The Woman from the Past (Grassi Framily)

So Cammie could slip one on and not be so recognizable in her hideous pink shirt.

My gaze slid to Cammie who was watching me with uncertain eyes.

“It’s up to you. You want to be a rebel again?”

“Again?”

“Pretty rebellious to come all the way up to Navesink Bank,” I reminded her. “At least this time you won’t be worried that I might shoot you right there in the calla lily patch,” I said, making a snort escape her.

“Oh, so have you guys ever noticed how there is a little hallway from the bathroom that has a door marked storage closet?” Traveler said, tone breezy. “Funny story. I don’t have a storage closet. It totally leads into the back room, but I don’t want creeps using the bathroom to sneak back there and surprise me.”

And there it was.

Our escape route.

“We’ll keep an eye on shit,” Nino assured us. “But you’re burning her break just sitting here.”

With that, Cammie made her decision, getting up and heading toward the bathroom.

I waited a solid minute or two before following.

When I got in the back room, Cammie was already pulling one of Travelers oversize black hoodies over her head.

Satan take the Wheel.

“It seemed appropriate,” Cammie said, offering me a smile as she shoved her arms in the sleeves.

“You’re going to need this too,” I said, walking up to her, getting closer than I had probably ever been, close enough to smell the lavender vanilla scent of her soap or lotion still clinging to her skin, and reaching to pull the hood up over her head.

“Do I blend in now?” she asked, looking up at me.

My hands were still holding the sides of the hood, my knuckles brushing her jaw as I stood there looking down at her.

There was a strange pulsation in the air between us right then. It seemed to penetrate through the skin and pulse in my chest as well.

Cammie swallowed hard, her lips falling open slightly at the end, drawing my attention there.

Oh, who the fuck was I kidding? My attention was already there.

Was it fucked up to want to kiss the woman whose boyfriend you once murdered?

Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was.

But there was no denying it, either.

“Hey,” Traveler said, coming in from the front, making both of us yank away and turn. “Whoops. Bad timing. Anyway,” she said, going over toward her bag and fishing out some keys. “Take my car. They won’t even look twice at it,” she said, tossing the keys in our direction. “And even if they did, they couldn’t see you.”

With that, she was gone, and we had no choice but to shuffle a bit awkwardly out back to see what she was talking about.

“Isn’t it illegal to have tint that dark? Cammie asked as we approached the small pick-up truck whose emblem on the back said it was electric.

“Not when your father is the chief of police, I guess,” I told her, going toward her door to open it, watching the confused look she shot at me. “Mom would chip me with a frying pan if she heard I didn’t open the door for a woman,” I told her, getting a big smile out of her.

“I think I’d like your mom. Does she know that August picks fights with random women?” she asked when I moved around the car and slid into the driver’s seat.

“Ma has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to August. He’s the baby. Traveler gives as good as she gets, don’t worry. Better, even. It’s why he keeps pushing her. He’s used to getting his way. She won’t let him.”

“If they don’t end up in bed before you guys leave town, I would be shocked,” Cammie said, and my damn mind flashed to her in a bed instead.