"Calm down, sunshine. It's me."
When he lowered his hands and stepped back, I pressed a palm to my heart, which was pounding hard enough to escape my chest, and turned to him.
"You almost stopped my heart!"
"Tell me something I don't know."
"I regularly imagine a hundred different ways to kill you. How's that?"
"I'm not surprised you think about me so much."
"Oh, you're unbearable, Kerem." He opened his mouth to speak, but I lifted my hand. "Okay, enough. I don't want to argue with you." His pleased smirk only irritated me further. "Couldn't you find a better place? Why did you drag me into this storage room?"
He raised a brow and pointed at my stomach with that smug grin of his."Don't get mad, darling. I just wanted to check if our baby was doing alright."
Even though I knew exactly what he meant, the way he said it made something flutter inside me. Not knowing how to respond, I looked away and examined the shelves instead. His soft laugh reached my ears.
"Are you embarrassed?"
"Of course not! Why would I be?"
"I don't know. Your cheeks look a little red."
My hands flew to my cheeks on instinct, making him laugh again. I dropped them and gave him a tired look.
"Stop messing with me, hotshot! I didn't say those things because I wanted to, okay? When I rushed in and couldn't find you anywhere, it was the only logical lie that could justify me being in that bar and help me find you."
He sighed, leaning his back against the cabinet and crossing his arms.
"You should've stayed in the car, sunshine. Thanks to you, I can't even enter that bar anymore as the villain of your story."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Turns out your old man is the owner. Whatever nonsense you told him, he refuses to let me in. Every time I show up, he throws me out and gives me speeches about returning to you and taking responsibility for our child."
I couldn't help laughing, and his eyebrow arched."You seem to enjoy that."
And then his lips curled slowly. That was the real danger.
"Then you're going to love this next part. We're going back to that bar tonight. You'll convince the old man there's no problem, and while you handle that, I'll finish the conversation you ruined last time and get the woman to tell me where the man I'm looking for is."
My shock only made his grin widen. I leaned back against the cabinet as well, folding my arms like he did.
"Fine. But answer my questions first. Who is that woman?"
"Ever heard the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'?"
"Your choice. No answer, no me."
"You're not going to let it go, are you?" he muttered, then sighed. "She's the ex-girlfriend of the man I'm looking for."
"Then why did you show up at my place covered in blood that night?"
"I was trying to get information from someone in your building, but I guess my timing was off. The guys who followed me all the way to your place were after the same person, just for different reasons."
I groaned in frustration and asked again."Can't you arrange to meet the woman somewhere else? Why that filthy bar?"
"Her current boyfriend is the jealous, dangerous type. Ever since he saw her talking to me that day, he hasn't let her leave that room."
I frowned."So you two are trying to talk behind his back?"
"Exactly."
"What if he sees you again?"
"He'll probably try to kill me."
I stared at him in horror."Are you insane? How can you risk that?"
"No need to worry. Since that day, I've found a way to check whether he's there or not. And tonight, he won't be."
"How did you learn my last name?"
He chuckled and shook his head."Nice try."
I let my arms fall to my sides in defeat.
"Fine. I won't ask anything else for now, but that doesn't mean I agree with you. I still think you're making a mistake by keeping this from your friends. If things get out of control, they'll be able to help you way more than I can."
"Don't worry. Nothing will go wrong, sunshine."
"Let's hope so, hotshot."
When our conversation ended, I stepped out of the storage room and entered the restroom. Leaning against the sink, I took a moment to assess the situation for myself.
Did I want to help him? Yes and no. Part of me didn't want to, because I was dragged into this mess because of him, and none of it was my business. But another part of me did, because whether I meant to or not, I had contributed to making things more complicated.
Was what I was doing dangerous? Probably more than I realized.Was I scared? Terrified.And did I enjoy that mix of fear and excitement?
"Damn it. Why can't I be like other adrenaline junkies and do bungee jumping instead?" I muttered to myself as I walked out.
When I returned to the table and sat down, the girls immediately turned to me, cheerful.
"We're all going to the bar tonight to celebrate my birthday. You're coming too, right?"
I paused, unsure what to say, and glanced at Kerem, who was deep in conversation with the guys and didn't see me. But judging by Nil saying "all of us," he had already agreed.
Since the plan depended on him, I didn't really have a choice. I nodded, and the girls happily went back to their intense debate about what to wear tonight.
Meanwhile, I was drowning in my own thoughts.
Something told me… the night ahead was going to be dangerously eventful.