Chapter Fifteen
Aiden hadn’t intended to doze off, but he had, and when he jolted awake, he realized Lexa had fallen asleep as well.
Good.
They’d both obviously needed some rest, and the sex had certainly helped with that. It’d helped with a lot of things. His body was still beat to hell and back, but the pain had dulled considerably.
Lexa and he were on his bed, naked and wrapped around each other. It’d been the position they’d landed after he’d made a pitstop in his bathroom. The cuddling had felt like the perfect way to end the sex.
And it still felt perfect.
As if she was suddenly aware that he was thinking about her, Lexa stirred, her eyes opening, and she smiled at him. “I’ll say it again,” she muttered, brushing a lazy kiss on his mouth, “you’re better than painkillers. I still have a nice sex buzz.”
So did he. And he was thinking about round two. But his ringing phone put a stop to that notion.
Cursing, Aiden got up, located his phone that was on the floor amid their clothes, and he checked the screen. And was surprised at the name he saw there. Not Owen with an update about his call with Miles.
“It’s Brady,” he told Lexa. “You’re on speaker and Lexa’s here with me,” Aiden let Brady know when he answered the call.
“I heard about the explosion,” Brady said. “Are you two all right?”
“Been better,” Aiden settled on saying. “How about you?”
He heard Brady’s long sigh. “I called to tell Lexa and you how sorry I am.”
That put Aiden on full alert. “Why are you apologizing?”
“Because I didn’t see Chloe for what she was. I didn’t pick up on this plan of hers to stage her own murder and set me up for it.” Brady sighed again and followed it with a groan. “I swear, I didn’t see it, and I should have. If I had, so much damage wouldn’t have been done, and Chloe might be alive to face justice for this nightmare she caused.”
There was no sighing now but rather anger in Brady’s voice. “I knew Chloe and I didn’t see it either,” Lexa was quick to point out.
“But her brother probably did,” Brady spat out. “I hope Owen will arrest his sorry ass.”
“Owen will do just that if there’s cause to arrest him,” Aiden assured him.
“You don’t think he’s the one who killed Chloe?” Brady came out and asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I think. It only matters what can be proven. This investigation is still ongoing.”
And hopefully they’d have a few more answers after Owen finished talking with Miles. If he managed it, that is. Miles’ parents could be stonewalling that conversation.
Brady stayed quiet a couple of seconds. “You’re right. Sorry for the rant. My head is just whirling with everything. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can only keep going back to why I trusted her. To why I fell in love with her.”
Obviously, Chloe was convincing and damn cold-hearted to have kept up the charade for months.
“There’s talk all over town,” Brady went on a moment later. “Talk that I helped Chloe try to get back at my dad for helping her mother’s killer go free.”
Hell. How that got around? But then he thought of all the CSIs and other responders who’d been on the multiple crime scenes. Lots of chances for someone to overhear a conversation. Added to that, those questioned during an interview could have put it together.
“Please tell me that you don’t believe I had a part in Chloe’s plan,” Brady added a heartbeat later.
Aiden hesitated. Not long. But it was there. And Brady picked up on it.
“You do believe it,” Brady spat out, and he didn’t give Aiden a chance to respond because he cursed and ended the call.
“Great,” Aiden grumbled—just as his phone rang again. And this time it was indeed Owen.
“Hudson does have a connection to Miles,” Owen blurted the moment Aiden answered on speaker. “Hudson was doing a private bartending gig at a party. Miles and a few of his buddies sneaked in, and Hudson gave them drinks.”
Hell in a handbasket. That explained why Chloe was so pissed at her brother. She must have found out what happened.
“When Miles was arrested, he didn’t rat Hudson out,” Owen added. “He lied and said he got the booze from his parents’ house. Miles admitted he said that, thinking his parents might go easier on him if they thought they’d had a part in what happened.”
Lexa started picking up her clothes and putting them back on. Since they were obviously shifting to the work mode, Aiden did the same.
“Why did Miles decide to come clean now?” Lexa wanted to know.
“I told him about Chloe’s murder, that it could be connected to what happened to her bio-mom, and Miles got scared. He thinks Hudson might try to kill him. I’ve alerted SAPD so they know the situation, and his parents are arranging for some extra security. Hold on a second,” Owen said.
In the background Aiden could hear Owen talking with someone, but he couldn’t make out who or what was being said.
“Shit,” Owen grumbled several moments later when he came back on the line. “Gillian just made a 911 call. She said someone’s broken into her house. And before the operator could ask for any other info, Gillian screamed, and the line went dead.”