Page 64 of Hurry Up And Wait

“Doesn’t know.”

“Are you gonna tell her?”

I sighed, pacing away from them. “I’ll tell her, but I’m doing my best to keep my private life separate. I told the senator not to involve OPS. The last fucking thing we need is OPS being dragged into his bullshit.”

“But youaregonna tell Isla,” Eli urged.

“Of course, but not yet.”

Red snorted. “Oh, I can see this going well.”

“I’ll tell her, but I highly doubt the thing she needs right now is to hear about my other life after she was just nearly blown up.”

“Not telling her is only going to make matters worse,” Eli pointed out.

“Right, and how should I tell her?Isla, I really want to come home and take care of you, but I need to stay here with my fake fiancée to make the senator look good.”

They both cringed, proving my point. “Okay, maybe don’t tell her just yet,” Red said.

“Exactly,” I huffed.

Eli grinned at me. “I knew this trip was going to be awesome. Full of intrigue, fake romance, and dastardly characters.” I flipped him off as he hauled his bag over his shoulder. “Which way to my room?”

“You can sleep on the fucking roof.”

He grinned. “I think I’ll take your room. After all, I am the team leader.”

Red shoved past me, his bag nearly knocking me to the ground in his haste to catch up to Eli. “Hey! I get the other half of the bed!”

I blew out a breath, bracing my hands on my hips. This was gonna fucking suck.

I torethe tie from around my neck and flung it on the bed. Just one day in the presence of my father was enough to last a lifetime. And I still had the rest of the week to go. The whole time I was answering questions and shaking hands, I was thinking about her.

More specifically, her bastard ex.

The first thing I did this morning was call Dash and ask him to run a deep dive on her ex. I couldn’t help but think that there was more going on than she knew. Maybe the guy was an asshole all along, but hid it really well. But if that was the case, wouldn’t he have shown his asshole tendencies long before? And why would he suddenly want toblow her up? None of it made sense. There had to be more to the story.

I was just about to call for an update on the case when Olivia knocked on my door. Looking tired from the long day, her hair was down, hanging loosely over her shoulders. It was a reprieve from the tight bun she wore all day, making her look more like a strict school teacher than a young woman in love.

“Hey,” she smiled. “I thought we could order some dinner. I’m starving.”

I really didn’t want to spend any more time with her than necessary, but everyone needed to eat. “Sure. I just need to make a phone call.”

“Chinese?”

“Yeah, whatever you get is fine.”

The bright smile on her face softened her features. She was an attractive woman. I could see why my father chose her for me. When we were out talking with constituents today, she was a natural. She listened as they spoke and had this soft side to her that appealed to those struggling. She was dressed in the nicest clothes, but didn’t wear anything ostentatious. Everything about her was carefully crafted to make her fit the mold my father needed. Even down to the damn ring on her finger. It was large, but not gaudy. It wasn’t at all my style, but my father would never allow a ring any smaller on her finger.

As she walked away, I called for an update on Isla. It took forever for Dash to answer, and when he did, he just pissed me off.

“It’s the Dashman. Fastest fingers in the West. How can I squeeze you?”

“Dash, what the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m changing things up. See, I figured that everyone around here has their thing. I figured I need something for me.”

“And that was what you came up with?” I said somewhat incredulously.