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“Jack, where are you going? The drugstore’s the other way.”
He didn’t say a word. He just stared straight ahead, seemingly focused on driving.
Movement behind me.
I barely had time to register the arm reaching from the back seat before the gloved hand clamped over my mouth, and I felt a sharp sting in the side of my neck. Stale cigarette smoke and the vicelike hand clamped around my head brought me right back to the night Johnny was killed. My heartrate doubled, beating frantically in my chest as panicked eyes shot up to the rearview mirror, widening in horror when I recognized the face.
Teagan Kelley.
"I really wish you hadn't told Connor about my tattoo. He's been checking every single wrist in the Clan—it was lucky Jack was able to warn me in time. That's okay, though." My vision swam, and as the world slipped sideways, I heard a dark, gravelly voice in my ear. “We’re gonna have some fun, you and I.”
Another laugh, and he waved, his shirt sleeve falling down to reveal a tattoo on his wrist. The same one I’d seen the night Johnny was killed. A curved phoenix rising from the ashes. “Nighty night, sweetheart.”
Then the darkness crashed over me, and I was gone.
25
Connor
Mystepswerelightas I exited the elevator onto the penthouse level, whistling a little tune and fumbling for my keys. My steps echoed off the polished floor, and I was already pulling my tie loose with a little smile on my face, looking forward to a relaxing evening with my wife.
I didn’t think I could love her any more than I already did, but every day proved me wrong.
The simple, caring gestures. First down at Lady D's where I witnessed her compassion firsthand, and then later at home, the little things she would do for me, the smiles and the touches. The way she looked at me, as if the world began and ended in my eyes. The soft, sweet mornings with her in my arms, and the breathless nights that threatened to burn us both alive.
I’d been handed a rare and wonderous thing, indeed.
Cassidy was fiercely strong. She’d borne the weight of my profession with grace, and it was now an open subject between us. I had begun to see more of Michael in her than I realized, her empathetic heart tempered with nerves of steel and a quick, sharp wit coming in handy on more than one occasion when I’d sought her opinion. She was a force to be reckoned with, and she was mine, just as she possessed me, body and soul.
I felt like I was flying. I had felt that way ever since the night she'd torn up the divorce papers and gave me her heart, and my feet hadn’t touched the ground since.
Little did I know I was about to crash and burn.
“Cass, I’m home. Sorry I’m just a little bit late, traffic wasn’t the best and I—”
My mouth snapped shut. The lights were off, the house dark and empty.
“Cass?”
Unease began to bloom in my stomach, a green, sickly feeling. I dropped my keys on the kitchen counter and wandered into the back hall, calling her name a few more times before I fished out my phone.
She wasn’t there.
After the first time the call rolled over to voicemail, I told myself she probably just got hung up at the hospital. A small crisis with a new case, perhaps.
After the third time, I started to panic.
I dialed the number to the hospital, and Jerome's response sent my heart into overdrive. Cassidy hadn’t been feeling well that morning, and had gone home early.
Teagan's phone went to voicemail also.
Where is she. Where is she?! What if she’s sick, what if she’s—oh god, if anything’s happened to her—
The phone in my hand buzzed to life, and I nearly sobbed in relief seeing her picture on the screen.
“Cass, love, where are you? I called the hospital, Jerome said you left early.”
Silence.
