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Cal sighed, shifted in his seat. “Look, I trust you and your instincts, and Veronica, aka Monique, is top-notch, which I’m sure you already know. If any two LE officers can bring Rex and in turn Slim to heel, it’s you two.”

“I appreciate that,” Dylan swallowed around the unexpected lump in his throat. His brother’s words meant more to him than any from an FBI superior.

“Just keep an eye on that Hank, and you already told me how much you trust your boys—not.” Cal grasped Dylan’s shoulder. “You’ve got this, bro. Keep me posted as you can. And tell Veronica she can tell me more, too. She’s always extra careful to stay in cover when she reports in. Phenomenal officer, that one. Does the Bureau know you’re working with my task force now?” Dylan was impressed at Callum’s long experience in law enforcement and the cooperation needed between local, state and federal officers. Information needed to flow as freely as possible to keep folks alive. Yet there were deep undercover cases, like Dylan posing as Hawk, where no one else on the task force knew about the agent; it was too risky.

“Yeah, I talked to them before we met out here. I need all hands on deck for this, and I trust you. I trust RGPD. I couldn’t stay deep in good conscience. Plus let’s face it—the chance that someone I served with on RGPD might recognize me is too high. It’s the main reason I had to meet with you, in private.”

“And not to check up on your brother?” Cal’s attempt to add levity to the gravity of their conversation fell short. Dylan looked at his brother, offered a rueful smile.

Cal seemed…thinner, but not in a sickly way. “Hey, you’ve lost weight, haven’t you?” He punched his brother in his upper arm. Soft enough to not hurt him but hard enough to make it smart. His knuckles met with steel, not the doughy flesh Cal had put on after he turned thirty-five.

“Fess up, bro, you’ve been lifting. Since when are you a gym rat?” Cal had always enjoyed family tag football and was in fact a pretty accomplished trail runner. But he’d forsaken his more youthful pursuits as the responsibilities of his job grew, and Mom and Dad aged. Cal saw himself as the main caretaker and keeper of all things Colton-related, and his parents were always a top priority to him. Something warm and soothing curled inside Dylan’s rib cage. Affection and pride for Cal.

“I’ve lifted a weight or two, a few times per week.” Cal’s face reddened but Dylan figured it wasn’t embarrassment as much as it was the depth of his emotions for his new girlfriend, Jules.

“Was it your idea or Jules’s?”

“Both of us, actually.” Cal’s eyes reflected love, affection and…pride? Was his older brother proud of working out alongside Jules? “Jules was right when she told me that there’s no time like the present to start making changes. I’m not getting all crazed about my exercise, mind you. I’m doing it to feel better and be a better sheriff.”

“Good on you, bro!” Dylan meant it. It was about time the eldest Colton sibling started taking care of himself. “Jules has just scored big points with me. Anyone who can get you putting your well-being first is a keeper in my book.”

“It’s no big deal. It is nice to have someone in my life who gives a flip about me, you know, in a romantic way.” Cal fidgeted with the opening button to the glove compartment, and sighed. “Will you let me say something here, Dylan?”

“Go ahead.”

“I worry about you. I used to think it was because you left town so quickly, I felt maybe I hadn’t been a good enough brother to you. Then I thought that my concern was over the top because I had no way of knowing your whereabouts or what you were doing, job-wise. Nor should I have. I understand the need for operational security, of course.” Cal’s eyes blazed with concern. “But now you’re back home for all intents and purposes, I can pretty much know your location with every step of this op—down to a gnat’s-ass depending on whether you use a burner or not—and I’m still worried about what you’re doing, Dylan. No one throws themself into an op like you do.” Cal paused, seemed to be searching for the right words. “I get it. You’re single and it’s easy to think there wouldn’t be anyone left behind if the worst happens. But it’s not true. There’s Mom and Dad, me, all of us.” Cal cleared his throat. “And you may meet someone, someday, who means more to you than your job.”

For the second time in under twenty-four hours, Dylan found himself at a loss as long-ignored emotions threatened to break down the painstakingly constructed walls surrounding his heart. He’d built them as protection from himself, from guilt over leaving his family, the loss of leaving his beloved native city, from the guilt at causing Veronica pain with zero explanations.

“I’ve never stopped thinking about you and our family, Cal. No matter how deep in the dark I’ve had to go. I don’t call or come back because it’s too risky to bring any of our family into what I do. You know how messy it gets.”

“I do,” Cal confirmed. The wear and tear of the dark forces that had invaded Red Grove and Stark County reflected in his gaze, the deep lines in his face. “I’m trying to say that I’ve found out there’s a helluva lot more to life than law enforcement.”

“Jules?”

Cal smiled, let a long, low chuckle out. “Yeah, Jules. She’s the love of my life, man.”

“I had no choice when I left, Cal, not once I’d said ‘yes.’” Everything had happened so fast. He’d been flattered to be selected by the Bureau, even more so that they’d trusted him in an undercover role so quickly. And he’d been eager to get out of what he’d thought of as Podunk. To see the world, make a difference. But making a difference happened in Podunk, too. More recently he’d missed his family when the thrill of the clandestine work grew into the heavy burden it could be.

You never forgot Veronica.

“That’s enough about the past, bro. You’re here now, we’re sitting in this—” Cal made a show of looking around the interior of Dylan’s vehicle, rubbing his hands against the leather bucket seat “—what, several-hundred-thousand-dollar car?”

“It’s a DEA loaner.” He grinned. “Courtesy of some low-life drug runner, just like the house I’m in.”

“Well, you sure look like one of them right now.” They both laughed.

“I’ll try to get away to come see the folks soon. I’ll take leave here when this all wraps up.” The words came out of nowhere; he’d never planned any such thing. But it was the truth, and he meant them now. He wanted to spend some time with his family, catch up.

“Sounds good.” Cal opened his door. “Time to go.”

“Hang on—take my number.” He rattled off his main burner’s number while Cal tapped it into his phone. “I don’t check my personal phone much these days.”

“Got it, thanks. See ya.” Cal left the car.

“Bye.”

Dylan reversed out of the spot, heading toward the home he bunked in with his stooges. The usual satisfaction he experienced after a successful business meeting helped him to focus on what his next moves needed to be with the case, for sure. But the warmth in his chest could only be from patching things up with Cal.