Page 70 of Sundowners
I nodded to them and sucked in a breath. “I’m grateful that we reconnected. I feel so much better knowing you survived. Gives me hope. If I don’t make it out of this, please…take care of yourselves.”
They grabbed me up in a big hug and squeezed until we were all laughing and teary. I hated saying goodbye, not knowing whether I’d see them again. It was strange, I hadn’t known they were alive two days ago, but now that I knew, I hated being apart.
I said my goodbye and ran down the steps of their apartment. Then I stalled.
Was I really ready to do this?
I needed to take care of one more thing before I talked to Roman.
22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Roman
It was a long night.I was still at the station when Vanessa and Sterling got the call that there had been a house explosion on East Cliff and fire department personnel had classified it suspicious. They found a partial ID for Dominique LeMonde, the BioBourne employee with ties to Monaco. They were still searching the house for remains when we left the station at three a.m.
My head was killing me, my stupid tinnitus acting up ever since leaving the bar with Rey. I tried to be helpful, but Vanessa had to call my name three times before finally resorting to “Junior” when I didn’t hear her. All the late nights, the stress, and the heartache had taken a toll. She told Rey to take me home and that she’d call if anything came up, although the trail had run cold.
Rey stayed with me at the house and threatened to take me to the doctor tomorrow morning if I was still ringing. Officer Dicknaldo would not be swayed.
I crashed hard, but a knock on the door woke me while the sky was still gray outside.
My heart ground to a stop when I opened the door to find Lexi…with Rhonda.
“I’m sorry to just show up, but I told you I’d let you know if I heard anything.”
I gestured for her to come in, and Rhonda pulled away from her to run at me. She leaned heavily against my leg.
“How—”
“Creed came to my place last night. He said he’s in trouble, and he asked me to watch Rhonda for him.”
Rey came down the stairs in his boxers and halted.“Lexi?”
“Hi, Rey. I’m sorry to come over so early, but I didn’t know what to do, and I certainly don’t know how to take care of this much dog.” She laughed nervously and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “She practically dragged me up your steps.”
I took the leash from Lexi and guided her to the table. “Want some coffee?”
“Sure,” she said, but she was distracted. She sat down and shoved her hands in her hoodie pocket.
I set a bowl of leftover grilled chicken on the floor for Rhonda and she ate it daintily, not scarfing it like most dogs do.
“So he just gave you the dog and said see ya?” Rey asked as he returned, pulling on a sweatshirt, and thankfully he’d thrown on sweats.
“He did. He said he had to run, and he gave me Rhonda’s leash and a bunch of money, said he’d be back for her if he could. He also said that if I saw you, Roman, I should tell you he heard what you said last night, and he’s sorry.”
Rey and I looked to each other. “He was there?”
Lexi shrugged. “I don’t know.”
My heart apparently forgot it was supposed to keep a sinus rhythm as it was now bouncing around like the ball over the lyrics on the screen at karaoke.
“Lexi, did he say anything else? Is he leaving?”
“No, just that he might not be back and he wanted to know Rhonda was okay. But Roman, I’m scared for him. And there’s something else.” Her eyes were wide. “The night your lola had her episode? When I came in and he asked me to give her the insulin?”
“I remember,” my heart now hurtling like the fucking ball in pong, slamming against walls, freefalling, floating through the air. “He had to check on another patient. I stopped him in the hallway.”
