“Ah, shit, Leighton. I’m sorry, I know you’re with your girl, but this is kinda important. Hey, why don’t you give me the address and I’ll meet you at her place. Meet me down on the street, give me Presley’s spare key and then you can go back to doing whatever you’re doing.”
What I was doing was his sister.
And I was positive he wouldn’t want me going back to that.
Not to mention I couldn’t exactly volunteer my location. Tibbs might not be the smartest man alive but even he would question why I was in Presley’s apartment when I was supposed to be with my “girl.”
Presley’s head shook under my hand, probably wondering why I was muzzling her while I was talking on the phone.
“Tibbs,” I said both into the phone and to her. “It’s fine, you sure you want to go to Presley’s? You know she’s not usually awake before noon.”
Like the smart girl that she was, her eyes flared in recognition. Her hand reached up to mine, pulling it away from her mouth as she stayed silent, shuffling up the bed as she listened.
“Dude, I know. But this is important. She’ll get pissed and then get over it. Not a lot she can do when I’m on her doorstep.”
Well, he clearly had his head up his ass because there was plenty she could do. But I was thanking the saints and angels that he’d decided to call before heading over wanting the spare key and not just turned up and pressed the fucking buzzer.
“Okay, give me twenty-five, I’ll meet you there.” I shook my head wondering what kind of shitshow it was going to turn into. “Bye.”
“What the fuck?” I’d barely ended the call when Presley leapt from the bed. She was still extremely naked, which shouldn’t have been as distracting as it was considering the circumstances.
What? I’d already admitted I had issues.
“Lewis was seen around the club last night, Tibbs tried to call you this morning. Your phone’s off,” I paraphrased, joining her off the bed while I pulled on my underwear. “He’s on his way over to talk to you about it.”
“Why can’t he just leave a message like a regular person?” She tossed me my jeans while I pulled my T-shirt over my head. “It’s like he doesn’t trust a recorded message which will literally give me the information exactly as he says it.”
We didn’t have time to debate her brother’s inability to leave voicemail, tossing on my pants as I tried to find my socks and shoes. “Presley, I’ve got nothing. But unless you want our grand reveal to be right now, I need to get downstairs to meet him, and you need to be suitably surprised when he arrives.”
She nodded, grabbing a fluffy bathrobe. “What about your bag?”
“I’ll take it down with me and toss it in the car.” I moved to her, my hands resting on her hips. “I’ll go back to my apartment with Tibbs so he doesn’t get suspicious and then come back later.”
“Do you promise?” She grabbed my arms, bringing me closer.
“I promise. I better go. I have no idea if he’s walking or driving and the last thing he needs to see is me leaving here with a bag in my hand.” I kissed her, wanting it to last longer but knowing we were on the clock.
With my socks and shoes located, I threw them on and grabbed the rest of my things. I did a quick sweep of the apartment, checking to see I hadn’t left anything and then after one final kiss, I walked out of Presley’s loft.
Not bothering to wait for the elevator, I ran down the stairs to the main front door, checking to see the coast was clear before punching open the glass and stepping onto the street. I jogged around back to where I’d left my car, tossing my bag in the trunk.
So far there’d been no sign of Tibbs, which meant I had time to go through the stupid charade of pretending I’d just arrived and was waiting for him. Shaking my head, I checked my phone, locking my car again and leaning against the hood. If I arrived at the front too early, he’d be wondering how I’d gotten there so fast. And since he had no idea where my mystery woman lived, I had to at least keep up the pretense that it had taken me the whole twenty-five minutes.
I waited thirty.
Chilling with my ride until half an hour had passed and then I slowly strolled back to the front of the building where surprise, surprise, Tibbs was waiting.
“Sorry, dude,” I apologized, not in any real hurry.
Tibbs shook his head. “It’s fine, thanks for meeting me. Things must be going pretty good with you and this girl if you were with her again last night. When are you going to introduce her to us?”
“Soon,” I coughed out, wanting to change the subject as soon as possible. “So should we go up?”
He hadn’t asked me for the assist, but like hell I was going to let him go up there alone. Last thing Presley needed was to deal with an overbearing Tibbs on her own, especially since I was partly to blame for his appearance anyway. Had to think if I hadn’t been around, wearing her out with our extracurricular activities, she’d have probably not switched off her phone. And even if I wasn’t feeling some residual guilt for his early morning visit, I wanted to know if there was any other information he hadn’t shared yet.
Tibbs hesitated, putting in the code for the external door. “You don’t have to, man, you can head back to your girl or home . . . I’ve probably asked more of you than I should.”
“Hey, fuck that, Tibbs. You know I’d do anything for Presley . . . and for you,” I quickly added. “Let’s head up there and let her yell at you for a bit.”
He nodded, heading to the elevator. “Right? I’m surprised she hasn’t taken a chunk out of you yet, that charm of yours must really be working.”
You have no idea.
“Must be.”
We took the ride to Presley’s loft in silence, the metal doors opening with a ping on her floor.
He knocked on her front door, giving her a chance to answer before he unlocked it with his reacquired key. I was probably going to have to get it back, the idea that he could drop by unannounced, not one that sat well with me.
“Who is it?” Presley sounded suitably annoyed, her voice coming from behind the door.
“It’s me and Leighton,” Tibbs responded, oblivious she already knew as I played along. “Open up or I’ll let myself in.”
We heard the lock disengage, followed by a few curse words and then the door opened.
She looked amazing, her mess of brown curls no tamer than the thirty minutes before I’d left, her fluffy bathrobe covering those amazing curves. Her eyes were wild, shooting her brother a murderous look while she played her part being annoyed.
God, I wanted to kiss her. Right there in front of Tibbs and not give a fuck what anyone thought.
“You were just going to burst into my apartment, uninvited?” She pointed to the key in his hand. “What if I’d had a date spend the night? You might’ve got an eyeful more than you bargained for.”
I raised my brow, trying to hide my smirk.
She was being naughty, and I loved it.
Tibbs rolled his eyes. “Well, were you? Because if you were and he’s already gone, not much of a man, is he?”
Ouch.
That fucking stung.
And he had a point.