by Sofia Aves
“You, too.”
Cal let me go, looking over his shoulder to Danny.
“That bloody alarm is busted again. I’ve told Steph; she says the boyfriend will be around later this afternoon to fix it again.” Cal paused, his hand squeezing my arm, though his stance remained relaxed. “Be wary of him, alright? He’s stirred some shit up, and I know Mila was uncomfortable with him last time. When I meet him, he’s going to have to impress me with some fast talking.” Shaking his head, Cal sent me a tight grin.
I nodded, relieved he’d listened last time. He dropped a quick kiss on my head, grabbing his phone and keys from the breakfast bar.
“Take it easy today, man. I’m going to need you soon.” Cal gave the younger cop an easy smile. Danny grinned widely, holding out for a fist bump.
It was quiet when Cal left. Maybe he had some books I could read? I turned to ask Danny if he knew if Cal had books around and found him watching me, a lopsided grin on his face.
“What?”
“You know he’s falling for you, right? I haven’t seen him like this in years. Since, well, before Mandy.”
Caught off guard, I shook my head.
“We’ve only known each other for a week or two…”
“Yeah, but you’ve been living in each other’s back pockets for the last week, and stressful situations put you in a mindset you don’t usually have. Speeds shi– stuff up.”
I realised I knew nothing about Cal’s relationship with Mandy. “Um, why did they break up?”
“He hasn’t told you?”
I shook my head. Danny sighed, his eyes on the floor.
“He walked in early one afternoon, thinking he’d surprise her with a romantic night together. Found her in his bed with another guy.”
I winced.
“That really sucks. And you’re okay with that…going out with this girl?”
Danny shrugged.
“My relationships don’t last long. She’s a bit of fun, for now.”
“Oh.” That seemed sad, but I didn’t want to be rude. Danny was worthy of more than a cheating ex-girlfriend of his friend’s. A thought occurred to me.
“Wait, was the other guy you?”
“What? No!” Danny backed away, caught between shock and laughter. “You think I’d still be alive if it had been me? Hell, Cal had the guy brought up on charges just to throw him in a jail cell for the night.”
I laughed — it was something I could see Cal doing. I sobered at the thought — he must have been furious, as well as heartbroken. Danny fidgeted beside me.
“Are you still hungry?”
The huge cop nodded enthusiastically. I made up some more eggs and toast, refilling my coffee. His plate emptied quickly. I offered more, but he shook his head.
“Nah, shouldn’t eat too much of the boss’ food, seeing as I’m boning his– damn, sorry.”
I smiled, loving that the boy had no filter. Crass and bulky, I knew he hid behind the facade. Anyone who underestimated him would be unwise — and I was pretty sure he used the look to his advantage in his work.
“I’m so sorry you’ve been stuck here with me for the last two days. You must be bored out of your brains.”
“It’s a break. I go home, not tired for the day, work out, go to bed. Anyway, you get Black for the next three days.” Danny grinned.
“It’ll be great to see him again. Not that you’re not good company!” I hastened to reassure him, but he shrugged it off.
“You’ve known him for a long time, yeah?”
“He was my minder — at first — but now he’s more like a big brother. My only family, for the last few years.”
Danny nodded, swivelling to face me.
“You’ve got family now, babe. Anytime you need us, even if Cal isn’t around, we’ll be there for you.”
I swallowed back tension that closed up my throat.
“Thank you,” I whispered, tears stinging the corners of my eyes.
Danny gave me a crooked grin, holding out his arms. I hugged him back, grateful for what I’d gained in the last few days.
“No sweat, girl. We got you. And we’ll get that asshole, too.”
I stood back, looking at him, thinking of the four of them — five, if I added in the unknown Liam. The strength they had together as a unit, how they covered each other’s weaknesses, even when they didn’t get along. There was a rare loyalty there. Danny was right — they were family, tight-knit and formidable together.
“Yes, I rather think you will.”
Danny had eaten most of the fridge out by lunchtime. I made a note to message Cal to pick up groceries. I cringed, asking him to do things I’d always done for myself, in my own home. Home. That I was calling his place my home — even if it was temporary — was a huge step for me.
You’ll be alone when it all falls apart.
I shushed my inner voice, tired of not living my life. Tired of hiding from everything out there. I thought of Cal, smiling and scrabbled for my phone where it had skittered beneath the lounge. It would be flat, and I had no idea where the charger was, either. Cal probably had one in his study. I stretched as far as I could, digging across the carpet when suddenly the lounge was gone.
I looked up in surprise. Danny held the whole thing off the ground, amusement written on his face.
“Mila, I know these guns are big, babe, but could you grab the phone? This thing is a bit of an awkward lift.”
I grabbed my phone, scuttling backwards as he eased the lounge back to where it had been before. The buzzer rang for the door. Danny strode over to answer it, while I lifted pillows, looking for my charger. Maybe I’d left it in Cal’s truck? Surely he’d have another one. I headed for Cal’s study.
“Mila, I’ll be back in a minute, have to let Steph’s boyfriend up.” He grimaced at me theatrically. I waved him away, intent on my hunt.
I hesitated at the door to Cal’s study. He’d cleaned it out, he said, but I didn’t want to step into the room with so many eyes staring at me. It had been truly horrifying, but after I’d calmed down, I’d understood what Cal had meant when he said it was his obsession.
Turning the handle, I drew in a quick breath and flicked on the light. It was the only room without windows in the apartment. No cold eyes glared down at me, this time. Cal had held to his promise. Relieved, the trust I had for him rebuilt with every moment.
I dug around behind the pair of screens and mass cords hanging down the back of the desk, checking one adapter, then another. Something white glinted at me, and I lunged for it. A clatter told me I’d knocked it beneath the desk and I groaned, kneeling down. The charger sat in a neat pile of cords and notes stored in stacks beneath Cal’s desk.
I grabbed it, wandering back to the kitchen, and plugged it in. Messages pinged, and I scrolled through, deleting as many as I could quickly in threads without looking at them. The ones from Teddy and Cal I kept and sent a quick one about groceries.
My phone buzzed again, and I looked at it with hesitation. When I saw Cal’s name pop up, my heart gave a little leap.
Cal: Sure, honey. Will do. You left your keys in my truck…mind if I get your paints and things from your house before I head home?
Me: Please. You’re a miracle worker.
Cal sent a smiley back. I grinned — my paints. The man was a god. My phone pinged again, and I picked it up, grabbing my mug for another cuppa. But it wasn’t Cal. A new unknown number filled the screen, but I knew right away who they were from.
You look so beautiful today.
I blinked, but the words wouldn’t go away. My hands shook as they flicked the kettle on, filling the apartment with white noise.
Too pretty.
I blinked again, wishing I could unsee it. My eyes were glued to the screen. A tiny sliver of logic in the back of my mind wondered where Danny was.
The floors below are empty. I might come up.
Coffee splattered the floor, ceramic tinkling on the tiles.
Why don
’t you open the blinds? I want to see more of you.
Stepping out of the steaming puddle of coffee, I grabbed a bottle of chartreuse. The incandescent green liquid sloshed into the bottom of a new mug. I slammed the lot back, my lips numbing almost instantly.
Cal. I need to call Cal.
I fumbled with my phone, shaking hands stabbing desperately at numbers. Stepping around the mess on the kitchen floor, promising myself I would clean it up later. I couldn’t get the numbers right, and slowed on the third try, praying I wouldn’t lock myself out of my phone. The door opened, and I headed up the hall.
“Danny, thank god. We need to call Cal–”
I stopped, looking up as I finally unlocked my phone, thumb hesitating over the call button. The alarm repairman stood in the doorway in his blue uniform, key in hand. I frowned, then remembered Danny had gone to get him. Some semblance of reality broke through my fogged mind.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Cal said the alarm was faulty again. Are you okay to fix it?” My attempt at normalcy came out reasonably believable, and I was proud of myself.
He just stood in the doorway, unmoving. This guy had always given me the creeps. And surely he shouldn’t be up here alone. The facade of normalcy began to break away. He didn’t utter a word, just stared with those piercing eyes. I retreated, one foot behind the other, thumb pulsing a staccato on the call button.
He walked down the corridor toward me, leaving the door open. I gestured to it, but he was in front of me before I could fully form a sentence.
“Shouldn’t you–” I looked around him. A dark form that shouldn’t be there was crumpled on the carpet, just outside the door. I craned over his shoulder, my stomach lurching with the knowledge that all this was terribly wrong.
His hand shot out, closing relentlessly around my throat. Pain shot through me; my mind blanked as air trapped in my chest. My phone spun to the floor, cracking. I gasped, but his grip afforded me no air. He tilted his head, still not speaking as he watched me choke. I scrabbled at his hands, slapping at them, then his face, scratching and hitting. He didn’t blink.
Logic kicked into my numbed brain. I was being attacked in Cal’s apartment, and no one knew.
No one was coming.
My vision began to cloud, and I frantically tried to suck in air, but his grip was too tight. Nothing got through. His hand opened suddenly, releasing me, and I collapsed to the floor. Gasping and coughing, I flailed about, trying to stand, but nothing responded right.
Air filled my lungs for just a second before his boot caught me hard in the ribs, knocking the little remaining from my lungs. Something cracked, my vision flashing white.
“Danny,” I gasped, as the world trembled around me.
“Took a decent shot of ketamine to put that dog down — horse tranq. Your boy is too trusting. Not too smart, though.” His voice was snide, laced with derision. “Not about to kill a cop. There’d be more than Liam’s pathetic task force on our asses.”
I closed my eyes for a second and struggled to open them again. Stay awake. My head was fuzzy as I worked through what he had said. I stared past my attacker’s feet to Danny, crumpled on the carpet outside.
At least he’s alive.
He kicked me again, and I choked on a scream. The toe of his boot flipped me over, and I lay on my back, half gasping for breath through the pain radiating in my side. Surprised I wasn’t panicking more; another prod helped clear that up — the excruciating pain in my chest held it at bay. It was the numbness that worked its way along my legs that terrified me most.
Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake.
Air fought with the swollen flesh in my throat, heaving, until I thought I would vomit. The idea of choking to death on Cal’s apartment floor sent ice through me. His head tilted again, and those hard eyes I’d found so creepy last time surveyed me, assessing.
“I know he wants you, but honestly, I don’t see it.”
He dismissed me sharply, hand on a gun at his hip beneath his open jacket. I hadn’t noticed it before. I sucked in air through my nose, trying to get past the pain. It was impossible to breathe on my back. I tried to roll over, but his boot pressed down on my chest, grinding my back into the floor.
His hand came but left the gun.
“I don’t think I’ll need this.”
His foot pressed down, bit by bit, on my chest. I screamed. Cracks echoed in my head, white-hot pain blanketing my vision. When the room came back into focus, I stared up, terrified by the smile crept over his face. The smile transformed his face — his eyes, his mouth, everything, to someone I knew, to someone who had haunted me for five years.
This was Wayde Logan’s little brother.
He pressed down harder, and something else cracked, tearing in my side. Agony lanced across my back, stealing precious breaths.
Finally, black clouded in, and I stopped fighting.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CAL
Ashley had taken to her new home with Jenny quite well. She was too used to being shunted from place to place as foster parents discovered what it meant to have a child in their custody under constant police protection and regular surveillance. The selfishness of it saddened and enraged me at the same time.
No breaking laws, unless it was the occasional parking ticket. It never failed to amaze me how many people thought they could get away with illegal shit, even minor stuff. Growing weed in a house with foster kids was definitely on my no list. It was only a short step from that to dealing, or trafficking something bigger when they wanted an increase in their cash flow, and there was no way in hell I was letting Ashley be exposed to that. She’d had enough tragedy in her short life as it was.
“Bye, Cal!”
Tiny hands wrapped around my waist. Smiling at Jenny, I hoped I could protect them the way they expected. I damned myself for letting Logan into my head as I patted Ashley’s hair, a pang slicing through my heart.
She released me, and I walked back to my truck with Black.
“Are you good here for another night, anything you need? I can get patrols.” I’d have to play politics with the departments upstairs. It might cost me my sanity, but I’d do it for Ashley.
“Yeah, man. We’re good. Girls are fine. Don’t worry about the extras. The more people who know, grunts around us making mistakes, the faster Logan will find her. What about my girl, you looking after her?”
I raised an eyebrow, hand on the truck door.
“Your girl.”
I let the statement hang flat in the air. Black looked at me, arms folded. His biceps bulged past the sleeves of his black Under Armour tee. He and Micah were so broad in the chest and shoulders they needed custom makes.
“Yeah, Dane, my girl. She was mine to protect long before you ever came on the scene.”
Anger coursed through me. I pushed one hand into the pocket of my jeans, trying not to clench the door handle with the other. I wasn’t into chest prodding, but I also couldn’t let this one slide.
“If you’d let me know what you were doing, I could have been looking after her long before this.”
Black snorted. “Yeah, I know what your brand of looking after her entails.”
I glared at him, letting my anger settle into something cold.
Control.
“Are you fucking done?” The words hissed from between my teeth. Pissed with myself that I’d let him get to me, I waited for the reaction I knew was coming.
Black stepped into me. He was only half a head shorter than me, and I refused to back down.
“You take care of her. And if I hear anything like what Mandy is spinning, I won’t care that you’re my fucking boss. Clear?”
“Are you seriously listening to something my ex is saying to one of my boys?”
“Yeah. ’Cause if you pull any of that with Mila, we’re done.”
I stared back, incredulous. I couldn’t believe that after all we’d been through as a team, for three years as partners, it was an ex-girlfriend I s
hould have had the brains not to hook up with in the first place that breached such a rift in my team.
“Message received. I guess I’m off to collect paints from her house, so she has something to do while she’s cooped up in mine.” I forced a grin, working on de-escalation. “Tried to work out what to buy, but I was out of my depth.”
“She’s into oils at the moment. Likes spring colours, anything bright. Preferably blue base.” Black stepped back, having made his point. His arms were still folded, though his expression wasn’t as hard. But I couldn’t call it soft either. I exhaled sharply, pulling the truck door open.
“That kid that fucked up so bad a few years back — he’s still in there. Don’t let all that distract you from this.” Black waved back at the house where Jenny and Ashley had disappeared. “This has to end.”
I ran a hand over my head.
“Man, we’ve been looking for him for five fucking long years. I–I can’t even see an end at this point.”
Black’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Yeah, it’s a long game. But we need to find this fucker before he finds them.”
“Yeah.” I echoed. “See you tomorrow.”
I got into the truck, easing slowly up the long drive through trees to where it emerged onto a dirt road. I was halfway down the road when it hit me. Mila had mentioned she worked with oils on our first date, at the chocolatier. It seemed an age ago, not a few weeks. There was a gas station just outside the small town, and I stopped to wash the truck down before driving back out to the city. I’d made cleaning the trucks a requirement — that way any of Logan’s crew were less likely to know where we’d hidden the girls.
The drive back to the city took me a good hour. I clenched the steering wheel, thinking of what Black had said. Great pep talk. I snorted, mulling on it. He was right, though. I did need to put my ego aside — and I hated that Mandy was impacting my team.
We hadn’t had any new leads. The brother — Joey — hadn’t turned up anywhere. The only thought that still ran around in my head was Central. Logan hadn’t been able to get what he was after there — even though he’d gotten away then, it had always been on the cards that he might come back to finish it.
