Her head popped up, eyes wide. “Holy shit. I didn’t even think about that. Where am I supposed to hide them?”
Bree chuckled. “Between your mattress and box spring.”
“I can’t put them there—that’s where I keep my gun at night.”
“Top of your closet then.”
“See! I’m not prepared for this. But that isn’t it.” She jackknifed up and twisted her hair behind her neck. “Eddie’s out of jail. He jumped parole.”
“Fuck. Does Sarah know?”
“Yeah. I told her Tuesday.”
“Your parents?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I’m going to tell them today.”
“How’d you find out?”
Here come the questions. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Chris told me. He came looking for Sarah.”
Bree pursed her lips. Jeez, she could see her wheels turning.
“How’d that go?”
“Well, I didn’t shoot him, so I’d say it went okay.”
Her lips twitched. “Why was he looking for Sarah?”
“He’s involved in the investigation into the gang Eddie belongs to.”
“When did that happen?”
“Eddie or Chris?”
“Chris.”
“Monday.”
“Hmm.”
No bombardment? No twenty questions? “That’s it? ‘Hmm?’”
Bree stood. “Oh, I’ve got more. I’m just going to wait and see how today goes.”
Rolling her eyes, she pushed up from the bed. “Today will be fine. We can all be grown adults.”
Bree paused with her hand on the doorknob. “One piece of advice? If you don’t want to get caught, don’t run. I have a feeling he likes the chase.” She winked and breezed out the door.
What the hell does that mean?
Chapter 4
Desire punched Chris in the gut. Somehow or another, Denise had only become more beautiful since the last time he’d seen her. He’d thought it the other day when he found her instead of her cousin. Jesus, that had thrown him for a damn loop. He tried to remember if she’d ever mentioned her cousin’s name, but he didn’t think she had.
She twisted her thick, honey-blond hair up into a knot on top of her head and wrapped a rubber band around it. Standing with her hands on her hips she looked down at the little boy he knew was her cousin. Second cousin? Although both he and the little girl called her “Aunt,” so who knew. He had wondered for a second if she’d kept having kids from him when they were together. They were both mini versions of her. Same hair and eye color. He made a mental note to dig up a picture of Sarah Reed to see how similar she and Denise looked.
He pushed his hair away from his forehead. It’d gotten longer than he liked to keep it while he’d been undercover. Though on the list of shit he’d had to concede, it was pretty damn low.
Leaving Denise with no warning at all topped the list. She was holding a grudge, not that he could blame her. Trying to pass her a message at the last minute hadn’t been ideal, but she of all people should understand sometimes the job took more than you expected. Her indifference to his return bugged the crap out of him. Running into her at her cousin’s hadn’t been the plan. The plan had been to call her and then take her out to dinner, explain everything to her—what had gone down and why he’d been called in so suddenly. Apologize and make it right, hopefully pick back up where they’d left it. Or at least close to where they’d left it.
Jase approached him with a beer in each hand and held one out to him. “You good, man?”
Chris took the beer and raised it in a silent toast. “As good as can be expected.” Which was pretty damn bad, all things considered. He downed a good portion of the bottle.
“What’s up with your leg?” Jase pointed with the bottom of his beer.
Chris looked down and sighed. “Took a knife to the thigh.” More like a hatchet.
“Shit. What the hell happened?”
Chris swallowed a sip of beer. “I’ll tell you when the drinks are stronger and the ears aren’t so small.” He nodded his head toward Kaden, who stood with his hand on one of the dogs, staring at them.
Jase looked between Kaden and Chris. “Why does he look like you’re going to steal his dog?”
“I didn’t get the warmest reception from Denise when I showed up at their house the other day looking for his mom.”
“Sarah?” Jase asked. “She’s in hospice.”
The little girl, Kimber, called Kaden’s name and he walked away from them.
“Yeah. We didn’t have that intel,” Chris said.
“Intel? Ah, fuck. Is this about her ex?”
Chris’s focus honed in on his friend. “You know about him?”
Jase shook his head. “Just enough to know it’s a good thing he’s in jail.”
“He’s out.”
“Shit. Does Denise know?”
“I dropped that bombshell on her when I found her instead of Sarah Reed.”
His eyebrows rose and he looked like he was pondering something in his head. “Was that the first time she’d seen you since you’ve been back?”
“Uh, yup.” He swallowed the last of his beer.
“That’s a pretty compact shovel you’ve got there. Can hardly see it.”
“What shovel?”
“The one you’re using to dig that huge fucking hole you’re in.”
Chris rolled his eyes, but Jase wasn’t wrong. He was living Murphy’s Law. If it could go wrong, then it would. His hair fell into his face and he tried to tuck it behind his ears. He growled in frustration when it wouldn’t stay put. What he needed was some clippers, but of course his had quit working. And his beer was empty.
Fuck you, Murphy.
“Jase!” Bree yelled from the kitchen.
“Yeah, babe?” he asked over his shoulder.
“You gonna cook this meat or what? The natives are restless.”
“Coming.” He turned back to Chris. “The woman wants my meat.”
“Dude. How long you been saving that for?”
Jase laughed. “A while. Bree doesn’t appreciate my humor nearly as much as she should.”
He couldn’t imagine why. “Do tell.”
“I think it’s because she compares mine to Denise’s. That woman is the queen of one-liners.” He jerked his head toward the kitchen. “Come on. You can help man the grill.”
He nodded and followed him through the kitchen to the back deck, grabbing another beer along the way. He leaned against the railing and scanned the large yard. The kids ran back and forth with Bree’s dogs, while Denise’s dog lay in the shade of a large magnolia.
“This is a nice property,” he said.
“You didn’t see it last time you were here?”
“We didn’t come out back, just stayed in the kitchen.
“Oh, yeah. It was Bree’s grandparents’.” He threw burgers on the grill and dropped the lid. “We talked about moving in here, but decided my place made more sense since I use the back of the property for V.E.T. Adventures.”
Shifting his hips against the railing to take some of the weight off his leg, he teased out the information Jase didn’t come right out and say. “You’re moving in together?”
A huge, shit-eating grin spread across his face. “Yeah.”
Chris sipped his beer. “It looks good on you.”
“What’s that?”
“Domestic bliss.” It did. His friend no longer had that hollow, haunted look that had been a constant since his best friend Tony’s death.
“Damn straight.” He lifted the grill lid and flipped the burgers. “You should try it.”
He shook his head. “Pretty sure I’ve lost any chance of that.”
“Doesn’t hurt to give it another shot. Second chances do happen.”
Bree stepped onto the deck with two bowls of food before he could respond. She set them on the table, then joined them at the grill and slid an arm around Jase’s waist.
“How much longer?”
He slung an arm around her shoulders and kissed her. “‘Bout five minutes.”
Chris shifted his gaze away from them and locked eyes with Denise as she exited the house. Her eyes flared and then went flat before she looked away and set down the plates she was carrying.
That hollow feeling he’d had since leaving months ago spread a few inches deeper in his chest.
She put two fingers in her mouth and blew a sharp whistle. “Kimber! Kaden! Come wash up.”
The kids ran up the steps, across the porch, and into the house, their shrieks of laughter and two dogs following them.
“See,” Bree said to Denise. “Perfect.”
“You don’t have to sell it to me. I already said yes.”
“Yes to what?” Jase asked.
“Denise is going to move into the house with the kids. It’s perfect. There’s plenty of room and the schools in the district are some of the best in the state.”
“I said yes, Bree. Quit Vanna Whiting your house.”
Bree dropped her arm from around Jase. “Did you just use Vanna White as a verb?”
“I don’t know any of the models’ names from The Price is Right or I would have used one of them as a verb instead.”
Chris looked down at his shoes to hide his grin. God, those two were a riot when they were together. He’d forgotten how funny they were while he was knee-deep in the excrement of human existence during the last assignment. Denise’s sarcastic wit was one of the things that had attracted her to him in the first place.
The kids burst out of the house. “All clean, Aunt Denny.”
“Good job. Can you guys get cups and the pitcher of water and bring them out?”
“Okay,” the little girl said. They ran back into the house.
“Do they ever walk anywhere?” Bree asked.
“Not usually.”
The kids returned with the cups and pitcher and everyone jockeyed for seats around the table. For one awkward moment, he thought he and Denise would end up sitting next to each other, but Kimber asked Bree to sit by her, leaving him the seat at the end of the table.
Disappointment and relief warred for top billing position. He wanted a chance to talk to her, but here and now would be uncomfortable. Better to try to get her alone after dinner.
A lock of hair fell across his eyes when he reached for the coleslaw. Shoving it behind his ears wasn’t working. “Bree, do you have any hair thingies?”
“Pretty sure she’s got some bows and ribbons you can use, Rapunzel,” Jase said.
Kimber giggled next to him and he winked at her.
“Don’t be an ass.” Bree whacked Jase in the chest with the back of her hand. “I have some hair ties. I’ll grab you one.”
“Why don’t you just buzz it?” Jared asked around a mouthful of burger.
“You got clippers?”
“Yeah.”
“No!” Kimber wasn’t giggling. “If you cut your hair, you’ll lose your magical powers.”
“This is your influence.” Denise glared across the table at Bree.
She wore an amused smile. “I take all the credit.”
“You can’t cut it!” Tears welled up in the little girl’s eyes.
“Kimber, sweetie, it’s just hair. It will grow back,” Denise said, reaching for the girl’s hand.
She snatched her hand away. “It won’t! All of Mommy’s hair fell out and she’s going to die!” She shoved back from the table and ran into the house. Denise’s dog quickly rose from where she lay and trotted after her. It was the first time he’d seen the dog do anything other than mosey.
He swallowed hard, at a total loss for how to handle this kind of situation. Murderous gang? Sure, no problem. Hostage standoff? Bring it on. Little girl faced with the reality that happy endings are few and far between? Complete and utter blank.
On his left, Kaden sat quietly with big fat tears rolling down his pale cheeks.
Denise scooted back her chair and reached for him. “Come on, buddy. Let’s go talk to your sister.” She hefted the little boy in her arms, no easy feat since he was almost as tall as she was. His thin arms and legs wrapped around Denise and he held on as if she were his lifeline. And she was. She was almost all those two kids had left in the world.
And their father was a wanted criminal he’d been charged to find and arrest.
Fuck. Murphy was an asshole.
Chapter 5
Chris pushed at the food on his plate. Should they check on them? What was the protocol in this kind of situation? He should have just gone to the barber when he realized his clippers were busted.
Jase leaned over and kissed Bree on the temple. “They’ll be alright, babe. We’ll make sure. Okay?”
She nodded roughly then swiped a tear from her cheek and took a deep breath. “Right. I have an idea.” She looked at Chris. “Come with me.”
Pushing back from the table, he and Jase followed Bree into the house, down the back hall, to what he assumed was the guest bedroom. Denise lay on the bed, Kaden and Kimber sandwiched between her and Sprocket. Kimber had her arm thrown around the large dog, her face buried in its neck. Kaden hugged his sister’s back while Denise hugged them both. Her voice was low and he couldn’t make out what she was saying.
Bree somehow squeezed herself onto the sliver of space on the bed behind Denise and rested her chin on her friend’s shoulder, reaching over her and Kaden to rub Kimber’s back.
“Sweetie, I have a plan. Do you want to hear it?”
Kaden lifted his head. “I want to hear it.”
Denise rubbed his arm and he laid his head back down.
“If you and Kaden cut Chris’s hair, he’ll be able to keep his special powers,” Bree said.
He straightened from the doorway. Whoa. What? He looked at Jase, whose shoulders shook with mirth.
Jackass, he mouthed.
Jase flipped him the bird and kept laughing.
“How do you know?” Kimber’s voice was small, a slight hitch in her breath from crying.
“I looked it up in the secret Disney princess handbook.”
Kimber’s head whipped around as far as it could. “That’s not a real thing.”
Bree sucked in an outraged breath. “It is, too! I can’t show it to you until you’re older, though. You have to be twelve.”
“I’m only eight.” She dropped her head back on to the bed.
The initial crisis must have been resolved because Bree unwrapped herself from the group and stood. “I know, but I’ll share the secrets I can.”
“Promise?”
“Cross my heart.”
“You guys ready to cut Chris’s hair?” Denise asked.
“Yes!” Kaden broke free of his aunt’s hold and scooted off the bed.
“I guess.” Kimber didn’t seem as enthusiastic about the prospect.
Right there with ya, little girl.
Denise moved closer to her and wrapped her arms around her, kissing the back of her head.
Kaden stood in front of him, starring up expectantly. “Can I shave patterns in your head?”
“Uh. Sure. I guess.”
“Cool.”
How did he get roped into this again?
Bree stopped next to him. “You ready for this?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No. Not really.” She patted his chest. “Consider it your civic duty.”
“Hey,” Jase said, grabbing Bree’s wrist. “Hands to yourself, Grabby McGrabberson.”
“It was a conciliatory gesture,” she said.
“You were feeling him up.”
She shrugged. “Tomato, toh-mah-toe.”
“Yeah, I’ll show you toh-mah-toe later.”
Chris shook his head. “Hello, I’m standing right here.”
“Good point. Jase, go get your clippers. We have a head to shave.”
He watched her march down the hall, a woman on a mission. “She seems a little too excite
d about this.”
“She gets like this sometimes. Usually we shoot some targets and she works it out of her system.” Jase shrugged and traced Bree’s path.
Great. Shaving his head was the alternative to his buddy’s woman shooting things.
When he glanced back in the room, Kimber had rolled over and was hugging Denise. She twirled one of the little girl’s pigtails around her finger while they lay there.
She glanced up and caught him staring. “We’ll be out in a few minutes.”
The first time she spoke to him all day was to dismiss him. Not that he blamed her. This was a family moment and he wasn’t family.
The thought caused his heart to stop for a nanosecond and restart with a hard thud. How did things get so damn screwed up? And how did being part of a family, of Denise’s family, suddenly become the most appealing thing in the world?
When he arrived on the back deck, Jase had his clippers plugged into an extension cord and was showing Kaden the different attachments for length.
“Can we start now?” he asked.
“Let’s wait until Kimber’s ready. I think she should get the first turn. I’m sure there’s a princess rule about it in Bree’s secret book,” Chris said.
His shoulders drooped. “Okay.”
Crap. Now he’d made Kaden sad. Maybe there was a kitten around he could kick. “But I’ll tell you what. We’ll use one of the longer cutting lengths so you have enough hair to cut patterns in. How about that?”
Kaden’s little legs kicked out and he bounced in the seat. “Okay.”
Denise and Kimber arrived holding hands and joined them around the table. Jase found a stool for the kids to stand on so they could reach the top of his head. Bree wrapped an old towel around his neck and shoulders. He couldn’t see her, but Denise’s presence was as heavy as a physical touch at his back.
He flinched at the sharp pop when the clippers turned on and closed his eyes when Kimber took the first pass.
The feather-light brush of falling hair touched his cheek and Kimber giggled behind him.
“Can I do another one?” she asked.
“Go for it,” Jase said. “Just leave some for your brother.”
It was only hair. Right?
He leaned closer to the mirror and rubbed his hand over his head, trying to figure out where the patches of hair remained. The kids hadn’t done a completely horrible job, but he looked like he’d lost a fight with a weed eater wielded by a monkey on a three-day bender. Thankfully, Jase hadn’t let them take the length attachment off so he still had some fuzz to work with and wouldn’t have to shave his head completely bald.
Locked-Down Heart (Combat Hearts Book 3) Page 3
