One Second After Another (The After Another Series #3) - Bethany-Kris Page 0,43

much.”

Hmm.

Penny arched a brow. “Is there any news?”

He had contacts that he promised to put to use to find any information on what was happening in New York. Whether that information was about The League’s movements, or whatever plans Allegra might have in the works, she would take it. Penny was running blind at the moment—hoping that her previous plans put the rest in motion while she was away. She didn’t mind letting Luca do the legwork of finding info when his phone was apparently a burner, and untraceable.

Three days wasn’t a lot of time to let shit happen, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t, either. She figured it was better to know if something was going on sooner rather than later. If they could find out anything at all.

“Nothing big,” Luca told her, shrugging as she pulled a large, white towel from the waiting rack beside the doors. Warm from the heated vent that constantly blew on the pile of towels to keep them ready to use, the soft cotton stopped Penny’s shivers the second she had it wrapped around her frame. No longer naked, that didn’t stop Luca from still admiring her. Only now, it was the tip of his finger tracing the exposed line of her shoulder. “A funeral is in progress, though. Or the planning of one.”

“For my grandfather.”

Luca nodded. “Yeah.”

“I expected that.”

“But there is something else,” Luca said.

His tone dropped.

He also looked away.

“Something bad?” Penny asked first.

“No, but—”

“Something about New York?”

His gaze slammed back into hers. “We’re going to have visitors. You should probably get dressed.”

Penny’s heart slammed hard in her chest. “Who?”

But she thought she probably already knew.

“YOU lied to me,” Penny hissed, tossing the hoodie away that Luca tried to offer her. One of the over-sized black hoodies that she kept in her travel bag when she was working because it was a staple in her wardrobe. A must. Hoodies made everything better when she put one on and flipped up the hood—she could hide away—except right now. Nothing was good now. It might have been cold outside, but she didn’t want to take something he tried to give her when she was pissed. Petty? Maybe. She was allowed her moments. “You made me think we were going to come here because it was safe, but really it was to get Naz and Roz—”

“Penny, stop it.”

Luca’s words weren’t even sharp, but the way he glanced at her—those green-blue eyes of his piercing right through her rant with enough force to shove her next words back down her throat—had Penny quieting. Even if she did glare when she did it.

“I didn’t lie,” he said. “I only told Naz where we were in a way that he would understand. What he chose to do after that was out of my control. Shit, he didn’t even tell me they were making the trip until he was already halfway here. You think Naz is stupid? He knew I would tell you. Don’t worry—my friend knows where my loyalties are right now. He had to learn the hard way. Just like everybody else.”

Penny stiffened as the sound of tires rolling against the gravel driveway leading up to the lodge reached her spot. She only needed to glance to the side to look out the windows on either side of the lodge’s French front doors to see the approach of the black BMW. Tinted windows and distance kept her from seeing beyond the front windshield.

Her attention went back to Luca.

“What the hell did that shot about your loyalty mean?” she asked.

Luca was unphased at her attitude. “Wasn’t a shot. Wasn’t even a blow. It’s the truth. I’m here because of you—I’m going to stay that way.”

Well, then ...

She still wanted to be mad. A part of her thought he was lying about Naz and Roz’s arrival at the lodge. But nothing he said was a lie, and she knew it. It would be a low blow for her to push the line and call Luca on it when—above everyone—his intentions were always the best when it came to her. He didn’t even try to pretend otherwise.

Not that she had the time to consider it. The approaching car was now parked twenty feet away from the front of the lodge, right beside the slate gray Vanquish.

“It’s not safe for them to be here,” she told him.

Penny headed for the front door to pull it open. Luca followed close behind, murmuring, “I know, and so do they. It’s clearly a risk