Desperate Girls (Wolfe Security #1)(15)

He stared at her for several seconds. “All right.”

“Do you want me to call you Erik or—”

“Erik.”

“Good. Fine.” She took a deep breath. “I appreciate you loading my bags, Erik, but I can handle my own stuff. I don’t take more than I can schlep around by myself, and you’re not a bellboy.”

One of his eyebrows tipped up with what might have been amusement.

“And you’re also not my boss, so don’t start giving me orders,” she said. “I don’t like being bossed around, so . . . don’t, okay?”

He gazed at her for a long moment. Then the sunglasses went back on.

Was that an okay? A say whatever you want, but I plan to ignore it? This man was tough to read.

The SUV in front of them started moving, and she expected Erik to follow. Instead, he reached into his pocket and dug something out.

Her phone. She felt a ridiculous wave of relief as he handed it over.

“Skyler says you’re all set.” He shifted the SUV into gear and got moving.

“Thank you.” Brynn turned the phone over in her hand, searching for any sign that it had been examined by a tech expert, which she assumed Skyler was. It looked exactly the same, though, down to the beach-at-sunset photo on her home screen. She’d taken it on her last vacation two years ago.

She dropped the phone into the other cupholder and leaned back as they turned onto the frontage road. Half a mile later, they eased onto the interstate. Traffic was light, and Brynn figured they’d arrive well before noon, barring accidents or road work.

She glanced at Erik beside her, with his bulging arms and short-cropped hair. Everything about him screamed ex-military. She looked over her shoulder. He’d folded down the middle seat to make room for all her boxes and suitcases, and every item was packed in tight.

“Didn’t you bring anything?” she asked.

“It’s back there.”

She looked ahead, then reached over to adjust the vent. He had the temperature set to seventy degrees and the radio turned off.

Erik shifted into the far-left lane and picked up speed.

Brynn felt edgy. And it wasn’t just because she’d gotten a paltry three hours of sleep last night.

“You okay?”

She looked at him, surprised by the concern in his voice. “I’m just . . . restless, I guess. I do this drive all the time for business, and I’ve got it down pat. I even have a playlist for it.”

“Really?”

“Starting at my house, I make it to the interstate by song two. Song sixteen, I stop at Luv’s Truck Stop for a barbecue sandwich. On a Sunday, the whole trip takes me two hours and fifty minutes, assuming it’s not a holiday weekend and there aren’t any accidents on the way.”

“We can stop if you’re hungry.”

“It’s not that. I’m just not used to having a chauffeur.”

He shot her a look. “I’m not a chauffeur.”

“A driver. Whatever.”

“Not whatever. I’m head of your security detail.”

“My point is, I’m used to being in the driver’s seat.”

“Yeah, I get that.” He glanced at her, and she wondered if he really did.

This whole thing felt unnatural. A heavy weight settled in her stomach as she thought of Jen. What was more unnatural than a perfectly healthy woman having her life brutally ended in her own home?

Multiple gunshot wounds. . . . Her doctor friend tried to stop the bleeding, but she was too far gone.

Brynn looked out the window, trying to get that homicide detective’s words out of her mind. Researching the case had kept Brynn up most of the night, and now she was behind on her own work.

She snatched up her phone and combed through her missed calls. She had several from her sister but nothing from Bulldog. She saw that Erik’s gaze was trained on the road, so she called her sister back.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Hey. We missed you last night.”

Liz sounded relaxed, and Brynn pictured her sitting on her back porch, where she liked to drink coffee and work the Sunday crossword. In ink, of course, because besides having two beautiful children and being married to an unbelievably nice guy, her sister was also wicked smart. She was an HR manager for a Houston hospital.

“Sorry to miss you guys,” Brynn said. “I had to work.”

“Any word on Jen’s case?”

Her stomach tightened. “No news. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

“You doing okay? You sound stressed.”

“I’m fine. What’s up with you?” Brynn could tell something was off.

“Well . . . I’m sure this is probably the last thing you want to think about right now, but we bumped into Adam last night.”

“No kidding?” Brynn reached for her computer bag in the back seat.

“He was with someone.”

She tensed. That explained the tone of Liz’s voice. And she knew what was coming next.

“She was wearing a ring, Brynn.”

She took out her laptop and powered it up.

“Brynn?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Did you know about her?”

“I heard something about it a while back.”