to the TV like he couldn’t bring himself to maintain eye contact. “He called earlier, said he’d be working late.”
“How late?”
“Didn’t say,” Trent replied to the image frozen on the screen.
I felt my insides heat, pressure building in my chest as I started to get angry. “Do you know where he is? Is he working on a case?”
“Um, I’m not sure. I guess so.”
I uncrossed my arms, slamming my hands on my hips and arching a brow. “You guess so? Don’t you guys work together?”
Trent wiped his palms on his jeans and pushed off the couch. “I’m hungry. You hungry? I’ll go see what’s stocked and rustle somethin’ up.”
He darted into the kitchen in an effort to avoid my interrogation, so I moved back to the bedroom where my phone was charging on the nightstand.
Snatching it up, I went to my text screen and typed in rapid-fire.
Me: Any clue how late you’re working tonight? I’d like to talk.
Those three tiny dots appeared beneath my message, flashing as Dalton typed something out on the other end, and when his text finally came through, it felt like someone had just shoved their fist through my chest and was squeezing my heart.
Dalton: Late. Don’t wait up.
He hadn’t even acknowledged my request to talk. God, I felt that burn in the back of my eyes that had been there for days now, warning me I was on a razor-fine edge, teetering close to a full-blown sob-fest.
Instead of crying, I decided to hold onto my annoyance and shoved the phone in the back pocket of the shorts I’d been wearing before storming into the kitchen.
“Where is he?” I demanded, slapping my hands down on the island.
“I told you. He’s—”
I narrowed my eyes into angry slits and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “If you say he’s working one more time, I’m going to slip something in your drink when you least expect it, and when you’ve passed out, I’m going to shave notches into your eyebrows. So think long and hard before you answer this question: Do you know where he is.”
Trent actually looked a bit frightened as he reached up to run a finger over his thick, perfectly-arched brow. “All right, yes,” he relented unhappily. “I know where he is, okay?”
I raised my chin haughtily. “Perfect. Take me to him.”
Giving him no other choice but to follow, I stormed to the front door and threw it open, biting back my smile at the string of mumbled curses coming from Trent as he caved to my threat.
My eyes rounded in bewilderment as I leaned forward to get a better look at the dilapidated warehouse Trent had just parked in front of. The place looked like it should have been abandoned a good thirty years ago, but for some reason, the dirt lot surrounding the building was packed with cars.
“What the hell is this place?” I breathed out as Trent killed the engine and pushed his door open.
“You’re about to find out. Let’s go. And while we’re in there, you don’t leave my side. Got it?”
A bolt of panic licked up my spine, but I forced it down, determined to see this through.
The closer we got to the building, the louder the noises from inside got until they became a deafening roar as soon as we pushed inside.
“Remember,” Trent shouted, looking back over his shoulder, “stay close.”
I nodded, my wide eyes darting all over the place as I reached out and latched onto his arm so I couldn’t lose him.
He led me deeper and deeper into the fray until we were pushing through a thick curtain of people all standing in a giant circle. In the middle were two men, neither of them wearing shirts or shoes, both glistening with sweat as they circled each other, fists raised.
The man facing me threw a punch that collided with the face of the man whose back was to me, and as soon as his head whipped around from the blow, I sucked in a startled gasp.
“What the hell?” I yelped, darting forward, trying to get to Dalton just as the other man kicked, his foot slamming into Dalton’s ribs.
“Can’t do that, short stuff,” Trent said into my ear as he hooked an arm around my middle and pulled me back. “Bad enough I brought you here. You jump in the middle of his fight, he’d take my head off for sure.”
“Trent, you have to stop him!” I cried frantically, struggling against his hold as the bastard fighting Dalton