Adler (The Henchmen MC 14)

"Oh, I call bullshit," I told him, closing and leaning back against the door.

"How so?"

"I don't think you got me. I think you had no leads, gave up, came home, and heard Linny moving around in here. Then figured it all out."

"Me? Givin' up? Goes to show how much ya got to learn about me, duchess."

"Where have you been for the past few days then?"

"Went to Geoff first, asked some questions of him and the guys, tried to get something on you. Even a last name to go by. Got dick. Geoff might be a bastard, but he runs a tight ship. No one would give you up."

"Honestly," I said, shrugging. "They have nothing to give up. They don't know my last name either."

And since I was a cash-only employee, there was no reason to insist on one.

"So then I decided to go with one thing I do know about ya."

"Which is?"

"Ya come from the Bronx. That accent is slight, but tellin'."

"The Bronx is a big borough."

"And not the best fuckin' vacation spot to visit, so I think ya owe me something just for that."

I couldn't argue with that.

"I have some leftover brownies in the oven," I told him, watching as he eagerly jumped down.

"That'll do it," he agreed, fetching the foil-covered plate only to resume his spot on the counter, making me realize I needed to invest in some stools. Or, you know, a proper dining set.

"So what did you do there? Besides come up with nothing, that is?"

"I flashed around yer picture and..."

"Wait," I cut him off, holding up a hand. "What picture?"

"The one I snapped of ya when I joined ya on our first job."

"When you forced your way into my job."

"Eh, semantics," he brushed that off. "The proprietor of the New Mexico Bodega sends his compliments on the way yer face came together."

"How kind of him," I drawled. "So you got nowhere."

"I'm a relentless fuck," he went on, making me stiffen. That sure sounded a lot like he had found something out. "I came across a man at an apartment building, said he lived there for somethin' like twenty years. He thought ya looked like the spittin' image of a woman named Estella that lived there a good fifteen years ago. Said he remembered because one day, the whole family was gone."

Crap.

Crapcrapcrapcrap.

"Don't worry, Lou. I didn't press."

"Why not?"

"Because we have a deal, ya and me. We will tell each other when we are ready. I am not gonna go snooping. He clearly had no idea where ya were now, so he was useless to me. And it was right about then that I remembered somethin' that had slipped my notice before."

He paused dramatically then, clearly waiting for me to beg for more information. "And that was?"

"Linny had her vet visit yesterday," he informed me, making my mouth fall slightly open.

She did.

He had needed to fight her to do her complimentary nail trimming.

Complimentary, my ass.

For what he charged me to run his hands over her body and peek into her ears, eyes, and mouth, he should have given her a full doggy spa day.

Adler, I was starting to realize, had a steel trap for a mind. Nothing got forgotten, overlooked, relegated to the back of the mind with the other nonsense our brains undoubtedly stored without us realizing. Like the theme music to those cheezy commercials that used to plague TV when we were kids. Or fucking useless calculus. The names of all the presidents. The square root of a dozen numbers.

"So you just knew I wouldn't miss that?"

"Nah. Figured maybe ya rescheduled. So I called asking for a confirmation of her visit date. The very helpful girl at the front desk let me know that you had been there already. And that yer order of heartworm medication was in."

"So you came back."

"So I came back, figuring yer sneaky ass was hidin' in plain sight, figurin' I would never look in yer apartment during a chase game. Clever, Lou. But I did win." His smile was triumphant, but also heated.

And my body, so defenseless against him, warmed as well.

"Where were ya?" he asked, throwing me off, tearing my mind away from thoughts about him throwing me up on that counter and eating me with the same enthusiasm he did with the brownies I had made.

"Oh, ah, Peyton was having a girls night," I supplied.

"Yeah?" he asked, his smile an unfamiliar one, but almost proud? Or pleased? Or a mix of the two. "She's a fuckin' trip. Just ya two?"

"Lenny, Savea, Jamie, and Rey."

"What'd ya think of Rey?"

"She was sweet. I think she felt a little out of her depths in that environment."

"A lot like Reeve in the club, I guess. Rey is softer than most of the girls around the compound. Think the girls try to bring her into the fold, but she just doesn't have a lot in common with 'em."