The day had started out better than most. I’d gone to the gym with the express purpose of seeing Lina. Between watching her move that beautiful body and me actually moving mine, I’d gotten a boost. But somewhere in the middle of Liza J’s mile-long list of chores, that cold, dark wave had crashed over me again without warning. It dragged me under, and even the antidepressant I’d remembered to take that morning couldn’t help me fight my way back to the surface.
I’d started half a dozen texts to Knox making up excuses for why I couldn’t make it tonight, but I knew he’d keep his word. He’d just appear at my door and try to drag me out.
It was easier to show up, go through the motions.
Upstairs, I’d managed a dozen stilted words before shoving Piper into Lina’s arms. I’d use the dog as an excuse to get back within the hour.
I could fake it for sixty minutes. Fifty-six now, seeing as how I was already four minutes late.
Steeling myself, I opened the front door and stepped into the world of the living.
It was a Monday night, which meant a smaller crowd and country classics on the jukebox rather than a live band.
Out of habit, I scanned the thin crowd. Tallulah and Justice St. John occupied a table with pet shop owner Gael and his husband, Isaac, for their monthly double date. Sherry Fiasco, Jeremiah’s sister and Knox’s right-hand person, was shrugging into a coat behind the bar next to Silver, the edgy blond bartender.
My brother clocked me before I made it two steps inside. He was in his standard uniform of jeans, battered motorcycle boots, beard, and an air of “fuck around and find out.”
Knox always appeared to be looking for a fight.
Beside him stood Lucian Rollins in a suit that probably cost more than my first car. He was tall, dark, and also dangerous, but in a different way.
Where Knox was more likely to punch you in the face if you pissed him off, Lucian was the type to methodically and creatively destroy your life.
Lucky for me they mostly kept their powers in check.
There was an empty stool between the two, which told me I was about to be the unwilling center of attention.
The door opened behind me, and my U.S. marshal shadow strolled inside. “You know this would be a hell of a lot easier if you told me where you were going and how long you planned to be there,” he groused.
“Yeah, well, my life would be a hell of a lot easier if I didn’t have you up my ass all day.”
“Long as we’re both miserable,” he said before peeling off to grab an empty two-top facing the door.
Knox straightened away from the bar.
Fuck me.
Fifty-six minutes. Drink a beer. Shoot the shit. Keep my brother from assaulting a fed. Then I could go home and hide from the world.
I made my way through the tables, nodding as people called out greetings.
“Evening, boys,” I said when I reached them.
Lucian offered me his hand and pulled me in for a one-armed hug.
“Good to see you.”
“You too, Lucy.”
Knox was glaring over my shoulder at Nolan Graham. “Think I might go kick your shadow’s ass,” he said over the rim of his glass.
“Appreciate the sentiment, but I really don’t wanna help bury a body tonight,” I told him.
Knox’s attention shifted away from the marshal and back to me. “You look like shit. You shave with a butter knife?”
“Nice to see you too, dick,” I said, sliding onto the stool between them. I didn’t have the energy to stand.
“You’ve been avoiding my calls,” Lucian said, taking his seat and shooting me one of those piercing looks that had women’s underwear falling down to their ankles for over two decades now.
“Been busy,” I said, signaling Silver for a drink.
She winked a smoky eye at me. “Comin’ up, Chief.”
One benefit to still living in the small town you’d grown up in, you never had to tell anyone what your drink order was. They remembered.
“Better not be busy with your new neighbor,” Knox said, straddling his stool and angling toward me.
“If that’s why we’re doin’ this, I’ll save you an hour and say what Lina and I do or don’t do is none of your damn business.”
“You’re my brother. She’s my friend. That makes it my business.”
“Save your breath. Nothing’s happened…yet,” I added on a smirk.
“Yeah? Well, it better stay that way. You two don’t work. She’s all wanderlust and adrenaline and you break out into hives if you venture out of the county. You’ve got nothin’ in common.”
“Said the expert whose been engaged what? A handful of weeks? To a woman who is way too good for you, I might add. Thanks, Silver,” I said when she slid me a draft beer.
“Gentlemen, I suggest we table this discussion,” Lucian said. “We have other matters to discuss.”
The faster they spilled it, the sooner I could go home.
Lucian put his scotch down on the bar and nodded at my brother.
“Where does the investigation stand? Lucian thinks the feds are ignoring Duncan Hugo because they’re more interested in landing his fuckface father,” Knox said.
Okay, maybe I’d rather go a few rounds about me seeing Lina if the alternative was talking about Duncan Hugo. “It’s an ongoing investigation. No comment,” I said.
Knox snorted. “You can’t tell me you’re not running your own investigation. If the feds are focused on Daddy, then we’ll go after Junior. Only problem is, Junior’s so far underground no one knows where he is.”
“Our most likely theory is that Anthony helped his son leave the country,” Lucian said.
If the junior Hugo had split the country, that meant the odds of him coming back to finish the job were slim.
The relief I felt was immediately replaced with a wave of shame. As an officer of the law, I was programmed to fight for justice. As a Morgan, I was destined to just plain fight. Yet here I was, too depressed to spur myself into action.
“I’d have bet my brokerage balance that asshole doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together. But Naomi and Way insist he’s smarter than he’s given credit. Says when he had ’em…” Knox trailed off, his knuckles going white on the bar.
I realized that Hugo hadn’t just taken something from me, he’d taken from my family. And that still wasn’t enough to bring me to the surface of the dark.
My brother cleared his throat while Lucian and I did the polite, manly thing and ignored him.
“Way said he was sly like a fox with rabies,” Knox said finally.
The corner of my mouth lifted. Waylay would make a fine cop someday, but I doubted Knox would want to hear that about his little girl.
“He better hope for his sake his ass is in South America getting eaten alive by mosquitos,” Knox said.
“I don’t see a scenario where it would make sense for him to stick around. He’s most likely living it up somewhere far away from here.”
“But in case he isn’t,” Lucian said, “you need to be vigilant. You’re a loose end regardless of where he is. You’re the only one who can identify him as the shooter.”
“And how would you know that?” I demanded.