Page 75 of Chasing Shelter

Ellie struggled not to laugh as she set Keely down. “Do I want to know what a sexual chakra is?”

“Oh, darling, we’ll work on it. It’s your sacral chakra. A little of my psychedelic tea, and we’ll get you opened right up. Then we’ll hit up the cowboy bar or The Sagebrush.”

“Lolli,” I gritted out. Though it wasn’t only because I didn’t want my six-year-old going into school tomorrow talking about stick dicks and sexual chakras. It was also because I was jealous. The idea of Ellieletting loose with someone who wasn’t me…had everything in me twisting into knots.

“Just because you’re a stick-in-the-mud doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be,” Lolli shot back.

Ellie just shook her head. “I don’t know if I could keep up with you, Lolli.”

“Trust me,” Fallon called. “You can’t.”

“But you’ll have a hell of a lot of fun trying,” Lolli said, shaking her hips in some bizarre dance.

My cell phone rang, and I’d never been so happy for an interruption. Pulling it from my pocket, I saw Gabriel’s name on the screen and swiped my finger across the device to accept the call. “Please, save me from the insanity that is my family.”

Gabriel was quiet for a moment, and everything in me went on alert. “What’s wrong?” I asked, moving out of the open living space and down the hall.

Gabriel cleared his throat. “It’s your dad. We’ve got him in lockup.”

22

ELLIE

It wasas if my whole body was attuned to Trace. I couldn’t help being aware of every move the man made. The second his phone rang. The moment the call turned.

I watched as his shoulders stiffened, the muscles twisting into tense blocks of cement. The way his shields went up as he talked to the person on the other end of the line. And I couldn’t stop myself from following him as he walked down the hallway.

It might make me a creepy stalker, but I had a deep urge to help. To ease whatever ate at him the way he’d soothed me more than once.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Trace faced away from me as he ended the call, but he made no move to turn or leave as he said he would. Instead, he just stood there for a moment, clutching the phone at his side, his breaths coming in ragged inhales and exhales.

I tracked each breath with my gaze, my fingers itching to reach out and grab hold. I wanted to tell him it would be okay, even though I had no idea what was wrong. “Trace?”

Those muscles wound tighter, and he didn’t move right away. I felt him putting up layer after layer of walls between us. Each brickhe placed to reinforce the barrier was like a carefully placed blow, but I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Finally, he turned, his expression unreadable. “I need to go into the station.”

My hands fisted, the nails I’d painted lavender the other day pressing into my palms. “What happened?”

“Case,” Trace said flatly.

“What case?” I pressed.

“That’s sheriff’s department business.”

The words were like a slap, but I knew what was beneath them. Over the past few weeks, Trace had given me pieces of himself, tiny slivers I was slowly assembling into an image that revealed more than he might want to show me. But I saw it all the same.

I stared at Trace, not letting my gaze waver for a second. “It’s okay if you need help. It’s okay if you need someone to lean on. It doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human.”

A muscle fluttered wildly in his jaw. “Ellie?—”

“Let me be there for you. Like you’ve been there for me.”

That jaw worked back and forth, but Trace took a single step toward me. It was all I needed. I closed the distance and slid my fingers through his, squeezing tightly, an invitation for him to lay down his burdens.

“Gabriel arrested Jasper. He’s in lockup.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “For what?”

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