“How scary was this noise?” The worried tone had kept back into Cassius’ voice. “I’m at least thirty minutes away, but I can send a patrol car to wait with you until I arrive.”
“I don’t want to inconvenience anyone else.” Lara bit her lip. Cassius needed to come alone, or Milo would take his frustration out on the unfortunately beat cop assigned to her. She lowered her voice, cupping her hand around the phone, “I have a confession to make.”
“If you’re admitting to any crime, it really should be done at the precinct.” Cassius’ brusque tone threw her.
“It’s not that kind of confession.” She paused and exhaled a shaky breath, squeezing her eyes shut as she expelled her secret. “James and I never consummated our relationship.”
Silence greeted her announcement.
“James wanted to wait until we were married; he felt since we both had been widowed, it would be a symbolic way to both say good-bye to our spouses and move forward with our lives.”
“There wasn’t a noise, was there?” Cassius said, his voice monotone.
“No.” She licked her lips. He wasn't coming.
“Why did you call me, Mrs. Angelov?”
She flinched when he used her married name and debated correcting him but let his formality slide.
“I don't want to be alone tonight.”
“I’m sure there are a myriad of men who would happily volunteer to fill that need for you.”
“I don’t trust a lot people—”
“We have that in common,” he murmured.
“Look, maybe I was wrong, but I thought I felt something between us, and with you working for the police... I would just feel safer knowing you were here.” She was rambling, but she couldn’t stop. “You don’t have to have sex with me; I’ll let you take the bed and sleep on the sofa.”
She could feel his hesitation through the phone.
“Please, Cassius,” she whispered.
“You’re not sleeping on the sofa,” he replied, his voice firm. “I have some things to take care of first, but I should be there by the time the pizza arrives.”
“Thank you.” Lara clicked off the phone and set it on the floor. She didn’t glance up when the air in front of her shimmered.
“Pizza?” Milo snickered. “You really went all out.”
She lifted her head, a smirk pulling at her lips. “You’re not going to watch the whole date, are you?”
Milo’s eyes narrowed. “I didn’t give you permission to fuck him.”
“I don’t need your permission. You said to get him over here. I did.” She climbed to her feet, offering Milo a sweet smile. “You need to leave, so I can change into something less suitable.”
Floating eye level with her, Milo’s outline flared, pulsating with anger. “Tease him all you want, Lara. He’ll be dead long before he tastes you. I’m taking Cassius tonight.”
CHAPTER 6
“I have some things to take care of first, but I should be there by the time the pizza arrives.”
Okay, so it wasn’t a total lie, but then why did he feel so guilty about it?
Because, of course, those things revolved around some more background checks on Lara. And because, of course, he would be sending someone else in the meantime.
Oops. There was the lie.
He shrugged, and as he hung up the call with her, he quickly went through his recent call list and pulled up the one he was looking for. Before he could hit the “Send” key on his cell phone, he went through her case file once more.
Something just wasn't adding up. She lost a lover, or rather, a fiancé, a year, and yet, she always managed to stay out of jail. How? She had to be guilty. There was no way she wasn’t. She was the only thing tying the victims together. It had to be her. Cassius just knew it. Everyone did.
Closing the file, Cassius made the call to his new partner. The thought made him chuckle to himself. He knew Dane wasn’t thrilled to have him on his team. He’d told him as much. And Cassius wasn’t exactly thrilled to be working with Dane either.
“Carter.”
Cassius laughed at the stern tone of the detective’s voice, and, standing up, pushed his chair in.
“Detective Carter. Don’t sound too happy to hear from me now... all that excitement just might kill me.”
A long exhale came through the phone. “Mr. Broxsby, I don’t have the time or the patience for the games. Is there something you need, or did you just call me out of straight boredom?”
Cassius shook his head as he closed and locked his front door. He darted toward his car and hopped in behind the wheel. “Now, now. Is that any way for co-workers to speak to one another?”
“I’m hanging up now. Good-bye, Cass—”
“I need you to head over to the Angelov residence,” Cassius abruptly stated, cutting off Dane’s response.
“What did you find out?”
“I’m not sure yet.” Cassius knew that would grab Dane’s attention.
He typed in Lara’s address into his GPS, which had been engraved into his mind since he’d read the file.
Shit. There was traffic. A typical thirty-minute drive over to her house was now going to take him well over forty-five minutes. Fuck, she wouldn’t be too happy with him once she’d see Dane sitting outside of her house, which she no doubt would. He knew she’d look for him out of her window when thirty minutes would be up, and he still wouldn’t be there.
Well, he didn’t have much of a choice now. He pulled out onto the main road and began his long drive over to Lara’s. He needed to haul ass if he was going to get there as soon as possible. But there was a stop he needed to make first.
Cassius stopped at the first red light. “She called me saying she heard a noise and is freaking out.”
“Oh, I see. She’s playing the victim once more. What does that have to do with me going there?”
Cassius didn’t know how to take that. Sure, he thought—knew—she was guilty, too, but why did he feel the need to protect or defend her? It was evident he was insanely attracted to her—there was no denying that—but lusting after someone and doing what’s right were two very different things.
“I won’t be able to get there for at least another forty-five minutes. I need you there to keep watch outside of her house.”
“Why outside? Doesn’t she want someone to look around and check the scene if she’s so freaked out?”
That was the one thing Cassius had questioned as well. She had been scared enough to call him over some suspicious noise, later only to find out that was total B.S. She just wanted an excuse to call him... and invite him over. “She made it clear that she doesn’t want anyone there... but me.”
A scoff. “Ah. She’s chosen her next victim. You’d better bring a loaded gun or a knife for your own protection. Don’t even turn your back on her... she may just push you out of a window.”
Cassius rolled his eyes and turned onto the highway. “I highly doubt that, Dane. She wouldn’t do that to me... that would seriously make her look incriminating, even if no one has their doubts about her.”