“Eva number one. We have a loooong history of visits to the emergency rooms at various hospitals. Fifteen visits over the past two years alone. Broken bones, bruises, concussions, busted lip, and reports of old healed wounds,” Reece said, scrolling through the records.
“I’d put her ahead of the other possibility, only because the other comes up with nothing, and this one screams of domestic abuse.”
“So where do we start?” Dane asked, “Where would you start?”
“Me?” Asked Reece, looking lost in thought, “I’d start with maybe staking out her listed address, see if you can track her down. Give me your phone,” he said, motioning to Dane. Dane raised an eyebrow at me. I swallowed a chuckle as Dane gave Reece his phone. To say Dane didn’t like Reece would be an understatement, between his condescending tone and his attempts at flirting with me, Dane was visibly far from impressed.
Reece flicked through the phone, opened up the camera and took a snap of the screen. Handing the phone back to Dane, he began writing down some information on a slip of paper.
I looked questionably at Dane, who held the phone up for me to see. It was a picture of a woman. A mug shot. Eva, I guessed. It was dated 2010, so for our purposes it was pretty recent.
“Here is her home address, her social security number, and the details of her car. Make, model, registration,” he explained, handing the piece of paper to me.
“Brownsville,” I murmured, “Where the hell is Brownsville?”
Reece laughed, “No, you can’t tell you’re not from around here,” he mocked, his face full of horror. “If you guys head to Brownsville, then you probably want to try and not draw attention to yourselves,” he added, his eyes once again roaming over my body.
“I think we will be fine, dude. Thanks,” Dane said, “If we need anything else, we will call you.” Dane’s tone made it clear our meeting was over. Reece looked confused for a moment, and then seemed to get the message.
“Right. Well I guess that’s my cue to leave. Call me if you need anything,” he winked at me, “Especially you, cutie,” he said, lowering his voice. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Dane was ready to pop. Part of me was secretly thrilled that he was so annoyed by the attention Reece was giving me, the other part of me wanted this douche to leave.
“See you, Reece,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Chapter Eighteen
Once he had gone, Dane let loose.
“Can you believe the nerve of that guy?” He ranted, pacing along the window. His arm extended up to his head, where he ran his hand through his hair, “I mean, he was harassing you,” he grumbled.
“Relax Dane. No harm done. And we have all this stuff to go on tomorrow,” I added, pointing to the list, “Where is the photo of Eva again?” Dane handed his phone to me. I studied her. She looked to be in her early twenties, though her eyes looked much older and full of torment, as though she’d been through a lot in her life. Her long dark hair looked dull and listless, and her skin was pale. At one time in her life, I didn’t doubt she had been a very attractive young woman.
I put his phone on the table, and lay down on the couch. Dane sat down, crossing one leg over his lap. He gave me a smile. I smiled back, but inside I was melting.
Oh boy. Don’t smile at me like that.
His smile made me want him so badly. It was amazing how that crooked little grin could make me drop every defence and insecurity, and just make me need him.
“What?” He said, amused. I blushed as I realised I had been staring at him like a dork. “Why were you looking at me like that?” He pressed. He grinned again. He knew. He knew exactly why I had been looking at him. He knew his smile made him irresistible to me.
“I wasn’t staring, I was thinking,” I argued, poking my tongue out at him.
“Oh yeah?” He grinned, “about what exactly?”
Oh god, there’s that grin again.
“Lil?” Dane cocked his head. He slid off his chair, and knelt down in front of me, “you’re in a world of your own tonight,” he whispered, pulling me down and kissing my lips tenderly. He was right. I wasn’t thinking straight. Maybe it was jetlag? Because yes, a three hour flight could do that to you…
I let his lips join mine, aware of his hand wandering under the confines of my shirt. I liked this. I liked this a lot. Sighing, I sat up. Thinking about how much I enjoyed kissing him had made me think about how much I liked this guy, which of course made me think of ‘that’ text message.
Love you. Argggh! Why the hell had I done that?
“Lil?” Dane’s forehead creased, half amused and half concerned. He climbed onto the sofa next to me, his arm over my shoulder. He kissed my forehead as he waited for me to say something. “Now you’re starting to worry me, sexy,” He frowned at me, his fingers brushing my blonde stands of hair from my eyes.
“I’m embarrassed!” I confessed, my hands flying to cover my face, “In that message yesterday…” My voice trailed off, too horrified to repeat those words to him. Again.
“Lil-” He began.
“No, please don’t! The last thing I want is your pity. Please, forget it,” I pushed him aside, removing myself from the sofa, away from his intoxicating smell, and that sexy, wonderful smile. I had to get away.