Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 52447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52447 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
For the most part, I visit a crime scene, do my thing and leave, unless I’ve fully taken over a case. At this point, me taking control of the case was a way to manage the political talking heads. I don't want or need to run every little detail of the investigation. Detective Rollins has proven competent enough to manage the job, and humble enough to call for help.
Jay hurries ahead of me, opens the exit door, and inspects our path.
I’d roll my eyes but the truth is, the press might as well be weeds growing all around your feet, ready to climb on your back, and shortly after, they suffocate you if given the chance. Clear the path of the weeds. Please.
He eases back in and says, “There’s a yellow line of tape, but no one is hanging out around it but a few officers. We’re clear.”
Him and his protectiveness have me thinking back to me in that elevator. When he steps back to allow my exit. I, in turn, step directly in front of him, and point a finger at him, looking him in the eye. “What happened in that elevator stays between us, understand?”
He swallows hard, and his eyes dilate.
“Holy fuck,” I breathe out. “You told Kane.”
I don’t even give him time to reply and confirm. I know. “Damn it,” I murmur, turning away from him and walking outside into what feels like brutal cold right about now. I left the damn police jacket behind somewhere, which isn’t even like me. I don’t leave things behind unless it’s by choice. Obviously, there are some things I don’t leave behind at all, or nothing that happened tonight with me would have happened.
Jay catches up with me. “I was worried, Lilah. You are never like you were back there.”
Ignoring people is a skill I mastered the day I was born. I ignore him now. I duck under the tape to find Kane leaning against the SUV that’s parked just outside the police line.
And he’s here, not off somewhere else doing his work because Jay ran his mouth.
Exactly what I did not want.
The freak in the mask already took photos of Kane, created a shrine of shots, and hung dolls hanging by their necks. He made it clear to me that he’d come after Kane. And Kane himself already made it clear to me this very night, he’s human, he bleeds and he can die. And so am I. Mostly. Maybe.
I have a strong feeling me and the freak in the mask are going to find out before this is over.
Chapter Seventeen
Here’s the bizarro world part of Kane being here, because we all know Kane acting like a macho, protective gangster is not bizarro at all. But he’s not just here, waiting for me, he’s talking to a police officer, as in having a casual conversation. Kane. The man they all call a drug dealer and spent countless resources to prove as much. And it’s not an uncomfortable conversation, either. The cop seems to be telling Kane his life story.
Kane must sense eyes on him because his stare lifts and locks on me. There’s a punch of awareness between us that isn’t like “Oh, be still my heart” or even “Wham, bam let's go have sex.” It’s more like, “We need to talk, fight, then fuck a whole bunch of shit out of our systems before we attempt to talk all over again.” It’s going to be one of those nights. The cop finally realizes I’m now walking his way, and he pretty much tucks his tail and runs. That’s how weird this situation is right now. Kane doesn’t scare him but I do. I’m the one with the badge.
I stop in front of him. “If Jay is going to go behind my back and run to you, he can’t work for me. The end.”
I step around him with every intention of getting in the car where it’s warm. “Lilah,” he says tightly, and the very fact that he doesn’t touch me when I know him, and I know he wants to physically pull me back to him is why I stop. It’s him not wanting to make a scene in front of my peers. It’s about respecting my job. It’s also about a conversation that isn’t witnessed by Kit and Jay.
I turn and he’s facing me, the vehicle at my back and his big body shielding me from the weather, as I say, “I don’t blame Jay,” as if he’s made a statement or asked a question. “I blame you. You scare him more than I scare him.”
“Jay doesn’t fear me, Lilah. He cares about you. That’s not something I command of him. It’s something that happened when he figured out that behind your wall is a real person who does all of this because you care about saving lives.”