The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts #3)(41)

Willa leaned in. “You know I’ve got you.”

“Fine. Well, just between you and me, my mom found Jesus.”

“Your mom found religion?”

“I wish. No, she found the pool boy. Jesus.”

“You know that’s not how you say that name, right?”

“The comedic factor of saying my mother found Jesus is literally the only good thing about this situation. Please let me have this.”

“For screwing your mom, he deserves his name mispronounced.”

Stephanie let her head fall in her hands and her shoulders shook. For a moment, Willa thought she might be crying, but it turned out to be sad laughter. “It’s so bad, Willa. It’s not like Mom and Dad were ever that close, but she was caught in the locker room of the club by a bunch of her frenemies. Everyone knows, so now Dad is leaving her for the principle of it and they’re fighting over everything. You think this wouldn’t be a big deal since I’m a grown ass woman, but I’m getting calls from them constantly to bitch at each other. I just... can I stay at your place for a little bit?”

Willa stuttered as she tripped over her words. She absolutely wanted to be there for her friend but there happened to be a criminal base sitting right under her apartment right now.

“So can we go?” asked Stephanie, already grabbing her purse and standing up.

“I... can’t think of a good reason to say no.”





Once the elevator door opened, Willa shot out, walking as loudly as possible. “Come on, Steph,” she said loud enough so anyone in this apartment and even the one below it would hear.

She hung her purse up on the hooks in the entryway before she went to the living area. No James, which was good and concerning at the same time. Was it so hard to send an “I’m okay” text?

Maybe that was something girlfriends got. She definitely wasn’t girlfriend material. Still. Next time she saw him, she was going to inform him that sex buddies deserved text messages.

“What happened to the liquor shelf?” called Stephanie from the far side of the living room.

“The shelves gave out a few weeks ago. I haven’t gotten a chance to get it fixed.” She’d been out of the room when they’d broken. Jules had made it sound like a freak accident, but that accident led them right to her father’s apartment. Willa now knew it was more than likely that Jules had broken the shelves on purpose.

The perfect excuse to go to her father’s. Possibly the biggest mistake Jules had ever made.

“I have some vodka in here.” Willa pulled down two small glasses. Then she took out the bottle of raspberry-flavored vodka and poured them both a drink. Stephanie immediately downed the contents, but Willa just moved the glass from hand to hand.

“So what’s your mom going to do?” She poured Stephanie another drink.

Stephanie climbed up onto a stool and took a drink of her vodka, this time only a sip, which was probably safer. “Who knows. She and Jesus,” this time she pronounced it correctly, with the J sounding like an H, “are still together, but I don’t think either of them like it. Jesus thought he would bag a rich lady and become a kept man. He didn’t realize that some money just isn’t worth it.” Stephanie started to take another drink and seemed to think better of it and set her glass down. “You want to know the worst part?”

“What?”

“My mom is having more sex than me.”

Willa snorted. “It’s not like you don’t have options.”

“Shitty options.” Her eyes suddenly widened. “That’s what we need to do. We need to find our own Jesus.”

Willa really wished Stephanie was drunker so she could blame this talk on the alcohol. But before Willa could respond, the elevator opened. Willa and Stephanie both stiffened but before Willa could run to see who it was, James strode in, his anger practically vibrating off him. He stopped when he saw Stephanie, and Willa tried to transmit her apology for the inconvenience with her eyes.

“Who the hell are you?” asked Stephanie.

James let out a low noise in the back of his throat that was hopefully too low for Stephanie to hear.

“This is my security detail,” said Willa. “I hope you don’t mind him hanging around. My father insisted. James, this is Stephanie.”

He nodded a hello but didn’t say anything. His bad mood was practically terrifying.

“So your meeting didn’t go well?” she asked, willing him to tell her exactly what she wanted to know without giving too much away to Stephanie.

“Nothing got done,” he said through clipped words. “But it could’ve gone worse.”

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. No one had been hurt. “You can go relax in the back bedroom if you want. We’re just going to be out here.”

“Oh. My. God.” Stephanie hopped off her stool and approached James.

“Why don’t we have another drink?” said Willa, trying to distract her friend.

But Stephanie wasn’t to be distracted. She pointed an accusatory finger at James. “You’re a Jesus!”

James’s cold expression was replaced by absolute confusion. “What?”

“Ignore her,” said Willa. “She’s drunk.”