Page 10 of Hell & Back

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” She looked over her shoulder, watching him move farther into the room. He was shirtless and barefoot, only wearing a pair of gym shorts. His tattoos were on full display and his hair was a bit of a mess from her hands tangling in it earlier. Thank God she had Darren to help her get through all of this with Tuck.

“What’s that look for?” he asked, one side of his mouth hitched up like he already knew the answer.

“Just appreciating how lucky I am to have a man like you who loves me the way you do.”

He stopped next to her chair, settled his hand on her shoulder and leaned down for a quick kiss. “I feel like I’m the lucky one.” She covered his hand with hers and gave it a gentle squeeze as he pulled a chair out and took a seat next to her.

“I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d try and find some information on Chet that might help you guys find the Phantom Furies.”

“Oh, yeah?” He slung his arm over the back of her chair and leaned in. “What have you found so far?”

“I found out that Chet’s lease on his apartment wasn’t in his name. It’s listed under Sadie Swallow.”

Darren choked. “Sadie Swallow? That sounds like a porn name.”

“I know. That’s what I was thinking. Anyway, I did a city wide search to see if that name was listed on any other properties in Redemption and came up with two more.” She pointed at where she’d written them down on the notepad next to her laptop.

“Then I ran Chet’s social security number and found an address in Taos, New Mexico.” She turned her head his direction to see his reaction to the news.

“New Mexico? Are you sure?” He frowned.

“Yes. I also ran Sadie Swallow through properties in Taos and it came up with this address.” She pointed at the third address on the list. ”It matches with the one I found on Chet. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

His hand had moved from the chair to the back of her neck where he was absently rubbing the tense muscles there. “No, baby. That’s no coincidence.” He yawned behind his other hand, then mused aloud, “That’s why we’ve never been able to get a bead on these pricks.”

Darren’s magical fingers at her neck felt amazing. One by one, she felt her muscles unwind.

“What else you got goin’ on here?” he asked.

She had to smile at that. “What makes you think I’ve got something else going on?”

He shot her a half smile and raised an eyebrow . “Because I know you so well.”

And he really did know her well. Living with him while Tuck dealt with Taylor, they’d become very good friends. They’d learned a lot about each other during that time and he’d been her rock when she found out she was pregnant by Tuck and as she suspected would be the case, he hadn’t remembered sleeping with her.

Getting back to what he wanted to know, she explained the new software she created and how it was supposed to work, and what she was hoping it would find.

Darren’s brows dipped in a deep V. “It can do all that?”

“I’m crossing my fingers, but yeah, I think it will.” She covered his hand where it now rested on her belly, then turned her lips up to accept his quick kiss.

“All right. Leave your program running and let’s go to bed.” He got up and pulled her chair back, then led her back to bed. He pulled the covers back, waved her in, then climbed in behind her. He lay on his back and pulled Kylie into his side so that shehad her head on his shoulder. He yawned again, then muttered, “It’s a good thing you use your genius to help us because you’re kinda scary when you let loose all those skills.”

She laughed to herself and settled her hand over his heart. The steady beat quickly coaxed her into sleep. As she was drifting off, she sent another silent prayer that Tuck would be okay and that he could come home sooner rather than later.

She hadn’t been lying when she told Darren she couldn’t live without both of them. If she lost either one of them, her heart would never recover because whoever left her would take that half with them.

3

DARREN

Darren was in the middle of fucking his woman, building her pleasure toward one hell of an orgasm, when his cell phone started to ring.

“Ignore it. It’ll stop,” he grunted and continued to fuck her from behind.

He’d woken this morning hornier than hell. After Kylie came back to bed last night, he’d pulled her back into his front, spooning her tight, determined to keep her in bed and make her rest. Although she’d passed out, her constant grinding of her ass into his dick had him hard the rest of the night.

Gripping her hips to keep them connected, he dropped them to their sides. He wrapped an arm around her chest to hold her close and moved her leg over his own to give him better access to what was between her legs. He growled his appreciation low in his throat feeling how wet she was for him.

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