Wrong Question, Right Answer (The Bourbon Street Boys #3) - Elle Casey Page 0,70
and without anyone else at the party seeing. Since the pizza’s making me sick and I’ve had my chat with Ozzie, there’s no reason for me to stay. The relief that fills me as I leave that noisy place is almost palpable.
I’m halfway to my car when I hear the door opening and shutting behind me. Turning around, I see Lucky silhouetted in the porch light. Great. So much for a clean getaway.
“Where are you going?” he asks, his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans. The muscles in his arms bulge, making my heart quicken. Traitor heart . . . when will you learn?
“Home.” I reach my door and unlock it, opening it so I can get inside and take off before he gets it into his head to follow me.
“Do you want me to bring you some pizza?”
Talk about clueless. I get into my car and then lean out of the window to shout my answer. “No! I don’t want you to bring me anything, and I don’t want you at my house!” I reverse out of the driveway, leaving tire tracks in the street when I peel out for home.
I fume all the way back, expecting to see Lucky’s car in my rearview mirror the entire way. He has no idea the piece of my mind he will suffer if I so much as catch a glimpse of him anywhere near me. But I arrive home safe and sound and all alone. At the top of my front porch steps, I pause, listening for the sound of his engine, but it never comes.
I lie in bed that night surrounded by complete silence. It’s what I thought I wanted, but now I find myself sad that Lucky didn’t insist on being here with me. Up is down and down is up. Nothing is making sense anymore. Ozzie’s advice comes back to me: Give Lucky a chance. I hate that I got so mad at him earlier when all he was doing was offering to bring me dinner.
I rest my hand on my lower belly and talk to the individual who has apparently taken over my brain and is not doing a very good job of it.
“You and I need to work as a team, little baby person. I don’t think I can take nine months of this confusion.” I feel nothing in response, so I fall asleep in a slight panic, worried that I’m going to give birth to a child who wants nothing to do with me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
After the nearly sleepless night I had, I’m thrilled to be going into work, even though it means I’ll probably be sitting directly across the table from Lucky. My feelings about his pushy behavior have softened a little, but I’m still not ready to discuss the situation with him. I know we’ll find a solution eventually, but there’s no need to rush into things, especially when my emotions are still so raw. Thankfully, Ozzie was cool about everything; it’s making it easier for me to be forgiving of pushy men.
When I get upstairs to the meeting area, Ozzie is already talking. A quick check of my watch tells me I’m two minutes late. I rush over to take the only empty seat, which just so happens to be right next to Lucky. I glance at him and give him a perfunctory nod before turning my attention to Ozzie. I focus on calming my racing heart. Sitting next to Lucky never used to be a problem, but I can see it is now. Has he always been this sexy? I think my pregnancy is sending my hormone levels on the fritz.
“So far, so good on the review of the surveillance tapes and recordings.” Ozzie checks his notes before continuing. “We have a list of possible code-words that Jenny and Lucky pulled from some social media accounts of suspected gang members that we need to match up to the surveillance and the dispatch logs I got from Detective Adams, to see if we can connect any dots.” The boss looks over at me. “Toni, I need you to continue with what you were doing and try to get it finished up today. Then take this list of codes and the logs, and note where they showed up on Facebook and Twitter. See if any activity happening around the same times gives us any clues as to what those codes might mean.”