“Ok, Scarlett. I have one question for you—what exactly is your relationship with Mr. Reynolds?” His question caught me off-guard.
“What? Matt? He’s one of my best friends. I told you that.” I evaded the question behind the question because I wanted Martinez to ask outright if there was something he wanted to know. “Are you asking me professionally or personally?”
“Both,” Martinez said, his voice serious.
“Um, well, he’s one of my best friends,” I repeated uncomfortably. I didn’t know where he was going with this line of questioning, but it couldn’t be anywhere I wanted to go.
“Please don’t take offense, but would you lie for him?” Martinez was giving me his full attention, which made me feel even more uncomfortable.
“Lie for him?” I tried to figure out if that was personal or professional. I decided it didn’t matter because I didn’t lie. At least, not about important things. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“Are you attracted to him?” The minute the question left Martinez’s mouth, he looked as if he’d like to snatch them back again.
“Now, I know that’s personal because I can’t see how it would have any bearing on the case.” I infused my voice with as much indignation as I could muster, but I knew he had a right to ask. Shit, I would be all over him if the situation was reversed, but I didn’t like the fact that he hadn’t waited until our date to ask me. This was an investigation for God’s sake.
“You’re right. It’s personal, and it’s been eating at me for the last few days.” Martinez looked me in the eyes, his gaze not wavering. I had to give him props for being forthright about it; I just wasn’t sure I was ready to answer. To equivocate, however, would be doing him a disservice since he had a right to know. As I had vowed that I wouldn’t keep anything from him in terms of the investigation, I now vowed that I would be honest with him about my personal life as well.
“Gah!” I woke up to find Banana sitting on the edge of my bed, watching me. She wasn’t making any sound or moving; she was just watching me. “Banana, honey. You scared me.” I smiled, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart. “Have you been up long?” I glanced at my clock and saw it was seven-thirty in the morning. As I hadn’t gone to bed until after one, I was definitely hurting.
“Scar, I’m going over to Kayla’s after work. Wanna join me? Give me a call.” I found this note on the dining room table when I got up in the morning. No apology, no nothing. In a way, I was glad as the note was something Matt would normally write to me. I had to be at Julia’s at one, and we had to be at Mom’s at six. It would be cutting it short, and I wondered if we should go to Kayla’s after. Then I remembered that we’d have Banana, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to be out after eight or nine. Damn. I called Matt.
“You alive?” I asked, poking Matt in the stomach. He was sprawled out on my bed and appeared to be dead to the world after a rousing round of sex. “Hey, do I need to call 9-1-1? You did say you wanted to die in the saddle.”
I awoke the next day at noon. I hadn’t gone to bed until the wee hours of the morning as I was too hyped from the two naps. I went into the kitchen to see what I could dig up. As I was about to pull some bread out of the freezer, I remembered that I had to be at Julia’s at one. I raced to the bathroom and jumped into the shower. The good thing about having an odd schedule was that Matt and I didn’t fight over the bathroom. He used it around eight in the morning while I rarely needed it before noon. I washed myself hastily before hopping out of the shower. Running to my room, I thought about what clean clothes I had. I pulled on a black cotton skirt and a red tank top before flying out of the house. It was twelve-thirty, and I was going to have to forgo food until I got to Julia’s. I just hoped she had something she could feed me. I also hoped the gang wouldn’t be too pissed that I hadn’t finished my work.
“Hey, glad you could stop by,” Julia said, her eyes red. She looked as if she hadn’t slept in days.