You've Got Male novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Find My Phone

The house on South Battery was dark when I let myself in.

My father had lived in it for forty years.

Every board creaked in a language I knew.

I made it halfway through the front hall before the kitchen light snapped on.

Lyle sat at the island with his phone in front of him and a glass of my father's bourbon.

"Where have you been?" he said.

His voice was quiet, which was worse than loud.

"Out."

"Out where? I called six times."

"I know. You also tracked me."

I said it before he could.

I had learned that from watching him.

His eyes flickered.

"What?"

"The little map. You sent me a picture of my own car. You put a tracker on my phone, Lyle."

"It's a family plan. It's a feature."

"On our wedding weekend?" My voice cracked, and I let it.

"I went for a drive because I was scared," I said.

"And my husband sent me a photograph of my car like I was a suspect."

His mouth opened and closed.

"Scared of what?"

"Of being married. Of all of this," I said. "Everything happened so fast."

"Then I woke up in a hotel room with your mother standing over me with a deed."

It was not entirely a lie.

Lyle stood up, and came around the island, and took my face in both hands.

"Cassidy. I'm sorry. I'm a fool. I wanted to protect you, and I did it badly."

His thumbs were gentle on my cheekbones.

I let him look into my eyes, and I did not flinch.

"I'm going to sleep in my father's room tonight," I said. "Just for now. Until we've settled."

"Of course."

"Alone."

"Take all the time you need." He kissed my forehead. "I'm a patient man."

I went upstairs and shut the door.

I waited forty minutes.

I listened to him pace, then the guest room door, then nothing.

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