He hissed at the lukewarm temperature, and I helped him down.
I tried hard not to stare at his wet boxer briefs and instead rose to stand and got him one of the many men’s toiletry kits I kept beneath my sink.
He met my gaze. “You have a lot of sleepovers?”
“My ex-boyfriend was kind of OCD about never using the same items twice. He was weird and wasteful that way, but lucky for you, I have a supply. Otherwise, you’d have to use my floral-smelling stuff.”
“I always figured Teddy wasn’t right in the head.”
I froze, and my heart skipped a beat as I slowly turned. “How do you know his name was Teddy?”
“You think that me being here is a coincidence? Honor, I wasn’t kidding when I said you’re in danger. Teddy used to talk about you all the time.”
“How do you know him?” I asked, hugging the towels protectively against my chest. Teddy was a loner when he wasn’t at work. He didn’t have many friends and no family. That was probably one of the reasons he liked me best. We both enjoyed a peaceful life. Hell, I had enough family for him to feel smothered in the event we ventured into town.
“We shared a cell together.”
“Of course, you did,” I said, backing out of the bathroom.
“Wait, that came out wrong,” Hugh called out, holding out his hand even though I was out of reach. “I was tasked with turning him into a confidential informant.”
I stopped. “The police paid you to turn him into a CI?”
“I am the police. Well, sort of. I’ve been undercover for the last three months trying to take down the organization that used Teddy to launder money. And it’s ringleader, Victor Simmons.”
Teddy was an accountant, a white-collar criminal, and he’d been arrested for stealing money from his clients. He was doing time. He’d claimed to steal in order to make ends meet, and I’d believed him until he’d stolen from me, too, and was believed to have a million dollars stashed away.
We’d broken up, and he’d gone to jail. He was the first and last man I gave my heart to.
“You’re an undercover cop?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Where’s your badge?”
“I’m undercover,” he said, opening the toiletry bag and tearing into the bar of soap. He winced when the sharp movement must have pulled on his wound. He continued, “Teddy wasn’t the brightest tool in the shed, and I wasn’t the only one that he told about you.”
I tilted my head. “What about me?”
“That you’re his ex-girlfriend. You still have his things, don’t you?”
I snapped my mouth closed. “I have them in storage until he gets out of jail.”
“It’s good that you don’t have them here. You’ll have leverage.”
I stepped back into the bathroom. “What else did he tell you?”
Hugh’s lips twisted at the corner. “He told me about your telepathy and that you can use astral projection to spy on anyone you want.”
