Breath Taking (St. Leasing Book 2)

by L. P. Maxa

  He looked up when Agent Grimes cleared his throat, shutting the door in the process. “Agent Brooks should be here any minute and we can begin. So sorry that we have to pull you away from work for this. It’s really just a formality. I don’t want to be asking you these ridiculous questions any more than you want to be here answering them.”

  “It’s all right, sir, I don’t mind.” Keller pulled his phone out and sent Molly a quick good morning text. He was becoming as lame as Dom.

  Keller: Good morning, darlin’.

  Molly: Morning. How’s your day? They were out of muffins at the coffee house this morning? That your fault?

  He chuckled. He’d skipped yoga again, this time because he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to himself. Now he was regretting it. He missed her; like physically felt as if something was missing from his body.

  Keller: Wasn’t me. I did eat six Eggo waffles though.

  Molly: We need to work on your diet.

  Agent Brooks breezed through the door, looking smug. Keller put his phone back in his pocket, more than ready to get this over with.

  “Ah, good morning, Coach Byrne. What a coincidence—I just had the most relaxing hour with your girlfriend. She is amazing.” Brooks placed a steaming cup of coffee down on the table and sat behind it. The coffee cup had the same logo as the place in town. Had they eaten breakfast together?

  Keller bit his tongue so hard his mouth filled with the taste of copper. He took a deep, unsteady breath. Everything inside of him wanted to reach across the table and tear out the bastard’s throat. Logically, Keller knew the comment had been made to get a rise out of him. And it had worked. Instantly, horrible disgusting images of Brooks and Keller’s mate filled his mind. It took every ounce of strength he had to push them aside.

  “Yeah, she is amazing, isn’t she? I used to go to sunrise yoga a few days a week, but now, mostly she gives me private lessons.” Keller gave a wicked smile. It was a lie, but a lie he was hoping would be his truth one day soon.

  Brooks nodded and smiled back tightly. “I’m sure she does.”

  Agent Grimes cleared his throat again and opened up a cream-colored file. “Coach Byrne, were you close with Mr. Henderson in his time here at St. Leasing?”

  Keller leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands on the table in front of him. “No, I wasn’t. He spent most of his time in his office in the admin building and I work on the other side of campus in the athletic building. Our paths rarely crossed.”

  “What about when he was interviewing all your players? Did you spend any time with him then?” Brooks rested back in his chair, suddenly looking the part of an FBI agent.

  “Not really. I heard the kids griping about having to be questioned and complaining about how long he was keeping them. But I didn’t read too much into it. I just figured he was doing his job.”

  Brooks cocked his head to the side. “Were you at all surprised when he disappeared?”

  The question threw him off a bit. “Disappeared? No, I figured he left St. Leasing for another job. No one was really concerned. We’ve had teachers up and leave before. Was he like kidnapped from the campus?” Keller knew he was supposed to act like he knew very little. Dom’s detective friend had shared classified information as a favor and Keller didn’t want to be the one to get him in trouble.

  “We don’t really know, to be honest with you. But with the way he turned up murdered and all, we’re thinking it might be a possibility.” Grimes closed the file and leaned back, mirroring his partner.

  “Coach Byrne, you mentioned that Henderson’s office was in the admin building. But Ms. Cooper, the replacement guidance counselor, has her office in the athletic building. Why is that?” Brooks narrowed his eyes in question.

  Keller shrugged. “You’ll have to ask Dean McCormick that. I don’t know why that decision was made, as it wasn’t mine to make.”

  Grimes nodded, slowly. “Henderson alleged that the baseball players here at St. Leasing were way too advanced and talented to be normal student athletes. Do you find that to be a correct statement?”

  Keller let out a little chuckle. “Well, we do have quite a talented group of boys here. But they work hard. Most of them have been working hard at this sport since they were old enough to hold a ball. The majority of these kids come from wealthy families, and that means pitching coaches, private batting practice, and the best gyms money can buy. Our team is good, but we lose every now and then. We aren’t all that extraordinary.”

  Brooks zeroed in on Keller. “Henderson claimed that the team was violent and quick to anger. Do you feel that is the case?”

  “What? Absolutely not.” Keller scoffed for added emphasis. “These kids are full of hormones and testosterone like every other teenage boy in the world. I will say they were all irritated with Henderson and his, let’s call them, interrogations. He would keep them for hours at a time and ask extremely personal questions. I have no doubt that the guys were less than pleasant to him, and I don’t really blame them.”

  Brooks pursed his lips, knocking his knuckle on the heavy oak table. “Henderson was obligated to question the team, was he not?”

  Keller nodded tightly, more than ready to get out of this room and away from the man who kept hitting on his girlfriend. “He was.”

  “Why?” The question was fired back quickly.

  “The baseball team at St. Leasing has to be cleared to play each year. And that was what Henderson was supposed to be doing. Making sure the kids were cleared to play ball, not dragging their whole life story out of them.” Why was Brooks asking him these questions? Grimes had merely mentioned this stuff to Baze and moved on. Baze hadn’t been grilled like this. There was something different to this interrogation.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?” Keller furrowed his brow.

  Brooks sounded agitated when he answered. “Why does the team need to be cleared to play?”

  Fuck. “I’m sure you know the answer to that.”

  “We do. There was a St. Leasing baseball team a few years back that got into some trouble. Rage issues, was it?” Brooks leaned toward Keller.

  Double fuck. “Something like that, but it was long before my time. And we haven’t had any issues since then. Coo—uh, Ms. Cooper met with the whole team and cleared them all.” Not necessarily a lie. She had technically marked that everyone could play, even though she had no intentions of ever letting Jace take the field since, at the time, she had thought he was violent and quick to anger. Thank god that had turned out not to be the case and she’d destroyed any evidence that documented her suspicions. That would have made all this so much worse.

  “Speaking of Ms. Cooper, she is engaged to Coach Hardy, right?” Brooks continued hammering questions at Keller.

  Triple fuck. Keller could see where this was headed from a mile away. “Yes, they recently became engaged.”

  “And they’re having a baby. What is she now, three months along?” Brooks looked down at the file in front of him like he was confirming his timeline. “They have been together almost from the instant she started here at St. Leasing, it would appear.”

  Keller sighed. Damn Dom couldn’t have waited ’til Coop was on the pill before he claimed her? Horny impatient bastard. “What’s your point, Brooks?”

  “Maybe Coach Hardy made her clear the team? Maybe she never even interviewed them?” Brooks shrugged like his suspicions were easily made.

  “Look, Coo—uh, Ms. Cooper is an amazing counselor who cares about these kids. She would only want what was best for them. If you knew her, you wouldn’t for a second think she would do something like that. Yes, she and Dom have been close from the beginning. But it had zero effect on her job. Ask the players.” Keller let out a quick chuckle. “Ask her if you have the balls. I guarantee you, she’ll shove her answer right up your ass.” He rose to his feet. “I was under the assumption that I was brought in here to discuss the ridiculous allegations that there is a group of supernatural b
eings living here on campus, not the integrity of my colleagues. Are we done here? I have a meeting I need to get to.”

  Agent Grimes stood and offered Keller his hand. “I think we have all we need from you, Coach Byrne. Thank you so much for meeting with us.”

  “No problem. Just doing my part.” Keller left the room then hurried out of the building and headed to his next interrogation. He was going to have to fill the others in on what had happened in there. Keller had not heard one tense moment between Baze and Agent Grimes. Brooks’s jealousy and obvious interest in Molly was making him look a lot further into these claims than they had anticipated.

  Brooks was the asshole who could blow things up.

  Chapter Nine

  Keller

  When Keller got to Dom’s office, Linc and Baze were already there. The three of them were sitting silently with disapproving looks on their faces. Keller rolled his eyes. They all had work they should be doing instead of waiting around to pounce on him for his small—thoughtful—error. He walked in, shut the door, and then turned to toward the firing squad. “Give me your worst, boys.”

  Baze went first and without hesitation. “What the fuck, man? How could you be so stupid? There are Feds on campus looking into whether shifters exist and you decide to stroll down the street in wolf form. What was going through your head?”

  That was simple. Molly. She was going through his head, like always. “I shifted to follow Molly home. It was late and she wouldn’t let me drive her. I wanted to make sure she made it there okay. I can see now why it was a poor choice, but last night all I was concerned about was her and her safety.” Keller sat down and gave them a small, somewhat apologetic shrug. “I wasn’t thinking clearly, I guess.”

  “Oh, you were thinking all right.” Linc didn’t sound angry. He actually sounded sad for his friend. “With your dick.”

  Keller shook his head. “No. It wasn’t like that, not at all. She seemed off when she left, like she wasn’t feeling well or something. I was worried, that’s all.” Did he want to follow her into her house, and then into her bed? Hell yeah he did. Keller hadn’t wanted to spend five minutes away from her, let alone a whole night. But he hadn’t been thinking with his dick—he hadn’t.

  Baze leaned forward, massaging his temples. “Either way, you need to get your shit together, man. Until Molly is truly yours, your brain is on a one-way track. Either fucking claim her, or send her packing.”

  “Look. I need more time. I can’t tell her the truth right now, for obvious reasons, and I won’t claim her without her knowing what she’s agreeing to. It’s wrong.” Keller turned to his best friend, eyes pleading for a little understanding. “Dom, help me out here.”

  “If anyone gets what you’re going through, it’s me. I feel for you, bro, really I do.” Dom stood and started pacing the small office space. “But mistakes like last night can hurt my girl, both of my girls. It can’t happen again. Get your head straight.”

  Keller nodded and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’ll find a way to make everything work for everyone, okay?”

  They all nodded in return and Baze seemed to relax a little, his tone losing its earlier edge. “How did your questioning go? Mine was cake.”

  Keller snorted. “Well mine wasn’t. Fucking Brooks came in, and the bastard made a few comments about Molly and things went downhill fast. He brought up some stuff Henderson said about the team being violent and angry. Then Brooks said the fact that the team needs to be cleared to play every season kind of proves Henderson right. After making that point, he suggested that Coop only cleared the boys because Dom told her to.”

  Dom rested his knuckles on his desk, his eyes narrowed into tiny slits. “What? Corey busted her ass making sure she had a chance to talk to all the players. She would never do anything like that. Plus, for all he knows, we weren’t even together when she did those interviews. That was months ago.”

  Keller pursed his lips. “Yeah, well, he knew Coop was three months pregnant with your child. So that pretty much means you and she have been together in some fashion since her first week here.” He let out a humorless chuckle. “Horny jackass.”

  Dom smiled a smug male smile. “What can I say? My swimmers are winners.” That made everyone laugh and the mood in the room instantly lifted.

  Baze crossed his arms over his chest. “We need to give Corey a heads-up before they question her about all this. And we just need to stick to our original plan. Let the kids lead the Feds to Franklin.” Baze made eye contact with all of them while everyone nodded in agreement. “Keller, figure your shit out. Dom, please keep Corey calm. When she finds out that Brooks questioned her honesty she’s going to be pissed.”

  Linc raised his hand. “What about me? What’s my job?”

  Baze snorted. “Try not to nail either of their sisters, nieces, or colleagues. How about just keeping your dick in a safe place until all this blows over?”

  Linc nodded his head slowly. “Ah, give the hardest job to the strongest man. Good call.”

  Chapter Ten

  Keller

  Keller’s phone was ringing when he stepped out of the shower later that evening. He quickly dried his hands off to answer it when he saw Molly’s name flashing across the screen. “Hello, Miss Molly, I thought you were working tonight?” Keller wasn’t too thrilled that his woman worked nights at the town’s only bar. He knew the kind of guys that hung out at Moon Bar. After all, he and his friends were regulars.

  “I am. I’m on break. Just calling to make sure you were still planning on coming over tonight?” Keller couldn’t help but smile at hearing her voice. He’d been thinking about her all damn day.

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll be there. What time will you be home?” He wiped the fog off his bathroom mirror with the side of his free hand.

  “I’ll be done here right around ten. By the time I make it home… Um, ten-thirty or so? Is that okay? If it’s too late, I understand.”

  That was too many hours between now and when he’d get to see her. He pouted at the mirror like a child. “No, that’s not too late. I want to see you. But why does it take you thirty minutes to get back to your place? You live five minutes from the bar.”

  “I walk.”

  His jaw dropped open. “You what?”

  “I walk home. The weather is so amazing this time of year and it’s not that far.” She paused, but when he didn’t say anything she continued on. “Exercise. Some of us aren’t gifted with your incredible genes, Keller.”

  He gripped the edge of the sink, trying to reign in his emotions. Images of Molly getting mugged or raped or murdered were flashing through his mind faster than he could handle. “No more. Absolutely no more walking home from the motherfucking bar in the middle of the night by yourself. You have a car. Use it.” He was shaking, literally shaking with a mixture of rage, fear, worry, and exasperation.

  “Uh.” She scoffed loud enough for him to hear it on the other end of the line. “I don’t really want to argue with you over the phone, and I need to get back to work. But you should probably plan on not bossing me around anymore. Unless you don’t want to hang out later?”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. And then another. And another. When he felt like he had regained control, he tried again. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me. You’re at work. We can discuss this tonight. I’ll pick you up at the bar at ten.” Keller was met with silence on the other end, so he added, “If that’s okay with you.”

  “That’ll work. See you later.” She hung up without a goodbye. He understood why she was pissed. Logically, he knew that going off on a grown woman about something like that wasn’t smart. She’d been taking care of herself long before he ever came along, and he needed to remember that. Molly didn’t understand the shifter protectiveness he had prowling inside of him, and it wasn’t fair to expect her to.

  At least not yet anyway.

  ***

  Keller pulled his truck up next to the entrance of Moon B
ar at exactly nine fifty-five. The windows of the bar were dirty and hard to see through. It was also extremely loud in there. Pool games going on, laughter, music, drunk people screaming over the rest of the noise. He closed his eyes and blocked out all the chatter, trying to see if he could pick up the sound of Molly’s voice. It was a long shot, but Dom had told him that it was always easier for him to pick Coop’s voice out of a crowd. After only a few seconds Keller heard Molly’s familiar laughter, and it wasn’t coming from that far away. She must be close to the entrance, hopefully on her way to him.

  “Well, it was nice seeing you again too. Twice in one day though? Are you stalking me?” Keller’s eyes shot open. Mine. He would bet money she was talking to that dickhead, Agent Brooks.

  He threw off his seatbelt, slamming the truck door, and without a second thought, he walked into the bar to get his girl. “Hey, baby, you ready to head home?” His dick instantly hardened at the sight of Molly. She was wearing skimpy black shorts and a tight Moon Bar tank top. Her long blonde hair was piled on her head and her face was free of any makeup. Naturally beautiful. Naturally fucking hot.

  Molly whipped around at the sound of Keller’s voice. Her eyes drank him in, head to toe, and a smile pulled at her soft pink lips. She walked up to him and put her arms around his waist, tilting her head up offering him her mouth. And boy did he take it. What she probably thought as going to be a sweet quick hello kiss was more of a I want to fuck you right here in front of everyone kiss. Deep and hard.

  Keller knew his show of possession was juvenile, but there was no helping it. He would have taken what he needed from her even if she hadn’t offered it to him. And that thought terrified him. He pulled away slowly. “Let’s get out of here, huh?” He winked down at her, trying to seem causal and not on edge, which was what he truly felt.

  “Yes, please.” Her eyes stayed on him for a few seconds, like she was trying to get a better read on how he was feeling. She wasn’t a shifter, but his girl could tell that he was tense. She sighed and turned her attention to Brooks who was still standing a few feet away. “Good night, Agent Brooks.”