Even the Score(100)

“Well?”

He lifted his head and stared straight ahead, avoiding my eyes. “Well, he’s still in jail. He’s never left, and he hasn’t had any visitors other than his attorney.”

“What?!” I cried out. “How can that be? Cole must have hired Javier. Cole had to have sent these flowers.”

“I have no idea.” He shook his head back and forth. That angry vein was pulsating in his forehead so hard that I thought it might explode. “They’re going to send a car over here to park outside overnight, and I’m heading there in the morning to talk to Larson more.”

“I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not.” He finally slid his eyes over to mine. “You’ve been through enough. You need to rest.”

“Stop being so fucking bossy. This is about me, and I have a right to know what the hell is going on, probably even more than you do.” I snapped a little harsher than I meant to, but I refused to back down. “I’m a grown woman who handled herself just fine before you came along, Andy. Don’t treat me like some delicate flower who can’t fend for herself.”

His face tightened, and he pressed his lips together as I spoke, but after a second, he relaxed again. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I stood up and walked over, lifting his shoulder so he would stand up straight. As soon as he did, I wrapped my arms around his waist. His heart thumped against my ear as soon as I laid my head on his chest, a sound that had grown to soothe me. At the moment it was beating a little faster than it should have been, but it was still soothing nonetheless.

“Can we go to bed, please? Upstairs? Together? For the whole night?” I murmured, desperate to feel his arms around me until the morning.

“Are you kidding?” he scoffed. “Did you really think letting you sleep without me was even an option? I’m fucking bossy, remember?”





CHAPTER 37

Andy

I hardly slept at all. Between getting up to check and make sure the police car was still parked out front and staring at Dani as she slept, I had less than three hours of sleep the whole night. At one point I thought I heard something down in the kitchen, so I grabbed one of Logan’s bats from his room and tiptoed down the steps. If not for the glow of the fridge light, I probably would have clobbered poor Gloria to death. To say that I was on edge was putting it mildly.

By the time my alarm when off in the morning, I was already awake and turned it off immediately. Dani groaned and shifted in her sleep but didn’t open her eyes. Within seconds, her breathing evened, and she was passed out again. At least one of us was able to rest. And if I had to pick, I was glad it was her. She still had a long road of recovery ahead of her and I wanted her body to have whatever it needed.

I heard Logan and Becca chattering as they went down the steps, so I carefully slipped my arm out from around Dani’s waist, tucked her back in, and snuck down after them.

The sun was shining brightly through the two-story entryway, the kids were giggling in the kitchen, and other than the police car parked in the front of the house, it seemed like any other fantastic September morning. I glanced at the clock on the oven as I sailed into the kitchen.

Seven oh two.

I had to be at Detective Larson’s office in an hour, and the thought of leaving Dani to sleep crossed my mind. I was worried that Larson wouldn’t be as candid and honest with her sitting there, but then I remembered the ass chewing she gave me the night before, and I realized she would do even worse to him if she felt he was withholding information.

“Morning, guys.” I tried to sound as normal and cheerful as possible.

“Daddy!” Becca sang happily, leaping into my arms.

“Good morning, Mr. Shaw,” Gloria said as she pushed scrambled eggs around the pan.

I sighed. “Gang, raise your hand if you think Gloria should call me Andy.”

Becca, who would agree with anything I asked her to agree to, raised her hand as high as it would go. Logan, who was half asleep on the other side of the table, raised his hand, and mine followed. “Look at that. One, two, three. You’re outnumbered. Andy it is.”

Gloria turned and shot me a glare that was the equivalent of your mother using your middle name, and I decided to shut up.

We were just finishing up breakfast when I heard her footsteps in the hallway. Dani appeared in the doorway. Her eyes were puffy and her hair looked like a slightly tamer version of Medusa, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The T-shirt she was wearing had slipped down, exposing her shoulder like it always did, driving me absolutely insane. I had to force myself to remember that my kids were in the room and squash the daydream I was having of throwing her on the kitchen table and making love to her right there.