Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,18
put me scarily close to my limit – so I knew the exact total by heart.
The check from Mason exceeded that amount by nearly two hundred dollars. But why? And then it hit me. Unless I was mistaken, the extra money was the precise amount I'd spent on books for both classes.
As I stared at the check, I asked, "How'd you know the amount?"
"Two classes, four credits each. I did the math."
I was still looking down. "But this includes money for books, too."
"Yeah, so?"
"So how'd you know which classes I was taking?" I lowered the check and turned my head to look at him. "Or how much the books cost?"
He kept his gaze firmly on the road. "Because I made it my business to know."
I felt my eyes narrow. "Wait a minute. You didn't run a background check on me, did you?"
"What do you think?"
I studied his profile. "Actually, I'm thinking you did." When he said nothing in reply, I persisted. "So…do you admit it?"
Looking utterly shameless, he said, "Well, I'm sure as hell not denying it."
My jaw dropped. "But I wasn't even your employee at the time."
"Right. And you wouldn't have been if you hadn't passed."
Now I didn't know what to say.
I hated the idea of anyone prying into my business. But I also understood that Mason Blastoviak was beyond rich and famous, which would make Willow a target for all kinds of potential trouble.
I didn't want her in trouble.
I wanted her safe and happy.
This was, after all, part of the reason I'd accepted the job. Finally, when no words came to mind, I tucked the check into my purse and decided to think about this later, when I didn't feel like throttling him.
And besides, he'd totally missed my original point. I tried again. "When I said you owed me, I wasn't talking about the bonus."
He didn't even glance in my direction. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. What I meant was that you owed me the story of why the last nanny was fired. You promised to tell me during the drive. You remember, right?"
Judging from his face, he remembered just fine. And he wasn't happy with the reminder.
Chapter 10
Mason
Shit.
Yeah, I remembered. And I'd known what she'd meant the first time. But I'd been hoping the bonus would distract her.
Hell, it was the reason I'd confessed to the background check. If I'd been lucky, she would've been pissed-off enough to forget about the fired nanny, along with my ill-advised promise from last night.
Why in the hell had I promised to tell her?
The last thing I wanted now was to give her ideas – ways to make a quick buck at Willow's expense.
Maybe Cami wasn't like that. Or more likely, I'd let down my guard too much already. What was it about her, anyway?
In the passenger's seat, she said, "You are gonna tell me, aren't you? That was the deal, remember?"
I never welched on a deal, but that didn't mean I was happy about it. "Fair enough," I said. "But the drive's not over."
"Oh, so you're stalling?" she laughed.
She had a nice laugh. It was warm and happy, not like the fake laughter I'd heard from her friend or countless girls like her.
But that was no reason for me to go soft. "First," I said, "you tell me something."
"What?"
"Do you always text in dark parking lots?"
She stiffened in the passenger's seat. "Excuse me?"
"Last night," I said. "You were texting as you walked to your car." I paused to let that sink in before asking, "Did you see the guy coming up behind you?"
With no trace of laughter, she said, "You were watching me?"
"I wasn't the only one."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Some guy, maybe six-foot tall, dark coat, receding hair – he was maybe ten paces behind you."
She hesitated a long moment before saying, "So?"
"So that's a problem."
"Wanna know what I think's a problem?"
"What?"
"Somebody watching me when I don't know it."
My fingers flexed around the steering wheel. "Yeah. He was." And that guy – he'd been watching Cami with far too much interest.
She said, "I wasn't talking about him. I was talking about you. Where were you, anyway?"
"In the same lot," I said. "Three rows back."
She pointed vaguely toward the dashboard. "You mean in this vehicle?"
"It's the one I drove, isn't it?"
"I don’t know," she said, "because I didn't see it last night."
"Right. Because you weren't looking."
She turned sideways in her seat to face me. "What is this, anyway?"