Adrenaline (Speed Series Book 2)(61)

KATHLEEN WALKED ONTO THE BUS and placed a manila envelope on the counter before turning and looking back at me. “It’s been a while since you’ve sought me out for work.”

Reaching into the refrigerator, I grabbed a beer for each of us. She reached her hand out and happily took it. I popped the top off and took a long drink.

“Congrats on the win by the way.”

With a fake smile, I replied, “Thanks.”

She gave me that look only a mother could give as she waited patiently for me to explain why I had asked her to have Paislie followed for the last few weeks.

“I just wanted to make sure she’s okay.”

“Did you hurt her? Break up with her or something?”

“Something like that.”

Kathleen dragged in a deep breath and quickly expelled it as she opened the envelope.

“I didn’t do the work. I had one of my guys who works the Dallas area for me on it. From the reports it seems like your girl has had herself buried inside her apartment and barely ever leaves.”

My head pulled back. “Work?”

“She’s going to work, but that’s about all. She does go to St. Patrick’s a lot and recently started going on Sundays.”

I couldn’t help the small smile that played across my face. I knew how much that church and Sister Elizabeth meant to Paislie.

“Looks like she has a friend by the name of Annie McCarthy. She stops by often but they never go out. She usually brings take out and stays for a few hours before leaving.”

My heart sank, but at the same time I was relieved to know Paislie hadn’t been going out or seeing anyone.

“But then today I got a call from my guy. Said he was sending me some pictures. Looks like your girl met someone at a small café earlier this morning. Couldn’t get info on the guy; he was driving a rental car.”

I swallowed hard. “She met a guy? You said she had breakfast with him?”

She smirked and shook her head as she pulled out some pictures. “They had more than breakfast.”

Placing the pictures on the counter, my heart leapt to my throat and I instantly felt sick to my stomach. The pictures showed Paislie on top of the guy in a car.

“Did they . . . were they having sex?” I asked clearing my throat.

Kathleen shook her head. “He said it looked more like foreplay, but at one point the guy had a condom in his mouth and your girl crawled off of him. Finished the job with her hand.”

Turning away before Kathleen could see the rage on my face, I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

I drew in a deep breath and slowly blew it out. “What about after that?”

“He went up to her apartment. My guy had to leave because Paislie looked directly at him so he took off.”

Both hands went up to my head as I pushed my fingers through my hair and cursed under my breath.

“I’m going to safely guess you still have feelings for the girl since you’re paying me to keep tabs on her.”

My arms dropped to my sides. Paislie had moved on. “I don’t need you to watch her anymore, Kath. Let me know what I owe you and I’ll have Janet get it over to you as soon as possible.”

“Okay. You’re the boss.” I could hear her gathering up the pictures and sliding them back into the envelope. “Do you want the pictures?”

As much as I wanted to tell her to find out whatever she could on the * Paislie was f*cking, I didn’t. With a slow shake of my head, I turned back to her. “Burn them.”

With a quick nod, she walked over to the small stove. She turned it on, lit the corner of the envelope and dropped it into the sink.

“Malcolm, I know you’re not asking, but may I offer you a bit of advice?”

Kathleen had been a family friend for as long I could remember. I had her investigate the guy who hit me, resulting in Casey dying. She also did a background check on Janet before she came to work for me.

With a weak smile, I said, “I’m all ears.”

“Instead of having her followed around to make sure she’s okay, why don’t you find out yourself? She obviously is hurting from what ever happened between the two of you and you care enough about her to see what she’s doing.”

Letting out a gruff laugh, I said, “She must not be that upset if she’s f*cking some guy in a car for a little afternoon delight.”

She shot me a dirty look. “I don’t think she had sex with the guy. My thoughts are she was going to, decided not to and finished him off to lessen the blow.”

I stared at her like she was insane. “He went up to her apartment with her. Maybe they decided they weren’t into the public sex thing after all.”

She shrugged. “You’ll never know unless you go to her.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

My heart was pounding in my chest as I clenched my fists together. I was so angry for what I did to Paislie I wanted to punch myself. “I promised her I wouldn’t hurt her and I did. She’ll never trust me again.”

Kathleen looked at me before turning and heading to the door. She opened it and was about to step out when she said, “That’s the crazy thing about love.”

I waited for her to finish her sentence but she didn’t, causing me to ask, “What’s the crazy thing about love?”