Chapter 16
16
ETHAN
Five days.
Five days of absolutely nothing. We’d walked the entirety of the lake at least twice and even participated in activities but never saw Samson. He just wasn’t here, or if he was, he was a master of disguise, which didn’t make sense. He had no idea we were looking for him, or at least we didn’t think he knew, so why would he bother disguising himself? Kyle finally found a bank account out of the country, but the US address listed was a PO Box. The only evidence that we were even on the right track was that the PO Box was here in Devil’s Lake.
But none of that helped us find him.
And it was pissing me off.
It was even starting to bother Mila. Every minute we weren’t outside searching the area, she was on her laptop looking for breadcrumbs. We just needed something to go on, but time was running out, and I had a bad feeling we were about to head home with nothing.
Staring out the doors to the balcony, I saw people milling around and enjoying the pool, but my mind was on this case. When I heard the hotel room door open, I turned and watched Mila breeze in, wearing the smallest denim shorts I’d ever seen. And I grew up in Florida, so I’d seen tiny shorts. She’d been wearing this shit all week, calling it her April wardrobe, but she seemed comfortable in it, so it made me wonder how much of it was actually Mila’s preference too. The problem was I knew how soft her skin felt now and how good she smelled when I got too close. After the incident at the pool, I’d been keeping my distance, at least physically, from her. Her behavior that day was for our potential audience, and I hoped like hell that she believed mine was too. Distance was my salvation while we were on this case, and I was working damn hard to keep it.
“Talked to Jenny and Carl,” she announced before tossing her purse onto the dresser. “They told me about an adults-only party tonight on the other side of the lake. She said they went to it last time, and it was their favorite night of the week because there was live music and dancing.”
“Didn’t they have that already?”
She laughed and put her hands on her hips. “That’s what I said to Jenny, but she assured me tonight was a little different because they feature local bands, so many of the locals show up. She said talking to the locals last year gave her ideas for this year. Outside of the normal festival activities.”
I tilted my head. “Like what?”
“No idea. She seemed hush-hush about that, and so was Carl.”
“Does Carl ever talk?”
She laughed again and dropped her arms to her sides. “It’s rare, but he does.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we go tonight, and I’ll try to pry more information out of Jenny when she’s drinking.”
“I agree. We need something, or we’re going home with no leads for Striker. Hell, at this point, we can’t even put Samson in Devil’s Lake.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want my first real assignment with Elite to go down this way. There has to be something here. We’re just missing it somehow. If Jenny can give me more ideas about where the locals hang out, I'm hoping we can find him that way.”
“When do we leave?”
“She said it starts at eight.” Mila pulled her phone from her back pocket. I wasn’t sure how that phone even fit in her pocket, considering how tight the shorts were, but it did. “And it’s six thirty now. Let’s get ready, grab something to eat, and head out. I don’t think it’ll matter if we’re a little early.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’m going to grab a shower and get the sunscreen off me from earlier.” She turned toward the bathroom but spun back around. “Oh, and she said the adults going to this dress like they’re going to a nightclub, or at least they did last year.”
“I don’t go to nightclubs,” I admitted. “What does that mean?”
“You’ve never been to a nightclub? And you’re from Miami, which is loaded with them?”
“Nope,” I replied. “Been to a few bars, but nightclubs just never felt like my scene. Plus, I left Miami when I was eighteen and only returned to visit my sister and Riley. The only place we went was Disney World.”
She smiled. “You’re a really great brother and uncle, Ethan.”
“I’m a fantastic uncle.” I grinned when she laughed. “But my sister might disagree with you on my greatness regarding her.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a lot of opinions on who she dates. I also nagged her constantly until she agreed to move to New Hope.”
She seemed to consider that before finally speaking. “I’ll bet your sister appreciates all of that, but probably wants to prove to you that she can handle herself and make good choices.”
“She told me I'm too overprotective.”
Mila nodded, but her smile faded. “It may feel that way sometimes, but I’ll bet she’s never been without that protection. It’s hard to appreciate something you’ve always had.” Turning, she headed toward the bathroom. “I’m gonna need a little time to get myself ready to be nightclub April.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
She didn’t answer before closing the door, and I just shook my head. Grabbing my phone, I lay down on the bed. I was beat. I still wasn’t sleeping well, and it wasn’t long before my eyes became heavy. This might be my chance to grab an hour while I waited for Mila to get ready. That was my last thought until I heard Mila’s voice.
“Ethan.”
Opening my eyes, I blinked and saw Mila standing next to the bed. When she saw my eyes open, she smiled. “The bathroom’s all yours.”
My eyes skimmed down her face, noticing she was wearing makeup, which she hardly did, and her hair was out of the ponytail she’d had it in earlier. I blinked a few more times when I saw her dress.
Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I sat up and rubbed my hands over my face, hoping like hell that I was only dreaming she was wearing something like that. But when I looked up again, she was walking toward the dresser, and I saw I was definitely not dreaming. Her shiny black dress hugged her ass perfectly. Mila wasn’t tall, but the dress ended at the top of her thighs and made her legs look incredibly long. She had on high heels, but I had no idea how she was able to walk in them. They looked like ice picks and had to hurt like hell.
“Don’t those shoes hurt your feet?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “No, not anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had to dress like this when I was undercover, and at first, these shoes killed my feet and my back, but I got used to them. I had to because I also had to dance in them.”
I stood. “How did you just jump into that lifestyle? Especially one that was so extreme?”
She slid a few bracelets on her wrist and glanced over her shoulder at me. “I didn’t have a choice. It was jump in and learn to swim or get the hell out. My first few times on stage weren’t great, but I watched the other dancers and learned what to do. I also learned my tips were better if I never completely stripped. I made up dances that were more like peep shows, which was a hell of a lot more comfortable for me. The guys liked that because it was different, and just about the time they didn’t want that anymore, I started dating Nick. They respected him, so they let me do whatever I wanted. Eventually, I became as irrelevant to them as all the other dancers.”
“How long were you undercover?”
“Almost two years.” She spun to face me and leaned her ass against the dresser. “But most of that was with Nick, and that made it easier.”
“And you two never…” I wasn’t sure how to finish that without offending her, but it turned out I didn’t have to.
She grinned. “Did we sleep together?” She shook her head. “No. We weren’t attracted to each other. Everything we did was very organized and planned. It was almost like going through the motions, but with one eye on the audience, if that makes sense. We never had an opportunity to let it become more than that.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Plus, he was completely hung up on Maddie. He barely knew I was a woman. All he talked about was getting back to her.”
I started toward the bathroom but stopped in front of her. “I’m not sure I could’ve done what you and Nick had to do during that case.”
She pushed off the dresser and laid her hand on my chest. “You’d be surprised what you can do when you want something badly enough.”
That one statement hit me like a punch. I had no idea if anything would stop me if she indicated that she felt anything for me beyond a working partnership.
But I was positive there was no benefit to us finding out.