Next she’d followed him upstairs, where he’d not only inspected every room, he’d even looked in closets and under the beds.
Still he’d found nothing.
That had led him outside to poke around, again, with her dogging his heels, and finally he’d deduced it could only have been a critter that got in through the attic because every door and window remained secure.
“That could set off the alarm?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe talk to your security company about it.” Going sympathetic, he asked, “Do you have someone you can invite over tonight? You probably shouldn’t be alone.”
No kidding. “I was just heading out,” she promised him. But the way he watched her made her lift her chin. “I’m not usually this jumpy. I’ve lived on my own for a while, actually. Sure, I used to have a roommate, but...” Drawing to a halt, she sighed. “You know about the recent bank robbery, right?”
“A month or so ago?”
“Yes. That was me.”
His mouth quirked. “A confession? You’re saying you robbed the place?”
“No!” She realized he was teasing and relaxed again. “I’m the manager there.”
“Well then, no wonder you’re a little nervous.”
“Right?” She didn’t tell him about her near miss in the roadway. Until now, she’d assumed her own negligence had almost caused the accident because she hadn’t been paying attention. But now... She’d had one near miss too many for her to entirely dismiss the idea that someone was after her.
Relieved that she hadn’t called her brother—or worse, Armie—Merissa walked with Officer Mead out to her car. “So...you won’t tell anyone how I totally lost it, will you?”
“You did all the right things,” he promised her. “And yeah, I’ll probably need to share the incident with Detective Riske since he’s working the bank robbery. But I’ll only give him details, same as I’ll write in my report.”
“Thank you.” By the time Logan Riske asked her questions, she’d be composed enough not to embarrass herself. And of course, she’d tell Cannon and Armie. If she was in danger, they needed to know.
Realistically she knew neither of them would judge her, but that didn’t seem to matter to her pride. Sometimes having a certified badass as a brother, and now being intimately involved with one, had its drawbacks. Comparisons could suck.
“How about I wait until you’re out of the driveway,” Officer Mead offered. “Once you’re on your way, then I’ll take off.”
Such a kind man. Gratitude engulfed her. “I would very much appreciate that.”
“Protect and serve, ma’am.” His smile warmed to an intimate degree.
Was he flirting? It certainly seemed so.
If she wasn’t already madly in love with Armie, she’d have gladly flirted back, but instead she said, “I’ve held you up long enough. Really, you’ve been wonderful. I don’t know what I would have done without you, so again, thank you.” And with that, she got in her car and secured the doors. Finally she was able to take a deep breath.
With the handsome young officer watching her, she waved, then backed out and drove away. Thinking it’d be better to get it out of the way, she tried to decide who to call first—her brother or Armie. She’d just decided on calling Armie when her phone rang, startling her. With a glance at the screen she saw it was Cherry.
As soon as she answered, she heard a lot of boisterous laughter and knew the ladies had gotten together. “Having a party without me?” she asked her best friend.
“Rissy! Where are you?”
Wondering at that, Merissa explained, “I just left my house and I’m heading to Armie’s.”
“Scrap that. Come join us instead.”
Vanity chimed in, saying, “We’re all here and just waiting on you.”
“All who?” Merissa asked.
“Me,” Yvette sang out, followed by Harper’s, “Me, too!”
“Guess what we’re doing,” Cherry whispered, followed by gales of laughter from the others.
“Drinking?” she guessed.
“Not a drop.” Then in a rush, Cherry said, “We’re at the porn store. You know, that seedy little place in town that sells DVDs and God-only-knows what else.”
No way. “Why?”
“We’re going shopping,” Vanity told her.
Shopping for porn? Merissa laughed nervously. “You’re making that up.”
“Nope,” Yvette said. “And just so you know, I busted Armie shopping here once. I thought it was still just a place that rented DVDs.”
The other women started heckling Yvette, and Merissa heard Vanity say, “Yeah, uh-huh, sure you did.”
“Hey, I’d just returned to the area!” Yvette insisted. “I didn’t have cable set up yet, so I figured to get an old movie. I had no way of knowing things had changed so much.”
“The fun part,” Vanity interrupted her to say, “is that she ran into Armie, and he admitted he shops there often.”
Often? Merissa hadn’t seen any porn around his apartment, but then, she hadn’t snooped. There were a lot of drawers that remained a mystery to her. “What did he buy?” she asked in a whisper of her own.
Cracking up, Vanity said, “Meet us at the shop and we’ll all go inside to see.”
Oh, she wanted to. Curiosity killed her, but she’d never had the nerve to do more than glance toward the shop whenever she went past.
“You have time,” Cherry said, reclaiming her phone while the buzz of conversation drifted in. “Denver called me to say he’d be late because Armie would be late. Something about that guy Armie is supposed to fight—”
“Carter Fletcher.”
“Right. He dropped in the rec center so Denver is hanging around to hear what it was about. And then Armie wants to check on a boy who’s having a rough time of it, and Denver wanted to go along. They’ll be a minimum of an hour late, but probably longer.”
“Where are the other guys?”
“Stack’s busy setting up some gym equipment in Vanity’s basement—”
“It’s our basement now,” Vanity sang out, “because Stack is all mine, so what’s mine is his.”
Cherry laughed and added, “Gage and Cannon were heading over there to help out.”
“So we’re all free, then.” Did she dare join them? Merissa gave it quick thought, and nodded. “I’m ten minutes away.”
“Yay! This is going to be so fun.”
Merissa had her doubts about that, but she couldn’t let the other ladies go in without her. Besides, after the scare she’d had at her house, she didn’t want to be alone in Armie’s apartment. “You’ll wait for me outside?”
“We’re sitting in Harper’s car. Drive safe, but hurry!”
Merissa disconnected, and instead of going straight, took the first left. No reason now to call Armie or her brother, since she knew they were both busy.
Later would be a better time to clue them in.
Much, much later.
* * *