The Lover's Surrender (No Exceptions) Read Online Free PDF Page B

don’t
know that,” Kenny said, shaking his head slowly.
    “What?”
    “That she’s
seeing someone.”
    “Well, I
do, but that’s not even the point.” I let out a deep breath, the lump in my
throat constricting.
    “How do you
know?”
    “I talked
to her. Besides, I took your advice and had her phone traced. Or how else do
you I think I got Grayson’s details or found her at the club?” I pressed my
lips into a tight line. “Believe it or not, she seems to be enjoying her life.
Even if I wanted to confront her, I don’t think I’m welcome right now. Can’t
say that I’m too happy about what we’re about to do, but I need to know that
the people around her don’t mean to hurt her. Now if you could just dive in
there, that’d be great.”
    My tone was
decisive, leaving no room for discussion.
    Kenny
caught on to it and shrugged. “Hey, I’m just trying to make sure you won’t have
one too many regrets.” He turned his back to me, his gaze returning to the
screen. “Let’s check out his correspondence, documents, and so on. Watch this.”
    With one
click, the screen changed to blue. A few seconds passed in silence, which only
managed to increase my nervousness. Eventually, the blue screen changed to a
desktop cover. I stared at it in surprise, my words failing me.
    It was some
sort of plant with human-like roots, its thick body resembling a face.
    Kenny let
out a laugh. “That shit is sick,” he said, pointing his thumb to the picture.
    I raised my
eyebrows and watched his amusement disappear from his face.
    “You like
it?” He pointed at Grayson’s desktop again.
    “It’s
interesting.” As much as I hated the fact that the guy might be trying to date
Brooke, I couldn’t degrade myself by lying about the fact that I found his
strange taste in design at least interesting.
    Kenny
leaned forward with renewed interest.
    “It’s a
mandrake,” I remarked.
    “A
mandrake?”
    “I’m sure
you’ve heard of it.” The question was: was Brooke seeing some sort of hippie, a
lover of plants, or a very strange individual?
    “You think
he’s seeing her?” I asked, putting my thoughts and fears into words.
    “No idea,”
Kenny said, oblivious to my distress. “But we could go through his most recent
documents, see his past activities, and then we’d know their relationship
status.”
    I grimaced
again.
    Their relationship status.
    The way
Kenny said it sounded as though it was a real possibility.
    Brooke
wasn’t like that. At least that was what my gut feeling told me. And yet, did I
really know her? The mere thought of Brooke dating this plant guy was crazy.
Immediately, a nerve started to throb above my left eye, and my hand
instinctively went up to my neck to ease the pressure building inside me. My
hands balled into fists.
    Kenny
turned his head to me, and his grin disappeared as he noticed my grim
expression. “I didn’t mean…” He sighed, pausing. “Shit, man. All I’m saying is
that if he saw Brooke today, he might have mentioned her in an email, in some
correspondence. They might be friends, or something like that, or maybe he’s
just—”
    I crossed
my arms over my chest, cutting him off. “How about you shut up and see what you
can find out?”
    “All right,
man.” Kenny’s tone was strained with something. It was certainly not worry or
guilt. With annoyance, I realized that his lips were twitching, as though he
was trying hard to hide his amusement. “Give me a second.”
    “You sure
it’s his computer? It doesn’t look professional,” I asked to change the
subject. “The guy’s supposed to be a photographer.”
    “Yeah,
check out his logo, dude,” Kenny said, pointing to the blue banner below the
huge cover. Right in the middle of the screen, almost undistinguishable and
hidden by a plant, was:

 
    GR Photography

 
    It was his.
    For a few
minutes, Kenny’s typing was the only sound in the room. My heart began to thump
a bit harder as I noticed the countless