“Wait! I thought …”
He didn’t stop. “You thought we’d fuck? I’m not blind. You made up your mind before we even left the bar.”
“No, I didn’t,” she protested, hurrying to keep pace with him.
“Seemed to me you did. Was I wrong?” Reaching the outside door of the basement, Rory keyed the number into the lock to open the door.
“How did you get the code to unlock the door?”
“Viper gave it to me when you were in the bedroom with Rachel,” he said, going inside.
When he would have shut the door in her face, Jewell pushed it back and squeezed in past him. “Why would he give you the code?”
“Viper said it would make it easier for me to come and go from the club whenever I wanted to, since he asked me to stay for a few more days.”
Jewell frowned. “Why does he want you to stay? Did he say what happened after we left Fort Mills?”
“He did.” Rory closed and locked the door after them. Walking across the basement, he headed for his bedroom.
Determined to find out what Viper had told him, Jewell followed after him.
“Well?” she prompted upon reaching the bedroom door that he had left the door open for her, becoming aggravated. Why hadn’t she asked Viper herself before leaving Rachel’s? Jewell didn’t want to answer the question she had posed to herself, still unable to accept what Logan had told her.
Rory started emptying out his back pockets to lay the contents down on the dresser. “Oh … sorry. Been a long day. And the jeans I borrowed off Cash are killing my nuts.”
Immediately, her eyes dropped to his crotch as he started undressing by removing his shoes.
“Viper told me they waited until dark for Silas, Moses, Shade, and him to find a way inside the house. Seemed like a normal house, but they could tell whoever was living there had left in a rush.” His fingers went to his chest to finish unbuttoning the dress shirt, exposing a well-defined chest. “They found out both bedrooms had been slept in, yet no restraints could be found anywhere in either room. Moses told Viper that his dog didn’t sniff any fear in the whole house.”
When his hands went to the belt buckle to remove the jeans, she went to sit on the end of the bed, afraid he would hear her knees knocking together. Every movement he made was erotically igniting a fire in each erogenous zone in her body.
“I didn’t know dogs could do that?” She managed to keep her thoughts steady enough to ask without making a fool of herself when the jeans were shimmied down.
“I didn’t, either.” He shrugged, picking up the jeans to fold and put them on top of a laundry basket. “Anyway, Viper wants me to stay close for a few more days to see if Incog contacts me when he finds out I ditched the air tag.”
Jewell bit her lip. She would have to talk to Viper in the morning.
“I’m regretting not telling Viper something I should have,” she confessed.
“What’s that?”
“When I talked about Elizabeth, I should have mentioned her cat.”
He tilted his head at her curiously. “Her cat?”
Jewell gave a small nod. “When Arin told me that she was finding Elizabeth a new place to live, I asked if she had checked to see if they allowed cats. The day I met Elizabeth, she had scratch marks on her hands, and she explained her cat had left the marks. Arin told me that Elizabeth hadn’t mentioned a cat when she was looking for an apartment for her and, in fact, the apartment she found her didn’t allow any animals at all. After I asked Arin, she questioned Elizabeth about the cat, and she told her she didn’t have one.”
“So, Elizabeth lied?”
“I actually thought Elizabeth just didn’t want to admit to giving the cat away. But the more I think about it, after what you said Viper found at the house, it’s making me wonder if …” Jewell shook her head. “Never mind. I’m probably overanalyzing the situation.”
“You’re wondering if Elizabeth has been deceiving Arin in other ways?”
“Yeah … I’m sure I’m wrong …”
“Maybe not. If she’s being deceptive with something so inconsequential as a cat, then Viper should be made aware of it.”
Jewell agreed. “Should I call him now?” She used the excuse to stand up from the bed, ready to bolt from the room before she begged him to suck the dick that was getting harder the longer they talked. “Or should I go to his house? I should just go to his house.”
Jewell took a step and came full frontal with Rory’s body.
“I think it can wait until morning.” His hands went around her waist to lift her to his eye level. “Have you changed your mind?”
Jewell knew what he was asking.