Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
“I don’t like it,” Remy muttered.
“What happens when he grabs you?” Caleb asked. “What then?”
She shook her head. “Isn’t anyone paying attention? Remy will be watching me from the bar or you can hire one of the bodyguards you mentioned who can blend in with the crowd. Lance won’t realize I’m being protected.”
“If he lays a hand on you, I’m going to kill him.”
She rose and walked over to where he sat and knelt down, putting her hand over his. “We need him to violate his parole without it seeming like he was set up. But you’ll be there to make sure nothing serious happens. A violation gets him back behind bars for the duration of his sentence. I just wish he could be put away for a lot longer.”
Caleb cleared his throat.
Uncomfortable in her kneeling position, she stood and glanced at her brother. “What is it?”
“What I didn’t mention yet was that after I took Owen to school this morning, I drove to Mom’s to talk to my brother.” Caleb rubbed his hands together in a nervous gesture. “I hate this because he’s my twin. But… I think he’s on drugs.”
Remy leaned forward. “Why do you say that?”
“Because his eyes were like pinpricks, and he was antsy, and unable to remain sitting or standing in one place,” Caleb said.
Silence followed his statement. Raven caught Remy and Zach exchanging glances. “What is it?” she asked. “No silent mental telepathy, you two.” She pointed back and forth between them.
Zach rose to his feet. “It’s just that if Lance is on drugs, and he’s caught carrying, and if he’s on hard-core drugs like meth or blow… he’ll get himself slammed with a longer sentence. It’s even better if he’s carrying a weapon at the time.”
She winced at the thought of Lance with a gun.
Remy nodded. “With his record, that’s another return-to-jail card. But it’s not like we can set him up to make it happen. He’d need to be playing fast and loose and be totally out of control.”
“It wouldn’t shock me if any of those things were true,” Caleb muttered, head in his hands.
Raven felt sorry for her brother and wished she knew how to help him but she didn’t even know how to help herself.
“I say we take some time to think,” Zach said. “We can regroup soon and see if you can live with Raven’s idea.” He glanced from Caleb to Remy. “Because making her seem available to Lance is the best way to draw him out.”
“I can do this,” she assured them, not wanting them to think she’d cave out of fear.
Even if just the thought of Lance spiraling on drugs and carrying a gun scared her to death, there was no way she’d give up on her plan. She needed to draw him out if she wanted to regain her life.
* * *
Remy let his guests out of the apartment, knowing he and Raven needed to talk. He strode back to the family room but she wasn’t there. He found her in the bedroom, sitting on the bed, a lost, dazed look on her face.
“Raven?” She jumped at the sound of her name.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She nodded. “I know. Come here?” She patted the space on the mattress beside her and he slid onto the bed, joining her.
“What’s up?” he asked, not knowing where her mind was after that meeting. True, she’d reiterated her desire to play a target but he wasn’t sure she’d thought things through.
“I need you to trust me,” she said. “There is no way I can even think about having a future unless Lance is gone. I want to see my nephew and not worry that Lance will devolve to the point where he’d hurt a child. Don’t I deserve to be able to go out and have drinks with a girlfriend like Stevie without worrying she’ll end up like Emily?”
“You deserve all those things and more but I don’t want to lose the woman I love like I lost my mother!” His shout came as much of a surprise to him as it did to Raven, who’d jerked at his tone.
He blew out a calming breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
She crossed her hands over her stomach and blinked back tears. “I know. Just like I know I want to say it back to you, but I can’t.”
His heart stopped beating in his chest. He’d been more aware of nearly losing control than he had of the words he’d been holding in for so long. He knew damn well she wasn’t ready to hear the depth of his feelings and he’d never meant for them to come out.
“I know.” He grasped her hands in his. “Forget I said it. I understand where your head is at. We can table all relationship conversations,” he said, hoping he didn’t regret not pushing her now.