Blaise tossed me a look over her shoulder as she moved deeper into the house.
The place was set up weird.
Despite it being large and beautiful on the outside, the inside was like a maze of hallways and labyrinths.
After two turns and a long hallway, we wound up in the kitchen, which had a small window that overlooked the living room.
“This place is creepy,” I told her. “If mine is anything like yours, I’m going to have to move out before I even move in.”
Her brows rose. “I didn’t take you as a man that couldn’t handle a little creepiness.”
She was right.
“My brothers and I used to tell scary stories when we were little. As we got older, we made it a game to tell even scarier ones. We’d do our research right before our camping trips that we took once a year. Then we’d tell stories and see who got scared first. As we aged into adults, it turned into us researching unsolved mysteries all throughout the world. Then we’d tell what we found. Sometimes we’d have an idea, or one of us would have some insight that sounded like it may be something someone would want to know, and so we’d send our hunches into the tip lines that were attached to those unsolved mysteries,” I murmured, leaning my hips against the counter as I watched her move to the fridge. “So needless to say, I’m kind of hard to scare now. Not to mention I’ve just spent years in the prison system. If I wasn’t scared in there, then I’m not going to be scared out here.”
She looked at me curiously over her shoulder, then shook her head and turned back to the fridge.
Which appeared empty.
“I have beer and… outdated milk,” she said. “I’m fairly sure the milk is still good, though. I had it on some cereal before you knocked on the door.”
“You’re fairly sure?” I found myself chuckling, then sobered. “Who was the beer for?”
Because she was pregnant. There was no way in hell she should have that in the house unless…
“My brother was over last night,” she explained. “He helped me move some of the big pieces of furniture where I wanted them. He brought beer and pizza with him. Do you want some pizza?”
The thought of pizza was actually quite appealing.
“I am hungry,” I admitted. “But I’d rather take you out to dinner if that’s okay?”
Her head tilted slightly to the left as she closed the fridge. “Sin…”
“I didn’t say shit to Drummond when I was leaving,” I told her honestly. “Hell, I didn’t even know I was leaving until they called me to the warden’s office. At first, I thought they knew what we’d done. But I figured out really quick that they had no clue about that. Do you know who Lynn is?”
“The Lynn that’s always hanging out with my grandfather?” she asked. “The ex-FBI guy?”
“The ex-something guy. I’m not actually sure which branch of ABC agency he’s in. All I know is that he’s crazy good at what he does, and he offered me a job.” I paused. “That’s why I was transferred to Bear Bottom Penitentiary. Lynn offered me a job and a way to get out of prison early if I took it.”
“What is this job?” she asked. “Something dangerous?”
She leaned her hips against the counter and crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her breasts together and letting me know that she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath that tight t-shirt.
I blinked my eyes and looked away from her breasts to her face.
Her mouth was curled up in amusement at having caught me looking.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Anyway, how much have you heard about the human trafficking going on in these parts?”
Blaise’s face fell. “More than I want. My brother said that young teens are disappearing at an alarming rate. That’s all we’ve talked about lately on the phone. Him working a case or whatnot.”
I nodded once, crossing my arms over my chest, mimicking her stance.
“Lynn and six other men are going to help with combating this issue in our neck of the woods,” I explained then what Lynn wanted from me. “He pulled a few men out of prison just like he did me. There are two that were already with him. Apparently, the front he wants us to use is forming a motorcycle club. So there can be an explanation as to why we’re all in the area. Because you know we’re going to draw attention. All these ex-cons in a certain area that is getting some really bad press due to the number of teenage girls disappearing.”
“You’re going to be in a motorcycle club?” she asked curiously. “Which?”
I remembered then that Blaise’s entire family was in one.
I wasn’t wearing my cut today, or I would’ve turned around and shown it to her. Had she really not seen it yet?