Page 101 of Hurry Up And Wait
“What?”
He sighed heavily. “We were at the garage with Duke and she walked in. Isla, man, she saw us and—I tried to explain, but what the fuck did you want me to say?”
I stopped, waving to Olivia to go inside. I walked to the corner of the stone stoop, glancing out at the street. “You didn’t tell her about Olivia, right?”
“No, I didn’t tell her anything. She knows you’re with a woman, though. I told her it wasn’t what she thought?—”
“Why the fuck does she know I’m with a woman?”
“Because she asked.”
“And you couldn’t lie?” I snapped.
“I fucking told you to tell her the truth. Don’t put this on me. It’s not my job to lie to your girlfriend.”
Fuck, I knew he was right, but I was trying to keep Isla as far away from this as possible. I shoved my fingers through my hair, sure I was going to go bald before this job was over. “I know. You’re right. I’m sorry.” I let out a heavy sigh, wondering what the fuck I was going to do now.
“Look, just talk to her. Tell her what’s going on.”
“I can’t,” I said immediately. I didn’t even have to think twice about it. “She can’t know why I’m here.”
“She’s going to find out. You can’t keep this a secret forever.”
“Yes, I can.”
“What about the press?”
I knew that might be a problem. “We’re in a different state, and from what I’ve seen, Isla doesn’t care too much about politics. I doubt she’ll see anything.”
“Are you really willing to risk it all on a doubt?”
I hated the tone in his voice, the accusation that I wasn’t doing everything possible to take care of the situation. “What I’m not willing to risk is Isla’s life or her finding out about what the senator has planned for me. She can’t know. She can’t be involved in any way.”
“That was fine before, but she suspects something now.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I snapped.
“She doesn’t deserve this,” Red argued, but I was done listening.
I hung up and immediately dialed Isla. Part of me knew that Red was right. There wasn’t a fucking thing about any of this that Isla deserved. But it was a balancing act. I was stuck between wanting to tell Isla everything so there were no secrets between us and desperately needing to keep everything from her so she didn’t run away.
And she would run away. I wouldn’t even blame her.
After everything with her husband, the last thing she needed was this crap in her life. But I was selfish enough to do anything in my power to hang onto her. I just had to end this with the senator and get the information I needed. Then I would tell her everything.
If she ever answered my phone calls.
Cursing under my breath, I dialed again, relieved when she finally picked up. “Isla?—”
“Tell me what’s going on right now,” she demanded.
“There’s nothing going on. I had to stay behind.”
“Red and Eli came home.”
“They weren’t needed. And they have families, Isla. I’m…”
“Single? Is that what you were going to say?”