by Tijan
“Why are there two detectives on this case? Wouldn’t normal protocol be that one police officer take my statement?”
Both reacted, unreadable masks slamming down on their faces. Reyes coughed. “We’re just being thorough. If you find that anything was taken, let us know. Otherwise it looks like no harm done. We don’t have much to go on.”
“Yeah. Could’ve just been teenagers looking for an empty house to party in.” Smythe pointed to a corner devoid of furniture. “Sometimes they’ll look on real estate websites and watch to see how long a house is listed. They’ll scope it out, and if it’s empty, they’ll throw a big rager. Although,” he mused, “doesn’t seem like that either.”
They left soon after that, and Sia joined me in the kitchen, watching them go through the window. “That was weird.”
I grunted my agreement.
“So, nothing’s missing?”
The detectives got in their car and pulled away. The squad car that had come with them followed behind. I turned toward Sia. “I really don’t think so. Nothing stood out to me.”
“Oh.” She chewed her bottom lip, glancing around the empty house. “This place gives me the chills sometimes.” Her eyes got big. “Oh, I’m sorry, Addison. I didn’t mean it like that.”
I shook my head, sighing. “It gives me the chills, too. Come on.” I linked our arms together as we walked to the door. “It’s been a weird day. Let’s go do something fun.”
She grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. “I thought you’d never ask. Gianni’s?”
“Let’s try somewhere new.”
“I have the perfect place.” A smile stretched over her face as she went down to the car.
I stayed behind to lock the door. I knew eventually she’d question me about where I was last night, but so far she just seemed relieved that nothing was missing and I was okay. Maybe she’d forgotten where I’d told her I was going. I slid in next to her and glanced back at the house as the driver pulled away. I wanted to come back later, but with Cole instead.
I looked over at Sia, smiling until I remembered my alibi for the night before.
I told her I was going to be at my house last night.
Once we were back in the city, Sia should’ve gone to work, but she didn’t. She took the day off, declaring it Best Friend Day. For me. For the ass best friend. For the friend who had been lying to her.
We went to a new restaurant. We laughed. We drank. Fuck—we got drunk. The day, for all the craziness that had happened, was fun. Sia got my mind off of everything: Cole, the attack, my house. The only thing that wasn’t fun about the day was me. Sia was intent on celebrating me, while I was lying to her face.
How could I make that right in my head? How would I even try? I couldn’t. There were no words, no ways. At the end of the day, as we were giggling and tripping over ourselves going into the elevator, I knew who the bad guy was: me. Sia was being my friend, like she always had. I wasn’t doing the same. Nope. Douchebag. That was me.
She helped me into my place, and I fell on the floor.
“Oomph!” I felt nothing. I was just startled, and laughter pealed out of me.
Sia fell down beside me, laughing too. “We’re horrible.”
“No.” I pointed at her, my finger pressing into her skin. “We did what every burglarized person should do.”
She snorted, fighting back a grin. “Get wasted?”
“Yes.” I offered an emphatic nod. I meant business. “And when you get burglarized, I’ll do the same.”
“Spend a paycheck on cheap whiskey?”
I sat up and drew in a breath. “You spent a paycheck? A whole one?”
She rolled around, arching her back as more laughter came from her. “God, no. I love you, Addison. I probably spent two hundred dollars tonight.”
I touched her hand. “I’ll pay you back. I promise.”
“No.” She shook her head, almost knocking herself over as she struggled to sit up. “I owe you, and I’m doing what a friend should do. I’m taking your mind off things.”
I let out a sigh. “You really are.” I pulled her hand to my chest. “Thank you, friend.”
“No problem.” Her laughter dried up. Her voice grew somber. “You’d do the same for me.”
“Would I?”
“Addison.” She tilted her head. “You know you would.”
“I don’t know anymore,” I said, talking mostly to myself.
“Oh, Addy,” she murmured, scooting forward. She wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. “You lost your real best friend.” She moved her hand to rest over my heart. “He’s in here now. I can only hope to do him proud, but you’re selling yourself short. Addison, you are an amazing friend. You’re allowed to grieve the loss of your soulmate, no matter how long that takes. And trust me, I’m trying to play catch-up here. I’ve been slacking, you know, since a certain neighbor of yours came into my life.”
I laughed softly, leaning into her. “Thank you, Sia.”
She rested her chin on my shoulder, holding me once again.
“Thank you for making me feel better.”
“No problem.” She pressed her cheek to mine. “That’s what real friends do for each other, no matter what shit has hit the fan.”
“I’m a bad friend.”
Cole was in my kitchen, making scrambled eggs on my stove. He paused to frown at me. “What do you mean?”
“Sia’s been there for me so many times, and I’m lying to her about—” I waved at him. “You know.”
“Cut yourself a break.” Turning the stove off, he put the scrambled eggs on a plate and came toward the table. He grabbed two forks on the way and sat down. He gestured to the plate and passed me a fork. “Dig in. This is our breakfast.”
“Chef Cole extraordinaire, huh?”
“You know it.” He grinned, fork in hand and ready to dive in. He paused to stare at me a moment and seemed to grow thoughtful, lowering his hand to the table. “This is what I lived on when I was on my own for a while.”
“The family you stayed with didn’t cook for you?”
“They did, but I stayed in the stables. If they came for me, I didn’t want the family to die, too.” He shook his head. “That’s ridiculous thinking now. The Bertals would’ve cleaned house. They would’ve killed the family first and then come looking for me when they couldn’t find me in the house.”
“I’m sorry.”
“They weren’t your family.” He shrugged, raising his fork again. “But going back to the eggs, this is what I ate a lot of the time. I had dinner once or twice a week with the family. The other times, there was a small kitchen area in the barn, and I ate lots and lots of eggs. Somehow I got it in my head that that’s what you eat to get big.”
He laughed before spearing some eggs and popping them in his mouth. He ate half the plate in a few minutes before leaning back in his chair, rubbing his stomach. “I hated eggs when I first came back. I wouldn’t eat them. Carter never said anything, but I knew he wondered. We’d have dinner every now and then when I came back, and if there were eggs in the meal, I always picked them out.”
“Jake and Sia said Carter was your family’s hit man?”
He nodded. “Yeah, for a while. He rose up in the ranks, killed everything in sight. He was a fucking badass. I worshiped him; then I worshiped him even more after he saved my life. I learned later that he kind of ran the family until I came back. He’s a good guy. I owe him everything.”
I put my fork aside and leaned back in my chair, mirroring Cole. His legs stretched out under my seat, and I lifted mine, tucking them alongside his. It calmed me.
“There’s a lot on the internet about your friend.”
“The media loves him.” He winked at me. “He’s gorgeous, you know.”
I laughed softly. “So are you.”
Cole’s eyes darkened, and he leaned forward. He picked up my hand and laced our fingers together before looking back at me. “He wa
nts to meet you.”
“Huh?” I tried to pull my hand away, but Cole only tightened his hold.
He flashed that killer smile again, rubbing his thumb over mine. He’d grabbed my hand on purpose. “Yep. He wants to meet you all official like.”
“Just him?” A dark room flashed in my head. Men in dark business suits lined up against the far wall as I was led to my death. “Or will others be there?”
Cole’s eyes narrowed, and he cocked his head before shaking it. “Nope. I love the guy. He’s family, but I know he’s scary. I thought maybe if it was over dinner, that’d be less intense. And Emma will come, too.”
“Who’s Emma?” As I asked, I remembered. “Emma Nathans.”
Cole nodded. “She’s nice. I think you’ll like her. She’s the one who tamed the Carter beast.” He smiled, and I heard the fondness in his voice.
He liked Emma. He cared for her—or maybe it was something else. He respected her, just like he respected Carter Reed. I knew it, but I still asked. “You really care about them, don’t you?”
He nodded. “I do. I owe my life to both of them, actually. Last year—” His voice dropped. “I know there’s a lot of scary shit on the internet about Carter, and I don’t know what they say about Emma, but it’s not all true. Carter’s dangerous, and he’s killed, but he’s not a bad guy. He’s like me.”
Cole let go of my hand and leaned back in his chair again. His arms spread wide, and the carefree Cole returned. “Only I’m younger, funnier, and way better looking.”
I remembered how they’d looked, Cole and Carter, at the banquet. How they’d moved as one. Cole might be younger, but he was just as deadly. He’d showed me how dangerous he could be, and thinking about that night again, a shiver went through me, cooling my blood.
“You in?”
“Huh?”
Cole watched me.
“Oh yeah. Dinner with Carter and Emma.” I nodded. “I’m in.”
“Nothing big. Just a get-together among friends.”
That didn’t appease my nerves.
Cole held my hand the next night, leading me into the restaurant he and I had gone to once before. I knew this wasn’t going to be anything like “nothing big.” The hostess led us past crowded tables, and conversations stopped. I remembered the feeling of being watched from the last time, but I’d been overwhelmed just being at dinner with a guy who wasn’t Liam. I couldn’t imagine how it was worse this time than then, but it was. My nerves were shot.
I kept my eyes forward, and halfway through the restaurant, Cole squeezed my hand. That helped. He was calm, and I tried to take on some of that. By the time we got to the back and started up to the second floor, I could breathe a little bit easier, though I still had a death grip on Cole’s hand. When we got to the second floor, he maneuvered us so I was first. He now walked behind me, and a second later, I realized why. His hand came to the small of my back, and he began rubbing small circles, comforting me.
The floor was empty except for a table set up beside a stone fireplace. Two people sat there. I recognized the man as Carter. He rose to shake Cole’s hand, his ice blue eyes resting on me the whole time.
Cole spoke to him, joking about something, and then he stepped away from my side to converse with the woman, who’d stood as well. She didn’t come around the table. She waited by her seat, smiling and laughing at whatever Cole said to her.
Meanwhile, there was me, feeling like an idiot.
“I’m Carter. It’s nice to meet you.” He held his hand out.
The rebellious kid I used to be wanted to cut tail and run. I didn’t know where she’d come from, but I shoved her down and shook his hand. It was strong and authoritative. Okay. I got it. He was protective of his family. I was having a hard time making eye contact. Cole’s eyes were dark. Pain mixed with playfulness in them, but they were always warm when they looked back at me.
Carter was different.
I saw death when I looked at him. He was guarded, cautious, serious, and when I turned to Emma, I wondered briefly if this was a joke. Were these two actually together? She had none of those qualities. She was beautiful, with dark hair that fell to her shoulders, and her smile lit up her face. She was more slender than me, but when she shook my hand, she wasn’t weak. Not at all. She was strong as hell.
She waved a hand to the chair beside Cole. “Please, have a seat, Addison. It’s so nice to meet you.” She sat back down, her eyes flicking to my right for a moment. “Cole’s spoken highly of you.”
He snorted, sitting beside me. His hand rested on my leg under the table. “Like I’d have anything negative to say. I’m dating her, Ems. What do you expect?”
“I know.” She pulled her cloth napkin out and folded it on her lap, jerking her head to the guy on her right. “You’ve never introduced us to a woman before. I’m pretty sure Carter scared the shit out of her. I’m trying to make her feel more welcome.”
Carter stiffened. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You don’t have to.” Emma laid her hand on top of his. She spoke with such love that I was taken aback for a second. “You have resting bitch face, honey.”
Cole laughed “RBF? Nah. It’s more like the cold killer face. Stone cold, Carter. Stone cold.”
The ends of Carter’s mouth turned down. “You guys are making fun of me.”
“Yeah.” Cole nodded. “That’s what family does. We tease each other.” He laid his arm on the back of my chair, his hand falling to rest on my shoulder. “Addison’s the only one who gets a break tonight. She’s just met you guys, and we’re too new. Well…” He watched me from the corner of his eye, holding back a grin. “No. I get to tease her, but not you guys. You have to be nice.”
A server came over and poured Cole a glass of wine before moving around to serve the rest of the table.
“Don’t fight it, Carter,” Cole said, raising his glass. “Teasing you is a privilege, one that I hold dear. It’s an honor to be able to make fun of the Cold Killer to his face.”
“Cole.” Carter’s eyes flashed a warning, darting to the server, then landing on me.
Cole took a sip before setting his glass down. He waited till the server left, then leaned over the table. “Really? You don’t think your own employees know what they used to call you?”
Emma had been quiet, but she started laughing now. “The look on your face. You look like you want to shoot Cole and hug him at the same time.”
Carter’s shoulders lifted in a slow breath, and then a small smile showed. “You’ve always had that effect on me.”
“Because I’m like your little brother.” Cole winked at Carter, his hand drawing circles behind my shoulder. “And half the time you want to kick my ass; the other half you’re damned grateful you can call me family. That’s my effect on you. Consider it my thank you gift for all those times you saved my ass.”
I knew what Cole was doing. He knew Carter made me nervous, and he was trying to lighten the mood, drawing the attention from me to Carter himself. It was working. Carter turned his hand upside down and linked his fingers with Emma’s. They shared a warm look. They clearly adored each other. Once he was holding her hand, Carter relaxed. He rested more fully against the back of his chair. His shoulders loosened, and his grin seemed more natural.
Cole was also protecting me. He’d inserted himself into the conversation so any questions for me had to go through him in a way. I didn’t know how he’d done that, but he had. And the others took note.
Carter’s eyes flicked to me and lingered.
Cole noticed. “Don’t worry about Addison. She was at the stables with me.”
At the mention, I knew the slight break in tension was over. Carter’s eyes snapped back to attention and his grin disappeared. A faint scowl took its place. “Are you kidding me?”
“No.”
Cole’s light-hearted tone was gone as well. He leaned forward slightly. I started to lean in as well, but Cole’s hand splayed out on my shoulder. He held
me back.
“She was there, and she saw the whole thing,” Cole said.
Emma closed her eyes before her gaze fell to her lap.