Buried Treasure (The Detroit Pirates Book 2)

by Jenny Redford

  Lucy gave her a knowing look over her glass. "What does that mean?"

  "Nothing."

  "Not nothing," she replied. "Do you want to start talking now, or do I have to wait until you get to your third pint?"

  Sydney shrugged. "I guess we can start now," she said. "Should we talk about the job or the men first?"

  "Wait, you're being serious."

  Sydney simply nodded.

  "Well, who the hell cares about the job?" Lucy said incredulously. "Besides, you don't really have one of those right now anyway. So start talking about the men."

  Sydney took a deep breath and took a large pull from her pint glass. There was so much she could say about Andy, so much she could tell Lucy. And yet, there also wasn't that much considering there's not much to tell when you don't talk to a man you slept with. Sydney stared down at the pint glass in her hands wondering how her life had become so complicated.

  "I don't know where to start," she finally told Lucy.

  "Well, last time I talked to you about Andy, it was after you had a one-night stand with him in the middle of the day."

  "It was morning."

  Lucy waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Whatever," she said flippantly. "What happened after that?"

  "It wasn't a one-night stand," Sydney explained. "I slept with him again."

  Lucy gave her a mischievous grin. "I like where this is going," she said.

  "And then he walked out without saying goodbye, but he left his number on my counter, and I haven't called him."

  Lucy's face went from happy to sad. "When was that?"

  "Monday morning."

  "Oh, honey."

  Lucy gave her a sympathetic look, and Sydney could only drink more beer to pretend she couldn't see it. She already felt sorry for herself. She just wasn't sure about how she felt if other people felt sorry for her in the same way.

  "So what happened that made you not want to call him?" Lucy asked. "I mean, was it bad with him the second time around?"

  "No!" Sydney took a deep breath to calm herself down. "No, it's not that at all. In fact, it was good. Really good. But then he left."

  "He left?"

  "He just left," she said simply. "I mean, he put his card on the counter with his number, but what guy doesn't say goodbye?"

  Lucy gave her a skeptical look, one that Sydney could tell probably had a more thoughtful lawyer-like approach behind it than Sydney's ignoring-the-issue method.

  "Maybe he didn't want to wake you," she said.

  "But it was a business card," Sydney said, ignoring Lucy's response. "It's just so formal. Like all we had between us was a business transaction."

  "Maybe that was all he had on him."

  "And he said I could trust him," Sydney replied. "But how can I trust someone who just sleeps with me and leaves?"

  "Sydney, stop." Lucy reached across the table for her friend's hand. "Just… stop. Take a breath for a second and think about all of this."

  "Thinking has been my problem," Sydney said glumly. "That's all I've been doing."

  "OK, so then let's talk. Calmly this time?"

  Sydney nodded and poured herself some more beer from the pitcher. She would need it. Lucy was a good person to get a different perspective from. She was someone who saw things differently. It was what Sydney needed at this point even if she didn't want it.

  "I should've called, I know," Sydney said. "But why do I want to be in a relationship with someone? Especially with all the other crap in my life right now."

  Lucy leaned back and stared at Sydney. "This isn't really about Andy and his business card, is it?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "This is about John," Lucy said.

  "John?"

  Sydney looked across the table at Lucy, who was staring at her with a knowing look, waiting for her to accept what was happening. This wasn't just about a man Sydney had slept with. This wasn't just about Andy and the business card and finding excuses not to reach out to him.

  This was a matter of trust.

  Sydney groaned and buried her face in her hands. "It's about John."

  "I mean, it makes sense, right?" Lucy asked. "You've been seeing him everyday in that stupid conference room, reminding you of the trust you no longer have."

  "Which is something that Andy wants to give to me," Sydney admitted.

  "But you push him away."

  Sydney looked at the pint of beer in front of her and sneered at it.

  "I hate John."

  "He does, in fact, suck," Lucy said. "Hard."

  Sydney turned to look out the window and watch the snow fall. A few people were walking past on the sidewalk on their cell phones or bundled up against the cold. She was one of those people, she realized. She was out in the cold, wandering around, oblivious to the fact that she could be somewhere, could be with someone who wanted to be with her. Maybe it was time for her to come in and let Andy warm her up.

  Chapter 18

  Sydney was going to call Andy, she really was, but then she got distracted or found an excuse or would lose her confidence. What would she say to him? How do you finally respond to someone after sleeping with them and then not calling for a week?

  Sydney woke up on Monday morning thankful that she had nowhere to be. Her work at the law firm was done for now and there were no more documents to review or questions to answer.

  But she still had things to do, the first of which was to finally put on her big girl pants and get in touch with Andy. She had been keeping an eye on Ryan's place and knew the team got back late last night from their long road trip. That was her excuse for continuing to put off calling Andy. Why call him when she wanted to see him and talk to him in person? When after a week of seeing John in that stupid office, she wanted to see a man who didn't make her question her faith in others? Of course, he could also just reject her after she left him hanging without even a text for a week.

  So there she was, sitting at her kitchen counter, coffee in hand, staring at her phone and trying to will herself to finally pick it up and dial Andy's number. A phone number she had spent 20 minutes programming into her phone this weekend and making sure it was the right number again and again if, for some reason, she misplaced his card by some random accident. Of course, she also had the card sitting out on the counter in the exact spot he left it so she could always find it, just in case.

  Sydney took a long drink from her coffee cup and a deep breath. She was going to do this. But just as her hand finally started to reach for the phone, it rang. Lucy's name flashed up on the screen, and Sydney audibly groaned before finally answering it.

  "This better be good," Sydney said in greeting. "I was just about to call—"

  "Do not answer your door."

  "What?"

  She could hear traffic in the background of Lucy's phone call as her friend breathed heavily into the speaker. "If someone knocks—"

  Sydney's head snapped up in response to someone banging on her front door.

  "Um, someone is knocking on my door," she said slowly.

  She could hear Lucy curse loudly on the street. "The S.E.C. wants to search your apartment," she said. "Some questions came up after your work in the office last week, and they would like your cooperation."

  "Cooperation? What does that mean?" she whispered.

  "They're looking for a few things," Lucy said. "I'm getting on your elevator now. Don't open the door until I get there."

  Sydney heard the elevator doors close and Lucy's phone call cut off. That old elevator never cooperated with modern technology. But she couldn't worry about that now because someone was banging on her door again.

  "Sydney Barton, this is the S.E.C.," said a polite but firm voice. "We can hear you inside. We're know you're home."

  Her eyes started darted around her apartment. Did she have dirty dishes lying around? Any bras she tossed off and left in plain sight? Embarrassing DVDs? And then her gaze fell on her desk.

  Knock, knock, knock. />
  "Sydney Barton."

  She ran over to her desk and just stared at it, too afraid to touch anything. Were there papers she didn't want them to have, things she didn't want them to see, documents they would want for her case? Sydney rarely kept papers from the office at home and her work computer had already been confiscated by the S.E.C. So what could they possibly want to find in her apartment?

  "Sydney?" She could tell the man outside was losing his patience. "Sydney, open up."

  "Hey!"

  Sydney heard Lucy on the other side of the door, her lawyer voice kicking in full force. What followed was a muffled negotiation in the hallway between Lucy and the door-knocking guy while Sydney stood still in her living room. She ducked her head, trying to keep her composure. They came to her apartment. They were going to invade the one and only place Sydney had found solace and protection during this whole ordeal. The sofa she snuggled into while watching trashy television. The bedroom where she could hide from the outside world. The places where she had found comfort in Andy's arms.

  She looked down at the ratty t-shirt and black sweatpants she had slept in.

  "Sydney? It's Lucy."

  She couldn't help but scoff. Sydney knew exactly what her best friend sounded like, even if her best friend had her lawyer voice on from the other side of her apartment door. But even Lucy's tone couldn't reassure her. This was going to suck.

  "Sydney, can you let us in?"

  She walked over to the door and reached for the handle, taking a deep breath before slowing opening it. On the other side were Lucy with two people in blue windbreakers with yellow letters on the back. Those same damn government-issued windbreakers she saw in her old office a few weeks ago.

  "Sydney Barton?" She recognized the man's voice as the same one that had repeatedly been saying her name. "We'd like to search your apartment."

  Sydney looked to Lucy, who gave her a very business-like nod. "It would be helpful if you cooperated," her lawyer advised.

  She moved out of the way and let the agents come into her apartment. The search team's leading man began to direct the other agent to look around different areas of her apartment before walking over to inspect the DVDs on Sydney's shelves.

  "The X-Files box set? Cool," he said.

  Normally, this would make Sydney happy, and she would immediately ask him what his favorite episode was. Instead, the compliment made her skin crawl. She felt dirty and gross with these people in her apartment. She would need a long hot shower after this. Hell, she would take that shower now if there weren't people poking around her personal space. Unless…

  "Lucy?" she asked quietly.

  Lucy leaned closer to her without taking her eyes off the S.E.C. guys. Sydney followed her eyes towards the lead investigator, who was staring at the books on her shelf trying to cover up the fact that he was obviously more interested in the conversation between the two women.

  "As your lawyer, I would suggest you be careful with what you're about to say," Lucy said sternly.

  "I was just wondering if I had to be here for this."

  Her lawyer shook her head. "Just make sure you stay somewhere close in case these guys have questions."

  "I'm going to Ryan's," she explained. "I need a shower."

  Without waiting for a response from Lucy, she went into her bedroom and grabbed a messenger bag from the shelf in her closet as the other S.E.C. agent stood nearby watching.

  "Going somewhere?" he asked in an accusatory voice.

  "Next door to my neighbor's place so I can take a shower." She stuffed a pair of jeans and purple sweater in the bag. "My lawyer said I could leave," she added with a sarcastic sneer.

  Sydney headed to her bathroom and grabbed her vanilla body wash from the shower. She didn't care what kind of shampoo Ryan had — or even if he had any — but she had to clean this S.E.C. filth off of her, and whatever manly soap he had was not going to help.

  Sydney slung the bag over her arm and headed for her front door, grabbing the phone on her counter on the way out.

  "Ms. Barton, could you leave that?" asked the S.E.C. agent in her living room.

  "I can't take my own phone?"

  Lucy gave her an apologetic smile. "We're cooperating," she explained. "I'll make sure they only look for what they need."

  "We won't be checking for anything personal," the agent explained. "It's just protocol."

  He held his hand out for the phone, but Sydney just smiled extra sweetly at him and dropped it on the counter where she had picked it up from while she made sure to maintain eye contact. Screw that guy. He gave her a tight smile and turned back to keep poking around her desk, which gave her the perfect chance to slide Andy's card off the counter and into her pocket. The government guys could dig into her phone all they wanted, but they weren't going to take Andy's number from her.

  "Come get me if you need anything," Sydney said to Lucy.

  Then she walked out the door and slammed it hard behind her. Exiled from her own apartment and without her phone, she had no way of texting Ryan to give him a warning that she was on her way over. Oh well. She took the short steps to his place and knocked loudly, assuming he would be asleep at this hour after the long flight home from the west coast. Surprisingly, he answered pretty quickly wearing black Detroit Pirates sweatpants and a white t-shirt. It looked like he had slept on the plane though with his hair sticking out in every direction. The initial smile on his face quickly faded when he took in Sydney's appearance.

  "What happened?" he immediately asked.

  "I need a shower," she replied as she pushed past him into his place.

  She could hear the door close behind her and turned to see Ryan still staring at her with a skeptical look.

  "You came over here just because you need a shower?"

  Sydney dropped her bag on the floor and started rummaging around for her vanilla shower gel.

  "The S.E.C. is in my apartment, and I couldn't deal with them so I'm here instead."

  Her hands finally found the shower gel and she stood up, knowing full well that she was giving him a desperate pleading look. But at this point, she was done caring about wearing her emotions out in the open like this.

  "Can I please use your shower?" she begged.

  "Yeah. Yeah, of course."

  Ryan walked over to her as she stood up and wrapped his arms around her. She could feel herself lean into him, just like she had when Amelia said goodbye to her. She was glad he was back in town.

  "You can stay here as long as you want," he said gently.

  Sydney pulled away and gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

  "Anytime," he said with a cheesy smile. "Oh, and I have coffee for when you get out."

  "Do you actually know how to make coffee?"

  Ryan's eyes narrowed as he stared at her. "I may be immature, but I'm not a Neanderthal," he said. "Four out of five women I bring home compliment my coffee."

  Sydney couldn't help but roll her eyes. "That's good enough, I guess," she muttered as she turned to his bathroom.

  "My mom put clean towels on the shelf!" Ryan yelled from the living room.

  She locked the door behind her, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath as she leaned up against it. Alone. Quiet. This is exactly what she needed. She grabbed a towel from Ryan's shelf and turned on the water, stripping her clothes off as she waited for it to get warm. As soon as she stepped in the shower, she smiled. As predicted, he had some block of blue soap that she picked up to smell. Yep, spicy athletic male scent. Sydney was glad she thought to bring her own provisions.

  She wasn't really sure how long she was in the shower, but it had to have been awhile. Her hands were well past their wrinkled state before she decided it was time to finally get out. She reached down and grabbed her towel, thankful that Ryan had a taste for big fluffy linens. Although to be fair, it was probably his mom's influence. She dried herself off and then wrapped the towel up around her wet hair.

  That's when Sydney realized s
he was naked in Ryan's bathroom and her clothes were in her bag in his living room. She audibly groaned and searched around for another clean towel or something she could cover herself up with so she didn't have to put her crusty clothes back on. Then she spotted a blue robe hanging on a hook by the door. She immediately grabbed it and put her arms into the sleeves. Oh, bless this thick terry cloth robe that was too big for her so she could practically bury herself in the soft fabric.

  Sydney walked out to see Ryan standing in the doorway to his bedroom and she walked over to give him another hug.

  "Thank you," she said softly. "I really did need that."

  She heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Andy in Ryan's living room.

  "Hey!"

  She let go of Ryan and smiled at the trainer. At least with him here now she could stop debating about when to call him. But Andy didn't seem like his usual self.

  "Hi," he replied quietly, his eyes darting around Ryan's apartment to avoid looking directly at her.

  Well, that wasn't the response she was expecting. Maybe she really had screwed something up by not calling him. She would have to explain herself later or talk to him about what had happened during their week apart with her old job and that stupid business card. But at this moment, in Ryan's apartment, she just couldn't come up with anything other than some small talk.

  "So how was the road trip?" she asked apprehensively.

  "Fine. It was fine."

  She simply nodded in response. Andy was definitely more guarded than usual, and that was Sydney's fault. She would have to fix this.

  "Hey, so—"

  "Sorry, I have to go," he said, quickly interrupting her. "It was, uh, good to see you."

  "Yeah, you too," she said. "Maybe I could call you later?"

  Andy looked over her shoulder to Ryan."Yeah, sure," he said dismissively. "See you guys later."

  And with that, he was gone.

  Sydney just stood there in silence, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. He was here. Andy was right here. It was her fault for not calling him, but she didn't expect him to be that stand-offish just because she hadn't called. And really, if she could've had some time alone with him to explain, everything would been fine.