Beneath These Lies (16 page)

I dropped my gaze to my wine and took a drink. A really, really big drink.

“Guess that’s all the answer I need then.” He set his glass down on the table. “So cut the shit, Valentina, and tell me what it is.”

I sucked back the rest of my wine, not meeting his eyes until I lowered my glass.

“I’m not in trouble. I’m fine.”

“I don’t believe you.”

I had to give him something. He wasn’t going to leave it alone. And I sucked at lying. “You said you’ve taken out multiple women. Well, I’m seeing someone else too. And no, I’m not telling you who he is.”

Hennessy reached for his bourbon and knocked back the rest. “Guess I was right, then. I’m definitely more into you than you’re into me.”

I smiled weakly. “I . . . This wasn’t exactly planned.” To myself I added,
And “seeing” isn’t even accurate because I don’t have a clue what I’m really doing with him.

“Some of the best things aren’t planned.”

The server stopped by our table to deliver another round of drinks, and both Rhett and I reached for them immediately.

“So, I totally understand if you just want to take me home and forget I exist,” I said after another gulp of liquid courage.

Rhett shook his head. “Nah. I’m not out of this race yet. I’m sitting across from you, not him. That means I’ve still got a shot.”

I was an idiot. It took me until just that moment to recognize that I’d found myself caught between two men who were the rare and mystical alpha breed. And I’d just made this a competition. Neither Rix nor Rhett were the kind of guy to turn down a challenge.

“Well . . . um . . .”
Come on, Valentina, think of something to say
.

I was rescued once again by the server who asked if we were interested in dessert or needed boxes. I took that moment to excuse myself and headed to the ladies’ room.

Once inside, I locked the door and stared at my reflection in the mirror. “What the hell am I doing?”

I pulled my phone from my bag and saw I had missed a text message from Rix. It was a single word.

R
IX
: MINE.

Would he be inside my house waiting when I got home tonight? What if Rhett kissed me at the door? Would Rix come storming out and . . . God, what would he do? My anxiety jumped several notches.

What the hell was I going to do about this mess? Rhett was the better choice. The safer choice. I didn’t even know what to categorize Rix as other than
not a realistic option
. Did I want him to be an option? My ongoing fascination with him, not to mention me being flat on my back in his bed this afternoon, said I did.

After washing my hands in cold water and giving myself another pep talk, I ignored Rix’s text and walked back to the table. Rhett was gone.

I turned in a circle, surveying the restaurant. Had he changed his mind and left? Was I wrong about the competition? I had a hard time believing that, but there was no sign of him.

The server hurried over. “Your boyfriend had to step out to take a call. He’ll be right back. He ordered you a latte and the chocolate torte. I’ll have both out in a second.”

I opened my mouth to protest the boyfriend label, but decided the server didn’t care. At least the mystery was solved. I took my seat, and she came back with the most divine chocolate confection I’d ever seen. I was scraping the remnants from the plate and trying to talk myself out of licking it clean when Rhett came back inside.

“Sorry about that, Valentina. I need to cut this short and get you home.” He gave me a rueful smile. “Work. Never stops.”

Being a cop was ingrained in every aspect of Rhett’s life, and seemed to rule it too. I wondered if the other ladies in his life had found it to be trying, but I was more curious about what had come up. Thoughts of Trinity were never far from my mind.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Not usually. Let’s get you home, and I’ll get back to fighting crime and keeping the city safe.”

I stood, and as we left the restaurant, his hand rested on the small of my back. It was a clear sign that he wasn’t giving up on this yet, and I needed to figure out exactly what I thought about it.

My mind raced with the same thoughts I’d had in the bathroom as Rhett walked me up the sidewalk to my front door. Was Rix inside? Was Rhett going to kiss me? What did I want?

I was saved from having to answer that question when his phone rang again. He pulled it from his pocket and apologized.

“I gotta take this. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll stop by the gallery tomorrow.” He stepped toward me and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “And that’ll have to tide me over until I get another chance to make it a better one. Sleep well, Valentina.”

And then he was gone.

My hand was steady as I let myself in the house, but my heart pounded. I turned on the light as soon as I stepped inside. The foyer was empty. Wherever Rix was, it wasn’t here.

I closed and locked the door behind me and set the alarm. Pulling my phone from my purse, I read the single word of his text again.

MINE
.

Where was he? I hadn’t realized I was expecting to see him again tonight until that moment. Walking through my empty house gave me far too much time to think. I’d always loved my space and my time alone, but now it didn’t seem to be enough.

Things were changing. I was changing. I needed to decide what I wanted, and then figure out if it was even realistic.

I wandered into my studio and selected a fresh canvas and set up a mirror. It was time for an introspective, and what better way to do that than a self-portrait?

“W
HAT THE HELL IS YOUR
problem, man? I told you I was coming,” I said as soon as I was back in my car. “This better be a fucking emergency.”

“Shit’s going down tonight. A big deal. My CI just called me, and we need to get there and see who’s doing the buying and selling,” Fortier replied.

“Where am I meeting you? I’m in my Jeep.”

He relayed an address, and a quick search of my mental map told me I was heading into the hood. Worked for me as long as it got us another step closer to bringing down the head of a drug ring. Cartels getting their claws into my city pissed me the fuck off.

“I’ll see you in ten. And you owe me a night without this bullshit because you hijacked my date,” I said, not waiting for a response before I ended the call.

My mind was on Valentina as I backed out of her driveway. She’d been acting strangely all day, both earlier at the gallery and then tonight.

The fact that she’d admitted she was seeing another guy surprised me. That could be what was causing her off behavior, but I wasn’t entirely sure yet.

I’d find out, though. She was the first woman to grab my attention like this in a long time. Before she’d been off-limits, and now . . . now I’d decided that those limits weren’t relevant anymore. Life was short. You had to take chances to get what you wanted or you’d miss your shot.

I could handle a little healthy competition. Hell, I thrived on competition. I just had to find out who my competition was.

S
HE DIDN’T RESPOND.
I
DIDN’T
expect her to, but like a little bitch, I kept my phone close all night. Buying. Selling. Another day in my shadows.

How in the fuck had this woman become the shaft of light that showed me exactly how dark my world was? And now that I knew it, what was I supposed to do about it?

I wanted her in my bed, but I couldn’t take her out in this city like the cop she was with tonight—and that burned. I lived in the shadows and she was the light. We couldn’t coexist peacefully, and yet I couldn’t just leave her alone. Not yet. I wasn’t ready.

The image of her face as she rode out her orgasm rose in my memory. Hottest fucking thing I’d ever seen. Life-changing even.

And she was dating a cop.

That had to end. I would make it end. I didn’t share, and I wasn’t going to start now.

“Yo, Rix. You comin’ or what?”

Eight-Ball waited for me on the far side of the warehouse. Product was supposed to change hands tonight, but Eight had gotten a tip that the cops were on the move, and called it off before even talking to me. Healthy fear of going back to prison made him quick on the trigger with decisions like that, but also made him a good second-in-command.

“Right behind you.”

I surveyed the empty warehouse once again. The cops wouldn’t find a damn thing here thanks to Eight’s quick thinking. When I shut and locked the door behind me, I caught sight of a Jeep across the street, tucked between an abandoned building and a burned-out van. I would have missed it, but since the van was destroyed, I could see through it in sections.

Well, there they are. Hello, Five-0. Nothing to see here tonight
.

I climbed into the passenger seat of Eight’s Yukon and watched the Jeep from the side mirror until we turned the corner.

G
IRLS’ NIGHT WAS ONE OF
those things that women who had a bunch of other female friends did. I’d been a loner for so long that I barely understood how this kind of thing worked, and I felt even more guilty about going because Trinity was still locked up somewhere and I was helpless to get her out. Distraction. This was all a distraction.

While I waited in my portico for the car to pick me up, my thumbs hovered over the screen of my phone. No update from Rix, and no sign of one coming.

Screw it
. I needed to know what was going on. I didn’t give myself time to think as I fired off a text.

V
ALENTINA
: Update?

I waited semi-patiently for five minutes. No reply. The car pulled up and Elle threw open the door. I hurried outside, about to shove my phone in my purse when it vibrated.

R
IX
: You let him touch you?

“Hey, girl!” Yve called from inside the car.

Elle was waving like Miss America before she switched to motioning to the open door like Vanna White. “Your carriage awaits.”

Smiling despite my urge to strangle Rix, I slid inside.

Yve and Elle’s excitement could be explained by the bottle of Fireball in Yve’s hand. “We’re meeting the others at the restaurant, and then after we’re going to a jazz club for a little atmosphere.”

“Okay.”

Yve handed over the Fireball. “We’re doing a little pre-gaming, old-school style.”

Elle laughed. “More like I grabbed the fifth that was on the counter right before you rolled up in this fancy car, and you decided it was a great idea.”

My phone buzzed again and I pulled it out.

R
IX
: Still waiting on that answer.

I was thinking the Fireball sounded like a great idea as well. Rix was playing games with me, and my patience was shot.

“Feel free to pass the bottle this way.”

Both Elle and Yve looked at me, smiling in approval. “Tonight’s going to be fun,” Elle said as she grabbed the bottle from Yve and passed it over.

I swigged and handed it back, rather proud of myself that I didn’t cough. Other than the shots at the bachelorette party, drinking straight liquor wasn’t exactly normal for me in the last ten years.