Zane nods. “We took turns. And now we’re here to kick some ass and help you find your girl.”
Just like Kaden said it.
My girl.
I don’t remember telling them that part when I called them yesterday. I may have.
Or maybe they heard it in my voice when I said her name.
“You okay with this?” I ask quietly, somehow finding the presence of mind to ask.
Okay that I’ve replaced his adopted sister with another woman?
“I’m here, right?” He shoots me a long look I can’t read. “It was about time you started living again, man.”
I nod gratefully.
“What do we need to do?” Rafe asks, raking a hand through his blond hair. “Want us to go talk to the police with you? We’ve got experience with that. Zane here can charm all sorts of info from them.”
“No shit?” I squint at Zane with his bulky arms and aggressive hairdo and pierced eyebrow. “When did you have to go to the police?” Suddenly I realize I have no clue how Zane’s life has been the la
st three years. “Did something happen?”
Zane shakes his head like I’m a hopeless case and elbows Rafe. “Now is not the time for this. Though I gotta show you pictures of my kid.”
“You got a kid?”
“Fucker,” Zane says without heat. “Try to keep up.”
But I tuned out of life for too long. “I will,” I vow and let them inside the house.
We don’t linger. I make some coffee, and we go back out on the porch to drink it, not to wake up the others.
Then Zane walks down to the cop standing by the police car and somehow gets the latest update and the address of the motel where Jeff Adams was staying until yesterday.
Well, I’ll be damned.
“Told you he’s a charmer,” Rafe mutters, lifting a brow at Zane who bares his teeth in a dangerous grin.
Who would’ve thought? He sure seems different, though, despite the perpetual aggressiveness and bad boy attitude.
He seems… happy. Still dangerous, but also content. Easier in his skin than I’ve ever seen him.
“What else did the cop tell you?” I glance at the police car. Now two cops are sitting inside, looking bored and tired. “Last thing they told me was that they were going through the motel room again.”
John told me that. I called him several times throughout the night, but he had no real news for me.
“Yeah, no clues there,” Zane says. “Guy is good at covering his tracks. How the hell did you get yourself into this mess, man?” He scowls at me. “You lost a baby you never knew you had, girlfriend dead and her brother suddenly coming after you?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” I mutter, my mind elsewhere. John said the same thing. Why now? And why here? “What changed?” I mutter.
“What are you talking about?” Zane demands.
“Why would her fucking brother come after me after all these years, here of all places?”
Rafe looks up from where he’s checking his phone. “You seriously hoping for a rational explanation?”
We stand on the porch as the sun comes up. There’s an ache in my chest, a gaping hole. I need her. I’m failing her.