Page 160 of Secrets and Lies
“Yeah. It’s full of voice files. Parts of recorded conversations.” He chews his lip, indecision flickering in his expression. “I listened to them, but there’s no context, so most of them don’t even make sense. Some are incriminating, but the others, not so much.”
“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask.
He drops his gaze and looks at a spot on my chest. “I gave a copy of the drive to Damon.”
“You did?” I ask, keeping my tone carefully neutral.
“I heard Xave’s name in a bunch of the files, and his cousins were in there too. I figured they should know about it.”
“When did you give it to him?”
“Yesterday. When we were studying together.”
“Look at me.”
West lifts his eyes, looking torn between finishing the conversation and running away.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Nothing weird has happened since you found it? No threats against you or anything you didn’t tell me about?”
He blinks in confusion. “No, nothing. You’re not pissed at me?”
“Why would I be pissed at you?”
“Because I didn’t give you the drive?”
“I’m not pissed,” I assure him.
“Are you sure?”
I hook my fingers around the pocket on his hoodie and tug him closer. “I’m sure. You gave me the drive when you were ready, and you’re safe. That’s all I care about.”
“What are you going to do with it?” he asks as he rests his hands on my hips. The warmth from his hands feels nice as it seeps through my t-shirt and into my skin.
“Figure out what’s on it and see if it’s something we need to worry about. But I need you to tell me if anything strange or out of the ordinary happens. If you feel like someone is watching you or notice someone following you. Any close calls or accidents or anything that doesn’t feel right. Anything at all and you tell me, okay?”
“Okay.” He shuffles closer and rests his head on my shoulder. “You have no idea how freaked out I’ve been. I thought you were going to be so mad at me for not telling you about it.”
“I’m not.” I wrap my arms around him and give him a tight hug. “So shove all those thoughts out of that busy head of yours before they drive you nuts.”
He snort-laughs. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that because I have such an amazing track record for being able to just turn off my worries like that.”
“I could always distract you,” I suggest and slide my hands down around his waist so I can grip his ass.
He grins. “Pretty sure my dick is down for the count after that last O.”
“Never stopped me before.” I slip one hand down the back of his sweats and tease the crease of his ass. “But then again.” I pull my hand out of his sweats. “It’s not like we don’t have all night.”
“All night?”
“You’re staying over tonight,” I tell him.
“I mean, if you insist,” he says with a goofy grin.
“I insist.” I take his hand. “Want to see the videos I finished editing earlier?”
“Yeah, definitely,” he says excitedly.
Taking my own advice, I push all thoughts of the flash drive and everything West told me to the back of my mind and lead him over to my desk.
