“Call it in to dispatch, see if he is who he says he is . . . and if he came back I’d arrest him or call APD and get them to do it.”

“But because it’s Rachel and Candice?”

“I wanna know who is claiming to be Rach’s dad and why.”

He didn’t respond for a while and we both continued to look out the window. “If we have him arrested, we can see if Ryder will let us question him. Or at least watch it on the cameras while someone else does it.”

“You know he wouldn’t. He’d want to know why we were so interested in this. Just like Rachel doesn’t know about that part of my life . . . that part of my life won’t know about her. I need to make sure they don’t have a possibility of colliding.”

“All right. I get you. Let’s watch. If he even comes back over the weekend, we’ll watch everything he does and then decide.”

“Sounds good.” I heaved myself off the couch, walked over to the door, and glanced into the parking lot. The spot the Explorer had vacated was still empty, and I didn’t see any sign of him. But if he’d waited twenty minutes after Mason confronted him, I was betting he’d wait a while longer before coming back after both of us had. “Gonna go take a shower, keep an eye out.”

My phone chimed, and after checking and forwarding the e-mail to Mason, I read off everything about our Peeping Tom.

“Marvin Cross. Five feet eleven inches. One hundred and ninety pounds. Caucasian, black hair, brown eyes. Born in sixty-eight . . . Texas resident, no priors. Fucking awesome. I’ve never seen him before at the bar; either he’s checking on Rachel for someone, or she knows him through the school somehow.”

“If you hadn’t just met the bastard who raped her last week, that would’ve been my first line of thought.”

“Mine too. Let’s open the windows and keep the blinds cracked. The sun goes right into our windows, so it should keep him from seeing us, but I want to hear him. Whoever called him played along with that bullshit about her and Candice being together. If he gets another call, I want to know what’s said.”

Just as we’d finished with the windows and blinds, my door cracked open. I turned and smiled at the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. “Morning, babe.”

She smiled and stumbled out of the room.

“Sleep well?” I asked against her hair when she walked into my arms.

“Mmm-hmm. You already go for a run?”

“Yep, I need to shower. Wanna join me?”

She peeked around me to look at Mason, then looked back up at me and blushed as she gently nodded her head. I pushed her back in the direction of my room, and as soon as her back was to me, I tossed her cell to Mason so she wouldn’t ask why I had it and looked back at him in time to see him nod at me.

Whatever this Marvin guy was doing, we would find out. I just needed to find a way to keep Rachel away from the apartments completely while we watched for him.

12

Rachel

“I’M EXHAUSTED,” CANDICE moaned, “but we needed this day.”

“I agree. I just want to go home and crash for the rest of the night . . . we did big today.”

“Yeah, we did! How many outfits did we get combined? And the shoes—oh, the shoes. Maybe we should go out with the guys tonight instead. Take them to a club downtown or something. I need an excuse to wear some of my new stuff.”

A club sounded like the exact opposite of fun right now. Not when my comfortable bed and fluffy pillows were calling my name.

With Candice at the cheer camp during the day and me working half the nights during the week and spending the rest with Kash, we never saw each other anymore. Kash and Mason had set it up so Candice and I could go to the movies last night, and today we’d gotten pedicures before going on an all-day shopping spree. It was good to be with her again, but I was already missing just being with Kash. Even before we’d stopped playing games with each other, I’d craved being near him. And now—I couldn’t get enough of him.

Yes, my bed was definitely calling my name. But I didn’t see sleep coming any time soon.

I grinned to myself and hoped Candice wouldn’t ask why I’d started blushing suddenly. “I don’t think I’m up for a club tonight, Candi. Maybe next weekend, when we haven’t been on our feet all day?”

“Oh, did you already have plans with . . . someone?”

“Someone like Kash?”

She shrugged slowly. “Or just someone.”

Uh . . . what? “No.” I drew out the word as I looked at her expectant expression. “Am I supposed to? And who else would I be with? I only ever hang out with you, Kash, and Mase.”

Candice didn’t respond for almost an entire minute. She just stared like she was waiting for something from me. Like a switch being flipped, her expression went back to normal and she bounced in her seat. “Well, anyway! Next week’s perfect. We can celebrate me being done with cheer camp and our senior year starting!”

I was about to tell Candice we needed to see if she was bipolar or had multiple personalities when what she’d said registered in my mind. “School, that’s, uh—just a little over a week away, isn’t it?” All the color drained from my face at the thought of having to see Blake on an almost-daily basis again. I wasn’t ready to face him, especially after the way he had been that night at work.

“Yeah, can you believe how fast this summer went by? I’m kind of bummed the camp took up all of my time, but next summer, after graduation, we’re going on a trip somewhere and we’re celebrating for a few weeks. Just us, a bunch of hot guys we won’t remember the names of, endless drinks, and the beach.” She sighed contentedly. “Doesn’t that sound perfect?”