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She’d taken the elevator, which I’d forgone.
She saw me standing there and froze, her eyes wide.
The women at her sides froze, too, sensing the danger that was lurking ahead.
Beckham had her gun by her side, which showed that she was at least prepared for the situation.
My girl, though?
Not so much.
She could barely limp toward me.
Which she continued to do, despite the danger.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called Hunt.
“Yeah?” he asked, sounding like his mouth was full of food.
“Can you pull the camera feed at my sister’s apartment complex?” I asked carefully, trying to contain my anger.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, sounding a bit clearer of food this time.
I waited for him to tap into whatever he used to do this, and then he said, “Oh, hey! You found her! Aces!”
I snorted. “Not intending to, at least.”
There was a thump and another giggle from the apartment I’d just come out of, and I cringed.
“What’s that look for?” Hunt asked curiously.
I reached forward and closed the apartment door just as more giggles and Dazzle’s ‘oh yeah’ rang out. Oh, and my girl finally reached my side.
Her eyes went wide.
“I had the birth control talk with her,” she blurted, her eyes staring wider at the door now than the woman that was still unconscious at our feet.
That’s when I couldn’t help it.
I grinned.
• • •
Hours later, in the quiet of our bedroom, I once again found myself getting ready to go out.
But this time with my girl, and not alone.
“What makes you think it’ll be okay?” I asked curiously.
“I did a little research while I was waiting for you to get done at the police station,” she said. “And now I’m really, really curious. I want to go look. I emailed the realtor and asked if we could come. She said she’s out of town until Tuesday, and the owners have already moved to Wisconsin where their daughter lives. She gave me the code to get into the house, though. So we can have our own look around. I think the owners are really anxious to sell since they now have two mortgages.”
I nodded in understanding.
“Let’s go.” I grabbed the keys to my truck.
She stopped me with a shake of her head. “Can we take your bike, please?”
I hesitated.
“I need a ride on the bike, Trick,” she whined softly. “It’s not far. I can put my cast on the pegs.”
Still, I hesitated.
I didn’t like the idea of being on the bike when she still couldn’t hold on well.
“It’s not that far,” she begged. “Please, please, please.”
I sighed. “What about your crutches? There’s nowhere to put them.”
She shrugged. “I’ll figure it out when I get there.” She paused. “But if anything else, I’ll just get a piggyback ride.”
My lips twitched.
Fifteen minutes later, we were at this house in the middle of the woods looking at the front door.
“It’s big,” I said as I looked around. “Really big.”
Bigger than maybe we could afford.
I’d done fairly well for myself, but it still didn’t mean that I had a couple hundred thousand dollars to throw into a place just yet.
Maybe if I kept working for Lynn like I was doing, then that would happen eventually since he paid so well, but for now…
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said softly.
I looked over my shoulder at her. “You do?”
“That we can’t afford it.” She leaned her head against my ear and curled her arms tighter around my neck as she hugged my head. “But I have a life insurance policy. From my mom and stepdad. It’s spent ten years growing interest since I put the money into the financial planner’s hands. But, just sayin’, I have the money. And I would like to use the money on this. At least, some of it anyway. The rest I want to put away for our kids’ college funds.”
“Our kids?” I asked carefully, feeling myself still under her words.
“I know where this is going, Trick,” she murmured softly. “I know that you love me, and I love you, and eventually, you’re going to ask me a question that I’m going to scream ‘yes’ to. And when that time comes, I’m going to tell you that I really, really, really want a baby that looks exactly like you. One that we can name Demi or Moore to go with our Ghost name theme we have going on…”
“Ghost name thing?” I asked curiously.
“You know that movie Ghost? The one with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in it? The characters’ names are Sam Wheat and Molly Marrin. Now all we need is a Moore and a Demi to make that complete.” She giggled against my ear. “That’s one of my favorite movies, too.”
“I’ve never seen it,” I admitted.
She gasped and clasped her hands on either side of my head, pulling my head back so she could stare into my eyes from over the top of me. “You’re kidding.”
