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“Tonight,” he sighed. “If we’re going to do this? I’m going to have to tell you.”
Had I known that this would be the last time that my heart wouldn’t hurt, I would’ve made him stay.
I would’ve begged him not to leave.
“What about all these electronics?” I asked as I gestured to them. “What should I do with these?”
“Take them.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what I’ll do with them. I don’t get on the computer. And if I need one, I just use the one at work.”
I nodded and gathered the box up to my chest, then leaned forward and pressed my lips against his.
He sighed against them, his hand on my hip tightening.
“Tonight, I get to have you back,” I informed him. “I’ll go to the store.”
He winked. “I’ll go to the store. You go talk to your mom. She’s looking at the car now.”
I got out and did just that.
Not once thinking about how everything would never be the same.CHAPTER 10It’s the most wonderful time for a beer.-Coffee CupSAINT“Hello?” I answered the phone, placing it between my ear and my shoulder as I shoved into my house.
“Kid.”
My father’s faint voice had me freezing to the spot.
“Dad,” I said, worry filling my voice. “What’s wrong?”
My father coughed. It made my heart hurt, hearing that cough.
It sounded wet.
And… hurt.
If that made any sense whatsoever.
“Kid,” my dad croaked, sounding a little fainter this time. “Something happened. Brad…” More coughing could be heard on the other end of the line. “Brad… betrayed.”
A whole lot of things started to course through me at the sound of his voice… or the lack thereof.
“Dad,” I called out, voice somewhat shrill. “Dad!”
Nothing.
Not a single thing.
I all but barreled out of the door of my place and sprinted over to the house next door. Malachi’s.
I hammered on the door as I listened for my dad to come back on the line.
But in my heart, I knew that that wasn’t going to happen.
The door swung open and an alarmed looking Sierra looked out at me. “Saint? What’s wrong? Are you out of confinement?”
I nodded. “Yes. I am. Can I borrow your phone?”
She handed it over after pulling it from her back pocket. “Sure.”
Then I was taking off toward my truck, but I yelled back over my shoulder, “Will you go close my front door?”
Forty minutes later I was in the chief of police’s office as he listened to me explain.
“You’re a fucking kid of a president?” he all but barked.
I felt my stomach, already tied in knots, take another hit. “Yes, sir.”
“And that wasn’t something you thought you should disclose before we hired you?” he pushed.
I gritted my teeth to keep the angry growl from escaping. Only when I had my shit back under control did I say, “I disclosed every single thing that was asked of me.”
He rolled his eyes. “You followed the letter of the law, dumbass. Not the spirit.”
The phone on the desk that I’d borrowed, Sierra’s, rang.
I felt bile rise in my stomach as I reached forward to answer it.
I was hoping the phone call that was coming would be hers. If it was hers, I wouldn’t pick it up.
But, when I saw the ‘unknown’ on the phone, I knew that my time had come to an end.
I would be finding out, very quickly, what had happened to my father.
“Hello?” I answered, putting it on speaker.
“Hey, kid,” the police chief that Luke Roberts had put me into contact with said. “This is Teller Kincaid.”
I closed my eyes and hoped that my father was still alive.
“You got a couple of guys here. They’re retired secret service agents. They said that you called,” Teller said.
I cleared my throat. “I called them. Did they help you find the place?”
“We’re at the base of the hill. We’re suiting up our SWAT team right now,” Teller explained. “I just wanted to let you know that we’re here. We’re about to go in. Your friends are with me, too.”
He hung up after another minute, and I gently placed the phone down on my desk.
The phone that was still connected with my father sat right beside it. Still no sound coming from the speaker.
I wanted to throw up.
“You should be hearing more at any second.” Luke gestured toward the phone that sat silent on the top of his desk.
It was on mute, just in case whatever we said could be heard on the other end of the line.
Each second that passed, however, with no sound coming from the other end of the line, was digging a deep hole in my chest cavity.
“This is getting…”
There was a sharp crack on the silent phone line, and then I was staring at the phone with trepidation.
“Oh, fuck,” I heard someone say. “He’s been shot.”
“Clear!” I heard another man say.
“Female’s dead,” I heard yet another person say.
