Risk (Gentry Boys #2)(56)

Creed had asked about my mother once, curious about why we were estranged. I waved my hand and mumbled something about a lifetime of different opinions before I purposely switched topics. When Creed looked at me I still felt a little bit wholesome, in spirit if not in body. I couldn’t bear to have him think otherwise.

The vague morning chill was wearing off and I was starting to get hungry. I walked briskly back to the apartment, thinking maybe I could entice Stephanie out of her room with an omelet. As I shoved the key into the door I managed to jam it, breaking part of the end off. I cursed and jiggled the thing around but it was no use. The landlord’s office wouldn’t be open for hours. As I was about to bang on the door and try to rouse Stephanie from her bedroom, I remembered learning once how to get into a sliding glass door like the one leading to the patio. If I could manage to shuffle it off the track it could be easily breached.

I climbed over the patio wall and started pulling on the sliding door while frowning over how it had seemed so easy when watching someone else do it. Suddenly I felt the glass panel give way a little and it came loose in my hands. It was heavier than I’d figured. Carefully, I lifted it the rest of the way and moved it off to the side, praying to god that it didn’t shatter because I didn’t want to guess how much it would cost to replace. Pleased that I’d managed to get it done, I moved the vertical blinds aside and stepped into the apartment.

That was when Stephanie nearly brained me with a baseball bat.

I screamed. She screamed. She dropped the bat.

“What in the flaming hell are you doing?” I yelled.

She let out a shaky breath and sat down hard on the floor. “I thought you were someone else,” she mumbled.

“No shit.”

Stephanie pulled her bare knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. “Sorry.”

I dropped down on the floor next to her. “Jesus, Stephanie. What’s going on with you? Is someone trying to hurt you?”

She gave me a thin smile. “They can try all they f*cking want.”

“What does that mean, sugar?”

Stephanie’s eyes narrowed. “It means everything’s okay, Truly.”

“Like f*ck it is.”

She looked at the ceiling. “You’re starting to sound like me.”

“Then I’d be telling everyone in sight to mind their own * business before I slammed the door in their faces.”

Her lip quivered a little. “I don’t mean to.”

“Come on,” I pulled her off the floor. “Let’s talk.”

She rose reluctantly but just as I was starting to guide her to the kitchen there was a soft knock on the door. Stephanie’s head jerked up. “Wouldn’t be your ogre, would it?”

“No,” I said, frowning.

Stephanie picked up her bat and crept over to the peephole. She peered into the small pinpoint of light and then exhaled. “It’s just that chick you work with.”

“Saylor?”

“I guess.”

I went to the door. The lock was stuck from the broken key but after kicking the door and then yanking forcefully on the lock it came free. It wasn’t quite eight am. I wondered why the hell Saylor didn’t just call.

She had been crying. I saw that immediately. “Say.” I pulled her inside.

Saylor looked at me with anguished green eyes. “Truly? Will you come with me somewhere?”

“Of course, honey. You want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Saylor looked at the floor and sighed miserably.

“Is it Cord?”

She shook her head.

I felt the rise of fear in my gut. I scarcely dared to ask the next question.

“Creed then?”

“Yeah,” she nodded tiredly. “It’s Creed this time.”

“What’s wrong with Creed?” I whispered.

Saylor looked at me beseechingly. “Just come with me, Truly. Please. I shouldn’t drag you into this but I just can’t deal with going alone.”

Stephanie was still standing a few feet away, holding the bat. “You should go. I’m holing up here for a few days until shit blows over.”

Saylor looked at her, then at me. “What shit?”

I gave Stephanie a stern look. “I don’t know. That’s another unanswered question today. You’re not off the hook, missy.”

Steph rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

I nudged Saylor. “So where are we going anyway?”

She sighed. “Better bring your purse. We’ll be gone a few hours.”

I didn’t know how Saylor managed to drive a car around in this oven without air conditioning. As soon as the doors to her battered Civic closed I couldn’t breathe.

“Screw this,” I grumbled, flinging open the door. “We’re taking my car.”

Saylor gave me the first hint of a smile. “Actually, I was kind of hoping you’d say that. I’ll pay for gas.”

“And where might all that gas get us to?”

She waited until we were inside my car before answering. She sighed and carefully buckled her seatbelt. “Emblem.”





CHAPTER TWENTY TWO


CREED



I thought I was alone when I got the call. My phone buzzed in my pocket and as soon as I looked at it I knew what it was. The ticking time bomb had gone off.