Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Keira
“I feel like I should explain to you about the photo,” Dean said.
I adjusted the strap of my sling. Sunlight strobed between trees as we drove down the highway. “It’s not necessary.”
“You seemed to think it was necessary earlier. Enough to come upstairs and confront me.”
“I wasn’t confronting you.”
“The way you were stomping sounded confrontational.”
“So you heard me coming?” I glared from the corner of my eye. “Why’d you drop your towel, then?”
“I was already mid-drop!”
“It’s not that lengthy a process! You could’ve aborted the drop. Or, how about not turning around.”
“You screamed. You startled me. You’re the one who barged into my space.”
“You said it wasn’t that big a deal!”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I’d like to think it’s somewhat big,” he muttered.
I blinked. “Did you just make a reference to your dick?”
There was a moment of silence in the truck as we kept driving toward town.
Then I started snickering. Dean’s dimple appeared. It was a lot like yesterday, when we’d both started laughing after leaving Phelan’s place. At least there were no SUVs chasing us down this time.
“I used to love that about us,” Dean said, after we’d gotten our giggles out. “How easy it was to laugh together about the dumbest things.”
My smile faded. “It was nice.”
“Seems like we’ve still got it.”
“Guess so. Even if nothing else is the same.”
Another silence, but this one didn’t lead to laughter. It was full of awkward, sad tension.
“Keira, I had that photo because I missed you. I told you that before. I have photos of you on my phone too. I look at them more than I should admit.”
I sighed. “Right. Let’s not rehash everything.”
“I just get the impression you don’t believe me. I’ve told you how much I care about you. How much our friendship meant to me. I left for other reasons, and I’ve shared those with you too.”
“Yes, I know,” I said testily. “You left so you wouldn’t hurt me. And because of your history. We’ve been over it, so let’s drop it.”
“You’re very special to me.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. “Dean, stop. Please. I am begging you.”
Neither of us said anything for the rest of the drive. We still had to figure out the next step of our plan regarding Donny Phelan, but I couldn’t handle it right now. I needed some space and time to think. Distance from Dean.
I had to figure out some way to stop these old feelings from choking me every time I looked at him.
Dean took the road leading to my neighborhood. One of my neighbors was out walking her dog, and I waved as we passed.
Finally, my house was in sight. I couldn’t wait to take a bath using all my products, change into sweats, and take a nap.
But as he pulled up my driveway, Dean muttered a curse.
“What is it?” I asked.
“You’ve got a broken window.”
“What? Where?”
“Down there. Past the side door. Furthest window on the right, corner pane of glass.”
“You can see that?”
He pointed at his eyes. “I’ve got 20/8 vision. They called me Bullseye for a reason.”
I shook my head. So obnoxious.
But dammit, he was right. A pane of glass in my bedroom window was smashed. My security system was on, and it hadn’t alerted me. But I didn’t have a broken-glass detector on every single window. There was no indication anyone had actually opened a door or window and gone inside.
So, who had done this? Why?
A couple guesses came to mind.
Dread coated my insides as I unlocked the side door and went in, using my code to disable the alarm. Before I could get far, Dean gently put a hand on my hip. “Wait. I’ll check things out first.”
“No way. Don’t act like I’m some scared kid. You’re the civilian now. You wait.”
He held up his hands. “Alright, sorry. We’ll go together.”
“Fine. Together.”
Everything was exactly as I’d left it yesterday, when Dean and I had been sitting at my kitchen table strategizing about our visit to Donny Phelan. Felt like years ago.
In my bedroom, a rock lay on the carpet surrounded by shards of broken glass. Dean pushed at it with his shoe. There was a piece of paper wrapped around it with a rubber band.
Before he could stop me, I scooped it up and yanked the paper free.
It was a glossy page torn from a high school yearbook. A photo in the layout showed me in my deputy uniform, smiling with an arm around my sister. I’d been on her campus that day for community outreach.
Stephie’s face had been circled in red marker.
Oh my God.
“Stephie,” I choked out, fumbling to take out my phone. “I have to call her.”
My hand was shaking so bad I needed Dean’s help to dial. Stupid sling. His fingers brushed my neck as he held the phone up for me, and I took it. He stood beside me as the line rang.
When I heard Stephie’s voice on the phone, saying she and my mom were home and everything was fine, my knees nearly went weak.
“What’s the matter?” Stephie asked. “You said you were staying with Dean last night. Did something happen with him?”
He was standing at my shoulder, probably able to hear every word.
“Just a second.” I held the phone away from me. “I’ll go outside,” I said to Dean.
He nodded. “I’ll double check the rest of the house.”
Out on the driveway, I sagged against the hood of Dean’s truck. “I…had a nightmare last night. I was worried about you. But everything’s okay,” I reassured her, though it was nowhere close to the truth. I glanced at the house. “Dean and I are fine.”
“Did you guys hook up?”
“Did we what? Absolutely not. We’re not—no.”
“Why not? Dude, why else would you stay the night with him except to get under him?”
Good lord. An image quickly flashed through my mind of Dean naked and wet. I pushed that away. Not where I wanted my thoughts going when I was talking to my baby sister.
“First of all, do we need to have the sex talk again? Sex is a big deal.”
Stephie groaned. “Don’t be boring. I’m eighteen, Kiki.”
“Second, Dean is not the reason I called. Sheriff Douglas hasn’t caught the people who attacked me. They’re still out there. Be careful, okay? Be vigilant. You and Mom need to keep an eye out for anything weird. Anyone suspicious hanging around.”
“Why? Did something else happen?”
“No. Just be careful. Can you do that for me?”
She agreed. We said our goodbyes, and I ended the call feeling worse than before. If anything happened to Mom or Stephie, I wouldn’t be okay.
Should I have told her about the broken window and the page from the yearbook? But I didn’t want to scare her even more.
Stephie’s best friend Vivian had been through some terrible things before Trace and Scarlett adopted her. Stephie knew some of those details, and years ago, I’d been there when my sister woke up sobbing from a nightmare about evil men grabbing her.
I wouldn’t let anything happen to Stephie, and that included living in fear.
Dean came back outside. “Hey. How’s your sister?”
“Full of attitude, as usual.”
He smiled. “That’s good.”
“It is.” I jammed my phone in my pocket. “See anything else inside?”
“No. Rest of the house is clear.” It seemed like he had more to say, but he gave me a meaningful stare and nodded at his truck.
We got in. Immediately, he turned up the radio and touched his mouth as he spoke to obscure the words. “It’s possible they’re watching us right now.”
“Hold on, what?”
I glanced around at my driveway, the trees, my neighbors’ houses. It was bizarre to consider we were under surveillance, but considering everything that had already happened?
Dean reached over and put his hand on my thigh like he was trying to calm me down. “Relax. I don’t have anything specific, but the thought occurred to me while I was inside. They might’ve positioned someone nearby to see how we react to the broken window. The implicit threat.”
“Do you think they’re following us too?”
“I’m sure they’ll try. I doubt they know the location of my property, so I’ll have to make sure I don’t lead them there.”
I’d thought at first this was all about some vendetta Phelan had against me for embarrassing him. But it had to be more. Really, we had no clue what was going on.
“Whoever this is, they’re sending us a message,” Dean said.
“And I got it, loud and clear. If we don’t stop, they’ll go after Stephie and my mom.” I took a stuttering breath, fear seizing my lungs again.
“We won’t let that happen.”
“Because you’re going to tell me to give up? Stop pursuing this?”
“That’s one option. You could forget about Phelan and let me deal with this.”
Which would probably be the smartest choice. Just try to get back to my life. Heal from my injuries and go back on duty in another couple of months.
But how could I face myself knowing I’d let those bastards terrify me into submission? Let them win?
Could I allow Dean to fight the entire war for me, while I hid away to keep myself and my family safe? No. It wasn’t right to put the burden all on him, even if he seemed determined to take it.
And honestly, the more these people tried to silence me, terrify me, the more I wanted blood.
“We’re supposed to be in this together,” I said. “Just last night, you were talking about how we’re a good team. I was the one who saw the guy wearing that ring and made the connection to the night I was shot. It’s my lead. Now you’re trying to force me out.”
“Actually, I’m not.”
“Then what? I would love to hear more ideas. I’m not the former assassin with eagle-eye vision and ghost ops experience. I’m just a sheriff’s deputy.”
“Don’t talk down about yourself. You strolled into enemy territory just yesterday, while injured, and refused to be intimidated. You’re amazing.”
“Options, Dean. That’s what I need.” I stared out the windshield while touching my lips to hide the movements. Just in case someone really was watching. “I have to put a protection detail on my mom and sister.”
“Definitely.”
I would talk to Brynn this afternoon, and she could set it up. “But aside from that, how do I keep my family safe and also stay in this?”
“We make the bad guys think you gave up. That we both did. Make them believe their scare tactics worked. While we go underground.”
“Ideas on how to do that?”
“You move in with me.”
Ugh. Really? “Move in? For how long?”
“As long as it takes.”
My pulse raced. Just this morning, the thought of spending another hour in that house with him seemed intolerable. Now I was supposed to live there?
With that tempting naked body of his?
“Wouldn’t that be more suspicious?” I asked. “We both showed up to question Donny Phelan. If we’re together all the time, they’ll think we’re still investigating.”
“Not if we give them another explanation for you being with me. We already told Phelan yesterday that we’re dating.”
“But we’re not.”
“So, we just have to make them believe it.”
“You cannot be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”
He turned toward me, his blue eyes full of intensity and unreadable things. His broad shoulders leaned closer. His body moving into my space.
And then, he kissed me.