I needed some pants.
And a shirt that wasn’t his. A shirt that didn’t smell just like him.
I changed course and went directly into the bedroom, setting my coffee down and stepping over all the papers and photos I dumped on the floor last night to get a pair of leggings and a sweater. I guess I would just skip the gym this morning. I would be glad for that if I didn’t know myself well enough to realize that me skipping today would equal a longer workout tomorrow.
I hesitated before pulling off the T-shirt I was wearing, but then I felt silly. It wasn’t like he hadn’t already seen the merchandise.
“So we need to find a flash drive that contains evidence of corporate espionage that Max hid somewhere so the Feds can put away the men who killed him?” I summed up and spun around, tugging the ends of my hair out of the neck of my shirt.
“Yeah,” Tucker said, reaching for my coffee and taking a drink.
The sight of his lips wrapping around the rim of the mug gave me little shivers. I had a stark memory of him pulling my finger into his mouth and then slowly drawing his lips down to the tip.
“Charlie,” he called, his voice breaking into the erotic thought.
I glanced up, my cheeks heating with embarrassment because I got caught in the act of reliving what we did last night. “Yeah?” I asked, hoping he didn’t realize what I was thinking about.
A devious little smile curved his very talented mouth. He knew. Of course he knew. “I said, do you have any idea where Max might have put a flash drive in this apartment?”
I knew where Max kept everything. I knew how he liked to fold his socks. I knew his favorite kind of shampoo. That he didn’t like to use the oddball fork in the silverware drawer because it had a “funny-shaped” handle. I knew the way he filed his papers, the shorthand language he used on his calendar, and his favorite tie.
And now he was never coming back.
Overwhelming sorrow expanded inside me, like a balloon being filled with too much air. The thought of never seeing him again, of never being able to talk strategy or watch movies together, left a gnawing kind of pain in the center of my chest.
I wondered if the sorrow would ever go away. I wondered if he could forgive me for how I spent my first night without him.
Even though he was gone, there was still something I could do for him. There was still a way I could at least attempt to make up for what I did.
I could bring down his killers. I could see their murdering asses in jail. Maybe I would arrange for them to have a cellmate named Tiny Tim, only he wouldn’t be that tiny.
“If it’s here, I’ll find it.” I vowed.
Tucker held the mug out to me as I passed by him. I glanced between him and my mug. The mug he practically just made out with.
Okay, so he didn’t make out with it.
But his lips touched it. Same difference.
“Keep it,” I said. “I’ll get another.”
His knowing chuckle followed me all the way out into the living room. I ignored him. I had a flash drive to find.
23
Tucker
We searched the entire place. Charlie looked in places I never even thought of. She knew all the little nooks and crannies in this place, and every single one of them was empty.
Not finding it was a letdown.
Going through all my brother’s belongings was worse.
I missed him, and the fact we drifted apart during recent years was something I would never forgive myself for. The distance between us was my fault, a fact I never wanted to admit to myself until now.
It was obvious that Charlie cared for him. I could see the lines of pain etched in her pretty features. I watched the set of her shoulders slump every time she came across something that meant a lot to Max.
I was an ass. A world-class jerk.
I took advantage of her sorrow last night. I took advantage of her fear from being attacked. She was a willing participant, but I was the one who initiated it all.
“It isn’t here,” Charlotte said, bringing me out of deep thought.
“I already searched his office and his locker at the gym. He didn’t have a safety deposit box at the bank. Can you think of anywhere else it could be? Was there anyone Max trusted—really trusted—that he might give it to for safekeeping?”
After a moment’s thought, a light came into her eyes. “There is one place we can try.”
“Great, let’s go.”
“We can’t.”
I swung back around, wondering if she lost her damn mind. “What the hell do you mean we can’t?”
“The place doesn’t open until later.” She glanced at the clock and sighed. “Besides, I’m going to be late for work.”
“You’re going to work?” I asked incredulously.