Blank Slate

Chapter 127 - Ethan Carter

The moment that I stepped into Lacey's house, I was bombarded with memories. Good memories. Bad memories. Happy memories. Sexy memories. Angry memories. Heart-wrenching memories. Lacey was the closest I ever got to tying the knot and other than Cole's mansion, this was the closest place I ever had to a home.

In the two years since I had been back here, Lacey hadn't changed much. I could see that the dated chandelier that she always lamented about not matching the rest of the decor had been replaced and there were a couple of new pieces of art on the wall, but overall it looked just like I remembered it. It smelled the same too. Like the laundry scented air wick that she uses mixed with the citrus soaps that she loves.

I walked over to her grandfather's old study desk in the corner that Lacey had completely cleared out so that I could use it and ran my hand over the scarred surface. There was a thick layer of dust on the desk as if she hadn't touched it since I left over 2 years ago. A part of me wondered if I had walked away from something good. Something that clearly wasn't easily replaceable. But the bigger part of me knew that neither of us were the same people as we were back then and whatever we used to have between us was best left to live in our memories.

Oliver was sweeping the inside of the house for bugs and Liam was walking the perimeter of her neighborhood. Lacey came up behind me and propped her chin on my shoulder as she wrapped her arms around my chest in a backward hug. At first, I tensed at such an intimate touch, but when she didn't say anything I allowed myself to relax into this moment with her. Just because we weren't together anymore, didn't mean that I didn't care for Lacey. And four years of companionship and memories was a comforting thing to relax into. After the month that I have had, I was vulnerable for just this sort of thing.

"So, tell me," Lacey practically purred into my ear, "in the two years since you walked out of my door without ever looking back, have you found anything that even comes close to comparing to what we had?" I stiffened and she stepped away from my back only to rest her hips on the desk so that she could see my face.

"No," I told her honestly and I could see the dark twinkle of joy in her eye. I knew without a doubt that if I wasn't happy with Lacey then she wouldn't want me happy with anyone. If she couldn't have happily ever after with me, then she assumed that I wouldn't be able to find it with anyone else. Right now, I couldn't disprove her point but this was a perfect reminder of why I had left in the first place. Lacey enjoyed being in a toxic relationship with a lot of drama. I did not.

"Do you regret walking away?" she asked in that same seductive tone.

"No," I said again and watched as the delight turned to indignation with a touch of rage.

"Found something here," Oliver called out before Lacey could respond and I gladly took the excuse to walk away from this particular conversation. Oliver was in the bedroom and standing on Lacey's dresser holding the scanner in one hand and looking closely at a spot on the wall where the corner meets the ceiling. "Looks like a camera. White and very small so it blended in. I probably wouldn't have seen it if my scanner had picked up the connection signal. The signal is active and data is transmitting. If this guy is watching then he knows that we are here and that we are searching for cameras."

I wanted to yell at Oliver to stop talking because I didn't necessarily want Noland Becker to know that we knew. The kid was brilliant, but he still had a lot to learn. I waved Oliver down and climbed up on the dresser to get a better look myself. It was top-of-the-line equipment and seeing it made my stomach drop. This fucker knew what he was doing and wasn't playing around here. This camera proved that Lacey really was in danger.

I climbed down and quietly told Oliver to keep looking and then asked Lacey to show me anything that Noland had given her or any personal stuff that she may have of his. Lace no longer looked as confident as she had moments ago and she turned to get what I asked for without saying anything in response. Silently she walked into her office and opened the bottom drawer of her own desk and pulled out a manila envelope. She hesitated for the briefest moments before handing it over to me and walking into the kitchen to start some tea. I knew that these were the personal photos that she had mentioned earlier and felt a little bit like a creep looking at them, so I sat down in the living room in full view of Lacey. Somehow doing this in front of her made it seem more okay.