“Research shows the average male my age thinks about sex once every seven seconds.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s amazing you manage to get anything accomplished.”

Val watched me untangle the knots in my wet hair until his gaze burned hot on my neck and I called him out on it. “Quit looking at me like that.”

“Am I making you nervous?”

“A little bit, yeah.” I looked at his face, and the heat in his eyes startled me.

“The only reason you feel that way is because you won’t admit what’s between us.”

I started to speak but stopped, cleared my throat, and started again. “What is between us?”

One of his auburn eyebrows arched. “You tell me. I haven’t hidden my feelings.”

“Wanting to get in my pants is more of an impulse than an emotion.”

Val threw back his head and laughed. “God, you always know how to get under my skin.” His hand went to my neck, and his thumb stroked my jaw. I leaned into his touch. “Ah,” he said. “Is that an impulse or an emotion?”

“It’s complicated.”

“That’s not what I asked.” His gaze burned into mine, and a serious focus hardened the lines on his face. He wanted an answer, and maybe he deserved one, but I don’t know was no answer. Not one that would satisfy him. I’m scared, was the truest answer, but not one I wanted to admit. It would bring up more difficult questions, such as: why didn’t I trust him? Then I would have to tell Val I suspected him of hiding something. But was I ready for that confrontation and the damage it might cause if I was wrong?

My cell phone rang and jolted us out of the moment. Val’s eyes drifted to my phone. “That’s the number from the store,” he said.

I picked up the phone and considered ignoring it, but curiosity won out. “Hey, girlfriend,” Skyla said when I answered. “Hugh said you and Val were in here ringing up a load of clothes. He told me what happened at Mani’s place. Why didn’t you call me?”

“There honestly hasn’t been time. I was cleaning all day.”

“And smooching around with Val.”

Skyla had a knack for rattling my chains. “So what if I was?”

“Girlfriend, Val’s name is spelled P-L-A-Y-E-R.”

“I think that’s too many letters,” I said. Val watched me. A suspicious gaze narrowed his eyes.

“Is he there with you right now?”

“Yup.” I stood and moved away from Val.

“Look, I want to talk to you, not over the phone. Can you meet me at Pits in a little while?”

I looked at Val again. He raised his eyebrows, asking a silent question. “Uh,” I said.

“Can you ditch him?”

“That could be difficult.”

“Shit,” Skyla said in a brusque way. “Okay, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to call everybody who’s in town and tell them to meet at Pits like one of our regular get-togethers. While all the guys are distracted, we’ll slip out for a little while.”

“Okay, when do you want to meet?”

“I have to close the store, so later, after nine. Here comes a customer. Gotta run.”

I told Val about Skyla wanting to meet at The Pits. Val’s nostrils flared. “So, she just wants to hang out, grab some beers?” He sounded skeptical.

“Yes.” I said, pacing the room. I stopped at the patio door and, on a whim, yanked it open. Alaska was known as the land of the midnight sun, but that happened in high summer. Now it was nearly autumn, but even then the sun still wouldn’t set until almost nine o’clock.

“Solina?” Val watched me from the doorway. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Something’s bothering you.”

I chuckled. “Well, yeah.”

“I mean besides the obvious.”

I knew what Skyla wanted to talk about. Question was, did I want to tell anyone else? Val and Thorin knew more about Hati and Skoll than they’d told the police, but Skyla didn’t want to involve them. They obviously didn’t trust each other, leaving me squeezed in the middle.

Skyla could have closed her eyes, turned her back, and pretended not to see, but she didn’t. She risked herself for my brother while the police and our own parents sat idly by. Skyla had earned my trust, and if she wanted to keep everyone else out of our business, then I wouldn’t contradict her.

“Besides the obvious?” I said. “Is my brother’s unsolved murder and the unwarranted vandalism of his apartment not enough? Is the fact you and Thorin basically handed me my own ass last night not enough?”

Val stepped closer and tucked a loose strand of damp hair behind my ear. “You’re still holding that against me?”

“Maybe,” I said, but I took the edge off by giving him a smile.

“Are you going to tell me what you and Skyla are up to?”

“Who says we’re up to anything?”

“Don’t play dumb, Solina. It doesn’t suit you.”

I raised my hand to stop him. “We’re honestly not up to anything.” I left the “yet” part silent.

Val went inside when I told him I wanted to call my mom and dad and talk to them in private. I didn’t tell my parents about all the recent developments, but I let them know I had finished Mani’s apartment. I had another bomb to drop on them, though, and it took me digging to the deepest wellspring of my courage to do it. I pictured Mani and all the times he had stood up to our parents, and I kept that image in the forefront of my thoughts.

“You’re coming home day after tomorrow, right?” my dad asked.

“Um… about that. There are a few more loose ends I need to tie up. I’ll need a few more days. I’m going to reschedule my return flight.” Dangerous or not, it was too soon to go home. There were too many questions still unanswered, still too many leads to follow.

Mom picked up a phone in another room and joined the conversation. “We need you here, honey. You can’t put off your responsibilities forever.”

“I’m not putting them off, Mother.” They depended on me, and it wasn’t fair to resent them for it. I made my bed long ago when I decided not to go to college, and I had been content to lie in it. This trip had changed things, though. No, Mani’s death had changed things. This was the fallout from that.

My parents protested several more times and pleaded for my return, but their arguments were halfhearted. It was easy to make them out to be cold and unfeeling, but that was unfair. Everyone grieved differently. They had each other to lean on. I had always relied on Mani for such things, but now he was gone, and they seemed to understand that. I used vague promises to put them off a while longer, told them I loved them, and ended the call. I did love them, but we lived on different planes of existence. Theirs was located somewhere warm, fluffy, and slightly medicated.