Treacherous by L.L Hunter

said, calling after me.
    “ What?” I turned back
to look at her. She was half in, half out of her door.
    “ Frankie and Charli. I
set them up. They’re the perfect couple. So you should let her go,
Nathan.”
    But I
can’t . I wanted to say that,
but kept it inside my head. Before I turned the corner, I heard Mia
say one last thing.
    “ See you at the party
tonight.”
     
    Charli
     
    Frankie’s apartment was not what I was
expecting. It was light and open and all of the furniture looked
new and expensive.
    “ Wow.”
    “ What?” he smirked. I
turned to see him watching me.
    “ Nothing. I just
didn’t expect your room to look…”
    “ Like a rich boy’s
bachelor pad?”
    “ Yes.”
    I took him in. “There is much I’d like
to know about you, Frankie Scott.”
    “ Like? Let me know,
and I might just tell you.” He walked towards his kitchen and
reached up to open the cupboard above the stove. His shirt rode up
to give me the perfect view of his lower back and just a hint of
his underwear poking out above the waist of his jeans. When he
caught me looking, he smirked, making me blush bright
red.
    “ Like where you grew
up, your hobbies. If you want to date me, I should know these
things. For all I know, you could be a serial killer.”
    He chuckled at that. “I’m not a serial
killer, trust me.” He pulled down two wine glasses from the top
cupboard and closed it. “Wine?”
    “ Sure.”
    Before I could stop
my tongue, I blurted, “You seem kind of experienced.” Oh My God.
Why did I just say that? Luckily, Frankie didn’t seem to mind, but
his tone turned serious.
    “ There’s something you
should know about me. When I said I haven’t had a girlfriend
before, that wasn’t exactly the truth.”
    “ Oh? And what’s the
truth?” I asked, perching myself at the kitchen counter.
    “ The truth is… I’ve
dated before, many times. But what I meant was, I’ve never had a
real, serious girlfriend.”
    My heart sunk into my gut. I glanced
down at my hands and fiddled with my silver thumb ring.
    “ But Charli…” his
hands joined mine and I glanced up to meet his seemingly sincere
hazel eyes. “I’m not a cheater, if that’s what you’re thinking. I
am strictly a one-woman man.”
    I let out the breath I hadn’t known I
was holding. “That’s good.” I gave him a genuine smile, feeling a
bit better about the situation. “Can I trust you?”
    “ Of course.” He leaned
across the table to kiss me. My lips parted, and I returned the
favour. He pulled me closer so that our bodies were touching. His
hands found my hair and automatically my thoughts went to this
morning, and my steamy moment with Nathan. I pulled
away.
    “ Charli? What’s wrong?
If you want to go slow, that’s okay.”
    “ No, I don’t want to
go slow. I just…” I noticed the wine glasses and decided to change
the subject— anything to detour my thoughts from Nathan. Especially
when I wasn’t kissing Nathan. “I really feel like that wine.
Where’s the bottle?” I asked, stepping around Frankie into the
kitchen.
    Frankie sighed,
thankfully not noticing my subject change. “In the wine rack.” If
he did notice it, he was an excellent actor.
     
     
     

Chapter
Thirteen
     
    Nathan
     
    What did Mia mean about seeing me at
the party? Was she referring to the same party as I was thinking
of? Her actions were certainly beginning to make me question
things. And Charli… Was Mia lying to me about Charli’s whereabouts?
As much as I wanted to be a normal, civilian guy, I had to be a
cop. I had a job to do. If Charli’s parents called me, I had to
have an answer.
    Once back at my apartment, I tried
calling Charli once more, but there was still no answer.
    But there was a text.
    My heart raced as I opened the
message.
    “ What do you want, Nathan? I’m busy.” It was Charli. I breathed a sigh of relief. At
least she wasn’t missing, or worse.
    “ Just checking to see
if you’re okay,” I texted
back.