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“Cooper, as in Cooper Springs?” Dante asked.
Lani shot a long-suffering gaze upward at the cracked and water-stained plaster ceiling before answering.
“Yep, good old great-great-grandpa. But enough about me. What are we doing about somebody taking shots at the chief?”
Dante rose to his feet, and as he did so, the door opened again. This time it was Deputy Trent.
“What? What’d I miss?” Trent asked as he took in Lani, Dante, and then André. His gaze shot back to Dante and filled with something like trepidation.
Dante growled and Lani’s fingers curled into fists. André rose from Carol’s chair. His face hurt from the cement chip and the rest of his body hurt from throwing himself to the ground. What he needed was a handful of ibuprofen and his bed. The rest they’d figure out in the morning.
“Someone took a shot at me when I was leaving the building,” André explained.
“That’s not good, Chief. Did you get a look at the guy?” Lionel looked back and forth between André and Lani and appeared to be shocked. André doubted the man was that good of an actor. Would he try and take André out over being required to attend a seminar? That seemed far-fetched.
“Now that you’re here, I’m going to see if the shooter left anything behind,” Lani informed them.
The evidence collection class was probably going to be easy for her, André thought.
“Don’t go alone. Dante, do you mind?”
He was out of his ever-loving mind asking Dante to help.
“Sure,” Dante agreed easily, “but when we get back, I’m taking you home.”
That was fine with André. Plus, having them outside would give him a chance to talk to Deputy Lionel Trent. Alone.
TEN
Dante
André would fucking argue with him, that was guaranteed. But no fucking way was a man who’d just been shot at going home to an empty and fucking unsecured house. For fuck’s sake, it had taken Dante about thirty seconds to break in and leave the groceries.
“My turn was just back there. Sorry, I should have said.” André’s voice was rough and thin. The adrenaline must be wearing off.
“I know where I’m going. Thanks though.”
After heading east a few more blocks, Dante took a left down the street that ran behind Cooper Mansion, then a right. Thirty seconds later, he pulled in front of his place.
Luckily, Dani was with Romy at Wanda Stone’s house, working on a school project. Otherwise, he never would have been wandering around downtown Cooper Springs, trying to drum up the courage to track down André and tell him the truth about why he and Dani were in town. As it was, he’d lost his mind and admitted to having feelings for André in front of his deputy. At least it had been Lani and not the yahoo who’d shown up later.
Just another day in the life of Dante Castone.
“Where are we?” André asked, looking around.
“My place,” Dante said shortly.
“Huh. I tried looking up your address, but you aren’t listed.”
That admission pleased Dante. But on the other hand, maybe he’d been trying to find Dante to tell him never todrop inagain.
“Nope, we’re not. If you come inside and let me fix your face and don’t argue, I’ll tell you why.”
André didn’t argue. Instead, he opened the car door and climbed out to follow Dante into the house. Dante didn’t think they’d had a tail, but he opened the door as quickly as he could and ushered André inside. From Luna’s crate, he heard the dog banging around, ready to be released.
“Come into the kitchen. I need to let the dog out,” Dante said as he turned on the lights and opened the crate door.
“Nice place,” André said as hedidn’thead to the kitchen like Dante wanted him to. Instead, he took in the crappy sofa and beat-to-crap 1990s TV armoire—was that a thing? Whatever it was, it was hideous. Nothing in the house was stuff Dante would pick out. Sure, his choice of decor tended toward man cave, but black went with everything, right?
