The elevator dings and Jude is striding down the hall with fire in his eyes, Julian and Fred/Rex at his back as well as two cops behind them.
I try to hide that my heart is beating so fast it feels like it’ll pound straight out of my chest.
“Hi. What’s up?” I ask casually.
“Where is he?” Jude demands, getting to me.
“Who?” I give him a look. A stop-talking look.
“You know who. The fuck, Ally?”
“Wade? Oh, he um… he left. Like, ages ago. I was just locking up and…”
The one cop presses his radio and talks into it.
They’re blocking entrances.
They’re outside.
The other cop moves forward.
“Wade Daystrom left already?” the other cop asks.
“Oh yeah, at least twenty minutes ago.”
“What happened?” Julian asks.
Jude is staring at me like he can see through my lie.
I give him a wide-eyed look, telling him to say nothing with my eyes. I hope he understands and just lets this go.
I move away from my door, hoping to not draw attention to it.
“Let’s get home,” I say. “Everyone will be there soon for dinner.”
I glance at my phone screen. Shit. Everyone’s probably there by now. This has taken longer than I expected.
“They’re all there,” Jude says through clenched teeth. “What were you doing here?”
“Can we talk on the way there? I need to get back and get my Yorkshires in the oven. They take like twenty-five minutes. I’ll call your mom and ask her to tent the roast and jack the heat up.” I head past Jude, his brother, Fred/Rex, and the two cops waving for them to follow.
“Alyssa,” Jude growls, low, catching my hand and halting me.
Both cops have expectant eyes on me.
“He came, wanted to talk to me. I asked him to turn himself in and he promised he’d consider it. Then he left.”
The one cop looks at me like he knows I’m lying. I avoid looking at the other cop.
“Mind if we check the apartment, ma’am?” the first cop asks.
“Ma’am? I’m not even thirty for two and a half more years,” I scoff. “But actually, I need to get home. I have a huge family dinner planned and everything, so…”
“Open the door, babe,” Jude orders.
I glare at him, meaningfully.
He gives me a meaningful look, too. “It’s not gonna help. He’s not gettin’ outta here, Ally.”
“He’s not here,” I lie. “I just said he left twenty minutes ago. Are you accusing me of lying?”
Two more cops are on the floor. Jude reaches into his pocket and pulls out his own keys to my apartment and unlocks the door.
Shit.
Fuck.
My fucking alphahole roommate strikes again.
I shoot daggers from my eyes at him and watch Julian, Rex, and four cops march into my apartment.
I slide down the wall, blowing my hair out of my eyes before putting my forehead to my knee.
A few minutes later, they haul Wade out of there in handcuffs. He gives me a sad smile.
I’m still sitting on the floor, but I’m looking up at him with tears in my eyes.
I mouth, “I’m sorry,” to him and he shrugs as they walk him down the hall to the elevator.
“Let’s go,” Jude grinds out. I look up. He’s locking the door and Rex and Julian are heading for the elevator.
The cops and Wade are gone.
I wipe my eyes and take a big breath.
Jude storms to the elevator, too and he stabs the button with his thumb.
“Ally!” I hear him growl at the same time as there’s a ding of the elevator, so I get up, square my shoulders and head to the elevator.
The ride down takes forever. I’m in here with a huge whack of testosterone coming from these three guys who all seem mad at me.
They don’t get it. They don’t know who Wade is. I do.
He was trying to be a hero. Trying to be my hero. He’s a good guy who thought he was taking down the bad guys.
Just before we hit the main level, Jude says, “Don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna do with you.”
I give him a look of challenge. “Do with me?” I put my hands to my hips.
“You’re damn lucky you’re not in the back of that squad car right now, too, woman. The cops were not fuckin’ happy at that shit you just tried to pull and it’s gonna take more sweet talkin’ later when they get him booked to keep your ass out of the fire.”
I say nothing.
“Here.” He hands me a stack of cash. “The money you gave your friend for his getaway. He handed it to me when I opened the door to your little hidey hole. You’re lucky I pocketed it before the cops came in.”
I pull my lips tight and stuff the cash into my purse. I went to three separate ATMs to get five grand out. If not for that, I could’ve probably been back before anyone was the wiser.