Chapter Fourteen

I glance behind me, making sure I'm still in the clear. Lewis is standing at the window watching me.

"But...how could he know?" she asks, fear in her voice. "Maybe he tracks your phone," I say. "Where are you?"

"I just left the gym. I'm five minutes away. Zain, what do I do? He'll kill me."

The fear in her voice makes me regret every second of today. I should have never put her in this situation.

"Listen to me. The box of pizza is still in my back seat. I'll keep him occupied out back. When you get here, grab the pizza and bring it to the backyard. Act like you have nothing to hide. Tell him you were hungry so you went out to a restaurant for lunch and bought a pizza and then offer us some. If you bring it up first, you should be fine."

"Okay," she says, breathing heavily. "Okay." "Okay," I say back.

Several silent seconds pass and my pulse slowly begins to regulate. "Najwa?"

"Yeah?" she whispers.

"I won't let him hurt you."

She's quiet for a moment. I hear her sigh, then the call is dropped. I look down at my phone and take a deep breath, then head inside.

"Who was that?" Lewis asks, eyeing me curiously when I walk back through the door. "Hottie from Spanish?"

I nod. "Yep. I'm going out back. You want to help me calm Mike down?"

Lewis falls into step behind me. "Looks like you're the one who needs calming down," he says.

I swing open the door and Mike is seated on a lounge chair by the pool, drumming his fingers on his knees. I take a seat next to him and kick my feet back, attempting to appear as relaxed as my nerves will allow me. I don't care if he finds out it was me who was with her at lunch. I don't care if he follows through with his threat. All I care about is that he doesn't lay another finger on Najwa.

Lewis and I keep Mike occupied with talk about an upcoming deal he wants to make. A while later, we hear Najwa pull into the driveway. I can see Mike tense up and he clamps his mouth shut mid-sentence. He starts to pull himself up, I assume to go meet her in the front yard. I do whatever it takes to distract him.

"So, this Jess chick?" I say.

He turns toward me. "What about her?"

"Just curious. Can she really deep throat?" Even just having to pretend I'm interested makes me feel like an asshole.

Mike smiles and opens his mouth to respond when the back door swings open. Najwa walks outside with a pizza box in her hand. I can feel the anger seeping off of Mike as his hands ball into fists.

"Hey, guys," she says, sauntering toward us. "Anyone hungry? I have leftovers." She holds out the pizza box and keeps the smile plastered on her face.

Lewis jumps up and meets her, grabbing the box out of her hands. "Hell yeah," he says, taking a slice. He hands the box to me, so I grab one, too. I hand the box to Mike just as Najwa takes a seat on the lawn chair with him. She leans in to kiss him, but he pulls back.

"Where'd you get this?" he asks, closing the lid to read the top of it. She shrugs, careful not to look at me at all. "Some Italian place. One of my classes was cancelled today and I was hungry, so I grabbed lunch."

"Alone?" he asks, setting the box on the concrete next to him.

She smiles. "Yeah. I'm so tired of campus food." She reaches down to the box and grabs a slice. "Taste it," she says, handing it to him. "It's really good. I brought it home so you could try it."

Mike grabs the slice of pizza out of her hands and drops it back onto the box. He leans forward and grabs Najwa by the hand, pulling her to him.

"Come here," he says, pulling her onto his lap and grabbing the back of her head to kiss her.

I look away. I have to.

Mike stands up with Najwa still wrapped around him. I can see him out of the corner of my eye as he hoists her up by the ass, kissing her neck. He walks toward the house and I look up, just as she glances at me from over his shoulder. She watches me wide-eyed until he carries her through the back door and into the house; more than likely all the way up to his bed.

I lean back in my chair and let out a huge-ass sigh, running my hands through my hair. How am I expected to just sit here, knowing what's going on in that house?

"I wish we could bust his ass today," I say to Lewis.

"I don't like the way she looks at you," Lewis says with a mouthful of pizza. I glance over at him and he's still staring at the back door. "She's trouble."

I pick up the box of pizza and grab another slice. "Jealous?" I laugh, trying to appear nonchalant about his comment. "You can always have Jess. I hear Jon's a lot more generous than Mike."

Lewis laughs and shakes his head. "These people are so fucked up."

Not all of them.

"I think we could use her," Lewis adds. I look over at him and can see his wheels turning.

"Use her how?"

"She's into you," he says, sitting straight up in his seat. "You have to use that to your advantage. Get close to her. She probably knows more about the people Mike works with than we'll ever be able to find out from our positions."

Shit. The last thing I want to do is get her involved. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Lewis stands up and says, "Bullshit. This is perfect. That girl is the break we've been waiting for in this case." He starts dialing a number on his phone, walking toward the back door.

Using women to get closer to cracking a case is nothing to him. He's done it in almost every job we've worked together.

It's just not something I'm willing to do.

But it may not be a choice that's left up to me...