Bailed Out (The Anna Albertini Files #2) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,15
hit to my heart. Okay. He really didn’t care and was done with us. Done with me. I sucked in air and then let it out. “That’s where you’re wrong, asshole.” Crap. Calling him a name gave away that I was upset. Shoot. I sucked at this. “I want to know what happened.” I really wanted to dive headfirst into a gallon of ice cream and cry for a while, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.
“Upon advice of counsel, I can’t talk about what happened,” he said evenly.
I rolled my neck to keep from screaming at him. From asking what the heck had happened that we’d gone from wild sex and half-promises to…this. To nothing. I hated being confused, but a girl has her pride. “Okay. Here’s the deal, Aiden. My sister is in trouble, and you’re involved, and I’m not going to stop until I find you.” I let my voice lower this time. “I will find you. I’ll hunt down every place you work, every place you might be laying your head at night, and I’ll beat the bushes around everyone who even thinks they know you.”
“Beat the bushes?” he drawled, humor coming across the line.
My temper spiked even higher. “It’s an expression, dumbass. But I meant every word. If I have to, I’ll place ads in the newspapers, call the radio shows, and plaster your face all over town with wanted posters. Want to try me? Do it.”
“Jesus Christ, Angel,” he snapped.
Yes! I silently gave myself a high five. I got to him—pissed him off. Now who looked like they weren’t controlling their temper? And hearing him use the nickname for me that he’d given me over a decade ago barely hurt at all. Nope. “I hardly see what the Almighty has to do with this, Aiden,” I drawled, trying very hard to keep the triumph from my voice.
He sighed, and the sound was long suffering. “We have to meet off the grid. I’ll call you when I have time.”
“Nope,” I retorted. “I’m on my way. Either meet me now, or I’ll keep searching until I find you. Trust me when I say that I’m determined.” It wasn’t just that I wanted to see him, either. This was now a battle of wills, and considering he’d pretty much kicked me in the heart, I wasn’t going to lose. No matter what.
He said something in Gaelic that sounded rough. “Fine. I’ll come over tonight.”
Oh, hell no. “You’re no longer welcome at my home, and I’m done messing around about this. I’ll arrive at your apartment complex in about twenty minutes. Be there.” I hoped I felt half as tough with him in the room as I did right now when miles separated us.
“I’m nowhere near there right now and couldn’t get to Idaho if I wanted,” he growled. Yeah. Growled. How the heck did he do that?
“You’re lying,” I muttered.
“I’m not,” he countered. “I promise I’ll come by tonight and we can talk all you want, although there’s not much to say.”
Oh, he was just being a complete dick. Sometimes it was becoming more difficult to remember that he’d saved my life when I was ten years old. Last month, I’d decided to save his, and I thought I had to some degree. “Why are you doing this?” I asked, turning onto the freeway.
Silence. Heavy and thoughtful and just like Aiden. “Doing what?” he asked finally.
“Don’t be obtuse,” I said. “You can be as big of a jackass as you want, but don’t pretend to be a moron. Why, Aiden?”
“Some things just have to be the way they are,” he said, almost sounding regretful. Almost. “I got caught up in you and forgot the rest of the world. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoyed myself. But reality always comes back, Angel. You know that.”
Know that? I didn’t even know what the heck he was talking about right now. “Aiden?”
Movement sounded over the line. “I have to go. I’ll be at your place after dark.” Then he disengaged the call.
After dark? What was he—a vampire now? I bit my lip and tossed my phone to the passenger seat. The top was down on my car, the sun was out and on my face, and I felt like crap. My phone rang again, and I pressed speaker. “Hello.”
“Hey there. Had a feeling I should call,” my cousin, Lacey, said. She was Pauley’s big sister and always had a sixth sense when it came to me.