Page 91 of Twisted Hearts

How much did she know? I hadn’t tried calling her since she told me to come home. Whatever had happened had her scared.

My dad?

With everything I’d learned, I wasn’t sure I could summon up any compassion for him if he was hurt.

I scanned the bar, saw that everyone who was sitting there was taken care of, and made my way down to Shawn at the end. He’d left only a couple of times in the last four hours to use the restroom or walk around the alley. When he was gone, he had Mason take his place, and Charlie was perched at the other end, pretending to read a book and play games on her phone.

“You can leave at any time,” Shawn reminded me. His face was all hard lines and jutted jaw. His hair was a mess from running his hands through it.

He was so damn sexy. Especially when he was being protective.

For a moment, I considered taking him up on his offer. Mostly so I could be the one running my hands through his hair and smoothing out all those stress lines of his.

“Have they seen the SUV?”

If MaryAnne and Daniel had headed this way before the sun rose, they should have been in town hours ago.

“No. I figure whoever was driving them switched cars. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“Damn.”

“Hey.” He reached out and covered my hand with his. “Don’t worry about this. You just need to focus on doing your job. We’ll take care of the rest, okay?”

“I know. I just want it done.”

There were still so many questions, so many things that didn’t make sense. I wanted to make sure Daniel was out of the picture, though, so I could finally get answers from my dad.

“It will be. And there’s something to look forward to.”

I arched a brow and leaned in. “And what is that?”

“When you get off shift, I get to take you back tomybed, and it’s a hell of a lot bigger and more comfortable than yours.”

“To sleep?” I asked, my body warming at the promise in his eyes.

He pushed his lips out and grinned. “Eventually.”

His hand squeezed mine, sending that rush of warmth straight to the tops of my thighs.

“Definitely something to look forward to.” I slid my hand out of his grip and went back to work, a smile on my face and a lightness in my step.

Ridiculous how the thought of sex with Shawn could make me feel lighter.

But really…sex with him was just that good.

* * *

“This can’t befun for you.”

I was leaning on the bar after finishing up my dinner of cheeseburger and fries. The fries there were to do die for, perfectly salted and seasoned, and I struggled not to lick the remnants off my fingers.

Across from me, Charlie shrugged. “Trust me, it’s better than sleeping in the desert.”

She’d already mentioned that she used to be in the military. I hadn’t asked what branch, what she’d done, or where she had been stationed, mostly because when she’d told me that was how she met Jaxon, her typically vivid and bright eyes had dulled. It was enough warning not to push.

“Well, still, I appreciate it.”

Charlie took a bite of her French dip sandwich and hummed. “Malcolm’s food is incredible. Lunch was awesome, but this is even better.” It occurred to me that she’d been sitting at his bar for close to six hours now without moving hardly at all. She’d gone to the restroom a couple of times, but other than that, she’d barely moved.

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