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“Does Kane know?”
Sighing, I rolled my head toward him on the cushion so that he could see the misery on my face. “No, he doesn’t know about the baby. He won’t answer my calls and I haven’t seen him since you punched him a week ago and broke my coffee table. Which you are totally replacing, by the way. Have you…have you heard from him?” I finished in a whisper.
Gray let off his own sigh, “Nah, I was informed through Sam that he had asked her and Roe to take over surveillance for the diner. He hasn’t been home or into the office either. Want me to have Roe track him down so I can drag his ass back here?”
Laughing sadly, I shook my head, “No, I think his absence speaks for itself. Kane doesn’t want to see or talk to me.”
“You’re going to tell him, though, right?” I knew how much it had hurt Gray that he missed out on Kim’s pregnancy and Daisy’s birth. He wished he could have been there for both of them. Kane would feel the same if I didn’t tell him and that wasn’t a mistake I wanted to make, no matter how hurt I was right now.
“Of course. As soon as he comes back on the grid.” Was I scared to eventually tell Kane I was pregnant? Without a doubt. What scared me the most was that he would choose to be with me only for the sake of the baby. I didn’t want that. It may be selfish but I wanted him to choose me, Winnie, not the woman who was carrying his child.
28
Kane
The sound of tires on gravel brought me out to the front porch. I had spent the last two weeks staying at the cabin and poring over files with my father. I was edgy and irritated that we hadn’t made much headway.
It didn’t help that I hadn’t seen or talked to Winnie. I missed the hell out of her and the only thing I wanted was to be back in that tiny bed of hers holding her close. If Roe hadn’t been giving me updates about her, letting me know she was safe, I probably would have broken by now and gone straight back, getting nothing accomplished.
But Winnie’s safety was more important than anything else to me. Which is why I was watching the silver truck that I knew so well drive up and stop not ten feet away from me. I crossed my arms and leaned against the post as the door to the truck opened and a man I knew just as well stepped out. “Did you come to hit me again? Because I have to say the only reason the last one landed was because you caught me off guard.”
“Fuck you. You deserved it and you know it,” Gray shot out, stopping at the foot of the stairs.
“Maybe,” I grunted, turning and walking over to the rocking chairs. It seemed this was the place to have all the serious conversations in my life lately. Gray took my invitation and followed, sitting in the opposite chair. “How’d you find me?”
“Knew you would be here. Roe’s shit at keeping secrets, by the way, and it was pretty fucking obvious he was talking to you. He even left his phone open for me to see his texts one day. I think he was playing matchmaker, trying to get us back together.”
“Never wanted things to go down this way.” I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. Gray was the most important person in my life next to Winnie and I had to admit it fucking sucked not being in contact with my best friend.
“Yeah, well it’s out there now and I’m over it,” he said, shocking the hell out of me. My head whipped toward him but he was looking out over the land that surrounded the cabin. Gray and I knew most everything about each other, the exception being my relationship with his sister. That being said, we didn’t have deep discussions about our feelings on the regular. “How about you explain to me now why my sister’s upset and alone while you’re out here playing Daniel Boone in the woods.”
I flinched at his statement. Gray was never one to hold a grudge so I wasn’t all that surprised that he had forgiven me. We could both be hotheads, I knew with a little time he would calm down, but the thought of Winnie being upset ripped my heart in two.
“Is she…” I swallowed, “Is she okay?”
Gray looked at me for a long time with his eyes narrowed. I’m sure my pain and worry were etched on my face because his own relaxed and he sighed, seeming to come to a conclusion, “She’s all right. Obviously sad even though she tries to hide it, but other than being a little sick lately, she’s fine.”
“She’s sick?” I roared, jumping to my feet. Gripping my hair in my fists, I thought about what I needed to do to get back to her. How fast could I pack?Fuck it, I can buy new clothes. I headed for the porch stairs before Gray caught up to me, grabbing the back of my shirt.
“Calm down, you fucking lunatic, I just said she was okay.” I whirled on him and we began grappling until we both had an arm wrapped around each other’s necks. I was trying to sweep his feet out from under him with my leg when the door to the cabin creaked open behind us. We turned to see my father step out and he lifted an eyebrow, taking in the scene silently.
We both straightened like we were children again getting caught doing something we shouldn’t be. Gray cleared his throat. “Mr. Rodriguez,” he nodded at my father.
“Grayson,” he nodded back with a smirk on his face. “Good to see you two getting along again.” I grunted, still annoyed that Gray had kept me from getting to Winnie, but showing up having just beat the shit out of her brother probably wouldn’t earn me any points with her.
“I actually came up here to give you guys some information,” Gray said, tucking his shirt back in and glaring at me. “That truck you clocked outside the diner showed up again. It was left abandoned on FM 86 heading out of town and shocker, it was stolen. I’ll give you one guess from where.”
“Johnston County,” I said grimly.
“Johnston County,” Gray repeated. “The last place they robbed. It was wiped down pretty good but turns out one of them kindly left a partial on the seatbelt buckle.”
“Please tell me he’s in the system,” it seemed too good to be true. Excitement vibrated through my body. There was so much more we could do if we had a name. With Roe’s expertise and using some of our more creative skills, we could find these fuckers a lot quicker.
“Oh, our boy has a record all right. Did a few months for petty theft but got early release for good behavior and overcrowding. Coincidentally, so did his cellmate who’d been there quite a bit longer for armed robbery. According to my source at the prison, these two were pretty chummy and neither have checked in with their parole officers since they were released.”
“Names?” I was furious at the fact that they had been so close to my Winnie. What would have happened if I hadn’t been with her that night we saw the truck? They could have hurt her, taken her. I would make sure that they paid for every second they had been watching.
“The partial belongs to Samuel Mason and the cellmate’s Albert Wayne,” Gray seemed just as excited as I was. “If you’re done with this little vacation of yours, I sure could use your help working this back at the office.”
