by J. H. Croix
“Didn’t mean to.” I walked to the couch, sinking to my knees in front of her. She frowned as I brushed a few loose locks of hair away from her forehead. I needed her to look at me, to see how serious this was. We couldn’t waste time arguing about it. “I don’t mean to scare you more, but I need you to pack your stuff. I’m taking you to a safe house.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ll explain everything later, but we need to move. How can I help you?”
Niki scrambled to her feet, clutching her book to her chest as we made our way to my bedroom. “My stuff is all over your room. Could you help me get it together?”
“Of course.” I pulled the overnight bag she brought over from my closet and opened it on the bed, quickly helping her gather her things. “Whatever you leave behind, I can always bring to you later.”
“That’s not comforting,” she whispered, shoving clothes into her bag without folding them. “What’s happened? Are you coming too?”
“Not right now. I’ll drive you over there, but then I need to meet Harris. He talked to Maclin, and he was worried about your safety. They had a fight. Harris says Maclin knows too much. I promise I’ll explain better when we have time, okay?”
“Okay, okay,” she agreed, her voice shaky. She zipped up the bag not a minute later, and I got her toiletries from the bathroom. My shower looked empty and stark without her assortment of colorful bottles, as did my vanity. More stuff I would have to deal with later.
“You ready to go?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
I shouldered her bag, carrying it to the truck as we walked outside. Tyson had texted while we were packing, so I knew where we were going.
Niki was quiet on the ride over, staring out the window at the rolling scenery as we drove out of town. The safe house wasn’t far, but it wasn’t on the main square either.
“I’m really sorry about this. I don’t know how many times I can say it, or if it still means anything, but I really am. I promise you I’ll be back later, but I’m not going to be able to stay long once we get there.”
“Alone in a strange house. I don’t care what it’s called, that doesn’t seem safe. Can’t I just go to Karen’s?”
“Unfortunately, not. I know this sucks, but it’s our best option for now.”
“Are you going to tell me what our other options were?”
“We don’t have any on short notice,” I told her, hating that she was scared and worried, and I wouldn’t be able to stay with her. I glanced at her, an idea entering my mind. “My brother Jeremy and Marie, his fiancée live close to here. I’ll ask them to keep an eye on you, too.”
“I don’t know them, Sonny. I really would rather go to Karen’s.”
“We can’t risk involving her. I’m so sorry. I really will be back to check on you as soon as I can be, okay?”
Exhaling a heavy breath, she agreed, “Fine, but we’re talking about this later.”
“Sure.” As long as I knew she was safe in the meantime, I would’ve agreed to pretty much whatever she wanted.
We pulled up outside of a nondescript house in the next suburb over from where Jeremy and Marie lived. “This is it.”
Niki leaned forward, eyeing the small, white building. Green lawn stretched in front of it with a slightly faded playset off to one side. It could’ve belonged to any family, anywhere. “It’s not what I was expecting.”
“Sorry.” I half-smiled, hoping it would help set her a little more at ease. “We keep the dark, dank holes for former enemy operatives.”
Niki rolled her eyes, opening her door. “Not the time to joke around.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I followed her to the front door, then motioned for her to wait as I checked the house. When I was sure the property was clear, I went to get Niki. Once I got her settled, I left to hopefully go get us some answers.
Harris was waiting for me at the address he’d texted me earlier, a small cafe at a local bed and breakfast owned by his brother and sister-in-law. He was seated in the far corner of the garden at a wrought iron table. A canopy of trees shaded the area.
“Quaint,” I remarked, taking the seat across from him.
“It’s a livelihood.” Harris shrugged, resting his elbows on the table and entwining his fingers together. “Let’s not waste any time. I think you’re right about Wayne being part of a cover-up. He’s been pushing everyone, going above and beyond any reasonable steps in any ordinary investigation. It’s all blurred. Zach, now you, everyone else. It’s like he’s pointing at random and taking shots in the dark. It’s unprofessional, and it’s suspicious.”
“Are you giving me the go-ahead to follow him?”
“I am. Bring this thing home, Sonny. It’s about time we get rid of this prick.”
Now there was an order I could definitely follow, no questions asked.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Niki
Safe house, my ass. I felt anything but safe in this house. It was a nice enough place with two small bedrooms and decorated rather enthusiastically in bright colors.
The house itself was fine, but the circumstances that brought me here weren’t. I didn’t know this place, and I didn’t want to stay here.
Wandering around the unfamiliar house, I had no idea what to do with myself. Reading didn’t even appeal to me.
I flopped down on the bed, covered in a pink, frilly comforter. It was harder than my bed, and the comforter was made from a slippery fabric. Not comforting at all.
None of this was.
Giving up on the bed, I ambled over to the window and called Karen. She could always be counted on to bring a little bit of home to me.
“Niki! Hey, I was just thinking about you.”
“My ears were burning,” I told her, feigning a carefree tone she immediately heard right through.
“What’s wrong?”
I gave her the shortened version, ending with Sonny dropping me off at the safe house. Karen cursed, launching into a tirade. “That’s completely unacceptable. He can’t dump you in some strange house and tell you to stay. You’re not his puppy. Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you immediately.”
“That’s not an option.” As much as I wanted it to be, Sonny was right about it being too dangerous for me to go to her. “He told me I wouldn’t be here long, and he’ll be back later. I’ll be fine.”
My phone beeped in my ear, signaling in an incoming text. “Hang on, I just got a text. It might be him.”
“Fine. I’m hanging,” she said with a huff.
I lowered my phone, clicking on the text.
Sonny: My brother’s fiancée is stopping by soon. She’ll keep you company until I get there. See you later.
It was a sweet thought, but I didn’t need company. I needed to know what was going on and preferably, I needed to be told this was all a false alarm and that I could go home.
The doorbell rang a minute later though, and I sighed, telling Karen. “I have to go. Sonny’s future sister-in-law is here. I’ll call you later?”
“Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. “Stay safe.”
“I will,” I promised, pocketing my phone and heading to the front door.
I opened it to a young woman around my age standing on the porch with a thermos and an understanding smile. “I brought tea.”
“Thank you.” I stepped aside, waving her in. She was a little shorter than me, her dark hair cut just below her ears with a bright green streak running through it. “You didn’t have to drop everything to come here. I don’t want to keep you.”
“It’s my day off, so I wasn’t doing anything but lazing around at home. Austin’s at daycare, and Jeremy’s at work. Really, you’re doing me a favor by letting me hang out with you for a while. I was getting bored to death by myself at home. I’m Marie, by the way.”
She stuck out her hand, and I shook it, the corners of my lips twitching up. “Niki. It’s nice to meet you.”
I liked her al
ready. She was a firecracker, I could tell. And she wasn’t going to take no for an answer about staying with me.
“You too. I’ve heard absolutely nothing about you,” she said, looking curiously around the house as we walked to the kitchen. “How long have you been seeing Sonny?”
My cheeks heated. “I’m not seeing him. We’re—friends. But I have heard some about you and your son. Austin right?”
A wide smile lit her green eyes, pride in her expression. “Yeah. He’s five and the best kid in the world, but even with Jeremy and I combining forces, he’s a handful.”
We reached the kitchen and Marie set her thermos down, scrunching her nose. “Any idea where the cups are?”
“None,” I told her, stretching up to check one of the kitchen cabinets. Marie did the same thing, and together, we managed to find cups, some silverware, and even a package of cookies.
We fixed our tea, with Marie telling me some of the things Austin had gotten up to in the last few weeks. She laughed when she got to a story about Austin and his friend Tommy at T-ball. “Boys are much less dramatic than girls, but so much harder to keep alive. Am I right?”
I giggled, enjoying her easy, talkative manner. It usually took me ages to feel comfortable with someone, but Marie instantly made me feel like I’d known her for years. “I wouldn’t know, but can you imagine Mrs. Lovett raising five?”
Marie shook her head, her eyes wide. “No way. I have no idea how she did it. I would’ve gone crazy, absolutely insane. She didn’t do a bad job with them either, did she?”
Pure love shone from Marie’s face when she spoke about Jeremy. “All the Lovett brothers are genuinely good guys.”
“I don’t really know the others. I went to the same school they did, but I’m younger and didn’t know them personally.”
“Same!” Marie explained, then started asking me questions to figure out why she didn’t remember me from high school while we had our tea. We realized it was because we were in different grades at the time and had vastly different interests back then.
She told me some more about the Lovett brothers, and I laughed with her as she relayed some of the rumors she’d heard about them before she and Jeremy got together. Before I knew it, the tea was done, the cookies were gone, and we were well into the afternoon.
Marie looked up when we heard a truck pulling up outside. “I’d better go. Looks like Sonny’s back anyway.”
I appreciated that she hadn’t called it a home. This wasn’t a home. I hoped Sonny had some answers for me.
Marie slung her purse over her shoulder and gave me a quick hug. “You call for anything you need, you hear?”
“I can’t promise anything,” I told her honestly. “But I’ll keep it in mind, thanks.”
She smiled, but worry darkened her eyes. “I don’t know what you two crazy kids have gotten yourself into, but Sonny’s a good guy, and I like you. Take care of each other.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, but Marie didn’t wait for an answer before slipping out the door anyway. Sonny entered minutes later, reaching to pull me into his arms. As much as I wanted to walk into his comforting embrace, I didn’t.
I was rooted to my spot, on edge after spending the day at the so-called safe house. “What happened with Chief Harris?”
Sonny’s gaze shuttered. “He’s with us. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be following Wayne. Hopefully, we’ll find something on him soon, and then you can go home.”
I studied his expression, seeing remorse in his eyes and the slump in his shoulders. Softening inside, I took a breath.
Approaching him, I took his hands in mine. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me, and I can’t adjust on the fly like you do. Change takes time for me to accept. I think even you have to agree it’s pretty crazy to be told I need to stay at a safe house.”
He curled his hands around mine, tugging me close. “I’m really sorry. So fucking sorry. I wish I knew what else to do or to say, but I don’t.”
“I know.” I looped my arms around his neck, angling my head up to look into his eyes. His embrace was strong, his scent familiar, and the first thing to really bring me comfort all day. “Moving me to a safe house was something we should’ve talked about. That’s what I’m angry about, that I wasn’t consulted. I need to know what’s going on.”
“I understand.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, his eyes drifting closed. “I fucked up. I just wanted to keep you safe. I didn’t mean to scare you. I was reacting to Harris’s warning.”
“And I don’t want to be afraid, but I am afraid here,” I confessed, even though I hated that it made me sound weak.
Sonny didn’t look at me any differently for it though, his gaze warm and steady. “I’ll stay here with you. Hopefully, it’ll help you feel less afraid to know you’re not alone.”
“It will,” I murmured, threading my fingers together behind his neck. Sonny dipped his head, pulling me in for a kiss.
His tongue swiped across the seam of my lips, delving inside when I gasped. Inside of a few seconds, our kiss was hot, wet and overpowering—as if we were both desperate to put the turmoil of the day behind us and focus on each other instead. I knew that was what I needed.
Sonny lifted me against him as if I weighed nothing, not even breaking our kiss. My legs curled around his hips as he carried me to the bedroom. He set me down easily.
His movements were slow and methodical as he undressed first, his eyes locked to mine. The emotion in them intense, sending heat spiraling through me. This couldn’t be mere lust. Not if he was looking at me that way.
My breath caught, the searing burn of what was passing between us making it hard to breathe. When he was bare before me, Sonny turned his attention to me.
His hands and lips got busy as he undressed me. I lost sight of everything but the feel of him against me. The feel of his calloused palm sliding over the curve of my belly, his fingers dipping between my thighs and the scrape of his stubble against my thighs sent me spinning inside, pleasure scattering like hot sparks everywhere. He teased me with his lips, fingers, and tongue until I was crying out, begging him. I needed him inside—to feel the stretch and burn, to let the pressure loose.
Our gazes were locked together as he entered me, as his hips rocked into mine. He held still for a few beats when he was buried to the hilt. The feel of the hard planes of his body against mine was pure heaven. I flexed into him, spurring him on. He drew back and sank inside of me slowly at first. In a matter of seconds, he was driving deep inside of me as I flew apart, pleasure crashing over me in a wave.
Sonny followed me over the edge within seconds, his strokes becoming more uneven as he went taut with a low groan and crashed his lips to mine.
He dozed off afterward, our limbs tangled together and his hand stroking my back. My eyelids were heavy too. It had been a long, emotional day, and I wanted to sleep, but it didn’t happen.
I didn’t know how long I lay there, not wanting to move and wake Sonny up. Sleep kept evading me, being pushed away as conflicting feelings surged through me.
There was no denying I had intense feelings for Sonny. I had been trying to tell myself they were nothing, but that wasn’t true. What I felt for him ran deep and felt almost instinctive, like I never had any choice in the matter.
But I was worried about everything that was going on with him. It was a storm, and it would pass, but I had no clue what shape either of us would be in when it did. More concerning was the reality that, as a cop, he would simply jump from this dangerous situation into the next one.
His life was so different from mine, and I didn’t know if I could reconcile the two. All I wanted was a normal, quiet life with a good man.
Now, I was in a safe house with a man who was trying to take down an Internal Affairs agent and whose father was in prison—possibly because of the lunatic who was after us. It wasn’t normal, or quiet. Not by a long shot.
Could I live like this? With a man who was constantly putt
ing his life on the line? How he truly felt about me was a mystery, but before this went any further I had to ask myself: Was Sonny really the right man for me?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sonny
Niki was fast asleep when I left the following morning. I dropped a kiss on her forehead, forcing myself to leave. The vision of her lush body with the sheet draped around her waist teased my thoughts the moment I was out of the house. To say she had a grip on me didn’t even come close to the effect she had on me.
Today was the day. Finally, we were taking action. I couldn’t fucking wait. I’d been restless and frustrated over this situation for too damn long. Before I’d had nothing more than a gut feeling that something was off about my father’s case. Now the contours of that were starting to take shape, and I wanted to act, to take it further until I could see everything clearly. I understood Harris had to go along with the investigation and all, but as far as I was concerned, we should’ve started working on shutting Maclin down months ago.
Adrenaline coursed through me as I walked to my truck. We should’ve moved on much sooner, but at least we were moving now. I was beyond ready, primed to get started.
Zach was waiting for me at his place. We decided it was safer to meet there for our version of a pre-game briefing than it was to do it at the station.
Harris was covering our absence by formally assigning us to a case we would work along with this one. It was a much smaller case. We should make good progress on it even if most of our energy were focused on this.
Zach was going to be collecting the evidence on that case on his way to the station this morning, and if anyone should ever ask where I was, the records would show I was out on the investigation. Having Harris in our corner was a godsend for many reasons, but his help at the station would be invaluable.
When I got to Zach’s place, he already had coffee waiting, and I couldn’t help but notice how much more organized his house was. I wasn’t the only one energized by finally getting the nod to go after this.
