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Blake adds, “It took Barnes a single phone call to find out that Sebastian bought the heavy metal-laden supplements with his own credit card. The police already searched his place too, and that’s not all they found.”
“What?” I haven’t heard this part yet. Maybe Blake found out when I closed my eyes for a quick medicine-induced nap that had turned into an hour-long snooze?
Blake tells me and Jacob, “Sebastian had a ‘vision board’ with pictures of Rusty, expensive car catalogs, and fancy house listings. Plus, a whole cabinet of vitamins, smoothies, supplements, and more. They had the medical examiner check them out one by one. She didn’t find anything other than the online supplement . . . at first. But then she noticed something. Sebastian’s patio backed up to the neighbor’s patio, and the neighbor had a bunch of plants and flowers. Including oleander. Does that mean anything to you?”
Blake’s question triggers me to search my mental files for something from my classes or even from trivia tidbits I know, but I come up empty. Shaking my head, I’m excited to learn something new, something that might help me better treat the DBs who pass through my morgue.
“Oleander is majorly poisonous, like one leaf or flower can kill a human in minutes.”
“Richard?” I guess.
“Yeah, it’s too late to know for sure, but it seems likely,” Blake postulates. “I guess Sebastian got impatient when the heavy metal wasn’t working fast enough? Either way, Richard’s death will be ruled foul play.”
I swallow thickly. “I guess Everlife got their way after all.”
I know deep down that Blake wasn’t using me. I think I always knew that. But there are also so many doubts and insecurities, from a lifetime of loss and bullying, covering that core of knowledge that it’s hard to stand confident in it.
Blake’s eyes are soft, full of patient kindness as he reassures me. “Zo, I don’t care about Everlife’s payouts, but Yvette will get the claim money because she didn’t kill Richard. The exemptions are suicide and murder by beneficiary.”
“Oh.” That’s good information and will help Yvette deal with her loss, but it’s not what’s looming at the forefront of my mind and Blake knows it.
“I was doing my job, like you were doing your job, and on the stand, I tried to protect you as much as I could.”
“I know,” I say softly, my chin dropping when his brow raises. He doesn’t believe that I trust him, not yet, but I earned that when I ran out of the courtroom and didn’t talk to Blake because I was hurt and mad.
But I will face it head-on now.
I grab his face, bringing him nose to nose with me. “I know.”
That gets me one of those sweet smiles, and he kisses me deeply but gently, careful with my cheek that’s still sore and probably looks a frightful mess. I kiss him back, telling him with my touch what I’ve already known.
He’s a good man. He’s my man, and I’m his.
The tenderness heats, fueled by what we almost lost, until Jacob clears his throat to remind us that he’s here. And we’re in a hospital. Babies are delivered here, not made.
Pulling back reluctantly, Blake whispers against my lips, “I love you, Miss Walker.”
I feel the words as much as I hear them, both resonating into my heart. But . . . “You can’t love me.” Blake growls at my argument, so I quickly finish, “Not yet. We haven’t even been on a proper date yet.”
He laughs, and a second later, I do too, matching his joy. We have time . . . time to date, time to love, time to trust.
“I think I fell in love with you one minute after you tried to kill me with your car. If it wasn’t then, it was when you saved my ass by easily winning our trivia competition wearing the cutest pajama pants I’ve ever seen.” He pauses and hums thoughtfully. “Actually, that might’ve been lust, not love, because those pants are sexy as hell on you.”
“The fuzzy skull ones?” I say with a grin, and he nods, pointedly looking down the lumpy, bumpy expanse of the hospital bed where I’m covered by a thin blanket.
“Still here, guys,” Jacob reminds us again. “Think I’ll head home, though. Seems like you’ve got this covered?”
Blake reluctantly tears his eyes away from me to shake Jacob’s hand. “I’ve got her.”
Jacob smiles at Blake before looking at me, all our history together in his eyes. If anyone knows what it’s like to feel alone in the world, it’s Jacob. “It’s about damn time. She’s wearing me out.”
He doesn’t mean a word of it. We’ve taken care of each other for a long time and would continue to do so without hesitation. But adding Blake to our little circle feels good. It feels right. A puzzle piece we were missing, and for the first time, I’m not worried that something awful is going to happen to him just because he’s important to me.
