Chapter 14
fourteen
. . .
REAGAN
Moving into Finn’s guest house didn’t take long. All I had with me was my camera equipment, clothes and toiletries, and Lainey’s journals, which I planned to hand over to the police.
Of course, I’d stopped at a UPS store on the way here to make copies of all of them. I wasn’t ready to read them yet, but I knew I wanted to have them. Depending on how this whole thing shook out, I might never see them again, and I couldn’t risk not keeping some piece of my sister close to me.
My first order of business now that I was settled was to sit down with the sheriff and get an update on the case.
I wasn’t above making myself a nuisance if it meant keeping the pressure on the department, reminding them that a woman had gone missing on their watch, and someone who loved her wanted her home.
After making breakfast on my third morning in town, I took my third cup of coffee—I’d been up for hours, and I needed it—out to the little back porch that looked over the fields and hills that rolled up into the distant mountain range behind the house and dialed Lane.
He answered on the second ring. “This is Sheriff Lawless.”
“Hey La—” I stopped, correcting myself. It didn’t feel right referring to him by his first name when this wasn’t a social call. “Sheriff. This is Reagan Lindsey.”
“Reagan,” he said warmly. “You get all settled?”
“I did. Sitting on the back porch as we speak. This place is beautiful.”
He hummed in agreement. “The ranch is my favorite place in the world, for sure.”
“I can see why. Thanks for helping set all this up, but you could’ve warned me this was Finn’s place.”
Lane chuckled. “I’m failing to see the problem.”
“Meddling siblings,” I muttered.
“A brother’s duty,” he agreed.
Conversation died, Lane waiting me out. I took a fortifying sip of my coffee and said, “So look, the reason for my call—”
“You want an update on your sister.”
“Yes.”
“You’re in luck. I’ve got some time free in a couple hours, and I was planning on calling you anyway. Could you come down to the station?”
“Absolutely.”
“Eleven work?”
“Yep. I’ll be there.”
“Great, see you then.”
He hung up, and I relaxed a little, feeling slightly more confident about how seriously his department was taking my sister’s case. And maybe, hopefully, they had some break in the case that would get us one step closer to finding Lainey.
Eleven was still a way off, so I went back inside, cleaned up my mess from breakfast, then spent some time getting everything I wanted to hand off to the police in order. My hands shook as I sifted through her journals, the faux leather covers soft beneath my fingers.
I’d bought the first one after she’d mentioned offhandedly one day that she wanted to start journaling, and I’d given it to her on our birthday that year—our first one after our parents died.
Lainey glared at me as I handed the wrapped present over. “This better not be a book.”
I simply shrugged, my smile growing wider as she ripped through the paper to reveal the small journal. I’d found a place to personalize it, and her initials, LML, were stamped in the bottom right corner of the cover.
“You didn’t,” she said, though her tone held no admonishment, only awe.
Again, I shrugged. “You said you wanted to journal, so I bought you one.”
Lainey wrapped me in her arms, holding tightly, and I didn’t mention the cold, wetness that dripped onto the shoulder of my tee.
“Thank you, sissy. I love it.”
“Just don’t use it to talk shit about me,” I said with a laugh as I pulled back.
Lainey wiped her eyes. If I’d known it would mean so much to her, I would’ve bought one months ago when she first mentioned it.
“Never,” she promised.
A gentle knock on the front door pulled me from the memory, and I swiped at my own face. I’d been doing that a lot lately—crying without realizing it, the tears silently spilling free from my eyes.
One day, I’d find out if she kept that promise, but not today.
I’d left the inside door open last night, letting the midnight breeze filter in, and as I approached, I saw a tall, broad figure silhouetted in the frame.
Finn.
I had every intention of standing firm in my claim that I couldn’t do this—whatever this—was with him, that my entire focus had to be on Lainey.
But my mind and my body, the traitorous bitch, were on different levels, because every fiber of my being fucking yearned for him.
Not only in remembrance of the sex, either.
I couldn’t explain it except to say something deep within me knew I was safe with this man.
Every negative emotion and invasive thought settled when he was near.
Staying away was that much harder because of it, even though my brain knew it was for the best.
“Morning, belle,” he said when I opened the door for him. His hand instantly went to the back of his neck, cupping and scratching in a gesture I knew to be a nervous tic. “Shit, sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said softly, stepping back to admit him. “What can I do for you?”
“I wanted to check in. Make sure you’ve got everything you need.”
I couldn’t help but smile. This was exactly what I meant. I’d rejected him—and not gently, I might add—and he still came to me, making sure I was doing okay.
Finn Lawless was a giver, always making sure everyone around him was taken care of before he ever spared a thought for himself.
I knew this deep in my bones. Maybe I didn’t know much about him on the surface, but I knew the man beneath the muscles and ink.
How he’d come to my rescue in the bar that night seven years ago.
How he’d held my hand through one of the worst experiences of my life a month ago.
Of course, even a grazing thought over the night we met had my mind running away with me, conjuring images of him and me, tangled in those motel room sheets.
The way he’d made me come several times before ever giving into the demands of his own body. The way he’d talked me through it all, the deep tenor of his voice riling me up as much as his hands and cock had.
Oh yes, Finn Lawless was absolutely a giver—a generous man in and out of the bedroom.
“I’m okay,” I answered, an easy, blanket answer that didn’t even come close to encompassing how I truly felt. “I have a meeting with your brother this morning, actually.”
“About the case? Have there been any developments?”
“I have no idea,” I told him honestly. “I’m hoping so, but he wasn’t exactly forthcoming on the phone.
Finn chuckled, a low, deep sound that rolled over my body and settled on my bones.
“Sounds like Lane,” he said.
As if drawn together by some invisible force, our gazes collided and held. I couldn’t have looked away if I tried, entirely entranced by the ocean depths of his eyes.
A woman could easily drown there, and I couldn’t deny there was a part of me—a big one—that wanted to throw myself into the deep. Surrender to the siren sounds of his presence.
Shaking my head slightly, I discarded that thought and dragged my attention away.
Nothing good could come from giving into my desires.
“Is that all?” I asked, a bit curtly. Goddesses, this man sent my emotions haywire. My mama would be appalled at how badly my manners failed me when he was around.
I refused to look at him again, though I didn’t miss the way his brows pinched together as he stared at me, his gaze a brand on my cheek.
“I—” he started but cut himself off. “Yeah, that’s all. You’ll call or text if you need anything?”
“Sure thing.”
“Okay then. Well, good luck with your meeting.”
“Thanks.”
He lingered for a moment, clearly waiting to see if I’d backtrack and apologize, or offer anything else. Ask him to stay, ask for his help, something.
I said nothing, and eventually, he left.
And I took my first full breath since he’d arrived.
At eleven on the dot, I walked through the front door of the sheriff’s department. The woman at the desk behind the bullet proof glass smiled warmly at me.
“Good morning, ma’am,” she said after she slid open her little window. “What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to see Sheriff Lawless.”
“Name?” she asked, looking down at a clipboard of notes and papers in front of her.
“Reagan Lindsey.”
Her finger traveled up and down a list before tapping it with a long, manicured fingernail. “Yes, I’ve got you right here. One moment while I buzz him.” She indicated to a row of chairs by the wall. “Please have a seat.”
I nodded, but I was too restless to sit, so I wandered around the small lobby, looking at the photographs on the walls.
One of my favorite pastimes was looking at old photos, studying the composition, framing, and perspective. Wondering what kind of equipment might have been used given the time period, and oftentimes, imagining how I could recreate such a shot with my modern technology.
A gasp left me, hand flying to my mouth, when I eventually stopped in front of a photo proudly displayed in the center of the longest uninterrupted wall, the most recent of all the ones I’d seen so far.
The entire Lawless family, taken the day Lane was officially sworn in as sheriff, if I had to guess.
They looked exactly as they had the day I met them all, and I remembered with a jolt that was because this had been the reason they’d all been home.
Finn and West had taken leave specifically to celebrate Lane’s accomplishment, and the rest of the brothers that had been spread around the country had come back as well.
The only two people I hadn’t met that night were the Lawless matriarch and the baby sister, both of whom made an appearance in the photo.