8
Trees climbed the stairs, made sure all the lights were on, then let himself out of the dungeon. He hadn’t dared to look at Laila again before he left. He couldn’t let himself be swayed. Or suckered by those hazel eyes he kept losing himself in. He had to figure out—once and for all—where her allegiances lay.
How the fuck are you going to do that?
Sighing, he headed for the shower. He needed to clear his head, and he thought better here. If he didn’t rid his thoughts of Laila—her scent, her taste, and that look in her eyes when desire overwhelmed her defenses and she finally moaned and spilled secrets from her lush lips—he’d get nowhere.
He turned on the water, undressed, then stepped under the pelting spray. Then he went through the motions—soaping up, then jacking off to a hollow orgasm he hoped would purge Laila from his thoughts. It didn’t. He sank to the tiled bench and hung his head with a sigh. He hadn’t managed to accomplish much in the last few minutes, except to fixate on Laila more.
God, this need for her had him so fucked up.
With a sigh, he cut off the shower and toweled off. After he yanked on some fresh clothes and padded out of his bedroom, he didn’t feel any better. Everything inside him wanted her to be innocent, but he was afraid the truth would crush him. Still, sticking his head in the sand wasn’t his speed. Lives were at stake, and he couldn’t let emotions cloud him.
Trees knew what he had to do, no matter how much it killed him.
After flipping on the coffeepot, he headed to the garage while his brew dripped and retrieved Laila’s belongings, which he’d gathered from her beach bungalow. After planting in the kitchen, he yanked open the duffel he’d shoved everything into, prowling around for anything useful. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much except a phone he’d never seen her carry. Since it showed some wear and tear, it obviously wasn’t new. The case around it was black and gray and geometric. Definitely masculine. He flipped it over and found initials: vmr.
Holy shit, was this Victor’s device? Why would Laila have it? Had she swiped the man’s phone…or had he given it to her in the hopes it wouldn’t fall into enemy hands?
Somewhere along the way, she’d turned the device off, so he powered it up. To his shock, he got right in, no password required. What the fuck? A man in Victor’s line of work should definitely have the protection of a secure password—at a minimum.
Quickly, Trees checked the device to ensure that every means of tracking was disabled. Wifi and cellular off. Ditto with location services. No roaming.
Time to take this bitch apart.
Before he could dive in, his own phone rang in his bedroom. He thought about ignoring it. There wasn’t anyone he wanted to talk to now.
Except Laila. You need the truth from her.
No, what he really needed was to get naked with her and avoid talking altogether, except with their bodies.
That was a bad idea.
Muttering a curse, Trees plucked the device off his bathroom counter, surprised to see Zy calling this late. “What’s up, buddy?”
“Checking in on you. Kane told me you brought Laila by to visit her family.”
“Yeah. She needed it.” There was a point to Zy’s call, and Trees just wanted to get to it. “What’s up?”
“Not much. How’s it going with her?”
“It’s going about like I expected. Everything with Laila is somewhere between a battle and a riddle. You?”
“Good. Hallie started a swim class tonight. The whole thing was cute as hell, but it wore her out. She went down early, so Tessa and I are just hanging out.”
Translation: they had the rest of the evening to themselves. “And you’re wasting your time with me?”
“Well, I’m hoping we can make this chat quick.” Then Zy’s levity died. “Kane said you didn’t look like you were in a good place mentally. Want to tell me about it?”
Kane’s snitching pissed Trees off, even if the guy had meant well. “I don’t know whether Laila is trying to protect me from Ramos or sell me down the river to save herself.”
“I hate to give you your own tough love, but the advice you gave me when I wasn’t sure about Tessa was spot on. You’re going to have to probe her for answers—whether that’s with your words or your dick is up to you. But you have to get to the bottom of whatever she’s up to. Not only does EM need the info but I know you. The uncertainty is killing you.”
Sometimes he hated the way Zy could read his mind. “Yeah.”
“Can you do some of your Dom stuff on Laila and make her talk?”
“I tried. Not happening, at least not now. I’m too far gone, and I need answers too bad. So I’m sitting here with Victor Ramos’s phone, trying to decide if I really want to open this can of worms.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Yeah.” He’d come to that conclusion, not only to see if it held any information about Laila’s allegiance but to discern Ramos’s whereabouts. The fucker was loose and dangerous.
“Zy?” Trees heard Tessa call softly in the background. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were on the phone.”
“Be right there, baby,” his best friend replied.
“Don’t worry about me, man. I’ll figure this out,” Trees assured. “Enjoy your evening with Tessa.”
Zy let out a harsh breath. “With her dressed in lingerie like that, I definitely will. I don’t know what I did to deserve that woman, but I’m a lucky son of a bitch. Call me if you need me, okay?”
“Sure.” But Trees wouldn’t. Zy had the love he deserved because he’d listened to his feelings and followed his heart. No matter what wrongdoing he’d suspected Tessa of, he’d led with his gut. And now he was living a happily ever after that made Trees envious as hell.