There’s a scuffling sound in the distance; we both listen, guns at the ready. Then Zoe’s voice calls, “Alex?”
Relief rushes through me. “Yeah, babe.” We head toward her, moving fast. “Stay right there, we’re coming.”
“Don’t hurt the dog,” she says, and we freeze halfway down a connecting hallway.
“Dog?” I repeat.
“Just in case he snaps the chain. It’s not his fault.”
“Are you with the dog?” I ask, following the sound of her voice. We reach the end of the hallway and turn, and my light hits her in the face. She squints, throwing a hand up. “Sorry.”
“No, he’s down at that end,” she says, pointing, and I see how raw her wrists are. We reach her an instant later, kneeling down and cradling her between us.
“We need to get you to a hospital, hon,” I tell her.
“Okay, but you have to tell the police. Don’t let them shoot the dog. Make sure they take him to a shelter or a rescue organization.”
It doesn’t surprise me that she’s more worried about the dog than herself. Lucas and I exchange a glance. “I’ll stay here,” he says. “Take care of the dog. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
“Thank you.” She throws her arms around him and kisses him, then does the same to me. “I’m so glad to see you both.” Then, “Hey!”
She says this because Lucas has pulled the fabric of her dress aside to expose her bra. “New lingerie?” he asks. It looks new to me; it’s green and lacy and I can’t wait to take it off her.
“Yes. It was supposed to be a surprise for tonight. Why on earth do you care about my lingerie right now?”
“Because we couldn’t track you.”
“Track me —” she blinks. “You have tracking devices in my bras?”
“Yes, and if you’d been wearing one of them we would have found you immediately.”
“Well, how was I to know?” She shakes her head and repeats, “In my bras?”
“No harm done,” Lucas says gruffly, his eyes lingering on her wrists and ankles. They would have tied her up regardless, but we could have minimized the damage if we’d found her sooner. Someone’s going to pay for that.
“What are you doing over here?” I ask her. “Where did they have you?”
“There’s a little room off that hallway. As for why I’m over here, check it out.” She gestures toward the room beyond her, and I aim my flashlight beam into it. “I’m guessing there’s more in the other room, with the dog.”
“Probably so.” I take in the bricks and bags of white powder, the bricks neatly stacked, the bags in a haphazard pile. “This’ll make the police happy.”
She turns back to Lucas. “So you’ll be sure —”
“I’ll be sure they don’t hurt the dog,” he tells her gently. “You let Alex take you to the hospital now, all right?”
“All right.” She kisses him again, then me. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
My brother and I share a look as I lead Zoe out. Things could have gone a lot worse than they did, but I know this episode has kicked our emotions into high gear. We and our girl are going to be having a talk very soon.
42
Accelerated
Zoe
Much later that night, after I’ve been bandaged at the hospital and given my statement to the police, and after Lucas has assured me that the dog was picked up by a rescue organization, and after a very strained conversation with my father, the twins and I are back at my place.
“So that gang thought they could use me to force my father into transporting drugs for them?”
“Yeah,” Lucas says. “Some of his employees, unbeknownst to him, had been using company trucks to do just that. When he found out, he fired the employees, but the gang didn’t have an alternate system in place. It cost them a lot of money, and they were not happy about it.”
My mind flashes back over everything that happened, and another question comes to me. “When they forced me off the road, my doors were locked, but they beeped them open. How’d they do that?”
“There are devices that will clone the signal from a key fob. They must have followed you to work one day. They’d been planning this; it wasn’t spur of the moment.”
We’re all in bed, me tucked between the brothers. I’ve been taking turns snuggling close to them, first one and then the other, because it feels like I can’t get close enough. Part of me still feels the chill of that basement.
Finally, they press me between them, until I can barely move or breathe, and that feels just right, my twin sandwich, safe and warm and sexy. Though that last part is going to have to wait; they’re being chivalrous because of my injuries, even though I’ve told them it’s not necessary.
“It seems kind of desperate,” I say. “Weren’t there plenty of criminal types who would have been willing to do the transport?”
“Sure,” Alex says. He’s behind me, Lucas fa
cing me. “But none of them had a huge fleet of trucks on hand, nor the presumption of innocence that would have helped them escape detection.”
“That makes sense,” I say quietly. “I almost feel sorry for my father.”
Alex kisses my shoulder. “I’m not going to defend him, but I will say he was genuinely worried about you.”
“One of his few redeeming features,” Lucas says only half jokingly. “He does care about you.”
I sigh. “I should try to be more … pleasant to him. I was so hurt and angry when he left us, not only on my own behalf, but my mother’s. It just shattered her. And then for him to marry again so soon, and have a whole other family, like we didn’t exist.”
I shake my head. “Anyway, the point is, the past is the past, and I’m a grownup now. I should try to mend fences. If nothing else, I’ve got three half-siblings to get to know.”
“Speaking of families …” Lucas traces a finger along my hip. “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”
“It’s usually just my mother and me.”
“She’s never remarried?” Alex asks, and I shake my head. “Does she live here in town?”
“Yeah. Where are your parents?” I already know they don’t have siblings.
“They’re a six-hour drive away,” Lucas says. “Maybe we can do Thanksgiving with your mom, and Christmas with them.”
My heart stops. Yes, those words did just come out of his mouth. “You … you want to—”
“We’re together, Zoe. We don’t want to hide it.”
“Me either,” I say slowly. “But easier said than done. My mom would be shocked, and at least at first she’d be worried, but I think she’d do her best to be supportive. What about your folks?”