I cooked and he told me about his new job and the building. He had been made junior partner already at Price-McClellan, the firm he worked for as a venture capital consultant. I didn't really understand what he did, only that he was good at it and that he loved it, which made me happy. He was living life exactly the way he wanted.

I didn't hold back anything after glass three.

“What the hell am I doing?” I asked as I sat down with Reggie at his bar to eat.

“I don't know. I need to think about this,” he said with his mouth already full.

There was a knock at his door, which I thought was weird because he had a door guy and no one buzzed. He wiped his mouth and got up to answer it.

“Just a second,” he said, as he made his way across the open living room and up the three stairs to the foyer. He looked out the peephole and then wiped his hands on his pants one more time before opening the door part of the way.

He talked in a very hushed tone, but I saw a woman's head pop around him. She smiled and waved.

“Hello,” I said. She looked really nice. Very pretty. I didn’t know what they were walking about, but she bound past him and walked directly toward me.

“Hi, I'm Nora. I live down the hall from your brother. You're Blake, right?” She held out her hand for me to shake. I swiped the breadcrumbs off my hands and took it; her grip was quick and firm.

“It's nice to meet you. Have you eaten? I made plenty.” Reggie ran his hand over his jaw, looking perplexed.

She looked to him and smiled really big. She had a cool smile. It was very different. Her teeth were white, but imperfect. Her eyetooth, just barely, overlapped her front tooth. It was a small thing, but I liked it. She was dressed in a fitted tan dress and had on the most audacious heels I'd ever seen. They had to be five-inches high.

“It smells so good. I don't mind if I do. Reagan told me before that you're a chef,” she said, then looked like she wasn't so sure. She turned to my brother and asked, “Right?”

All I could think was Reagan?

Then he nodded and took his seat next to me again, totally at ease with her in his space. Her focus shifted back to me, “So, I'd be a fool to pass up this cooking.” She made herself at home already grabbing a plate from the cabinet and snagging a wine glass from the rack.

They looked at each other for a long minute and then her eyes grew wide. They were having a silent conversation. She sipped her wine, which he'd poured for her. My mind reeled at the sight of them.

“So,” she said, “What are we talking about?”

Reggie answered her, “Well, this is right up your alley.” He looked at me for approval and then asked, “Do you mind if I tell her?”

I said, “No,” because it was fine. I didn't know her and she didn't know anyone involved. Who could it hurt?

“My little sister here is in a situation. She's been dating the same robot—sorry, Blake, excuse me—guy for over a year. He's a decent guy. He's good to her and they love each other. A few months ago she ran into a man—we're still calling him Nobody—when she was out of town and they had a one-night stand,” he paused.

Nora looked to me for confirmation that he'd told the story correctly.

“It's true. I'm a terrible person.”

Reggie took a drink, then we all took drinks, and then he continued, “So, according to her description, it was pretty f*cking good, without her going into too much detail. I'm her brother and I don't want or need the particulars.”

Nora's eyes lit up and she smiled that big, not-quite-perfect smile of hers at me.

“Good, huh? Better than the robot?” she asked Reggie. Not me.

Reggie said, “I think so.” They both looked my way and I conceded, bowing my head in agreement and defeat.

“Keep going,” Nora implored my brother smacking his arm from across the bar.

“You're loving this, aren't you?” he asked her.

“Oh, you bet I am. Now talk.”

“Okay,” he continued. “They've been sending each other messages—”

I interrupted, “Clean messages.”

His disbelieving eyebrow rose at me.

“—So they text back and forth every day. She feels bad, but she still doesn't stop doing it. Then yesterday, a woman who claims to be Casey's girlfriend—which Blake didn't know about—sends her messages telling her to, pretty much, f*ck off.”