Strong Enough (Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #1)(19)

And I almost wish I hadn’t.

The DMV picture of a woman Matt used to date is pulled up on the screen. It’s zoomed in on some kind of back-end page that has all sorts of details I imagine aren’t accessible to the general public. I forget for the moment that Jasper has probably hacked a government site to get this information. I forget it because I’m too busy staring at the address highlighted under Megan’s picture. I know it. I spent many a night there, in Matt’s arms, listening to him tell me he loved me, wishing I felt that he really did.

And now Megan lives there.

I guess Matt could’ve moved out and Megan could’ve moved in. That’s possible, but highly unlikely. Matt loved that house. His mother had lived there when she was a girl and it was the place she talked about more than anything else when she lay in a hospital bed, dying of cancer. I can’t imagine Matt ever letting that house go. People don’t throw away things they love. They keep them, fight for them. Ask them to stay. Follow them to the ends of the earth if they must.

I close my eyes against the beautiful, smiling face staring back at me. I knew Matt didn’t love me. Or at least not enough. But this . . . this proof, it makes it hurt all over again.

As rude as it is to eavesdrop, it’s nearly impossible not to when the quiet is so deafening.

“That’s okay, Megan. I don’t need to leave a message. I can just call back later. Do you happen to know when Matt will be home?”

That’s all I need to hear. More than I ever wanted to hear.

I toss the room service book onto the couch and go for my purse, not bothering to interrupt Jasper to let him know where I’m going. At the moment, I don’t even know myself.





TEN


Jasper

I knew the instant Muse left. There’s a difference in the environment when she’s around. A vibration almost, like her energy stirs the air when she breathes. The presence of another person also slightly changes the acoustics in any given space, absorbing sound, like pictures on a wall. Besides that, I heard the door click shut as she exited, even over the sultry voice of her ex-boyfriend’s new roommate, Megan.

I don’t doubt she stumbled upon my laptop. I left it open for a reason. And I didn’t close my door for a reason, too. She needs to know the situation before we arrive at her hometown. It’s always best to be prepared. Even when it’s uncomfortable.

She won’t go far, so I wait for two hours before I strike out to look for her. I could call her cell. I have her number from her friend Tracey. I doubt she’d answer it, though, wherever she is.

I take the elevator down to the lobby and I glance down the main hall. Only a coffee shop down there. Not a place she’d go when she’s upset, I’m sure, so I push through the glass entry door and step out into the night. There are lights to the left, darkness to the right. I go left. She’s not stupid enough to try the right. Not with a cautious father like hers.

The second building I come to is a tavern. It has a heavy antique-wood door and flickering carriage house lights on either side of it. It looks dark and inviting, the perfect place to hide in plain sight.

I pull open the door and scan the interior. Long oak bar straight ahead, small hallway and bathrooms to the left, gallery of mostly-full tables and chairs to the right.

Even though she’s facing away from me, I spot Muse within seconds. She’s sitting at the bar and her flaming hair, shining like a dark, fiery penny, is a beacon of color in an otherwise bland landscape. As I watch, she throws back her head and laughs, laughs so hard she almost falls off her stool. I twitch, ready to jump forward and catch her, but a youngish blond guy happily steadies her. I clench my teeth when his hand lingers too long at the base of her spine, his fingers dangerously close to the skin visible between her shirt and her pants.

I tune out the muted music and the three-dozen other conversations going on, and I listen closely for the unique sound of Muse’s voice. It’s a little husky and a lot feminine with a southern twang to it. Sweet charm and sexy stripper, all rolled into one.

I take a step closer when I see the blond slide his palm over her back and pull her against his side. Muse, still laughing, slouches into him for a second before pulling away and signaling the bartender.

“Two more shosh, please,” she slurs, tapping two empty glasses on the bar.

I watch blond guy’s hand stray down to her waist, pause and then move to cup her ass. Muse seems not to notice, as that’s when the bartender sets two more shots of something clear down in front of her.

She sips all of one and then starts in on the other one as her brazen cohort scoots his stool closer and leans in to whisper something in her ear. Muse laughs again, falling forward over the bar and resting her forehead against it while she slaps the shiny wood with her free hand.

I bristle as I watch. I don’t make a move until I see Asshole turn his torso toward Muse and reach in with his other hand, presumably aiming for the inside of her thigh. We’ll never know, I suppose.

I’m on him so fast he doesn’t even have time to choke out a single syllable. I jerk him off his stool, slam his head into the edge of the bar, which makes a satisfying crack, and then I haul him up and around to stare into his face. I wind my fingers around his throat.

“I think that’s enough touching for tonight,” I growl.

“What the fu—”