AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We did after gathering enough clothes and toiletries to make it through the next couple of days.
She chose to ride with me, and I drove straight to my place.
Once there, she headed straight for my bathroom while calling over her shoulder, “Now, go back to work. I know that you want to be here and all, but there’s nothing you can do.”
“I can protect you,” I grumbled, pulling my shirt off as I followed her. “And I’m not going anywhere until I get confirmation that my brother’s been picked up and questioned. You were nearly killed. I think that warrants me leaving my job—that’s not even a job yet—early.”
She sighed. “Whatever.”
I grinned as I walked into the living area, my eyes automatically sweeping the space.
“My brother doesn’t have access to my house,” I said. “And I’m about to call my mother and father and tell them what we know.” He hesitated. “Surely, we misheard him.”
“I didn’t mishear him,” she said sadly. “I’m telling you, with one-hundred-percent honesty, that the man said Braxton’s name. And, just sayin’, but how many Braxtons do you know? Because I can count maybe two in my lifetime. And the only other Braxton besides your brother is an astrophysicist that came through the diner about a year ago on his way to NASA of all places.”
I looked at her in surprise. “Why would you be getting a customer’s name?”
“Because he offered it. And I thought it was weird enough to remember.” She shrugged. “Do you think it was him?”
I shook my head. “No. I think my brother has something to do with this. It’s too coincidental.”
Which fuckin’ sucked.
This would seriously hurt my parents greatly. Even worse, he had a kid on the way any day now. He may not be the best of people, but I certainly didn’t hate him enough to write him off. Well, at least before I’d heard he’d tried to have my girl assassinated.
Anger again started to roll through my belly, and I pulled my phone out of my pocket and placed the call that I was dreading.
“You’re not about to be put in jail again, are you?” my dad answered on the second ring.
“Unfortunately,” I hesitated. “Maybe. Are you awake enough to hear this?”
“Maybe.” He hesitated. “Depends on what I need to be awake for. If it’s to do with your brother, I don’t want to be awake for that.”
I sighed. “It has everything to do with him.”
“Fuck,” my dad said concisely. “Based on the tone of your voice alone, I’m not going to like hearing what you have to say.”
No, he sure the hell wasn’t.
I could guarantee it.
“I’m going to take a shower while you do this,” she whispered. “Can I borrow a tee?”
I jerked my head up toward her, and she left.
“Was that Diana?” Dad asked the moment she disappeared into my room.
“Yeah,” I grumbled.
“You don’t sound excited about having her at your house like I would expect you to.” He paused. “You were supposed to be working tonight, right?”
“Right.” I dropped down onto the couch that I had probably sat on four times since I’d owned it and studied my boots. They were dirty. They probably needed to be cleaned.
“Get on with it,” I heard Dad sigh. “It’s getting old.”
Was it?
I pinched the bridge of my nose and said, “Tonight, Luce was attacked. She’s okay,” I rushed to tack on. “But when Luce had him pinned down, he had a few things to say.”
My dad hissed in a breath. “Okay.”
“He was a hit man hired to kill her by Braxton,” I blurted.
Dad inhaled swiftly before saying, “You’re sure?”
“She’s sure,” I said, and that was enough for me to be sure.
“Son of a bitch,” Dad snapped.
“What?” Mom asked. “Is it my blood sugar?”
Mom got woken up quite a bit in the middle of the night by my father if her blood sugar was out of whack—something that her automatic tester alerted everyone for. Usually when she was woken this early in the day, it was due to that.
“No,” Dad answered. “Shit. Get up. We have something to talk about.”
I heard her moving around in the background and continued to explain to my father what happened then and what I thought might happen next.
“The sheriff went to find him,” I heard Dad finish with as he explained everything to my mom.
“That stupid son of a…” Mom growled. “I’m going to kill him.”
“Not if I get to him first,” Dad disagreed. “I can’t believe this. I mean… are you really sure?”
I was about to open my mouth to say ‘yes’ when Luce came back into the room wearing one of my old Navy t-shirts.
I grinned at that, loving the way she looked in it.
I’d thought about her wearing that since the day I’d taken my first look at her.
I held out my hand for her and she came to me, putting a knee into the couch and moving toward me on her knees.
