Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“Okay.”
“And Evan’s coming in at six, so I gotta go pick him up at the airport.”
“What? Why?”
“Because somebody tried to kill his brother,” Alex said flatly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black leather biker jacket. “Dad called him. There was nothing I could do to keep him from flying out.”
“Fine, whatever,” I sighed. “I’ll go with you. I’ll call Tate—”
“Your doctor, Tate whatever?”
“Yeah, and I’ll tell him I need to be gone by five.”
Alex nodded and then promised he would be back soon.
“You have the keys?” I asked him.
“I do.” He jiggled them for my benefit. “I’ll be back.”
“And you remember the alarm code?”
“It’s stupid, so yeah, I remember it.”
“Okay, good,” I said, smiling.
“Hey, Cord.”
Cord snapped his head up.
“We’ll be in touch,” Alex told him, and left the room.
“Yep,” Cord called after my brother, and then his gaze was back on me. “You didn’t ask me if it was true.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t ask me if I was telling you the truth about Breckin’s affair with Celia Hughes,” he said gruffly.
“Oh,” I grunted. I threw the covers off my legs and swung them over the side, still facing him. “Why would you lie? You don’t lie. That’s not one of your many faults. In fact, the opposite may be true—you’re too damned honest.”
He chuckled before giving me a wicked grin. “I guess with me you always know what you’re gonna get.”
“Yep,” I agreed, raking my fingers through my hair. “Unless I was dating you, of course. People you date don’t get to hear that one night is all you’re after.”
“That’s what you think?”
“That’s what I know.”
He cleared his throat. “I’m just—man, did I fuck this up.”
I squinted at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Just, listen,” he began, sitting down beside me so we were shoulder to shoulder. “I want you to call me if anything at all weird happens, okay?”
“Sure,” I said stoically. “I’ll call you.”
He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and tried to pass me a card with his name and number on it. “I wrote my cell on the back of that for you.”
“I don’t need that. Did you forget who I am?”
His expression was so odd, like he was unsure what was going on.
“Did you have a brain fart or something?”
“What?”
“I have your cell number,” I told him irritably, giving him back the card. “Unless you changed it. Did you change it?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t need a card,” I said like he was dumb.
“Fine.”
We were quiet then, just sitting there side by side until I said, “You didn’t have to stick around and tell me all this stuff. Alex could’ve told me.”
“It’s okay. I wasn’t busy.”
“Liar,” I grunted, even though I was completely numb. “You’re always busy. You’re a Homicide inspector, for crissakes, and this is a big city.”
“It surely is,” he agreed. He put an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me up tight against him. “But I will always make time for my friends.”
“Are we friends, then?”
“We have more history than you obviously remember.”
“Oh, I remember it all right,” I said wryly, leaning my head against his collarbone. “I just usually see and speak to my friends more than once every couple of years.”
“We don’t run in the same crowd.”
“Understatement of the year.”
“But you could invite me,” he said softly, grazing my jaw, curling his fingers around my throat as he tilted my head up with his thumb. “It wouldn’t kill you.”
I scoffed. “And do what with my friends? They’re all paired up. No one for you to fuck and forget.”
“You’re right. In the past I haven’t done relationships,” he acknowledged. “I haven’t seen the merit.”
“Right now I don’t either,” I said miserably, turning to look out the window at the rain. “I feel like I got the crap kicked outta me.”
“You did get the crap kicked outta you,” he said affectionately.
“Yeah,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest, shivering suddenly.
He leaned me close and pushed the hair back from my face. I closed my eyes, and he didn’t move away. It was very comforting and almost undid me.
“Thank you for being here with me,” I told him wearily. “I appreciate it more than you know.”
“I know,” he huffed, and I felt his warm breath on the side of my neck.
“Okay,” I said quickly, squaring my shoulders and sitting up straight. “You go ahead an’ go, and I’ll call ya if anything weird happens.”
He stood and put his coat on over his thick sweater. “Call me if nothing happens.”
“That doesn’t make any sense at all,” I muttered, watching him grab his pad, his phone, and readjust his gun holster.
“Well, either your brother or myself or another officer will be guarding you from now on.”
“How is that possible? I mean, there’s crime all over this city. How does one guy merit twenty-four-hour surveillance? All I got was beaten up.”