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He chuckled. It was low and it shot a whirlwind of warmth through her, from her tight chest to her aching toes. But it did little to loosen up the stress balled inside her.
“First off, Jussie’s a good guard dog and it’ll help havin’ him here. Got good ears and better nose, even sharper teeth. Better for protection than your damn alarm system.”
“Well, he didn’t even bark at me. In fact, he licked my hand instead of protecting his master.”
“His master,” Deacon repeated softly. “Kinda like that. But yeah, told him to chill when I saw my truck comin’ up the driveway.”
That made sense. “I also don’t allow smoking in my home.”
“Wasn’t done. Second, ain’t in your house. Sittin’ outside. Third, this ain’t a cigarette. Well, it is, but it ain’t. I don’t smoke tobacco.”
He took another hit on the cigarette that apparently wasn’t one. This time, when he let the smoke roll out of his open mouth and up into his nose before again blowing it out of his mouth up and away, she leaned in and took a deep inhale herself...
And coughed. “Is it smart to be stoned while trying to catch a fugitive?”
“Not stoned. Just takin’ off the edge.”
She wondered what edge he was on. The way he was sprawled out in the chair, he appeared pretty damned relaxed.
“Take a load off.” He tilted his head to the seat next to him. Justice settled on the deck between Deacon’s spread feet and hiked up a back leg to lick his balls.
Nice. He probably learned that from his owner.
“I need to change.”
“Then go change, then come take a load off. Bet your feet are screamin’ from bein’ in those shoes all day.” He shook his head. “What women suffer through to look hot.”
“You don’t like when women make an effort to look hot?”
“Love it. Appreciate all that you women suffer through to look good. Ain’t necessary, though. If you got it, you got it. No man’s gonna bang you just ‘cause you’re wearin’ some spiked heels.”
She fought the upward curl of her lips. “Thank you for that life lesson. I’ll keep that in mind.” She sat on the edge of the lounge chair next to him, shrugged out of her suit jacket and tossed it over the back of the chair.
“That’s you relaxin’?” he asked, then took a short puff on the joint.
“If I go into my room to change, I’ll end up out for the night. I want an update from you first.” She stretched out on the lounger and tucked an arm behind her head, staring up into the night sky. The cloud cover wasn’t too thick, so she could see a few stars past the tree tops.
A deep grunt had her turning her head toward him. He was holding out the joint to her.
She stared at it for a second, then lifted her gaze to his face. “Really?” In truth, she was tempted to take a hit just to get rid of her damn headache.
“Yep. Think you need it. You’re wound a little tight.”
She wasn’t going to argue that. Ever since Reilly was born, Reese had been responsible for her. At ten going on eleven, she took care of Reilly as if she was her own. Because neither of their parents did.
She made sure her sister was fed and clothed her whole life. Reese put herself through college, then Reilly. She did her best to set her sister up for success. But Reilly was never as driven as Reese. She always looked at life through a different set of lenses than Reese did.
Reese shook her head at the offer. He shrugged and pinched out the end.
“I assume you took her somewhere safe.”
“Yeah.”
“I tried getting a hold of her several times today and she didn’t respond.”
“Judge probably took her phone.”
“What? Why?” And who the hell was Judge?
“Warren might not be smart enough to track her phone, but you never know. And anyway, at her age, tough not to post every minute of her life online. We need to control that right now.”
“Who is Judge?”
“My cousin. We run the business together. Also, a licensed bounty hunter. He picked her up since you had my wheels.”
She had a local body shop tow her BMW this morning. She hoped she wouldn’t be without her own vehicle for too long since she wasn’t used to driving a full-size truck. Though, she appreciated the gesture. “Where did he take her?”
“Here’s the thing...” he started.
Oh shit. Reese didn’t like the sound of that already. “The thing is to tell me where she is. I need to know what’s going on with my sister. And if you took her phone away, I need to have another way to communicate with her to make sure she’s all right.”
“You can go through me.” It wasn’t a suggestion, it was a directive.
