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My stomach was fucking roiling as I leaned hard against my police cruiser.
There was a steady ache in my chest, and my eyes were stinging.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I counted to ten and willed my thoughts to control themselves.
It was as I was doing this that I heard the crunch of gravel underfoot.
Opening my eyes, I wasn’t surprised in the least to see the big male standing there, arms crossed over his chest, staring at me.
He was assessing me.
“You’re done,” Lucas Roberts, one of my father’s best friends, said. “Head on home. We’ve got things covered now.”
I didn’t bother to argue.
I was fucking tired.
Even more, I wanted to go home, drink a beer, and pet my dog.
I’d love to have my woman in my lap, too, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be at Delanie’s place if anybody needs me.”
Luke walked up and pulled me in for a tight hug.
Something he’d done a hundred thousand times over the years. Something that never got old, no matter how grown up I got.
“It looks pretty fuckin’ grim right now,” Luke said as he let me go. “But don’t think that we won’t figure this out.”
I pressed my hand to my chest.
“I literally just asked him to look into shit for me. Concerning Delanie’s dad. His wife said that he never even made it into the office because he stopped by a friend’s place on the way home. He called to tell her that he’d be coming by to see what she could collect, though. It, apparently, was a game they played. She’d see what she could find in as short of an amount of time as he could manage. Sometimes it was an hour. Other times it was five minutes. But he never got there,” I said. “The last thing I asked my friend was for a favor.”
Luke’s unwavering eyes met mine. “Didn’t he ask you last month to pull a double shift for him?” he asked.
My jaw twitched. “Yeah.”
“And do you think he would’ve felt bad if, after that shift, you drove into a tree on your way home?” he asked.
Jason would’ve felt terrible.
“We do favors for our fellow boys in blue because we love them. Don’t turn this into what it wasn’t. This was just us. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, go home and get some sleep,” he ordered.
With that, he left, not once looking back.
And I climbed into my truck and drove to Delanie’s place.
Thankful that I got a key from her that morning, I wasn’t at all in the right place when I showed up and found her father on her front porch looking pissed.
I shoved my hand into my pocket and glared.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to control my temper.
“I’m here because my secretary emailed and said that we would be meeting here at four in the afternoon for my scheduled time with Asa,” David said, looking perturbed.
I snorted. “A, Asa wouldn’t even be off the bus yet,” I said. “B, I’m fairly sure had you checked your email, you would’ve received one back saying that today, and not any day, was going to work. She doesn’t want you to see Asa. Neither do I.”
“You’re not the child’s father,” David said. “Are you?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ve done more with that kid than you can even think about. But no, I’m not the child’s father. What I am is his uncle, and I’ll always be here to protect him from people like you. I don’t know what you want, or why you’re really here, but this isn’t going to happen. Take your campaign, and your fake good intentions, and go. Asa doesn’t need this, and I know damn well Delanie doesn’t either.”
“Without me and my money, neither of those girls would be where they are today. I helped them make it, and I sure the hell can take it away,” he growled.
I rolled my eyes again. “You almost helped them ruin their lives. That much I know,” I said. “Now, if you don’t mind, please leave.”
“I’m not leaving,” he said.
“Yes, you are.”
I’d heard the car pull up.
I’d also seen Dillan get out.
I just hadn’t expected her to actually engage her father.
David stiffened and turned to see Dillan standing there, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
“Dillan,” David pasted on a false, ungenuine smile. “I didn’t see you.”
I rolled my eyes and started up the front walk, bypassing David as I went.
I passed by him closely, though, forcing him backward into the grass.
He gave me an infuriated look, as if touching grass was beneath him.
“Was that necessary?” he hissed.
I put my key in the front door and let Moses out.
Moses, who was waiting by the door, jumped up and down in excitement, his happy dog body nearly knocking Mr. Tight Lips down in the process.
