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“I will. Murfreesboro.” I share with him, and he nods.
“I’m heading to Smyrna. I’ll follow you until then.”
I can’t deny that it would make me feel better. My phone rings through the car’s speakers, and I look at the screen on the dash to see my brother’s name.
“Shoot. I have to take this.” I roll up the window. “Yep,” I answer, distracted by the sight of Maverick walking across the dark parking lot. I can make out his long legs and some of his ass in the lights shining from Tucker’s vehicle. “Wow, that is one fine one.” I shake my head and smile to myself.
“One fine what?” Darrell’s deep voice breaks me from my thoughts.
“Um…nothing.” My cheeks heat at getting caught checking out Maverick’s ass. My brother can’t see me or know what I’m doing, but it still embarrasses me.
“What’s this about police being called?”
“Damn. Krystal tattled on me. Sydney’s car was vandalized. She and I weren’t touched. I called the police, and her boyfriend came too.” I purposely don’t tell my brother about Maverick because he’ll be all over me with questions.
“Fuck, Lydia, you’re supposed to call me yourself and tell me if things like this happen. Was it Colton?”
I bite my lip so as not to tell him my suspicions. I didn’t tell Maverick or Sydney that Colton had a couple of machetes like the one found by Sid’s car. He brought them home last year from a trip to Africa with his boss. But what would Colton gain from doing that to her car? My thoughts coalesce in my mind. I don’t understand his motivation. Plus, I don’t even know if he’s in Nashville right now. The last I heard, via my attorneys, he was in Dallas.
“Dammit, Lydia, are you fucking listening to me?” Darrell yells into the phone.
“I’m sorry. I was trying to figure out why Colton would do this. I did think it was possible because he’s mad at Sydney. But now that I’ve thought things over, I don’t think it’s him. I have to focus on the road, and I’m tired. I’ll call you in the morning. I’m sorry I didn’t call. Night.” I disconnect the call, not letting him get more words in. I see Maverick’s lights in my rearview mirror as we continue to drive toward our homes.
My mind is still swirling with thoughts. I don’t remember seeing the machetes in his office when I was at the house the last time. But it was so trashed and my mind was focused on other things, I doubt I would have noticed them. Maverick flashes his high beams off and on behind me, then flips on his turn signal. I look around and continue on toward my temporary home.
I contacted Mayson construction last week about a house they have for sale on a piece of property near Sharon’s house. The house is large and still under construction. The kids and I would get to add personal touches that we want to the final design. I have a meeting with Asher, the owner, in a couple of weeks.
CHAPTER4
MAVERICK
Itry to focus on work and not on the little woman with the curvy body and trouble written all over her. It doesn’t matter that it’s been two months since I last saw Lydia. I want to see her again, but I know she needs to get through her divorce. She needs to heal from that before she considers dating again. What if she never wants to date? What if she doesn’t want in another relationship? Her ex did treat her badly. I shake those thoughts away because I’m not letting her get away from me.
The phone on my desk rings, and I pick it up.
“Whitlock,” I answer.
“Hey, we have some new information on the trafficking ring.” It’s the officer I was working with at Tennessee Wildlife.
“What’s that?”
“A local businessman brought over some animals directly from Africa. He’s also been hunting these and other animals illegally. He paid to have the Kodiak brought over and raised to be his trophy. We don’t have a name, but we do have someone who wants to make a deal and will flip on him.” I hear the excitement in his voice.
“That sounds perfect. I’ll be right over.” I hang up and grab my gun out of my drawer before I make my way out to my SUV.
On the drive to the animal protection office, I try to get Lydia out of my head. I need to focus on work and give her time. She doesn’t need another man taking over her life, because that’s what I would do. I’d want her under constant protection until this ex was taken care of. The way he destroyed their house disturbs me. There’s no doubt in my mind it was him.
My radio chirps as I pull up to the office. Police are requested at the Nashville Zoo. After Sydney’s car incident, my superiors let me lead that investigation. I’m fairly certain she’s not telling me everything, but neither is Lydia. I listen for the responding officers and wait for further information. When the dispatcher says the call is for an uncontrolled woman, I shake it off. It can’t have anything to do with Lydia or Sydney. I notify dispatch of my location and let them know I’ll be off radio. I then click my radio off. If I’m needed, I can be reached via my cell phone.
An hour later I’m processing everything I just found out. It’s shocking, but the witness will only give us a tracking number. It seems the animals are all implanted with microchips—like one would do for their dog or cat—to keep track of them if they are taken. I’m going to have to check if Lydia or the vet found one on the little bear.
I click on my radio and head toward the zoo. I guess I’ll be seeing the woman I’d decided I wasn’t going to see for a while.
* * *
Lydia
Just like every morning, I walk through the bear exhibits and check with the keepers to see what enrichments and training they will be doing for the day. I move toward the hospital to check on the little Kodiak. He’s finally out of the woods and healing. We’re still bottle feeding him, and we will be for several more months. Cubs nurse from their sows for up to two years. At this age, he should be getting ready to come out of his den with his sow. He shouldn’t have been taken from her. He’s only four months old and should be exclusively on his sow’s milk.
