by J. H. Croix
“Want me to look into it?” I offered, trying to sound nonchalant. I wasn’t convinced my attempts paid off.
Harris sighed and dragged his hand across his jaw. “No, I’ll—”
His phone rang, interrupting whatever he meant to say. He glanced down at the screen, answering and pressing the receiver to his chest. “I have to take this. We’ll talk more later.”
I nodded and left his office, clicking the door in place as I heard him bark into the phone. “This is Harris, talk to me.”
Harris’s suspicions jolted me from my weekend induced lethargy, reminding me of how serious the situation was. It was time for me to take action. I’d decided to talk to Tyson, and I needed to take care of it.
Making up a vague excuse about where I was going, I left the station and headed for Tyson’s office. If he were in court, I would wait for him to get back, but I had to talk to him today.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, calling Jeremy on my way to Tyson’s. “Hey. Can you talk?”
Jeremy yelled something at someone and moved away from whatever was making a noise at his end of the line. “Sure, what’s up? I was planning on calling you when I left this job, but you first.”
I didn’t argue. Jeremy and I didn’t work like that. “I’m on my way to speak to Tyson. I have to tell him about Maclin’s murder and what I saw.”
“Well, good timing. I was going to call to tell you to do exactly that,” Jeremy said. “I met with Dad like I said I would, and he didn’t give me much to go on. All he said was to keep an eye out for some guy called Ken. It’s not the first time he’s mentioned him to me.”
“You know who he is?”
“Nope. Only his name and that Dad thinks we should watch out for him.”
I sighed, irritation flaring up that our old man was being so ambivalent about this. “Is he ever straight with you?”
“Sometimes,” he mused. “I don’t think he’s really comfortable giving us too many details while he’s where he is. Maybe he’s afraid he’s being watched.”
“Maybe. I’ll go through the stuff we have and look for any reference to a Ken.”
Jeremy paused before asking, “You want me to come with you to talk to Tyson?”
“Nah.” Our eldest brother wasn’t going to make this easy on me. “I need to man up on my own. It was my decision to sit on this for so long. I have to face the consequences for that by myself. I’ll call you later.”
“Good luck,” Jeremy told me. I knew he meant it, and I would definitely need it.
I pulled up outside of Tyson’s office as I hung up with Jeremy, looking up at the gray block of a building that housed the DA’s office and wishing I would’ve told Tyson the last time I was here. This was not going to be pleasant.
Tyson was in his office when I got upstairs, his secretary buzzing me right in. Surprise marred his expression when he saw me, his navy blue eyes narrowing as he stood up from behind his big desk. “You need another safe house or something?”
“Or something,” I told him, walking over to give him a one-armed, back-slapping hug before sitting down. “You got a minute to talk?”
“I never have a minute, but for you baby brother, I’ll make one.” Tyson sank back into his chair, closing a file folder and giving me his full attention. Which was daunting, given what I had to tell him.
“I have to tell you something, but I’m going to ask you to hear me out before you say anything. You can only be pissed at me once you’ve heard the whole story.”
Lifting a brow, Tyson folded his arms. “Sounds ominous, but fine. I’ll hear you out.”
“I witnessed a murder,” I told him, figuring it was better to get straight through the worst part. “Wayne Maclin, the IA agent who’s been sniffing around the station, is dead.”
Tyson’s eyes grew wide, his jaw slackening. Lifting his right hand, he loosened the knot on his tie and grabbed a pen and legal pad. “I think you’d better start at the beginning.”
Taking a deep breath, I followed his advice and started telling him about digging into our dad’s case. As soon as I mentioned it, his expression clouded over. He tightened his grip on his pen, but as promised, he didn’t interrupt me.
When I was done, Tyson stayed quiet for five full minutes before he started cursing. “How could you not tell me about this earlier? I understand why you didn’t want to trust anyone at the police department, but me? Fuck, Sonny. You really stepped in it this time.”
“I know. I didn’t want to trudge the shit I stepped in all over your office if I didn’t have to, but at this point—”
Tyson rose from his chair, turning his back on me as he stared out of his window and ran his hands through his hair with a ragged sigh. “At this point, you didn’t have a choice anymore. I get it. Late is better than never, I guess.”
“What do we do?”
He exhaled another sigh, shoving his hands into his pockets when he turned. “We don’t do anything. I’m going to call the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and explain the situation to them. They’re at a higher level. We need people like them to investigate Wayne’s murder. They’re independent, and they have higher clearance. It’s the only way.”
“If you think that’s the best thing to do.” Relief lifted a weight from my shoulders as I watched Tyson make the call. Having his help with what was happening was going to be invaluable, to say the least.
When he hung up the phone, he turned back to me. “They’ll take it from here. We’re under strict orders not to talk to anyone about the investigation from here on out. Who else have you told?”
“Jeremy.”
Tyson nodded once, lips set in a tight line. “Okay, I’ll have to warn him not to let anyone else in on this either. What about Niki?”
“What about her?”
He narrowed his eyes, dropping his chin. “Have you told her about it?”
“Not about Maclin’s murder, no.”
“Good,” Tyson said, a glimmer of relief in his eyes. “You have to keep her out of it as much as you can from now on. Don’t tell her anything else, okay?”
“Okay.” It wouldn’t be easy, but I knew where he was coming from.
Niki wasn’t going to like it though. I blew out a breath. She was going to be pissed as hell if I started freezing her out completely. “Fuck.”
“Yeah,” Tyson agreed. “You can say that again.”
“Fuck.”
He chuckled, breaking the tension in the room. “What a mess.”
“You got that right.”
“Okay, so our immediate job is done. The GBI will be in touch, I’m sure. In the meantime, I would recommend Niki either stay in that safe house or move in with you. Now that I know what’s going on, I can get official authorization for her to stay there as long as she needs.”
“She’s not going to like staying there too much longer.”
“Fair point,” he said. “It also might be wiser strategically to have her with you instead of at the safe house.”
“You’re going to have to explain that logic to me.”
“If she’s at your house, it creates the impression you think the risk has passed which works in your favor. If you knew anything more that made you feel like you were in danger, you would still be hiding.”
“And if we’re at my house, it looks like everything’s back to normal.”
“Exactly.” Tyson smiled grimly. “I think that’s the better plan at this point, having her stay with you.”
“I’ll take your opinion under advisement,” I told him. “Niki might not want to stay with me, though.”
“I highly doubt that,” he scoffed. “You forget the safe house is right next to my place. Your car is there every night anyway. What difference does it make whether the two of you are there, or at your house? I’ve been meaning to ask you, what’s going on with you and Niki anyway?”
“Nothing.” I waved dismissively. “I’m just trying to keep her safe in a mess I created.”
&nbs
p; “You do realize it’s literally part of my job to cross-examine liars until I get the truth from them, right?”
He wasn’t wrong. And I’d seen Tyson in court. He was good. I had two choices: he was either going to keep me here all day, or I could tell him the truth right now.
“Fine, but I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve been trying to figure it out myself. She’s starting to mean something to me.” I just didn’t know what that something was yet.
Chapter Eight
Niki
Waking up in Sonny’s arms was my new favorite way to wake up. Also on the list of favorites was everything else I could do with him. I cuddled up to his side, marveling at the juxtaposition of my softness to his hard-muscled form.
His arm tightened around my waist, and he angled his head, smiling as he blinked his eyes open. “Good morning, beautiful.”
“Cliché much?” Truth be told, Sonny made me feel like he really did think I was beautiful.
He sighed deeply, his eyes crinkling at the corners with his grin. “It's not a cliché if it’s true, but if you don’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you.”
“How’s that?” I lifted my face to his, enjoying his light mood.
“Well—” He brushed the hair from my face, his fingers lingering on my cheeks. “It’s a good morning because I woke up here with you, and you’re beautiful.”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
He took my hand and placed it on his cock. If I’d had any doubts about his body’s reaction to me, I didn’t now. “Because that’s what you do to me. Do I look like I get this turned on by just anyone?”
I laughed and stroked down his length, eliciting a low groan from him. “This is nothing more than a man’s anatomical reaction to sleep. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“You don’t know what I dreamed about.” He smirked, winding his hand into my hair. “Let me show you what I was doing before I woke up.”
Rolling so half of his body covered mine, he tightened his fist in my hair and dropped his lips to mine. He kissed me deeply, but lazily. I could feel him pressed against my thigh and I lifted it, making him emit a low growl at the back of his throat. “You don’t play fair.”
“Maybe I’m just changing the rules,” I murmured. Sonny was certainly changing most of the rules of my carefully constructed life and had broken the rest. It was only fair I got a few in every once in a while.
Knotting my fingers into his hair, I pulled his mouth back to mine. He broke the kiss to whisper against my lips. “I think I like your rules.”
He clutched my hips, rolling over so I was straddling him.
Sonny’s phone started ringing on the nightstand, a deep buzz as it vibrated against the wood. He ignored it at first, but then it started up again. And again after that.
Finally, he groaned and sat up, his hand darting out to grab his phone. He kept me in his lap as he answered it. “Lovett.”
I heard what sounded like a man’s voice from over the phone, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Whatever it was, Sonny tensed and moved out from under me. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
“Everything okay?” I asked, wrapping the sheet around my naked body as I propped myself up and watched Sonny haphazardly grab clothes from his dresser.
“Emergency call. I have to run. I’m so sorry.” He took his clothes into the bathroom with him, and less than ten minutes later, he was showered, dressed and on his way to work.
I fell back in his bed. What the hell just happened?
I was still slick between my thighs and achy for relief, but I knew taking matters into my own hands wouldn’t be quite as satisfactory. I would have to wait until later.
Huffing out a breath, I tried to calm my body as I watched his fan spin round and round above me. It had occurred to me that having a relationship with a cop wouldn’t be easy. Now that I was smack in the middle of one, I realized it was also going to be harder than I originally thought.
Even without the mess around his father, Sonny was a SWAT team member and police officer. He could potentially face danger every day, not only because of his father but because it was his job. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to accept that. Yet, he already meant a lot to me. My heart felt bound to him. It was too late to think I could walk away now because I saw what a relationship with him might entail. I was already in it.
Besides, when he wasn’t working, we got to do things like go to Tybee Island together, and that was heaven. It told me a lot about him as a man, how caring he was and how he was always looking out for me. How he paddled our kayak by himself without even mentioning it, shared his knowledge about wildlife, walked behind me and caged me with his body as we ascended the steep steps at the lighthouse.
It was the best weekend I could remember having, and I had him to thank for it.
Just like you have him to thank for lying here instead of going to work, a snarky voice in the back of my mind chirped. I was getting restless about not working, and the longer I was away, the louder the snarky voice was getting.
I’d taken a month off, thinking it would be more than enough to get everything sorted, but I didn’t know if I was going to be able to stay away for the whole month. I wasn’t good at doing nothing. I liked to feel productive. Despite our awesome weekend, I was starting to feel cooped up and bored staying at home by myself—cabin fever was setting in.
Today, for instance, was Saturday. Sonny wasn’t supposed to be working, but he was. Karen also mentioned having to go to some sports day at the elementary school with the kids from her daycare.
Both of them were out working, and here I was, without the first idea of what do with my day now. My phone buzzed, sending me on a search to find it in the clothes littering the floor of Sonny’s bedroom when we stripped each other down in a frenzied rush last night.
“Marie?” Sonny’s future sister-in-law got in touch with me at least once a week, so I wasn’t that surprised she was calling me.
“Hey!” she chirped, her voice bright and happy. “Would you and Sonny like to come to T-ball practice today? I know it might not be the most fun, but at least it’s outdoors.”
“That sounds great, actually,” I told her, grateful to be getting to know her. It was like Marie could read my thoughts some days. I occasionally wondered if she had a better understanding of how I might feel due to what she’d faced with her ex recently.
I didn’t know much about it, but Sonny had told me some of the details. “Great. We’ll come pick you up in half an hour.”
Marie rang the doorbell promptly thirty minutes later, a boy with her eyes and smile clutching her hand. He stuck his hand out when I opened the door. “I’m Austin. Mom says you’re Niki, Sonny’s girlfriend.”
I flushed but didn’t correct him as I shook his hand. Marie sighed. “I’m sorry. I said friend, but he said you’re a girl so you had to be a girl friend. Can’t argue with that logic, but he doesn’t mean anything by it.”
“That’s okay,” I told her, following her to her car. “Thanks for picking me up.”
“No problem. I hope you don’t mind I didn’t tell you over the phone, but Jeremy and Belle, my friend, will also meet us there.”
I balked a little at the thought of meeting one of her friends, but I was curious about Jeremy. Plus, I was getting better at dealing with social situations, so meeting more people might not be the worst idea.
Austin played I-spy with us on the way over to a big park where T-ball was being set up, then ran off to play with his friend as soon as his little feet hit the grass. “There’s Tommy. See you later, Mom!”
Marie laughed, waving at him though he had his back turned. “It feels like yesterday the only person he wanted to spend time with was me.”
“Now the only time we’re the first priority is when they need something,” a blond woman who walked up next to Marie said. Marie nodded and stared after Austin and another little boy running with him before the blond woman leaned over t
o look at me with a smile. “I’m Belle. Tommy’s mom.”
“Niki,” I replied with a smile. “Not a mom.”
Jeremy appeared behind Marie and looped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. “Niki’s my brother’s friend.”
Belle’s eyes grew, curious. “Yeah? Which one?”
“Sonny,” Marie told her, then walked to the edge of the area where several people were setting up for T-ball. “Let’s get a spot in the shade before they’re all taken.”
To my surprise, I enjoyed spending a few hours in the park with them. Even though Marie and Jeremy weren’t married yet, I knew Sonny already thought of her as a sister. I liked the way his family interacted with each other, from the little I’d seen.
They looked out for each other, spent time together, teased, and stuck together. Growing up as an only child, it had been just my parents and me. We’d been close, but once they passed, I didn’t have anyone else to turn to. The Lovetts were clearly there for each other, no matter what happened with their parents.
I knew my parents regretted not having more children, but they didn’t. I never mentioned it, not wanting them to feel guilty about something they had no control over. Besides, I didn’t really miss something I never had.
But now, I wondered what my siblings might have been like. If I had a sibling, would they have welcomed Sonny the way his were welcoming and helping me?
After T-ball, we packed up the picnic Jeremy brought, and I started dreading going back to Sonny’s house by myself. As it turned out, Jeremy had already made other plans. Loading the stuff into the back of his truck, he turned to us. “I spoke to Sonny a little while ago. He’s meeting us for dinner at a pizza place near here. Everyone happy with pizza for dinner?”
Austin jumped into the air, energetic despite his day of running around. “Yeah!”
Marie and I nodded and went to her car, following Jeremy to the local pizzeria. Sonny was already there when we arrived, still wearing his uniform.
“Hey,” he said, sliding deeper into the booth and motioning for me to sit next to him. “How was T-ball?”
