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)
“You’re gonna do more than show off your abs.”
“Oh, I suspect the abs are still damn important.”
“You know what I mean.”
His smile told me he did.
I took a shower around five in the afternoon, and right after that Matt called. He had called before I woke up, and I had missed it. I stayed on the phone for an hour and was surprised by how much easier it was to tell when I wasn’t living through it at the same time. Even a little bit of distance helped.
My explanation came out in staccato bursts—I said and he said, and I said and he said—until the whole thing was out. The baby part was too much for him, and I found myself relating that piece to Eric instead. I’d had no idea Matt’s beloved could swear like a sailor.
When Matt got back on the phone, after he breathed into a paper bag for several minutes, I got to the part about the psycho trying to kill me. Since it became an episode of Criminal Minds at that point, he calmed down. Police drama, he understood.
After I got off the phone with Matt, I went downstairs and found my dad and Alex having a couple of Coronas in the kitchen while they fixed dinner together. Breckin was asleep on the couch, with Bo lying down beside it, as if guarding him, and Evan was watching Monday Night Football. It seemed so normal that I almost lost it. I went directly out the back door to my father’s flower garden. It was nice outside, and I was warm enough in a long-sleeved T-shirt, jeans, and socks. I took a seat on a chaise and stretched out my legs.
“Can I sit with you?”
When I turned, I found Cord staring at me, a beer in his hand.
“Sure.”
He sat down in front of me on my chaise, so I had to sit up cross-legged as he faced me, his long, muscular legs draped over the sides.
“You all right?” Cord asked.
I shrugged.
He reached over and brushed my hair out of my face. “I like seeing your eyes, and this got a little long, huh?”
“It’s gotta be cut. It’s on my list.”
“Or you could leave it,” he rumbled, sliding his fingers down my cheek.
I grunted.
“So listen, I wanna talk to you about Vermont.”
I exhaled a deep breath. “I’ll go.”
He scowled as he studied me.
“What? Isn’t that what you want?”
“It is, yeah, but why the sudden change?”
“Like you said, I don’t want anyone near my dad or Alex or Evan. I can’t have that.”
He nodded.
“And I’m sorry you’re stuck going with me because I don’t want anything to happen to you either, but there’s no way you’re staying here, right?”
“That’s right,” he said firmly.
“So yeah, you’re gonna have a target on your back no matter what, but you probably would anyway with being the investigator on record.”
“That’s correct.”
“But I need you to be careful while we’re there because it would kill me if anything happened to you because of me.”
“I—”
“Or not because of me,” I amended. “I mean—fuck, you know what I mean.” He was being very still, waiting, so I rambled on. “In general, period, all encompassing, I don’t want you to get hurt,” I told him, meeting his gaze. “It would kill me.”
He smiled ever so slightly. “All encompassing.”
“Don’t make fun.”
“No,” he rumbled. “Never.”
“Okay.”
“I really should be the least of your worries.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not. I need to do whatever I can to get this over with. I mean, I know you’re coming with me, and I know you’ll be in danger too, but there’s no changing that. To fight with you and not go, that draws everything out much longer and increases the chances of you getting hurt.”
“Jesus, Tracy.”
I unfolded my legs and got up, putting a hand on his shoulder to brace myself as I stood. “Can we talk about all this later?”
“Whatever you want.”
“When do you want to go?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Tomorrow?”
“That’s what I was hoping.”
“Can you get tickets by then?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, then. I’ll call Dimah and let him know. You get to talk to everyone else.”
“Sounds good.”
“Man, I’m beat.”
“Emotional stuff can really take it out of you.”
I shot him a look.
“I wasn’t trying to be a dick,” he said defensively. “I swear.”
Studying his face, I realized he really wasn’t. “I’m gonna go in and talk to Breckin and tell him to go home.”
Cord didn’t say anything, and I would have stepped away, but he caught and held my hand as it slipped from his shoulder.
“What?”
“I can make him leave,” Cord said casually.
“In cuffs and transported in a police car?” I chuckled, turning my hand in his grip, sliding my palm over his callused one.
“Why not?” he teased, drawing me closer.
“I’ll make him go. I need to talk to him anyway.”
“Okay.”
“So you’ll call me later and tell me what time to be at the airport and what airline, all right?”