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“Bradly called.” An attractive guy in jeans and a T-shirt walks up to us. “He’ll be here in thirty.” The guy’s eyes sway over to me. “Hi.”
“Hi,” I reply, recognizing the resemblance.
His eyelashes are darker and longer, and his eyes are piercing blue, but they still have the same sparkle. Without a doubt, this guy is a Daxon.
“This is Willa’s niece, Harper.” Cole tilts his head my way.
“Oh.” The guy’s smile turns up, adding more sparkle to his impressionable eyes. Damn, he must win over a lot of women with those things. “I’m the cat.” He holds out his hand.
“Felix?” I laugh and meet his welcoming gesture, shaking his hand.
“Lix,” he corrects with a crooked, charming smile.
“Oh yes. Lix. Nice to meet you.”
Cole grimaces at me before turning back at his brother. “Harper ran into some trouble with one of the abusers. He showed up at Willa’s. Now, Willa wants us to keep an eye on Harper until she figures shit out. She also wants Harper to file a complaint at the station, but I have to wait for Bradley and—”
“Say no more.” Lix holds up a hand. “I can take her.”
“Thanks,” Cole says and walks away.
“Well.” I twist on my toes to face Lix. “I guess he couldn’t wait to pawn me off on someone else.”
“Yeah, it’s not for long, though.” His head bends toward mine. “I got a date tonight. So I’ll be handing you back over when we’re done at the station.” He winks.
“Dammit!” I clench my hands.
He laughs, amused by my misfortune.
“I take it you find my brother just as annoying as he finds you. Yeah,” he concedes with a short chuckle. “I heard all about the café and the drop-off.”
“He called me annoying! Really, your brother is one of the most annoying, irritating, and frustrating people I have ever met!”
“You don’t need to convince me. But I can assure you he does have clean hands.” He laughs, shaking his head. “Let’s go.” He waves to the front door.
We get to a black SUV. Not what I’d expect for this young, eye-winking, charismatic-presenting Daxon brother. I assumed he’d come equipped with a sporty little car that only fit two.
I get in, and we head out.
“So Cole told you about our encounter?”
“Yes. Both. The café and the pickup. In his defense, he didn’t know about you. Brett forgot to tell him. He was more concerned about Cole taking the escort.”
“Why?”
“Well”—he blows out, making a left turn—“the last call Cole took, when he showed up, the Julia was—”
“Julia?”
“That’s what we call all the victims to keep their identity safe, but this one, her name was Emily.” His blue eyes slide over to me. “She was dead. It kinda fucked with his head.”
“Oh.” I stare at him, the image of what Cole must’ve gone through taking form in my mind.Up to this point, Cole’s been a shiny piece of cold steel blocking my way. Lix just put a dent in his indestructible exterior. He just made Cole broken and real.
“Does that happen… a lot?”
“Never to Brett or me. Cole was the first one. We all knew it was always a possibility, considering the pieces of shit we’re dealing with. I guess we kinda figured it would happen. Cole picked the short straw that night. After it happened, we skipped his turn a couple of times, but he wasn’t having it. He was ready to get back to it.”
“I’m sure it was difficult. You know, when he showed up, and she was dead,” I say, hoping to continue the conversation for more information.
