Page 68 of Ricochet

“Maybe some cash for food.”

“Mm-hmm,” Adelia agreed around another mouthful, saying after a long moment, “Don’t think I couldn’t pull this off without you.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But it’d have been nice to have a few minutes to think.”

“Is that what you were doing here?”

“Yup.”

“What’d you come up with so far?”

“Well.” She eyeballed the old apple core. “Get a hold of someone in our network random and far enough away that no one would think to check.” Her shoulder popped. “I was still working on it and didn’t exactly have all the resources I wanted.”

“Like a phone.”

Adelia nodded.

“I saw you called Colin several times before you bailed.”

“Err, yeah.” Not only hadn’t she expected to hear his name, but she hadn’t expected to be under the full scrutiny of Lenora’s all-knowing, mind-reading stare when she did. “Why?”

“I had a chat with him too.”

“Lenora!” Her cheeks flushed. “What? Why!”

“I wanted to know if you were with your boyfriend.”

“I didn’t sayhe was my…” She flipped her hand over. “What did you say to him?”And what did he say?

Lenora leaned back, and a small sigh escaped before the corners of her lips turned. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“What are you talking about?” They didn’t have the type of mother-daughter relationship that included a chat about boys, unless it was who could ride a Hog, who was worthy of Mayhem, andwho Tex might kill one day. They’d never had a heart to heart and weren’t about to start with Colin.

“Falling for a law man.”

“He’s not a law man! What are you talking about?”

“Carries a gun.” Lenora winked.

“Tex carries a gun.” Adelia rolled her eyes. “And trust me, there’s no badge involved with those guys.”

“I’ve dealt with them enough to know they like rules.”

“Mayhem likes rules.”

“We like a code.”

Adelia wouldn’t disagree with that and bit into the bagel again.

“He’s worried about you,” Lenora added. “I could hear it in his voice.”

That sliced through Adelia’s chest. She didn’t want to expose Colin to her world any more than she already had. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what he’d think about the choices she’d made over the last few years. Most people would tell her tocall the cops. Most people would be wrong.

Or maybe Delta would take care of the problem on their own. A wish that he could swoop in, put his gun to good use, and rid the world of human traffickers made her hopeful that he’d not only understand, he’d want to help.

But no, they had rules, and Colin had upper management written all over him. Adelia could pinpoint distinct types of people, andhe had places to go and teams to lead. Colin didn’t need her burden or baggage.

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