The Devil You Know - K.B. Winters Page 0,50
sleep for the night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Terry
“I know this is a hard ask for you with everything that’s going on, but I need you to stay with Kat.”
Jasper’s voice was low and worried because we both knew that nothing would get Kat back to Glitz other than finding Molly. Or her body.
“You can say no, absolutely brother, but I’m hoping you won’t.”
He knew I couldn’t say no to him. Especially when it came to protecting Kat.
Even if she hated me right now.
“I’m here man, whatever you need. We haven’t picked up the girl’s scent yet, but she was here. Recently.”
I wouldn’t tell Kat, but Molly’s vanishing act meant she was right to be worried.
“You know how Kat is,” he growled. “We’re all keeping an eye on Emmett, and I sent some guys to check on both of your moms. But if you don’t find anything tomorrow, I want you both back in Glitz. Period.”
That sounded like exactly what I wanted. “See you tomorrow, then.”
“Later, brother.” We ended the call and let out a deep, fortifying breath. Something I did had pissed Kat off but good. She’d barely said more than a few sentences to me in hours, and I still hadn’t figured out what I had done.
She sat inside the diner; her phone pressed to her ear while she ate a stack of pancakes with a salad on the side.
“Jasper is giving us the night.”
Kat looked up with a slightly annoyed expression on her face.
“I found us a suite at a nearby lodge, which means we both get a bed this time around. Ready to go?”
I guess she’s still upset. “After I finish eating, sure.”
“Okay.” Her words were short but not clipped, enough for me to know that she was pissed.
I dug into the meatloaf and mashed potatoes like I hadn’t eaten all day, which I hadn’t because this was, technically, my lunch.
“You gonna tell me what I did to piss you off or you gonna pout all night?”
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping to get a rise out of her, but it didn’t work.
“First of all, I don’t pout. Second, you don’t care so it doesn’t really matter, does it?”
She sighed and pushed her plate away before she walked away from the booth, leaving me alone to finish my food.
What the fuck just happened? She couldn’t really be that upset about me taking her keys, could she? I shrugged and dug into my food because Kat was a mystery I had never figured out, why would I start now? I took my time eating, figuring she would be back before I finished, but like I said, Kat was a mystery to me. Always had been. Seemed like she would always be a mystery just beyond my comprehension.
After the meal, I got up from the booth and looked outside. Kat sat behind the steering wheel; eyes glued to her phone. I paid the tab and went to the car.
“You plan on ignoring me for the next twenty-four hours?”
Kat looked up and blinked. “I have business to attend to, Terry. I came out here to charge my phone while I made some calls so you could eat your dinner in peace.”
Her tone wasn’t even annoyed or angry, it was bland.
Fucking bland.
“All right, let’s get to the hotel then.”
Without a word she started the engine and made the short drive to the hotel she’d booked. The suite, if you could call it that, wasn’t as big as we were hoping. Her jaw clenched tight as she took in the small suite, the small one-bedroom suite.
“All right.” She said the words simply, as if she was doing her best to reign in her temper.
“Do we both still get a bed?” It was a dick thing to say, but I still couldn’t resist riling Kat up. Even when it didn’t work
She turned to me and shrugged; her chin notched high in the air.
“I can handle it if you can, Manning.” Her blue eyes held a challenge I couldn’t resist.
“I’ll try to keep my masculine urges to my side of the bed.” The sarcasm was thick, and I braced myself for her silver tongue.
But she said…nothing.
“Shotgun on the shower.”
Kat didn’t reply, so I grabbed the towels and toiletries she’d bought at some point between leaving the diner and making calls and locked myself inside the bathroom with a separate shower and bathtub. I cranked the water to ice cold because that’s what spending days on end with Kat did to a man. I refused