Free Fighting Back (Harrow #2) by Scarlett Finn

didn’t just drop people once he was bored with them, they got shifted onto his periphery.
    Saul liked to be adored, he liked to do people favours and to be seen as a good guy, and he could keep a secret too. Somewhere along the way he had learned that a part of winning people’s confidence meant having a reputation for being discreet, another thing that Saul excelled at.
    ‘Do you want to go to a casino?’ he asked. ‘Your choice. We could take in a show if you want, I made dinner reservations for—‘
    ‘You’re that eager to impress me all over again?’ she quipped, folding her arms. ‘What were you doing in my purse? You’ve never been short a few bucks.’
    ‘Your phone made a noise, and I was curious,’ he said.
    He would never have offered that information without her prompt, sometimes he enjoyed keeping secrets a little bit too much. Taking her phone from her bag to see why it had made a noise, Ivy saw a message from Dax, one that Saul had read.
     
    Just got in. Going for a nap, then we’re going to talk.
     
    ‘Sounds like there might be a little bit of trouble,’ Saul said, he slid down in the seat and patted his thigh. ‘Come sit down and tell Daddy all about it.’
    ‘Yeah, right,’ she smiled at his tease, then responded to Dax’s message.
     
    Going to breakfast with my ex-boyfriend. Call me when you wake up.
     
    She was still getting used to texting. Before Dax, she hadn’t had a cell phone because devices weren’t a priority and she didn’t have the expendable income. Being unreachable was one of the things that Saul had hated about her. When Saul bought her a cell phone, she’d thrown it right back at him because she knew it was a tool meant to increase his control over her and her social calendar. Dax got her one out of concern and he knew better than to manipulate her with it.
    Texting Dax had become a habit while they were both working on the East Coast. He would text her when he was bored at work, or when he was at home waiting for her to come home from her job. Because they worked opposing shifts – he on the night and she on the day – texting each other when they woke up, got home, or were about to go to sleep, was part of their routine.
    One thing they never did was ignore each other’s calls or texts. More than worrying about appearing rude, they knew that a lack of response would cause the other to be concerned, which was justified given their history.
    When there was no immediate reply to her text message, she put the phone away. Dax had to be asleep by now; that was the only explanation for her message not prompting an instantaneous retort telling her that she was going nowhere with an ex-boyfriend. But she wasn’t keeping any secrets from Dax.
    ‘Dinner is out,’ she said. ‘I’m not going on a date with you, Saul. But you can take me to breakfast.’
    ‘It’s a start,’ he said, leaping out of the chair and going forth to open the bedroom door for her.
    It was almost eleven AM, so it was closer to lunchtime, but Saul had done her a favour without any hesitation when she asked him to, so the least she could do was share a meal with him. She would do it out in public and wait for Dax to call because she was pretty sure his reaction to her text wouldn’t be immediately understanding.
     
     
    Having Saul back in her life turned out to be fortuitous. When Ivy relayed her plan to get hold of Trudi, he jumped right on it and offered to help. A male voice would be more convincing than a female one, so Ivy accepted his assistance. They arranged to meet in her hotel room that night, at ten PM, to put the plan into motion.
    Eager as she was to have Trudi where she wanted her, Ivy was preoccupied with Dax. He hadn’t called her. She knew better than most how much Dax loved his sleep. The man could sleep like the dead, and he could do it indefinitely. He’d had a long night talking to Mauri and making love to her, then met up with Serg and had another long night of