Chapter 31 Dex #2
Travis’s face scrunched. “You think that’s a woman?”
“I think we don’t know. The clothes are baggy. They hide any real data of size or shape. We can’t close any possibilities off until we know for sure,” Wylder explained.
I forced myself to keep breathing, to not let all of this send me into a downward spiral I’d never come back from. My fingers tightened around Brae’s shoulder. “I need to make a call.”
Her gaze flicked up to mine. Her face had gone unnaturally pale, and the last thing I wanted to do was leave her. But it was to keep her and Owen safe. That was the only thing that could’ve pulled me from her at that moment.
“I’ll be fine,” she said hoarsely.
Such a goddamned lie. But she was lying to try to make it easier on me.
I forced my fingers to uncurl from her shoulder and release her hand. But it hurt so bad it was like peeling my flesh from my bones. I didn’t look at Brae as I stood. Instead, I looked at Kol. “Send that clip to Anson.”
He jerked his head in a nod.
“Wait just a damn minute,” Roger clipped, squaring his shoulders. “Who the hell is Anson? You can’t bring random people into an ongoing investigation.”
“He’s not random,” I growled. “He was one of the best profilers the BAU has ever seen. And he’s going to give us insight into this bastard. So back the fuck off.”
I didn’t wait for a response. If Roger wanted to turn this into a pissing contest, fine. I’d just go around him.
Stalking outside, I let the back door slam. I could see Mav and Owen in the distance. They ran and whooped and shot off Nerf guns as Yeti tried to snatch the darts out of the air.
I pulled my phone from my pocket as I watched them, hitting Anson’s name in my contacts. It rang four times before he answered, and I heard sawing in the background, meaning he was on a jobsite. “Dex, how the hell are you?”
There was a warmth to his tone that had never been there before. Not until he met his fiancée. Rhodes had turned my broody best friend’s world upside down in the best possible way.
“Need your help.” My voice had gone emotionless. It was the only way I could function at the moment, when memories were battling for supremacy.
The sawing grew fainter in the background of the call. “Talk to me.”
“Got a neighbor here, new to Starlight Grove. Moved up here because her friend went missing a year ago while they were hiking the canyon. She always thought it was foul play. Local law enforcement didn’t agree.”
“And let me guess, they dawdled because of it,” Anson surmised.
“Some resources were extended, some leads investigated, but the sheriff shuffled it off to the cold case files the minute they hit a year out. Now, my neighbor’s getting threats.
A call from her friend’s phone with heavy breathing.
Just got a bloody necklace that belonged to the friend with a note that read How much do you miss me? ”
Anson cursed. “Blood fresh or dry?”
“Dry.”
Anson was quiet for a long moment, and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was: The chances of Nova being alive were slim to none. And if she was alive, what had she lived through?
“Send me everything,” Anson clipped. “You need me in person?”
Hell, he was a good friend. Willing to drive a good four and a half hours from Sparrow Falls, Oregon, at the drop of a hat. “Not yet. Just need your brain.”
“You got it. Wylder working the victim profile?” Anson asked. He’d talked with my brother a handful of times as Wylder honed his skills. Two psych nerds going down rabbit holes.
“Yeah, he’s pulling things together.”
“I’ll call him to get his take, too,” Anson said.
“Thanks,” I rasped. It was all I could say.
“How many times you get my ass out of a sling the past couple of years?”
He wasn’t wrong. Anson and his now family had run into more than their fair share of trouble in Sparrow Falls. But they’d made it through. And that gave me hope that Brae would, too.
“You know I’m happy to break into any internet hidey-holes for you.”
Anson chuckled. “Good to have the gray hat on my side.”
He might think I was a blend of the light and the dark, but I was feeling a hell of a lot darker lately. “I’ll check in later when I’ve sent everything over.”
“Dex?”
“Yeah?”
“Watch your fuckin’ back, okay? I really don’t want you getting dead.”
One corner of my mouth kicked up. “I’ll do my best.”
Anson hung up without a goodbye, like he always did, and I headed back inside. It was only to find a blustering Sheriff Miller in the middle of the living room.
“Why the hell are there civilians at my crime scene?” he snarled. “All of you get the hell out of here.”
Waylon’s chest puffed as he straightened his shoulders. “Oh no you don’t. She’s got no family around these parts, so I’m stepping in. Brae’s my family now. So back off, you blowhard.”
Miller’s face turned tomato red. “You can’t just make someone your family.”
“The hell I can’t. Family isn’t always blood. Sometimes, it’s a choice and showing up time and again. You’d know that if anyone but your blood kin could stand being in the same room with you for more than five minutes,” Waylon snapped.
“He’s gonna get himself arrested,” Wylder mumbled.
“You watch your tone with me, you—”
“Hey, Sheriff,” a younger officer cut in at the door. “Just got a call that the Lerners’ cows got loose again. They’re blocking traffic on the highway.”
“Goddammit,” Miller swore, glaring at all of us. But he stalked out the front door to deal with his new crisis.
“He’s a no-show, no-answer on the radio for hours and then shows up just to throw his weight around,” Travis muttered.
Waylon let out a huff. “Sounds just like the asswipe.”
Brae looked up at Waylon, her eyes glittering. She hadn’t let a single tear fall since I’d gotten to the cabin. Her voice and body had trembled, but she’d never given in to the tears until now.
“No one…” She swallowed and tried again. “No one has ever claimed me before. I never…I never felt like I belonged. Not with anyone but Nova.”
Fuck me. Brae sliced me to the bone: with her pain, her bravery, her pure honesty. And I couldn’t hold myself back from her.
I moved right to the spot I’d vacated, wrapping an arm around her shoulders again and pulling her into my side. “We’re claiming you, Hellion. You belong with us now.”
And, God, I wanted her as more than family. I wanted all of her. And it fucking terrified me.