Seventy-Two

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Leah

"How do you feel about skipping the rest of the day?" Jace asked his eyes awaiting my answer.

So much for a normal day. I shrugged my shoulders. It's not like I was learning much today after all. "Are we going to meet River?"

Jace nodded and slipped his phone back in his pocket. "Better now then later." He held his hand out and without another thought I place mine into his. He intertwined our fingers and tugged me along the path leading to the parking lot. Jace placed a soft kiss on the back of my hand that causes a small explosion of warmth in me. "Let's see what River found."

Once in his car, it didn't take us long to get to River's bar, Viper. I made sure to shoot Kayla a quick text to let her know I was with Jace. I didn't need her reporting me as a missing person. She has done that before. Long story.

I got out of the car as soon as Jace parked and headed inside before he could follow behind. A part of me was always excited to see River. I guess you could say it's because he's a total sweetheart and put himself at risk to help me out that one time. I was eternally grateful, but he was also total eye candy. I blame the hormones.

Entering the bar I let my eyes scan the area trying to spot him and there he was behind the bar speaking to a customer with a dazzling smile on his face. As if he sensed my eyes, River glanced over to where I was standing and grinned happily. I found myself grinning stupidly back at him.

He excused himself and stepped out from behind the bar. We met each other half way and he pulled me into a tight hug. It always seems like River and I have known each other for years when it's only been a month or so. Something about River made it seem like I knew him my entire life. We seemed to have connected way beyond expectations. "Hey beautiful." He greeted warmly. "Glad to see you back here so soon."

"You know I couldn't stay away for too long." I teased and River let out a soft chuckle.

"Good, I was starting to miss your pretty face." He added sweetly with a wink.

"Can you stop flirting already? It's making me sick." I heard Jace said from behind. His tone bitter.

"Don't be mad that I can flirt better than you." River stated and gave him a pat on his shoulder in comfort. Jace just gave him a deadly stare. "You might want to be careful, I could steal Leah away from you."

"Can we just get to the reason we're here?" Jace gritted out. Did River hit a nerve?

"Sure thing." He said with some amusement in his tone. River seems to love ruffling Jace's feathers and Jace always seems to falls into his trap. "Let's talk in my office." He gestured for us to follow.

Once seated in his office, River handed Jace a cream colored file. "This is everything I could dig up on Adler. Even a ghost couldn't hide forever." He leaned against the side of the desk.

I glanced around the office. It was clean, crisp and proper. Not an item out of place. He even had a plant on his desk. Letting my eyes scanned the desk, it landed on a photo of River, Allison and Jace. It looked like it was taken at this very bar. All were smiling happily without a care in the world. No one would ever guess what was hidden behind those smiles.

Jace let his eyes scan the documents in the file and I let my eyes follow. "He goes by Thomas Grimes now. He works for a large advertising company the next city over. Just a simple employee. Clocks in and out, does his job and goes home. He hasn't been in any type of trouble in the past ten years, not even a parking ticket. No social media, flying completely under the radar." River explained.

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