6. Ambrose
AMbrOSE
I expected Eric to yell at me and tell me off for insinuating that I could help him and getting him into this mess in the first place, but he didn’t. He looked up and held my gaze. The tightness in my chest and the flutter in my stomach made me question everything I thought I’d known.
I wanted Eric to trust me, and I wanted him to let me protect him. I would do that, no matter how hard he fought me. I didn’t want him to fight me, though, because I also wanted him to kiss me, and that fucked with my head far more than my loss of control.
“Is there anything else you learned when you were watching the shed?”
I shook my head. “I waited for them to leave, then I got out of there. I wanted to examine the inside of the shed to find out exactly what products they’re moving, but?—”
“No. I mean it, Eric. They will kill you without a second thought.”
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Eric grumbled. “I know how to conduct an investigation.”
I shook my head. “You’ve never been up against anyone like this.”
“How do you know?”
Was he kidding? “You’re not the only one who does his research.”
He glared at me. “Stay out of my past.”
“I could say the same to you, but I know my real secrets, the ones no one knows, are sealed too tight for you to find.”
Eric raised his brows. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. They’re government secrets. I only know one man who could break into the servers that hold them, and he works for me.”
“Why do criminals always get the best tech support?”
Ambrose grinned. “Because we have all the money.”
“That’s for fucking sure.”
“Speaking of tech, I’ll place a camera in the woods where you were so we can keep watch. There’s no need for any of us to risk ourselves by going out there.”
Eric frowned at me. “What about you? Won’t you be risking yourself taking the camera out?”
I would, but it wasn’t the same. Eric was a good shot and not bad in a fight, but he didn’t have the training I had. He also wasn’t shocked to have lived as long as he had like I was. “No more than is absolutely necessary.”
His expression told me he knew I was lying, but he didn’t call me out on it. “I suppose you have access to whatever equipment you want.”
“I sure do.”
“You’re just as rich as your cousins, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “Probably not as rich since I haven’t really bothered with finessing my investments, but I have plenty. You don’t need to worry about the cost of this operation.”
“I can only imagine what I could do if the police were as well funded as the criminals.”
“That would be a serious problem for me.” I lifted Hope off my lap and moved closer to Eric. When I laid a hand on his arm, my skin tingled. His warmth made me want to rub my face against him, which was ridiculous. The air conditioner could barely keep the house under eighty.
“Don’t put yourself in danger. My family and I created this problem for you, and we will take care of it. I know you want to be part of our plans, but it would be better—safer—for you, and anyone around you, to stay out of this.”
“No one else knows. I told you I’m not bringing anyone else in on this.”
“No one’s going to know how their sheriff saved them and kept this big crime ring out of their parish?”
He snorted. “If I thought being in law enforcement was going to result in me being celebrated as a hero, I learned my lesson on that back in Baltimore. Most of the time when you do good, people just hate you more. I want in on this but not because anybody is going to celebrate me for it. I want in because I need to know I’ve done everything I can to keep them all safe. ”
“Maybe calling me is all you needed to do to accomplish that, and now you should back off.”
He narrowed his eyes, and my heartbeat pounded in my ears. We stared at each other. He was close, so close. What would happen if I…
But that wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t going to find out where things between us could go, no matter how badly I wanted to. Even if I really did like men, Eric was not for me.
I scooted back and looked down at the patch he’d made for the bullet hole in Dax’s floor. “Damn, that’s almost perfect. Maybe you should go into construction.”
“Then there’d be one less person on the good guys’ side.”
“Are there really good guys and bad guys? Do you really still believe that?”
“Hell no, but I’m trying to do good.”
“Yeah, you are, and I need to do something bad. Why don’t you get out of here, and I’ll talk to you tonight?”
Eric studied me for a moment. “Don’t make a move without me.”
“We won’t move that fast. Doing so would be foolish as hell, even though I want to just blow up the shed, track Carlotti down, and kill him with my bare hands, slowly.” But if I did that, where would I be? If I went in like that, would I lose myself?
“Could you really do that? Find him and kill him that easily?”
“Maybe. Probably.”
“So why don’t you do it?”
“Because of the chance that I won’t succeed and the consequences that would come if I did.
Carlotti’s brother would just step in and take his place.
Carlotti is cruel and calculating, but he’s also vain.
He makes sure everything he does makes him look good.
His brother doesn’t care about his image.
He’s not likely to make narcissistic, stupid choices.
All he cares about is power, and he’ll come for us hard. ”
“Also, if you succeeded, you’d probably be killed before you could escape.”
“Probably.”
“Ambrose, don’t do that. Don’t take that kind of risk.”
“Someone may have to.”
“No, we’ll find another way.”
I shrugged. “What difference would it make to you? If I’m gone, there’s another criminal off the streets.”
“My understanding is that you’re not a major threat in the streets. You mostly keep to the bayou where you’re a danger to gators and anyone stupid enough to come to your cabin without an invitation.”
Did he really care about me, or would he be concerned about anyone because he was just that good of a person? I needed to get him out of there before I did or said something stupid—stupider. “Don’t you have any work to do?”
“It’s my day off, and this is work.”
“Fine, but go away. I’m done talking.”
I was starting to feel itchy. I wasn’t going to be able to sit still much longer. I needed to be out in the middle of nowhere, but I’d promised Dax and Travis I’d stay at their house.
Eric must have sensed that I was getting jumpier. He rose and brushed sawdust from his knees. “Don’t I at least get a thank-you?”
I rolled my eyes. “Thank you for fixing the fucking floor. Now go.”
“You’re fucking welcome.”
His laugh caused flutters in my stomach, but at least he finally headed out. When the door closed behind him, I sank to the floor. Hope jumped on me, and I held her tight, rubbing her ears as I tried to figure out what the fuck was going on with me.
Moments later, Hope was in her crate, frantically licking peanut butter from another one of her toys—that damn dog had more equipment than most kids—and I was in the car headed to Lance’s condo.
When I pulled into the parking garage of his building, there were no available visitor spaces, so I took the spot reserved for his most annoying tenant and headed up to see Lance.
Normally, I’d talk to Dax about this situation with Eric, and I was supposed to bring my concerns to Remington, but before I talked to him, I needed someone else’s opinion, someone less… bound by obligations. Lance was currently my best option.
After I’d rung the bell for a second time, Lance’s boyfriend, Julian, opened the door wearing a sweatshirt that must have been Lance’s based on its size. I wasn’t sure he had anything else on.
“Hi. We were… I mean…”
I smiled at him. “No need to explain. Lance, get the hell out here.”
“Ambrose?”
“Yes. I need to talk to you.”
“This isn’t a good time.”
“I can see that.” I winked at Julian, and his cheeks turned even more pink. “I can’t wait for a better time. Carlotti’s taken over LePlatt’s business.”
Julian’s face went white, and Lance growled as he stomped out of their bedroom. “Don’t say that name in front of him.”
Tony came running out from the extra room Lance had turned into a playroom for him full of ropes to swing on and climb and a little trampoline. The monkey chattered wildly, waving his arms as he ran toward me.
“You know you don’t scare me, little monkey.”
He shook his finger and screeched at me, but I just squatted down and gave him a smirk. “All I have to do is offer you a treat, and we’ll be friends again.”
“Then go do that while I talk to Julian,” Lance barked.
I turned to Julian. “I’m sorry. I should have waited. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Lance looked at me like I’d grown another head. Damn Eric. He had me trying to act like a normal, caring human being.
Is that really a bad thing?
“It’s all right. Lance has a way of making people forget anything but yelling at him.”
I snorted. “Damn right.”
“I was just shocked. I shouldn’t have been.” Julian tugged at the hem of his sweatshirt.
“Of course you should have,” Lance said. “You shouldn’t ever have to hear that man’s name again.”
“Were you just going to hide this from me if I hadn’t heard it?”
Lance ran a hand through his short hair. “Ambrose, get the hell out of here and let me talk to Julian.”
Julian rolled his eyes, but he let Lance lead him over to the couch. I held out my hand to Tony. “Come on, monkey. Let’s go get a snack.”
“He has a fucking name,” Lancelot said.
I ignored my cousin and followed Tony, who had raced into the kitchen ahead of me, climbed up a barstool, then sat there ready and waiting.
I pulled a bag of mango chips, his favorite snack, from the cabinet where Lance always kept a large stock and placed several pieces on the counter.
Tony attempted to pick them all up at once, greedily trying to stuff them into his tiny mouth.