“I’m getting you back for this,” Hayden said to Cassie.

“You just try, little man. Watch what happens,” she teased.

“You wait for it.”

“Who’s ready for dessert?” I asked, but everyone ignored me. I drained my glass.

“You know, there’s an extra spot in our garage. Since you’re planning to stay the night, you could always park your car in there, Tenley,” Cassie said, her mischievous smile still in place.

Chris snickered.

Hayden shook his head. “You asked for it.” He looked at Nate, who was wore a horrified expression. He shook his head minutely at Hayden, eyes darting to Cassie and then back. “Nate, do you still want help installing that swing in your bedroom? I think we’ve got the right bolts this time.” Hayden grinned with satisfaction as Cassie’s mouth dropped open.

“Why would Nate want a swing— Oh.” I watched the color rise in Cassie’s cheeks and drain from Nate’s face.

Cassie smacked Nate’s arm. “You had Hayden help you?”

“He was supposed to keep his trap shut. Besides, he’s the only person I know who’d have a clue how to install something like that.”

I gawked at Hayden.

“It’s the same principle as rock-climbing gear, kitten,” he explained.

I shot up out of the chair, empty glass in hand. I had no interest in hearing any more. “I need a refill.”

“Me, too!” Lisa was right on my heels.

Everyone slept in the following day. Even then, we were slow to get moving. Hayden would have kept me in bed all day, testing how quietly I could come, if Chris hadn’t banged on the door around noon.

“Brunch’ll be ready in ten,” he shouted.

“Shit.” Hayden had been in the middle of persuading me I needed another round. “We’ll be down in five,” he called back.

The knob rattled. “Why’s the door locked?” Chris yelled, as if we couldn’t hear him through a wooden panel.

“I said we’d be down in five,” Hayden growled.

Laughter filtered through the door, growing fainter as Chris moved down the hall and did the same thing to Lisa and Jamie.

“I guess we’ll have to pick up where we left off when we get home,” Hayden said irritably, rolling off me.

A year ago, I would never have imagined my life being so completely altered again. Nor would I have entertained the possibility of finding someone like Hayden. We spent the afternoon watching mindless TV in Cassie’s living room, nursing mild hangovers. Only after dusk fell did we head for home.

We were about two blocks away when I saw the flash of blue and red lights in the distance. It looked like several sets; must have been an accident. Hayden went down the next side street, to my relief. I had no desire to put a damper on what had been a good day for both of us.

“I don’t know what’s going on up there,” Hayden said, “so I’m going to hit the rear entrance of the parking garage.”

He made a right, but then slowed down and came to a stop. The street ahead was barricaded by a police car, the lights flashing their silent warning.

“What the hell is going on?” he grumbled, and backed up.

He circled the block; every road leading to his condo was blocked off. When he tried to go to the back of Serendipity, it was the same thing.

We were two blocks away from Inked Armor when Hayden pulled over, about fifty feet back from the wall of police cars. He palmed his phone.

“Shit. I missed a bunch of calls.”

To avoid distraction he’d put his phone away last night not long after he’d called Officer Miller. He hadn’t looked at it since. Putting it on speakerphone, he listened to the messages.

The voice mails were from Officer Miller, except for the last one. Her first message was a calm reassurance that they were checking into leads and she would call with any news. The second requested Hayden’s location. The third was much less composed, asking for a return call ASAP. That was several hours ago. The last message was from Sienna. Hayden’s finger hovered over the delete button until her frantic, high-pitched voice came through.

“Hayden? Goddamnit. Fucking voice mail. Listen, honey, I didn’t know. Whatever Damen tells you, whatever he says, I didn’t know. This is so fucked up. I’m sorry and I never meant to screw with you. That cocksucker is going to take me down with him. I know I’ve been a real bitch to you over the years, but I promise if I’d known, I would have done . . . shit . . . I don’t know. Something. I’m sorry.” By the end of the message, Sienna was crying.

Hayden played the message again. “Does that sound like I think it does?” He was frighteningly quiet.

“You need to call Miller back.”

“Does it?”

“I don’t know—”

“Because if I’m hearing this right, Damen has something to do with my parents being dead.” Hayden looked at me with such betrayal in his eyes.

“This isn’t your fault.”

“I know. I was seventeen. I was just a kid.” The words came out, but with no inflection or feeling behind them.

He turned off the car and unbuckled his seat belt. The cold air rushed in when he opened the door and stepped out in the dark winter night.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I said.

He ignored me and strode down the street toward the barricade, his phone to his ear. I had to run to keep up with him.

“I’m down the street from my condo. Everything’s blocked off by police.” After a short pause he continued, “I can almost see it from here.”

Police lined the sidewalk, keeping the crowd that had gathered at bay. I looked beyond them, in the direction Hayden’s gaze had gone. Squinting past the flash of lights, I saw that something sparkled on the sidewalk.

Where the windows in Inked Armor used to be were black, gaping holes. A figure was hoisted up off the asphalt by a uniformed officer. The light from the streetlamp above illuminated his features as he was hauled off to an unmarked police car.

“Motherfucker,” Hayden breathed. “I know that guy.”

32

HAYDEN

For the fourth time in less than two weeks, I found myself back at the police station. Miller had taken us there in her cruiser because I wasn’t in any state to drive. This night was turning out to be the mindfuck of a lifetime.

Tenley was with me when I identified Damen and Brett in two separate lineups. Brett was just as I remembered him, only older and haggard. He was short and already on the road to balding. His face was pockmarked. His teeth were fucked. But that’s what happened with an unchecked meth habit. It also made a person psychotic enough to rob a house with a stolen loaded weapon without checking to make sure the inhabitants weren’t home.

Damen didn’t look much better and it was impossible to feel bad for him. Though Brett had pulled the trigger, Damen had been the spoke in the wheel. He’d provided the drugs, he’d planted the idea, and he’d unwittingly supplied the weapon. But the part that was messing with me most was that I’d worked for him for years and never known. It was the ultimate duplicity.

As I sat in Miller’s office, I briefly wondered what had happened to Sienna. It would be karmic if Damen ratted her out. All her years of pushing drugs on her dancers until they were forced to solicit was criminal. What made it unconscionable was that she’d been through it. She knew what it was like to have no choices, yet still she screwed over the people who trusted her.

Miller’s partner, Duggan, was perched on the edge of her desk. He was calm and collected, but Miller looked just as antsy as I felt.

“Can I get you some coffee?” Duggan took a sip from his grungy mug.

“Water would be good, please.”

My throat was so dry, I was having a hard time swallowing. I was on the verge of panic; Tenley was the only thing keeping me together. She wanted to call Cassie and Nate on the way to the station, but I’d asked her to wait. It would have been too much like the first time I was here. I kept looking over my shoulder, waiting for Cross to show up and interrogate me again. It turned out I didn’t have anything to worry about.