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I snorted. The man was a cop for god’s sake! He couldn’t be that naïve.
“Where is Katerina now?”
He looked at me, wondering what trap I was trying to lead him to. “A friend’s place.”
“Come on, let’s go over there right now and see what she’s eating. It’s eight in the morning. I’ll bet you anything in the world that she eats badly when she’s not with you,” I countered.
“Fine,” he said, filling a to-go cup of coffee for the road. “Let’s go.”***“This is a nice place,” I said, scanning the area.
“Yeah,” he said as he parked in the front of the business we were at. “They’ve done a lot of work to it over the past five years.”
He took me to a place called Free.
Apparently, there were houses in the back. Ones I would’ve never thought to even look for if I hadn’t known they were there.
It was fairly non-descript from the front…if you didn’t count the large ten foot fence surrounding the property with razor wire on top.
I took a sip of my hot chocolate, from McDonald’s, and looked around. “I need to get my oil changed. Is this a good place to go?”
He gave me a level look. “Bring it by my place anytime you want. I’ll do it for you.”
“I would, but you wouldn’t let me pay you,” I drawled.
He gave me a leer. “Oh, you’d pay me. Just not in money.”
I snorted and got out.
He told me that normally they’d just drive up to Max’s house, but he didn’t want to tip him off that we were there.
He was very serious about the bet, and he was out to prove me wrong.
“Let’s go,” he said, taking my hand and leading me around the building.
I was surprised to see a long line of what looked like duplexes about a hundred yards out from the back of the garage.
They were all plain, brown brick. However, in the distance, I could see two houses behind those, and another one in the process of being built.
“Why do they all live so close together?” I mused.
One of Luke’s strides was around five of mine, so I was having to hurry to keep up with him.
When he caught sight of my near sprint (Okay, more like fast walk) he slowed, then answered.
“They were all a team in the Rangers a few years back. Then a lot of shit happened, and they decided to stay where they were. James lives here again, too. That’s their house right there,” he said, indicating a house off in the distance.
One I hadn’t seen until he pointed it out.
“So who lives in these places?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I think the first three are empty. The last two are still being used.”
Where did they get the money to live like this?
I wanted a compound!
Although the only ones on it would be my sister, her man, and my parents. Which didn’t necessarily constitute a compound.
This place, though, was the shit.
“Are they, like, hardcore badasses like you?” I asked cheekily.
He looked down at me and winked.
“Nobody’s as badass as me,” he quipped.
“Oh,” a voice drawled from in front of us. “I’d beg to differ.”
I jumped and squeaked, turning in time to see a large man walking towards us from the woods.
Luke didn’t jump, though.
Only me.
Luke was obviously paying attention when I wasn’t.
“Sam,” Luke rumbled, acknowledging the other man.
The other man walked up, two little girls following closely behind him.
They were dressed in camo, as was the man. And the man had a large hunting rifle slung over his shoulder.
Hunting season.
Imagine that.
Did he hunt for trespassers on his land, and let his children tag along to help torture the trespassers?
Then I smiled to myself. I really did crack myself up sometimes.
The girls were too cute, though.
I’d guess they were around Rowen’s age, give or take a few months.
They were the spitting image of their father, only with long blonde hair and hazel eyes.
They watched me with an intensity that had the possibility of making me uncomfortable. I just knew that later on in life some man was going to have his balls handed to him with that stare.
The smaller of the two, but only just, smiled at me. “Are you Rowen’s mom?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m Pru. This is Piper. Phoebe’s lost,” Pru, the curly haired cutie, said.
I blinked, and looked up at the man, worried.
He grinned. “We’re playing hide and seek.”
“With a gun?” I blurted out before I could think.
He shrugged. “There’s shit in the woods I’d rather not run into without being properly prepared.”
I tilted my head. “Like an elephant?”
The scar under his eye scrunched when he smiled.
He nodded. “Whatever. I’m prepared, either way.”
Movement above the man’s head had me looking up to see the elusive Phoebe shift her weight in the tree. The only thing that had given her away was the bright green inner lining of her jacket.
“So…would you be upset if she were say…in a tree?” I asked, eyes never moving from the tree.
Sam grinned. “Is she now? I never even saw her.”
I nodded, eyebrows raised. “Yeah. How’d she get up there?”
He turned and surveyed the tree. “Scaled it, I’d guess. She’s been climbing trees since she was nine months old, starting with the Christmas tree. Now, at nearly four, she can climb a tree faster than me.”
I watched as he walked to the tree, the two little girls following dutifully behind, as he spoke to Phoebe in her position high above him.
“Check you later,” Luke called to the man.
“Luke. Reese. It was nice to meet you,” he said, raising his hand up high above his head.
My mouth dropped open. “How did he know my name?”
His laugh slid across my skin like a sensual caress.
“Sam’s a tad on the paranoid side when it comes to his children and his wife. I’ve got a hell of a story to tell you later of how we met. It’s bound to put you on the edge of your seat,” he teased, finally coming to a stop at the second to last duplex.
