Chapter 12
12
MILA
I crossed the parking lot when I saw Ethan pull in and met him as soon as he parked. Opening the back door, I threw in my suitcase and a few other bags, shut the door, and climbed into the front seat.
I glanced at Ethan while putting on my seat belt. “Morning.”
“Morning,” he replied, but it was easy to see he wasn’t happy with our latest assignment, and he sure as hell couldn’t hide it. We also needed to clear the air before we could work this case effectively, but I wasn’t sure this was the right time. Other than the small amount of conversation we had in Brody’s office, we hadn’t spoken since our argument, and it was bothering me.
I’d only just gotten settled, and Ethan pulled out of the parking lot when my phone beeped.
“Who’s texting you this early?”
Leaning toward him, I pulled my phone from my back pocket and answered when I saw a text from Kyle. “Kyle. It’s the address for the resort in Devil’s Lake. He also sent me a link.”
“Guess he doesn’t sleep either.” Ethan gestured for me to continue. “What’s the link for?”
“Hmm…” I clicked the link and quickly read the article. “Apparently, there’s a festival going on at Devil’s Lake for a couple of weeks and then something called ‘bike week’ the week after. If the pictures I’m looking at are accurate, the festival is pretty big.”
“That’s going to make our job more difficult.” Ethan shook his head and continued. “We have about a two-hour drive to the airport, but at least we don’t have to drive the entire way to Devil’s Lake. I looked it up, and it’s nearly a twenty-three-hour drive.”
“Could’ve been a fun road trip,” I pointed out. “But I think flying in and renting a car is better.”
“We’re flying as ourselves, but renting the car as Joe and April, right?”
“That’s what Kyle said. He said we’re supposed to rent the car as Joe and April, and he also booked our hotel under those names. As far as anyone in Devil’s Lake is concerned, Ethan and Mila don’t exist. At least not in North Dakota.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t just have us fly as Joe and April too,” Ethan admitted.
“Samson can’t connect us to Elite as far as we know so I don’t think Jax and Brody are concerned he’ll hack into the flight logs to check out how Joe and April got to Devil’s Lake.” When he was quiet, I decided to make a little small talk to hopefully help lighten the tension between us. “When’s the last time you had a vacation?”
He seemed to contemplate that for a minute. “I actually don’t remember. I’ve been to Florida to see my sister and my niece, Riley, but I wouldn’t really call that a vacation.”
“Sorry you have to leave,” I said sincerely. “Everly’s coming this Saturday, right?”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Hopefully, we’ll be back. I talked to Brody, and he promised to look out for her just in case we’re not back.”
I stared at the side of his face, concern filling me. “Look out for her? Is she in danger?”
“Her ex is a douche,” he said simply.
Understanding dawned on me. “Is he Riley’s dad?”
“He is, but he doesn’t know that, so keep it to yourself.”
“Of course,” I answered immediately. “Is he dangerous?”
He sighed. “He’s shady. Everly didn’t know the shit he was involved in when they were dating. Once she found out, she dumped him, but she was already pregnant. She lied and said it was someone else’s.”
“Has he been bothering her?” I asked.
“Not really, but he seems to show up where she is too often to be a coincidence, so she decided to leave town. The timing was right, and I seriously doubt he’ll follow her to North Carolina.”
“What a dick. Making her feel like she needs to move to be rid of him.”
He snorted. “Yep.”
We were quiet for a few minutes, and I wondered if now was the right time to bring up what happened only a few days ago. The only thing I was sure of was if I didn’t bring it up, we’d never talk about it because he sure as hell never would.
“Sorry about the shit I said.”
My head snapped toward him, and I stared at the side of his face, shocked he was talking about the exact thing on my mind. I guess I underestimated him.
Pushing aside my surprise, I said what I thought he needed to hear and what I needed the answer to. “If we’re going to work together, you need to trust me.”
“I do trust you,” he insisted. “That whole situation was just fucked up. I heard the shot and had no idea what was going on.”
“I never really thought about what it sounded like from outside,” I admitted. I could understand the not knowing. I’d been in that situation myself, and it was hard. “I know I seem impulsive, but I was trained to trust my instincts and react. My instincts told me to get my ass inside that bunker. I can’t promise I won’t do things that seem impulsive while we’re hunting this guy.”
“Can you at least give me a heads-up next time?”
I grinned, looking out the windshield. “Yeah, I can do that.” I tapped my fingers on my knee. “I’m surprised you brought it up. I figured I’d have to.”
“Why?”
“Just haven’t worked with many guys who would bother.”
“You do now,” he replied simply.
“Is that an Elite thing or an Ethan thing?”
He seemed to consider that before replying. “Maybe both. I hate tension, always have, so I do whatever it takes to avoid it. But since joining Elite, I’ve learned that any shit lingering between members of the team will become bigger than they need to be if we don’t just clear the air.” He glanced at me, and I recognized the sincerity in his eyes. “We have a job to do. And I think we all want this case solved as much as Striker and Beth. Nothing can get in the way.”
“I agree.” I nodded, but his eyes were back on the road. “This is also a chance for us to prove ourselves.”
“You don’t have anything to prove.”
“What do you mean?”
“You wouldn’t be at Elite, and we wouldn’t be on this case if they didn’t already trust you and your judgment. You don’t need to try to impress anyone. They’re already impressed.”
A warmth spread through me, and I smiled to myself. I never felt good enough when I worked under my father, and he sure as hell never complimented me, but that wasn’t the case with Elite. It was still hard to accept the accolades since I wasn’t used to getting them. “Did Brody tell you that?”
“Pretty much,” he acknowledged, and again, surprise filled me. “He called you an asset. That’s about the highest praise you can get from him.” He glanced at me again. “Why does that surprise you?”
“I’m just not used to being appreciated for my work,” I admitted.
He frowned but faced the windshield again. “Not even from your father?”
“Especially not from my father,” I answered quietly, but I didn’t want to talk about my father, so I moved on. “Think Samson will be easy to track down?”
He snorted, and I was happy when he rolled with the switch in conversation without questioning it. “Doubt it. Nothing about this case has been easy.”
“That’s what makes it fun.” I smiled, looking out the windshield.
“You love this, don’t you?”
I glanced at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. “I don’t love that my friend, maybe my only friend”—I laughed—“is in danger, but I do love this work.”
“Beth’s not your only friend,” he argued.
“She kind of is,” I admitted. “She’s really the only one I’ve gotten to know since I moved here. Nick’s a friend too, but he’s preoccupied with his family, as he should be.”
“That can’t be it.”
“I guess I could include Cam’s wife, Sydney, and Nick’s girlfriend, Maddie, but I only really know them from going to the coffee shop they own.”
He lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers. “That’s how you knew.”
My eyebrows drew together. “Knew what?”
“That the cop Brody tackled broke his nose.”
I laughed. “Yeah, Sydney told me, but don’t tell the guys. I don’t think they’d like to know the girls shared that with me.”
“They must trust you if they shared that shit.”
I hadn’t really considered that before. They told me something in confidence that if it got back to Cam and Nick could mean an argument. “Huh, I guess you’re right.”
“What about friends from home?”??He moved on.
I wasn’t surprised he was curious about my story. I noticed that Ethan was generally interested in the people he worked with. I’d told him more about my life than I’d shared with most because we always seemed to be sitting in a car together with nothing but time on our hands. “My friends all scattered after college. Not long after I joined the FBI, I went undercover for two years, so I didn’t have the time or the opportunity to keep in touch with old friends.”
“Family?”
“My grandparents were local, but it was mainly my dad and me after my mom died.”
“How did she die?”?He glanced my way, and I saw the sadness in his eyes. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
I smiled softly. “I don’t mind. It was a long time ago, and I was really young. She fell down the basement stairs and hit her head. My dad said he came home from work late one night and found her at the bottom of the stairs. He said he could smell the alcohol on her. He called an ambulance, but it was too late. He wasn’t sure how long she’d lain there and bled from a head wound, but he did admit that he didn’t come home until almost one in the morning because of a case he’d been working on.”
“Where were you?”
“My father said he found me asleep in my crib.”
“Hmm…”
“What?”
“I’m just surprised you were safe if she was drinking that heavily.”
I considered that for a moment. Growing up, I didn't doubt my father’s story, and apparently, neither had the police. From everything I knew about my parents, they’d loved each other, and he was heartbroken when she died, or at least that was what my grandparents told me. “Maybe she made sure I was asleep before she started drinking.”
“Did she have a problem with alcohol?”
“According to him, yes, and he’d been trying to get her help, but she refused.”
“It’s strange he left you alone with her if he knew that, don’t you think?”
That was one thing that had bothered me since working with my father. He didn’t ignore things. He confronted them head-on. Knowing the man I worked with, it didn’t seem plausible that he would’ve left me in the hands of someone with a drinking problem, but then again, work came first. If he was focused on a case, my mother and I would’ve quickly dropped to the bottom of his list of concerns.
Wanting to change the subject, or maybe needing to, I steered the conversation back to Ethan. “You said Riley is three.”
“Yeah, she turns four next month.” He grinned and put on his turn signal to merge onto the highway. Looking over his shoulder, he pulled out into traffic but continued talking. “She’s a carbon copy of my sister, Everly.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means everything she wears and every toy she owns is pink or purple.” I chuckled when he continued. “She’s definitely a girly girl.”
“So Everly is a girly girl too?”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “So was our mom. Everly’s just like her and so is Riley. They love all that fairy-tale crap too, which is crazy because both my mom and Everly seemed to be a magnet for losers. Never a Prince Charming in the bunch.”
I laughed along with him. “I have a feeling those losers seek out people like your mom and sister because they know they’re the only women who will even give them a chance.”
“You’re probably right. Everly sees the good in everyone. But sometimes I think she sees what she wants to see, not what’s actually there.”
“Do you ever wonder which way is better? Being like Everly and seeing the good or being like us and always looking for the bad in someone?”
He was quiet for a moment before he replied. “I think the way to be probably lies somewhere between those two.”
I considered that. “How the hell do we become that person?”
He laughed. “I’ll let you know if I ever figure it out.”
Once again, he was quiet and stared out the windshield, but I was okay with it. We’d made progress. Our relationship had become strained over the past week, and I knew that couldn’t continue, but today seemed better, and I would take whatever I could get.
“Did you bring any tracking devices?” I asked.
"Yeah, I packed them in my suitcase.”
“I guess electronics like that could raise some suspicion if they were in a carry-on.”
“Maybe.” Ethan shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I’d rather not take a chance. How far is the airport from Devil’s Lake?”
I opened Maps on my phone and began searching. “The one we’re flying into is about a two-hour drive from the resort. Kyle said he tried to get us a flight into a closer airport, but he didn’t have any luck.”
“Still not too bad,” Ethan replied.
Once again, I settled back into my seat, comfortable with the silence. We’d cleared the air, and it felt like Ethan and I were back to where we’d been before this case took the turn it had.
And that was exactly where we needed to be, considering how closely we were about to work together.