by Aiden Bates
“He’s the Fed’s best suspect in this whole birth control debacle,” Ansel revealed. “With Nick being, well, with what happened to him, you boys would do well to steer clear if you do see this man anywhere in town. Looks like he had some contact with your late brother.” Ansel took his hat off, lowering his eyes. “May he rest in peace.”
I had to fight back a growl. Next to me, I could feel Harper doing the same. As if Ansel and the rest of the Fort Greene PD hadn’t done their damnedest to avoid solving Josh’s murder. Ansel could posture all he wanted—any tears he shed for Josh were the crocodile kind.
“We laid Josh to rest months ago,” Harper pointed out. “Why would your man here want anything to do with Fort Greene?”
“Well, that’s the thing. Derek Stillwell—” Ansel tapped the paper he held— “His car was found in Colorado. The Feds got it off a local used car dealer that he bought a different one there. Found that one in Columbia and, well—I’m sure that you can put two and two together from there.” He gave me a nod. Clever of him, really. Ansel was an old-school police officer. Always expected support any time he acknowledged an officer he felt was one of his own as well.
“Draws a bit of a line, I’ll admit.” I gave him a nod in return, like I was appreciative of his faith in my detective abilities. If anything, I was just masking the way his bullshit was making me bite my tongue. “But from Reno to Colorado to Columbia…those sound like the movements of a man on the run, not a man headed to any place in particular.”
Ansel narrowed his eyes. “How’d you know he started in Reno, Kaleb? If you don’t mind my asking—I didn’t mention where he was from.”
Fuck. Put my foot in my mouth on that one then.
Harper was quick to pick up my slack, though. “Nick’s been following this story pretty closely, Ansel. For obvious reasons. Won’t shut up about it, in fact. Every damn day over breakfast, all he wants to talk about is that bastard from Reno.” He smiled. “You know how Omegas are.”
“Always bitchin’, don’t I know it.” Ansel’s dodgy anti-Omega flag was flying true this morning, it was clear to see. “You boys mind if I come in? Wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee, maybe ask Nick if he’s seen anything. Way I recall it, he was working with Josh too, wasn’t he?”
At my side, I could feel Harper clench his fingers into a fist. I didn’t blame him—what Ansel was trying to pass off as a social visit was obviously a threat. But it had done us a solid in giving us some information we hadn’t previously been party to, as well.
The Fort Greene police knew that Josh and Nick had been working together. Way I figured it, the only way they could’ve known that was if they’d had contact with the same people who’d sent men to put Harper and Nick in the ground. Josh had been right—we couldn’t trust the police here. No more than we could trust Bicroft, Carver Media, AFF or even the goddamn governor.
“We’d love to have you in, Detective,” I said smoothly, moving my shoulder in front of Harper so that Ansel couldn’t see the fist. “But—hell, if you’d heard the racket Harper and Nick were making this morning, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere near this place.”
Ansel’s eyes narrowed again. “Thought you boys said you’d just rolled out of bed.”
Recovering, Harper gave a bastard’s grin. “Oh, Nick and I didn’t make it out of bed. But if he can walk well enough to come out into the kitchen and answer your questions, I reckon it means I didn’t do my job right.”
Ansel swallowed, licking his lips and letting his gaze slide from Harper’s face to mine. Like he was trying to stare right through us—and through our lies, to boot.
“Maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough, boys,” he said, his voice suddenly dropping to a freezing temperature. “I’d like to come in, and I’m not exactly askin’.”
“All right, all right. Mind if I see the warrant, then?” I asked casually.
Ansel froze. Just like that, I knew I’d gotten him.
“Well, see, that’s the thing. Don’t exactly have a warrant—but you’re police too, Kaleb. You know how these things go. If you’ve got nothin’ to hide, there’s no need to go on hiding it.”
“You’re right, Ansel. But as a detective myself—you know how these things go.” Entry without a warrant—it was shit like that that made an opening for crooked cops like Ansel to keep practicing their crooked trade. “The process is there for a reason. Now, you come ‘round here with a warrant signed by a judge, that’s a different matter.”
“Yeah? Believe me, Kaleb, I don’t want to go making a mess of your day here.” Another thinly veiled threat, it would seem. “If you heard that from someone out in DC, what would you think?”
“I’d think that someone knew their rights.” I crossed my arms over my chest, standing firm. If he thought he was getting into this house without the legal right to do so, he was going to have to get through me first. “A warrant, Ansel. Get yourself one of those and I can assure you, you come on back and the door will be open. Beyond that, I reckon Harper and I had best start going about our days—and you to yours.”
“I’ll do that, then.” Ansel’s gaze was icy as he placed his hat back on his head. “But while I’ve got you here…you boys know better than to go skipping town at the moment, surely.”
“Why the hell would anyone ever want to leave a pretty little place like Fort Greene?” I asked, all too chipper.
But as soon as the door was closed I had to stop myself from putting my fist through it.
“They’ve got me, then,” Derek said softly from out in the hall.
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of his voice. Turning, I saw Derek and Nick standing at the mouth of the living room, both whiter than freshly bleached linen.
“Thought I told you to stay put,” I grumbled, moving to Derek.
He met me halfway in the living room, wrapping his arms around my neck and burying his face against my collarbone.
“What do we do?” he whispered. “I didn’t think—I was careful, but they still managed to track me here.”
“We get dressed,” I told him, catching Harper’s eye as I held Derek in my arms. “Then we get you out of here. Now.”
I tossed Harper my keys as he moved toward the door to warm up my car.
Don’t go skipping town, my ass. As soon as we were packed and ready, Derek and I were gone.
19
Derek
Barely twenty minutes later, my clothes were on and my bag was packed. As Harper came back in from outside, the seriousness of the situation was apparent in his eyes.
“Gabe’s on duty out front.” Harper stopped Kaleb’s pacing to hand over Kaleb’s keys. “There’s a street-clothes cop parked a block down. They’ve got eyes on the house.”
“Unsurprising,” Kaleb grunted. “Half of Ansel’s helpful tips were just half-assed ways of saying not to fuck with him.”
“But if they’re watching the house…” I swallowed. My throat was dry and my pulse was racing. Worse, an awful tension had settled in my abdomen that just wouldn’t quit. “How the hell are we going to get out of town if I can’t even walk out the door?”
“We’re not leaving town,” Kaleb said, which only made the last of the color in my face drain right out of it. Seeing my distress, he moved to me, taking both of my hands in his. “Because we don’t have to. Ernesto has a safe house just outside of Fort Greene.”
“You sure that’s wise?” Nick asked.
Harper cringed, putting his arm around Nick. “Nick’s had, ah…maybe not the best experience with Ernesto’s safe houses. But this isn’t the one that’s over the KPS building. This is off the books. That one that Dad set up, owned by that shell company, right?”
Kaleb nodded. “As far as the Fort Greene PD know, it’s just a rental property that some dumbshit company can’t move. It looks like hell on the outside, but inside, you’ll be comfortable there.”
I squeezed his hands, biting my lip before looking to Nick and Harper. “What about you
two? You’re not safe here either, if the police think you’ve been harboring me.”
“I’ll just toss one mattress on top of the other, cover it up with a comforter,” Harper said, waving my concern away. “Wouldn’t want my older brother sleeping on the floor with his bad back, would I? Beyond that, it’ll look like you were never here.”
“And I’m not connected to you at all, except for through Josh,” Nick assured me. “If they want to drag a pregnant Omega out of his own home for no reason, the community will give ‘em hell for it.”
Something creaked in my chest, a shattering pain shooting through me. I’d endangered them all so much just by being here. Nick, Harper, Kaleb—even Justin Carlisle. All for one stupid vial of Bicroft synthetic hormones. Fuck.
“I’m so sorry.” I shook my head, just hoping that they could forgive me for the mess I’d rained down on them. “I shouldn’t have come here. I’ve put you all in harm’s way.”
“Without you, we wouldn’t have made the breaks in this case that we have,” Kaleb assured me.
“We wouldn’t have shit without you,” Harper agreed. “You did the work on the patents. You found that SIM card in the bottom of Wells’ box. You found that picture on Josh’s phone, led us to his journal.”
“And even if you hadn’t—you didn’t do what they’re saying you did,” Nick reminded me. “What kind of assholes would we have been to throw you to the wolves like that?”
“Maybe that’s exactly what you should do. Throw me to the wolves.” I looked up at Kaleb, blinking back tears that I didn’t want him to see. “I could turn myself in. Take the heat off of you guys—then you’d be free to continue Josh’s work without the police looming over you at every turn.”
Harper laughed. “That ship had sailed long before you showed up, Derek. Believe me—the police have been all over anyone even a little bit connected to Josh from the start.”
“And if you turn yourself in, you’re as good as dead too.” Kaleb shook his head, taking my hands up against his chest and squeezing them tight. “They killed Josh for what he knew. If they take you in, you won’t make it past the mugshot. I’ll get you to the safehouse, and you’ll stay there until we can get your name cleared.”
“How long will that be?” Even beneath the firmness of Kaleb’s grip, I could feel my hands shaking.
“I don’t know for sure,” Kaleb admitted. “But I’m going with you. You won’t be there alone.”
“Gabe’s called Brock to pull up a street behind us.” Harper clapped Kaleb on the shoulder. “KPS is sweeping our perimeter now and—” Harper’s phone buzzed twice. A text. He checked it, then nodded. “There’s just the one cop out front. Switch me jackets, Kaleb? I reckon I’ll drive off in your car, draw him away from the house. Go pick up some donuts.”
Kaleb rolled his eyes. “They’ll love that. Then Derek and I will dip out the back, meet Brock and head to Ernesto’s hideaway.”
“That’s the plan.” Harper looked down to me over Kaleb’s shoulder, giving me a warm, tight-lipped smile. “You two lovebirds stay safe, okay? Don’t want to have to go shooting it up with the entire Fort Greene PD if they give you any trouble.”
“You’re already giving them more trouble than they know what to do with,” Nick said, rolling his eyes at Harper as he came over to give Kaleb and me a hug. “No playing the hero, you hear me? That goes for both of you. Whether you like it or not, we’re all in this together. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all family now.”
“Even more so if you go knocking up our fugitive.” Harper smacked Kaleb on the back of the head fondly. “Don’t think we haven’t heard you two going at it day and night. You’d best be using protection.”
Kaleb and I shared a look, both of us fighting back laughter. If Harper only knew…
“We’ll be safe,” Kaleb said. “You two had best do the same.”
We broke apart, Nick grabbing our bags and Harper trading Kaleb’s police jacket for his beaten-up leather one. Kaleb stuck his finger through one of the bullet holes that had been shot through the leather, wiggling it and holding his breath.
“Guess there’s no time like the present, then,” Kaleb said, shooting me a smile. “Ready for a little vacation.”
I rolled my eyes, snorting. “Not exactly what I’d call it, but sure. Let’s go.”
We made it to the safe house just before lunchtime without any cherries and berries going off, passing the Leaving Fort Greene sign on our way there. Being outside of Fort Greene meant we were out of the Fort Greene PD’s jurisdiction, or so Kaleb told me. On his word, the Winnsboro PD wouldn’t be very happy to have Fort Greene officers sniffing around on their turf. For once, his knowledge of police procedure made me feel a little more at ease.
If only the same could be said for the rest of this hellhole of a situation.
“Food in the fridge and cupboards for at least a week. Toiletries and, uh…” Brock gave me an awkward, fleeting glance. “Intimate supplies for Omegas in the bathroom, should you need ‘em.”
“Thanks, Brock.” Kaleb took the burly KPS man’s hand in his, shaking it twice. “Reckon we’re okay here if you wanna head out.”
“Wait.” I put myself between Brock and the door, a lump in my throat and a tightness in every muscle of my body. “Kaleb, are you sure… You’re all aiding and abetting right now, right? If I do get caught, you’re all in trouble. Maybe it would be better if KPS could lend me a car. I could leave it for Brock when I got to Winnsboro proper. Pick up another old beater. Head somewhere else—then everyone here would be safe.”
Kaleb barely gave my offer a second of thought, though. “Don’t be an idiot, Derek. We’ll be better staying together. You’re safe here. You’ve got people to look after you here.”
“And if I’d rather look after myself?”
Kaleb groaned, moving to me and wrapping his arms around me tight. “Like I said, don’t be an idiot. We’ve got a lot of work to do yet. And hey, on the bright side…” He gestured to the house around us, from the comfy couches in the living room to the clean marble countertops of the kitchen. “We’ll have a whole place to ourselves now. Real bed and everything. Beats fucking on two mattresses pushed together, right?”
Brock cleared his throat, and I blushed. Kaleb and I had both obviously kind of forgotten that he was still there.
“Mostly to yourselves, anyway,” Brock grunted, heading for the door. “I’ll be back to check in on you two later, so, uh…keep yourselves a little decent, if you don’t mind?”
Kaleb laughed. “Of course. Drive safe.”
As the door closed behind Brock, I let my head slump forward, resting the bridge of my nose against Kaleb’s chin. “I guess this will be okay for a little while. Can’t say I’m exactly thrilled that we’ll have company checking in on us periodically, but…”
Kaleb only grinned. “Intimate supplies for Omegas in the bathroom, though. Your cycle must be about over, right?”
I blinked up at him, not entirely sure what to say. I’d been putting off telling him—putting off even thinking about it, even—but as far as my cycle went, my phone had buzzed two days ago warning me that my period should’ve shown up by now.
And whether I wanted to admit it or not…I’d never been late before.
Slipping away from Kaleb, I headed down the hall toward the bathroom and opened the cabinet behind the mirror, holding my breath. As Brock had promised, there were plenty of tampons and pads stashed away on its shelves…
But there, in the lower right-hand corner stuffed away behind a bottle of mouthwash was what I really needed.
“Something wrong?” Kaleb asked, poking his head through the door with a hand held over his eyes, just in case.
I held the boxed pregnancy test up for him to see. “I don’t know about wrong, exactly…but it might be a good idea to, ah, see what this has to say about the matter.”
Kaleb spread his fingers a little, peering through the cracks in them until his gaze landed on the tes
t.
“Right. Well…I’ll give you some privacy, then.” He paused just before he closed the door, leaning in to press a kiss to my lips. “No matter what it says, though—I’m not going back on my promise. You’re safe. Pregnant or not.”
Pregnant or not. But as Kaleb closed the door behind him, that tightness in my stomach seemed to ripple through my entire body.
There was only one way to know for sure.
20
Kaleb
By the time Derek opened the bathroom door again, I’d nearly paced a hole through the carpet in the hall.
“Okay,” he sighed, casting a glance back to the test resting on the bathroom counter. “Now we wait.”
“How long?” My skin was practically itching for an answer—not to that question, but to the more important one. Pregnant? Or not?
“Ten minutes, give or take. It was an old test, though. Might be inconclusive. Or might be a false negative—if I don’t have enough hCG in my system yet, it might not register.”
“Or you might not be pregnant,” I pointed out. “Sometimes a no is just a no.”
Derek smiled softly, moving toward me and shaking his head. “Can I tell you the truth?”
“Always.”
“I’ve missed my period,” he admitted. “It’s usually regular but…”
I nodded, focusing on the test behind Derek instead of Derek’s eyes. “Right. If this one is negative, when Brock comes back we’ll ask for another one.”
Fatherhood. It should have had me scared shitless. At thirty-nine, it wasn’t exactly something that I’d ever planned for myself. Derek and I had said from the start that we were bad at relationships. My own shortcomings on that field had always meant that becoming a father was off the table entirely. Once upon a time, Justin and I had talked about it. A talk that had gone nowhere. He’d been ready for a family. Me? Even just the mention of settling down and making babies had sent a cold blade of fear through my heart.
