more trouble?”
No, I haven’t, but now I am.
Was Baz telling the truth when we last spoke? Or was it all more lies?
I intend to find out. Consequences be damned.
“You okay?” Jack asks, having already moved away from his laptop, now taking the spot next to me on the couch. “You sort of look like you’re going to pass out.”
I cough, shaking my head clear of the new theories that are now flooding my brain. “I’m fine. Just hungry. Should we get food?”
He seems taken aback by the request. “Right now?”
“Yup.” I grab my purse and start walking toward the door, waiting for him to follow. We take the subway to one of my favorite delis. Jack is quiet, letting me process. I think he senses I need it. Once we’re seated, I dig my cell out of my purse and toy with it. Tossing it from hand to hand, I finally bite the bullet and tap out a message to Baz. I guess he was right. We aren’t done after all.
I’m pleasantly surprised when I get a text from Mackenzie asking to meet. Satisfaction rolls through me in waves. I can weather whatever it is she throws at me. I just need to see her again—to have her close. Without giving it a moment’s thought, I have Dan set up a flight. I want to be in New York as soon as possible.
She’s not going to like having me in her space, but tough fucking luck. I’ve done enough waiting—all the waiting my patience can handle, in fact. She’ll have to deal with it. Los Angeles is my turf, New York is probably hers, and Ferndale is our middle ground. But I know Ferndale holds the worst memories for her, and that would never be a possibility for us. I’m not ready to go back there so soon after just taking a trip to see her parents.
“Since you’ll be in New York soon, I thought you’d want to see this,” Dan mentions, after confirming my flight details, showing me something that has my blood boiling. I tense up when I open his email with the photographs attached. I asked Dan to have someone keep an eye on Mackenzie while she’s in New York. At first, I told myself it was because, since she was under my care now, I needed to know she was okay at all times. But it wasn’t just that. And Dan certainly knew that.
The first image is one of Mackenzie standing on the sidewalk on her phone, staring off at something in the distance. The next photo is her standing next to a man wearing a hoodie and a ball cap. Most of his face is shielded from the camera view, but not all of him. They disappear into a building that’s behind him, and I narrow my eyes. The email lists details and times. How long she stayed. What times this man normally comes and goes. I click onto the next photograph and grit my teeth so hard my jaw starts to ache.
Mackenzie is sitting with the same man inside of a restaurant, a sandwich in one hand while she’s mid-laughter. The man across from her is laughing with her, and they both look absolutely smitten, and fuck, if that doesn’t make me angry. Jealousy surges through my body, prompting me to open and close my fists as I work through my anger, trying not to lodge my fist into the first thing I see. My temper only grows when I see the date stamp for those photos.
Today.
The same day she requested we meet.
Seems my Dirty Girl is up to something again, and I’m going to figure it out. I plan to stay two steps ahead of her at all times. I’m not making the same mistakes I did last time. I let her in, and she lied. She isn’t going to have the chance to do it again.
I’m running the show now.
With my back resting against a winged back leather chair, I cross my ankle over my knee and get comfortable. It doesn’t take long for them to get home. But I already knew that. I was banking on the element of surprise, actually.
I hear the key in the lock, and before I know it, the lights are flipped on, and the figure steps in, shutting the door. By the time he glances up, it’s too late. His eyes widen, and alarm lights his features. He darts his gaze around his studio, panic clearly