He looked over at me. “But you’re not a surfer. Have you ever even been out on a wave?”
I hadn’t. And I was pretty sure he knew that.
He put the framed picture back down. “I’ve been through many a bad haircut as well. You wouldn’t believe how frequently popular haircuts come and go. It’s impossible to keep up with the times.”
Okay. I was pretty sure Tanner hadn’t changed his hairstyle once since I’d known him. Unless you counted the fake sightings Rob had of Tanner prancing around the city in fluorescent suits and a man bun. There was no way his hair was long enough for a man bun. I think. I shook my head.
“Scarlett opened the door for you guys, didn’t she?” James asked as he came back into the room.
I didn’t want to betray Scarlett’s confidence. But her safety was more important. “Yeah, she did.”
James sighed. “She’s as impossible as she is adorable.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “So what’s going on? I’m assuming the two of you didn’t just stop by to get Scarlett in trouble?”
“She said it was an accident,” Tanner said.
James laughed. “How was it an accident that she opened the door?”
“I don’t know, but she’s too cute not to believe.”
“That’s the whole problem.” James sat down on the edge of his desk. “I give in to her too much. With everything that’s happened over the past few months, I just want her to be happy.”
James’ family had been through enough devastation. And I couldn’t be the reason for any more. “I need to tell you something.”
“About Scarlett?”
“No. Well, yes actually. I should just start at the beginning. Ever since Brooklyn died…” my voice caught saying the words out loud. “Mr. Pruitt has been sending me texts. A few a year. Sometimes more often. He always says he needs to speak with me. And I never reply.”
James pushed himself off his desk. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
Because I was mad at you. Because you married his psychotic daughter. The list was endless. “I don’t know. I didn’t think it mattered. I didn’t care about what he wanted. But the last few texts he’s sent said it’s urgent. I didn’t respond to those either and I started noticing a woman following me around. At first I thought she was just some woman I’d slept with…”
“You slept with her?” James asked.
“Months ago. I think. Actually, that night’s a little foggy. But she looks familiar. And that doesn’t matter. What matters is that she started showing up at my games. And she was at the graveyard the other night.”
James pressed his lips together. He didn’t need to ask why I was at the graveyard.
“Tanner did some digging and Mr. Pruitt hired a few hitmen recently. One of them is some woman who’s really good at her job. We think it might be her.”
“Jesus.” James shook his head. “Okay, well, we’ll figure this out. No need to panic. Do you want to spend the night here? I can let my security team know about the woman if you give me a description. And maybe I can call Mr. Pruitt. I expected him to hate me after everything that happened with Isabella. But he was surprisingly understanding the last time we spoke. I can…”
“That’s not everything. Poppy showed up at my office. She actually may have mentioned something about Mr. Pruitt making certain allowances with my friends because he still thinks of me as family.”
James lowered his eyebrows.
I got how that sounded. I had never technically been part of Mr. Pruitt’s family. James had. And he was probably insulted by that. But I didn’t care how insulting Mr. Pruitt was right now. I only cared how violent he was. “Poppy said that if I didn’t return his texts he wouldn’t be as forgiving. She threatened Scarlett.”
The color drained from James’ face. “So what did Mr. Pruitt say when you called him?”
“I didn’t call him.”
“What? When did you say Poppy told you this?”
I hadn’t said. I was really hoping he wouldn’t ask. “Monday.”
“Today?”
I swallowed hard. “No, last Monday.”
“You didn’t tell me for a week?”
“I tried to tell you after the game but you had to leave early…”
“You mean on Friday? When I had to go home early to put my daughter to bed? Matt, that was still five days after Poppy threatened Scarlett. Why the hell would you wait so long?” He pulled out his phone and