Chapter 30
thirty
. . .
LANE
January passed without further incident, marking nearly two months without a peep from Addie or another break-in.
But this wasn’t my first rodeo, and I knew better than to be lulled into a false sense of security.
I wasn’t worried about Addie so much as the person responsible for destroying Sutton’s home.
Not that I minded her living with me. In fact, I never wanted her to leave.
One morning toward the end of the month, we’d both gotten up early.
While I didn’t have to make an appearance at the department until a few hours after Sutton had to go in for her shift, I liked to get up with her.
I cooked breakfast while she showered and got ready, had that and coffee waiting for her.
The whole thing was domestic as fuck, and it made me unspeakably happy.
“Got an update on my house this morning,” she said conversationally, taking a sip from her coffee and staring at me over the brim of her mug, her amber eyes practically glowing.
“Oh?”
“Thanks for making a call to Barney, by the way. I appreciate it.”
Not that I was in any hurry for her to leave, but if she wanted her home repaired in this lifetime, Barney needed to be…incentivized to complete the work on time. I’d just thrown my weight as sheriff around a little.
“Of course,” I said, dishing the omelet I’d made onto a plate and sliding it across the counter for her. “So what’s the update?”
“It’ll be a couple months yet,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind having a guest for a bit longer.”
“Sunny,” I said, sighing. “You’re not a guest. You’re mine.”
“But none of this”—she twirled her finger in the air to encompass my house—“is mine.”
“It could be,” I pointed out. “Just…stay.”
For several long, tense moments, we stared at each other. I tried like hell to read what she was thinking through her eyes, but her expression, normally so open around me, was shuttered.
“You don’t think we’re moving too fast, talking about living together? Or not even talking and just…doing it?”
“Absolutely not. I’ve been in love with you for nearly half my life, Sutton. I want you with me always.” Then a horrifying thought occurred to me. “Are we not…is that not what you want?”
“No!” she said quickly, getting up to move around the island so she could hug me from behind, her face pressing into the center of my back, hands splayed over my abdomen.
“I’m in this with you, Lane. A thousand percent.
I just don’t want us getting ahead of ourselves.
” I nodded, covering her hands with mine, but didn’t turn around.
“Can we just…put a pin in this conversation until my house is ready?”
“Sure,” I rasped.
Logically, I knew I was moving at the speed of light here.
But nothing about the way I felt for Sutton was logical.
Still, I could give her this. After all, we’d only officially been back together for less than a month.
It would benefit us both to take a step back and breathe for a moment, to give ourselves grace to adjust to our new normal.
After breakfast, Sutton left for work. Instead of doing the same myself, I decided to pay my big brother a visit.
It had been too long since I’d gotten an update on everything I was having him look into, and without so much as a peep from this nighttime bandit in a couple months, I was getting antsy.
Which was how, thirty minutes later, I was seated next to him in his bat cave, staring at the wall of screens, which showed various pieces of information he’d managed to dig up on Detective Chadwick.
“So…?” I prompted.
“There’s not much here,” Trey admitted. “Once he retired, he kind of…faded from existence. He’s still alive as far as I know because I haven’t been able to track down a death certificate or anything to the contrary, but otherwise, this guy has been a model citizen living a quiet life.
From the looks of it, he retired to Florida, bought a beach house, and spends his days fishing or golfing. ”
Those things required money—and not the kind he would’ve squirrelled away during his career. The large payout he’d received from Ryan’s family had clearly been put to good use.
I scrubbed my hand down my face and released a long, slow, exasperated breath.
“Then I don’t understand who else could’ve caught even a whiff of what happened to Ryan or how they know I’m even connected.”
Trey didn’t immediately respond, which prompted me to look at him.
Only to find him staring at me, wearing an expression like he wanted to say something but had no desire to deal with my reaction.
I rolled my eyes. “Just fucking say it.”
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but have you stopped to consider Addie could be behind this?”
“Not a chance.”
Trey stared at me, mouth open like he wanted to press the issue, but I turned away from him.
I couldn’t make it make sense. There was no fucking way Addie was involved.
Not a goddamn chance she’d discovered what I’d done and was now blackmailing me with it.
To what end? What could she possibly have to gain by outing my deepest, darkest secret?
“She’s obsessed with you, brother. You can’t possibly be delusional enough to think you telling her to back off would be enough.”
“But I haven’t heard from her since.”
“She showed up at the state championship game the next day!” he shouted, pulling on his hair like I was making him insane. “God, Lane. Pull your head out of your ass and look at the big picture here.”
“Addie is not involved,” I said through gritted teeth, punctuating each word by slamming my fist down on the desk in front of us. “She wouldn’t do this.” I met my brother’s eyes again, begging him to believe me. “She owes me, Trey.”
“Owes you, how?”
“It’s not important. Just trust me when I say it’s not her.”
Was I burying my head in the sand when it came to Addie?
Maybe. But I’d worked in law enforcement a long ass time, and I considered myself exceptional at reading people.
I knew Addie, knew what she’d gone through, and couldn’t convince myself she’d willingly hurt anyone.
Not when she’d endured a world of hurt herself.
Not to mention, she was a cop, and I knew she’d never betray the badge.
And she’d never betray me. Not after everything I’d done for her.
“I think you’re blinded here.”
“How?”
“You don’t think it’s possible for someone to betray the badge like that.
But corrupt cops exist everywhere, Lane.
All it takes is the proper motivation to convert them.
” Trey looked right at me, and I found myself unable to break eye contact—a creepy, unsettling experience.
“Need I remind you, you’re not all that high and mighty yourself.
You betrayed the badge in the name of love.
Maybe Addie’s feelings for you and your subsequent rejection triggered her. ”
Fuck. He had a point, but I’d never admit that. He’d nailed me with his ‘betrayed the badge’ comment, like he’d plucked the notion right out of my head.
“At least let me look into it.” He was damn near begging now, and I almost caved. After eight years in the Secret Service, Trey also had a well-honed ability to read people, and he was rarely—if ever—wrong. Seeing him so worked up about this almost gave me pause.
But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t reconcile the person responsible for all the shit happening around us with the woman who’d suffered such a great loss in her pursuit of protecting and serving. The woman who had then dedicated her life to the job to keep it from happening to anyone else.
Trey didn’t get it, and I doubted I’d ever be able to explain in a way that made sense to anyone but me and Addie.
“It’s not Addie,” I said at last. “Please just let it go.”
My brother raised his hands in surrender.
With a nod, I got up and left, pissed off for numerous reasons. How pointless this trip out here had been, how I was no closer to a lead on who knew my secret, how Trey was trying to vilify a good cop.
I tried to let it go as I drove toward the station, but the possibility that I was wrong haunted me long after that conversation was over.