Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
My phone vibrated, cutting into the silence, and throwing off Dad’s focus. He drew in a sharp breath, distracted from the stack of papers in front of him, shooting me a look.
“Sorry,” I said reaching for it. “I’ll put it on silent.” I left the newest message from Kain unopened, feeling my father’s eyes on me, and silenced my cell.
“Who have you been texting all day?” he asked curiously, sliding the files laid out in front of him aside. “You’ve been smiling at that thing for three days now. I know it’s not Luxana.”
The problem with not having many friends is that your parents always notice when you make new ones. It was Saturday, three days since my first date with Kain, a little over a week since the party.
However, now it was as if my memories of the party were completely eclipsed by images of my night out with Kain. Sometimes, when I’d let my mind wander too much, I would immediately begin reliving that evening.
We sat in the sand until a little after three o’clock in the morning. I'd gotten comfortable between his legs with my back pressed against his chest, our hands tangled into each other's as the moon moved across the sky.
For the first time in my life, I was daydreaming about things that had already happened. My mind kept going back to that night, remembering the feel of his lips, the intoxicating scent of his skin, what it felt like to be held by him. I couldn't go more than an hour without remembering.
“Lauren.”
The beach disappeared. I was back in Dad’s office. I raised my eyebrows at him, not even able to pretend like I’d heard anything he’d said until that point. “I’m sorry, what did you say, Daddy?”
“Your mother tells me you went on a date this week,” my father started, looking down at the papers on his desk. “Didn't get home until four in the morning?”
My sister goes on dates all the time. I wondered if she was called into Dad’s office after every single one, like I had been today. It had been the first time I was at his job in years. Dad was so busy these days with the Montgomery case that he even had to schedule his parental lectures at work.
“It wasn’t a date.” That was only a half-lie. It wasn’t a date until it was.
“Not with the way she says you were all dressed up…”
“Well… I wanted to look nice.”
Dad raised a single eyebrow curiously, my words confirming an unspoken suspicion of his.
“Four o’clock in the morning,” he reminded. My sister and I did not have set curfews, but this was done under the assumption that we’d make good decisions without being told to. Even I knew 4AM was beyond pushing it, however.
“We lost track of time…”
“It’s ‘we’, is it?” His face twisted up in exaggerated frustration. “Do you have a boyfriend, Lo?” he asked, using the name I used to call myself when I couldn’t pronounce Lauren. It only went to show that even though I was nineteen, Dad still saw me as his baby.
“Not really,” I replied. This was true. Kain wasn’t my boyfriend. At least, not yet. Somehow, without my saying so, Dad understood exactly what I was trying to say. He immediately got theatrical on me.
“Baby Girl,” he started, tone comically disappointed. “When did you start running around with boys?” he asked like I was breaking his heart.
“Daddy, I'm in college. I'm over eighteen.” He pretended to be physically struck by both statements. I sighed, “Morgan does it all the time.”
He nodded, but quickly brushed this off with a roll of his eyes. “Morgan is Morgan,” Dad said dismissively. “But you… you’re my baby.”
I shook my head with a smile, leaning backwards in my seat. “She’d be mad to hear you put it that way,” I chuckled.
“Are you recording this conversation?” he asked to which I shook my head. “Then, it’s your word against mine,” he teased.
“Ooh, you crooked lawyer,” I feigned disgust. Dad refused to let me sidetrack him, however, getting right back to the original topic.
“So who is this you're running around with until sunrise?” It was just like him to exaggerate this way.
“This guy I met at a party,” I said, trying to keep my tone even. I didn't want him to suspect any funny business. “He's nice.”
“Is he in school?”
I nodded, sneaking a look at my phone screen discretely. Three missed calls. That was alarming, but with my father sitting in front of me, I didn’t want to visibly react to Kain’s unexpected calls.
“Is he pre-med like you?”
I tried to keep my expression neutral, even though I wanted any excuse I could find to leave the room. My voice came out flat, but still casual.
“He wants to go to law school.”
Dad raised an eyebrow. “Did he tell you that before or after you told him your father was trying the biggest criminal case in Miami-Dade County history?”
“Geez, Dad,” I sighed. My dad thinks he’s some legal field rock star. “He’s not using me to get in good with you.”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all, Baby Girl,” Dad defended.
My screen lit up with another missed call.
Something was definitely wrong. “I’m just saying you can introduce him to your ol’ man is all.
He might need a letter of recommendation for law school applications.
Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.
Maybe you should bring him by the house some time. ”
“We’re not there yet,” I replied, still looking at my phone screen. I swiped to unlock it, wondering if I might get an idea of what this emergency was from the text Kain sent earlier. “We only just started talking. Too soon to start introducing parents.”
I started to slide to the edge of my seat, fully prepared to excuse myself from this exchange with Dad.
As Kain called for a fifth time, I began to assume the worst. What if someone in his family found out about what he was doing for me?
What if something bad was about to happen right now and Kain was trying to warn me? I opened the text message.
Kain Montgomery, 1:17 PM:
Call me as soon as you see this.
“Daddy, I have to go.”
“You can at least tell me his name so I can run a background check.” My eyes shot up from my phone, wide with panic.
“A joke! Where’d your sense of humor go?
Lock the door on your way out, and if your mother asks, I gave you hell about coming home at 4 AM.
Between you and me, just don’t let it happen again. ”
Dad’s door hadn’t even closed all the way before I had my phone pressed to my ear. The first ring didn’t even finish before Kain picked up.
“What’s the emergency?” I whispered into the receiver.
He was whispering, too, when he asked, “Why are you at the County Prosecutors’ offices?”
“My dad told me to stop by so that he could give me a lecture about staying out till four in the morn—” I stopped walking, realization coming over me. “Wait… How do you know I’m here?”
He didn’t answer my question. “What do you see? Could you explain what the building looks like?” Even though his voice was calm, I could still tell that he was anything but.
“Um…” I backed up against a wall, my eyes darting suspiciously around me. “Well, it’s a glass building just off sixteenth avenue downtown. It’s across the street from a—”
“No. Inside. What do you see inside? Is there anyone there watching you?”
“No. Not that I know of. I’m all by myself on the third floor. My dad’s in his office. I locked his door on my way out. Is there someone in the building watching him? Is he in danger right now?”
My skin ran cold when Kain replied, “Someone is always watching him.” He quickly moved on from that bombshell. “But that’s nothin’ new. I need you to get away from the surveillance cameras. And don’t be obvious about lookin’ for them.”
“What’s happening?”
“Is there a bathroom on the third floor?”
“What’s happening?”
Kain ignored my question again. “Is that a yes or a no?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember. You’re freaking me out!”
“Hey, hey, breathe.” His voice was calmer. “Sorry, I’ll tell you everything as soon as you lock yourself in a room with no cameras. A bathroom, preferably.”
In a matter of minutes, I had found the nearest ladies room on the third floor. I checked under all the stalls for feet before locking the entire room off.
“I’m in the bathroom. What’s happening? Who’s been watching my dad? Why do I have to hide?” On the other end, I heard him push out a sigh, relieved. His relief over some unknown threat only served to agitate me more.
“Lauren…” The way he said my name was unnerving. It was the way people said it just before laying bad news at my feet. “We fucked up.”
“Huh?” I squeaked out.
“The failed hit on your father earlier this week,” he started. “Five months in the making. They watched your father park in the same spot every day for almost one-hundred and sixty days before they decided to move in.
“On that day, after one hundred sixty days of parking in the same spot, he not only decided to drive a different car, but he didn’t even park in the garage.
Nobody is that lucky. My father thinks your dad’s got a person on the inside.
It’s got him paranoid as hell. Only a few people have been told about what the next move from here is gonna be. ”
“Are you one of those people? Or does he suspect that you could’ve talked?”
“Nah, I’m probably the last person he suspects.”
I wouldn’t have been able to tell you if the relief that washed over me was for my father’s wellbeing, or if it was for Kain’s.
“Okay,” I said, my tone taking on a cheerier color. “So what’s the problem?”
“It pissed him off, and it’s really got him thinkin’ your dad might be untouchable.” I smiled a little, thinking about Silas Montgomery feeling outsmarted by my father. I failed to see the problem in this. “He gets reckless when he’s mad. And, uh… He’s not goin’ after your father anymore.”
“Ha!” I celebrated. “No way! That’s good news.”
Kain, however, didn’t sound happy about this. “It’s not.”
“Explain.”