Page 49 of When She Unravels
“I changed my mind.”
A throat clears behind us.
I look over and swallow down a curse word. It’s Ras. Can he have any worse timing?
Ale quickly moves away from me, and Ras purses his lips. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
I shoot him a glare. “Knock next time.”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Ale says as she hurries out. When she passes Ras, he gives her a wary look.
I know he’s not going to be shy about sharing his opinions with me.
Just as Ale is about to disappear, I see the money still lying on my desk.
“Wait,” I call out.
She halts halfway out the door and turns around.
I lift the cash in my hand. “You forgot this.”
Her posture stiffens, and Ras’s expression darkens some more. I half expect her to argue, but instead, she plucks the money out of my hand and walks out the door.
It feels like a victory. At this pace, it won’t take long for me to wear down her resistance, and then, I can explore that body for all it has to offer.
Ras crosses his arms over his chest.
“What?”
“I looked into her.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“As far as I can tell, Ale Romero doesn’t exist.”
I glance away. The news isn’t a complete surprise, but I still dislike hearing it. Now that her and I are involved, I can’t afford to turn a blind eye to her omissions. It’s time to dig up the truth.
“What did you find out?” I ask.
Ras sits down across from me. “There are twenty-four women alive with that name. I checked into all of them, and none of them are her.”
“So you know who she’s not, but you don’t know who she is.”
“Not yet. I wanted to talk to you before I spend more time on it.” He props his ankle on his knee. “Is this serious?”
“You know I don’t do serious.”
“What is it then?”
“I want to keep her around for a little while,” I say. “She intrigues me.”
“Ever since she started here, you’ve spent more than double your usual time at Revolvr.”
I frown. That can’t possibly be right. “If I have, it’s because I have work to do here.”
Ras’s gaze is piercing. “Hmm.”
