You Can't Run by Hope Davis (best way to read books .txt) 📗

She really didn’t have much, so his snooping didn’t take long. But once he finished, he had a decision to make. What should he take? He wanted the detective to know he had been there, but he didn’t want it to be too obvious. He glanced at her running shoes and thought for a minute that could work, but then he realized that could affect his plans. That’s when he spotted a rainbow scrunchie tied around the edge of her hairbrush.

Perfect.

He crossed the room and slid the scrunchie off the hairbrush and into his pocket.

When he returned to the stairs he was careful to skip the creek on the top step and made his way back down and to the living room.

Vance and the other guy were back to playing video games while his parents looked on, chatting to him as he did.

Well, this was boring. Mark spotted the bowl of half-eaten Pad Thai next to Vance. Maybe he hadn’t gotten enough. Maybe he had. He would have to wait until later to know for sure.

He bid everyone a quick goodbye and headed for the door. He had better things to do than watch a dying guy play video games.

CHAPTER 23

NAYA

She walked through the door at exactly four, tossing her keys in the dish and removing her shoes. For such a uneventful day, she was beat. She smiled as she remembered the night before with Kevin, well, that explained it.

She crossed the entry way thinking about going upstairs to change, but decided she would check the living room first. She walked in to find Kevin and Vance playing video games.

“Hey you two.”

They both jumped as if they hadn’t heard her at the door, but the minute Kevin saw it was her his face broke out in a smile. “Hi.” He said back quickly before turning back to the game.

“How was your day?” She asked as she sat down on the couch next to Vance.

“Good, Mom and Dad came over for a bit. They’re leaving tomorrow so we’re having dinner with them.”

“Ah.” Naya leaned forward to glance in the kitchen and then checked her watch. “Where’s Derek or Elliot? They’re supposed to stay until six.”

Kevin waved his hand in her direction. “Something came up and he had to go about an hour ago. I texted you to see if it was okay but when you didn’t answer I told him he could go since I was here.”

Naya felt her pocket for her phone but then remembered it was dead. “Oh yeah, sorry about that, my phone died. I didn’t charge it last night.”

She watched as the corner of Kevin’s mouth rose slightly in a smirk. It was clear he wasn’t going to say anything more in font of Vance, but he was obviously remembering the night before.

She stood to head upstairs to change, but then remembered she had wanted to say something. “So, it turns out, I’m off tomorrow. And I was thinking us three, and Elliot or Derek or whoever’s day it is, we could all go on a walk together? After mom and dad leave?”

Kevin glanced at Vance out of the corner of his eye, waiting to see what he would say.

“Sure, sounds fun. It’s Elliot tomorrow by the way.” Vance’s eyes didn’t stray from the screen. “Did you have somewhere in mind?”

Naya looked at Kevin. “I was hoping either you or Kevin would know somewhere.”

Kevin nodded, groaning as his character died in a replay on the screen. “Damn, I was so sure I was going to win that one.” He set down his controlled then seemed to remember that Naya had asked a question. “Oh right, I know a place, no worries.”

“Good. Alright, I’m going to go change before mom and dad come back.” She headed up the stairs. It wasn’t until she took her shirt off that she noticed the change in the air. She looked over her shoulder to find Kevin standing on the second stair from the top, staring at her.

“You know you could frighten a woman doing that.”

Kevin shrugged and walked up behind her to give her a hug. “So, tell me, how was work?”

“Not much to report, just waiting for some information to come in, which will hopefully be on my desk when I walk in Monday.”

He released her from his hug so she could finish changing. When she was done, he gave her a peck on the lips.

“What would you say to spending the night with me again?”

She leaned against his chest and looked him in the eyes pondering his request for a moment. “I don’t know how I feel about leaving Vance again. Why don’t you just stay here?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you don’t have a door?” He motioned to the stairway. It was private enough that you couldn’t see anything from the bottom of the stairs unless she changed right at the top, but he did have a point.

“I just feel like I can’t keep leaving Vance and relying on Trevor and Sebastian to help when they aren’t being paid or anything. How about you ask Vance and if he says he doesn’t want you to stay here, then we can discuss the alternative.”

Kevin nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll go do that before your parents get here.” He winked and disappeared down the stairs.

Naya sighed and plugged her phone in on her nightstand, watching as it slowly came back to life. It was so weird how much her life had changed in a matter of weeks. She hadn’t been expecting a huge case like this to fall on her lap so soon, and she certainly hadn’t planned to start dating one of her brother’s friends.

She glanced around her room, it was fairly neat except for a few