Russ grinned. “So you’re undercover now too? That’s so cool. I wanna help.”
I laughed. “It’s nothing as glamorous as all that. They needed to make me fit into their story is all. Hunter seemed really worried that Ripper was into me, though. He’s convinced he’s going to start following me around. They had to work at getting me out of there this morning without him seeing. Chris ended up driving me to Hunter’s car on his way to work, while Hunter kept Ripper occupied.”
“Ripper? That’s an interesting name.”
“Yeah, it is, I guess. It was actually strange to talk to him. I mean, yes, I could tell he was a total player, and at moments he had this tough edge about him, but he was nice too. He was pretty easy to talk to. It’s hard to imagine he could be involved in something bad, or might even be a killer.”
“Hmmm, I can see why Hunter doesn’t want you around him if that’s the case.”
“He wasn’t thrilled about it.”
“I thought he wasn’t supposed to contact any of his family and friends while this investigation was ongoing.”
I sighed and pulled a chair out from my desk for him. “He wasn’t. He broke the rules, and I let him.”
He sat down. “And now he’s kicking himself for it, I bet.”
“You got that right.”
“Well, I guess I'll have to keep a better eye on you then. Gotta make sure you're safe. I don't want Hunter coming after me if I don’t protect you like he expects.”
“You don't need to babysit me,” I said laughing. “I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself, regardless of what Hunter thinks.”
“That may be,” Russ replied, leaning back onto his elbows as he stared at me. “But I'm not taking any chances. Hunter would slit my throat if something happened to you.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “He loves you too much to do anything like that. Especially after he saved your life once already. He’d never do anything to hurt you—you know that.”
He shrugged. “Would you risk his full wrath to find out if that's true?”
I laughed heartily. “Point taken.”
“Did you get your math homework done?”
“I did. Are you ready for the big test?” I went to the bed to get my bag and books sitting there.
“No, but then again, I doubt I ever will be. I'll walk with you to class, though—might as well get the torture over with.” He gave a hefty sigh of defeat.
I chuckled again. “I'm sure it won’t be that bad.”
“I beg to differ,” he replied. “Not all of us are mathematical geniuses like you. The rest of us humble folk have to be content to wallow in the shadows of people like you, Oh Great One.”
I couldn’t help my snort. “Whatever! You’re so full of crap! You’re amazing and you know it!”
He gave me a warm stare. “You know, I wish we would’ve known each other better in high school. You’re a pretty awesome chick. I totally see why Hunter digs you so much.” He opened the door, and I followed him out.
“Yeah, it’s too bad everyone is so worried about cliques and social status.”
“That wasn’t why I didn’t talk to you.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised. “Why then?”
“You were too intimidating.”
I laughed. “Excuse me? How?”
“You were this gorgeous, smart girl. What girl like you would pay attention to a guy like me?”
I stared at him, my jaw hanging open. “You’re not serious, are you? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You’re a great looking guy, with a spectacular personality. Any girl would be lucky to have you!”
“And that right there is precisely why I couldn’t talk to you. You use words like spectacular. That’s intimidating to us hard-to-educate people. Big words are hard to comprehend.”
I laughed. “Comprehend is almost as big as spectacular. There’s only one letter difference.”
He shook his head. “You’re only proving my point more. Who knows that kind of stuff? Besides, one letter makes a world of difference!”
“You’re sure about that?” I couldn’t help laughing when Russ was around. He always brought a smile to my face.
“Positive.”
“How do you figure?”
He paused and put his hands on his hips staring me down. “You don’t need a reason. It is because I say it is. That’s all that matters.”
I bit my lip, unable to hide my smile.
“What?” he asked.
“You sounded like my parents.”
He hung his head in defeat and gave a sigh. “You’ve completely deflated my ego.”
“Well it’s a good thing I happen to enjoy spending time with the ego-less then, isn’t it?” I linked my arm through his and started dragging him toward the lobby door. “Come on. We’re going to be late for class.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket as I stepped out of class into the warm desert air. I checked it, finding a message from Hunter, and opened it while I hurried toward the parking lot, eager to get into the air-conditioned Camaro.
Miss U, Sis.
Miss U 2, Bro, I answered back, happy to hear from him.How R U?
It had been a week since I’d last seen him. He didn’t contact me too often, and I never sent texts to him unless he texted first. I was too worried I’d mess things up. Occasionally, he’d call me, usually late at night when he was at his house alone with Chris. He told me he was spending several nights with Roberta now at Ripper’s to help keep appearances. They wanted him to think the relationship had progressed to the next level.
I couldn’t help the jealousy that flared in my heart, and I’d remained silent, not knowing what to say. He’d read my thoughts correctly and rushed to reassure me that nothing was going on, and I could trust him. That was the problem. I did trust him; it was her I wasn’t too sure about.
Ok. Working. How’s school? I remembered he’d told me Ripper had gotten him a job as a tow truck driver with the auto body shop he worked for.
I continued my memorized path to the car while I started texting him back.
“You’re a difficult one to find, you know that?”
Simply hearing his voice made me freeze in my tracks. I looked up to find Ripper leaning against the hood of the Camaro, arms folded, and his legs stretched casually out in front of him. He glanced over me appreciatively and gave a low whistle.
“Girl, you look better than I even remembered, and that’s saying something. I guess you are worth all the effort I’ve put into tracking you down.”
My voice was stuck behind a knot in my throat as I struggled to think of something to say. I forced a smile to my lips. “Hi, Ripper,” I managed to choke out as I glanced around. “Is Hunter here with you?” I sent a silent plea heavenward, hoping he was even though I knew he wasn’t. There was no way he’d leave me alone with this guy.
“No. Your brother is working. He’s very elusive when it comes to extracting information about you.” He chuckled as he stood and walked to me. He was too close—way too close. I had to force myself not to step away and run screaming for help. He lifted a strand of my hair and ran it between his fingers. “I don’t think Hunter wants me to date you, but that doesn’t matter.” He leaned in next to my ear. “I pretty much always get what I want.”
I couldn’t help the tremble that ran through me at his words, and I wondered if he could see my pulse pounding in my neck. My heart was racing so badly I felt like I might be having a heart attack.
Get a backbone, Cami, I silently spoke to myself. “My brother has no say about who I date, but you might want to talk to me about it. I don’t go out with just anyone. I’m a little picky.” Slipping back into the role I’d played the other night seemed appropriate in this situation, and I hoped I sounded self-confident and sure of myself like I had then. It was a lot harder without Hunter at my side.
“Hmmm . . . is that so?” He kept his face close enough to mine I could feel his breath blowing against my
cheek. “I’m always up for a good challenge.”
“Cami!” Another voice interrupted us and Ripper stepped back, breaking the closeness between us. I couldn’t help release a sigh of relief when I saw Russ jogging toward us. He stopped beside me, giving me a hug before loosely draping his arm around my shoulders. “How’re you doing?” he asked, with a concerned stare.
“I’m good. How are you? I was just getting ready to call you,” I lied.
“Who’s this?” Ripper interrupted. He glanced between the two of us, eyes narrowing.
I decided my best option was to go with the truth in this case. It was easier than trying to remember everything I’d been told and fabricating a lie on the spot. “I’m sorry. Ripper this is Russ. He’s one of Hunter’s and my best friends.” I hoped to high heaven I wasn’t messing anything up. “Russ, this is Ripper Rivera. He and Hunter work together now. Apparently they bonded over their love of cars.”
Russ made no move to shake hands with Ripper, instead giving him a nod. “Nice to meet ya, man,” he said cordially. “Hunter told me he had a new car buddy. That’s cool. I hardly see him these days between all my schooling and work.”
I tried not to look shocked. Russ was a cool liar under pressure. Evidently, I was the only one who didn’t have this talent.
“I wasn’t aware you knew our Cami here too, though,” he continued on, keeping his arm draped around me possessively.
“We’ve only met once,” I said. “I was quite surprised to find him here today.”
Ripper smiled smugly. “What can I say? You made a good impression the other night. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since.” He was making his intentions extremely clear to Russ.
“I’ve got to say, I’m surprised Hunter told you how to get hold of her. If there’s one thing I know about him, it’s that he’s very overprotective of his little sister. He’s run off every guy who ever wanted to date her—at least the ones I know of.”
I gave an exaggerated eye roll. “Hunter is a bit of a control freak—I’ll give you that. He’s always been there for me when I needed him, though.” I paused, narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously. “But you said he didn’t tell you how to find me—so how did you?”
Ripper grinned, showing off his perfect smile. He really was a good-looking guy. I was sure many girls had fallen prey to his charms.
“I’m great at sniffing people out,” was all he offered.
“Meaning what exactly?” Russ asked, clearly unsatisfied with that response.
“Meaning, I drove around campus several times until I found her car. I was unsuccessful the first couple of tries, but today was my lucky day. Once I found it, I just sat here and waited for her.”
Russ turned and glanced over my shoulder, giving a cough into his fist. “Stalker much?” he whispered before turning back to Ripper. “How long have you been sitting out here?”
Ripper glanced at an expensive looking watch on his wrist. “Oh, about an hour and a half.”
Russ raised his eyebrows. “Wow. You’re determined.”
“Very,” Ripper replied. “So how about it, Cami?”
I was confused. “How about what?”
“How about a date? I’d like to take you to dinner. Maybe we could go clubbing or something. I’d love to dance up-close to that sweet, sexy body of yours.” He certainly had no qualms about laying it on thick right off the bat.
I heard a disgusted snort escape Russ. “Cami’s not old enough to go clubbing. They won’t let her in.”
Ripper waved him off. “That’s not an issue. I’m a friend of the bouncer at the club I want to go to. He’ll let her in if she’s with me.”
“What club is that?” Russ asked.
“Racer’s. What’s it to you? Are you like her self-appointed watch dog or something?” He glared at Russ, his fists clenched, and I could tell he was starting to get angry.
“Cami’s like a sister to me. I promised Hunter I’d keep an eye on her when he wasn’t around.”
I flipped his arm off my shoulder. “It’s a job he takes way too seriously if you ask me,” I said, unwilling to let Russ become Ripper’s new target. “I’d be happy to go out with you. When?”
Ripper’s focus was immediately directed back to me, like I wanted. “Right now is good if you’re okay with it.”
Dang. I hadn’t planned on that response. I was hoping to accept and then figure out a reason to cancel later. I gave a quick laugh. “I can’t go out to a club looking like this.” I gestured to the conservative outfit I’d worn to class.
“No worries. I don’t mind following you back to your place and letting you get ready. Besides, I brought you a present.”
“You did?” I asked, wondering what he could possibly be talking about.
“Yeah.” He winked at me. “Hang on. I’ll go get it out of my car. Be right back.” He turned and jogged into the parking lot. I could see his vehicle several spaces down.
“Cami, you can’t go out with him. Hunter will take off all our heads,” Russ said quickly.
“Well, then give me a plausible reason to deny him. I don’t want to go with him, but I can’t do anything that’ll risk Hunter’s cover, or put you in danger either.”
Russ rubbed his hand over his head. “Man, this is so bad.”
I looked down at the phone still in my hand and quickly pulled up Russ in my contacts. “Here—I’m texting you Hunter’s number. As soon as we leave, call him and tell him what’s happened. He can decide what’s best. It’s all I know to do right now.” I sent the message and tucked my phone back in my pocket. Ripper was on his way back carrying a white, flat box in his hands.
“I don’t like this at all, Cami. Hunter is going to explode.”
“You’re right. He will, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Ripper joined us and handed me the package with a smile. “Open it.”
I shifted my backpack off my shoulder and handed it to Russ. Accepting the gift, I moved next to the Camaro, setting it down on the hood. “I can’t believe you brought me a present.” I carefully slid the lid off, revealing carefully folded tissue paper.
“Like I said earlier, you made an impression.”
I opened the paper and carefully lifted out the dress inside—if one could actually call such a small amount of material a dress. The tank dress scooped low in the front and even lower in the back. Made of black form-fitting spandex-type material, it was embellished with vertical stripes of gold sequins. I’d never owned anything even remotely this revealing in my life. My bath towel covered more than this dress.
“It’s lovely,” I choked out, my voice sounding way too high-pitched. I glanced over at Russ whose eyes were bugging out of his head. “What do you think, Russ?”
He swallowed hard. “I think Hunter will spank your butt if you step one foot in public wearing that.”
Ripper laughed. “She’ll look great. He should be proud he has such a pretty sister. Besides, he’s dating my sister, so I say all is fair.”
“Better bring a blanket to wrap up in,” Russ said dryly. “You might catch your death exposing all that skin.”
Ripper glared at him. “It’s still summer weather.”
Russ shrugged, not backing down. “Naked is naked.”
“She’s not going to be naked.”
Russ folded his arms across his chest. “All I’m saying, is someone is about to catch their death—one way or another.”
An image of Hunter beating Ripper to a pulp crossed my mind. Russ was right. This was going to get bad quickly. I carefully folded the dress back into the box. “Thank you so much for this. Like I said, I’ll need some time to get ready.”
“I don’t mind waiting. I’ll follow you back to your place.”
“Me too,” Russ blurted out and Ripper turned to stare at him. “I, uh, forgot my notebook last night after we studied together.”
I felt relieved to know I wouldn’t be there alone with Ripper. “All right. L
et’s get going then. Russ, you can ride with me.”
Ripper opened the car door for me, giving a wink as I slid past. “I can’t wait to see you in that dress,” he said in a low voice.
I smiled weakly, massive nerves flitting about in my stomach. He closed the door behind me, and I started the engine.
“This is so not good,” Russ muttered.
I backed the car from the space. “Call Hunter—now.”
Chapter Thirteen
Hunter-
I entered the club with Roberta hanging on my arm. She was excited and had been filling my head with nonstop chatter about dancing, but I only wanted to see Cami and make sure she stayed safe. I was so desperate to get here after Russ called, I thought I might die before my work shift was over. I quickly searched the room, initially skimming past the leggy redhead standing at the bar sipping a drink beside Ripper. My brain suddenly registered what I’d seen, and my head felt like it was going to explode as two emotions slammed into me simultaneously.
Lust and rage.
I’d never seen Cami dressed so provocatively before, and instantly I knew Ripper had bought her the dress. Her gorgeous curly hair was pulled away from her face and neck, piled loosely on her head. She wore big gold hoop earrings, and her makeup was done heavier than normal. The slinky outfit clung to her perfect body like a second skin. Dipping low enough in the front to show off the top of her cleavage, it scooped so low in the back it bordered being indecent, causing my temperature to raise even more. The hemline fell just past her tiny round butt, and I couldn’t help wondering what she was wearing underneath it. If she bent over, or if the dress rode up even an inch, I’d have my answer. Her creamy legs were bare down to the fashionable black heels she wore. They were the most conservative things she had on, and I recognized them as something she’d worn previously.
My first thought was to storm across the room, throw her over my shoulder, and drag her out of here—case be damned.
I took a deep breath, knowing I needed to calm myself, but then Ripper touched her. His hand drifted across the bare skin of her back, skimming the lower part her dress before coming to rest on her bare thigh. He traced a finger against her leg, and she shifted away slightly. Everything in my vision went red. The blaring rhythm of the music matched the pounding aggression flooding through my system, and I could only process one thought: I was going to kill him.