Page 119 of From This Moment

“Who made you boss?” Luke asked.

“My badge.”

“No arguing with that,” the youngest Trainer added.

“So tell us about this copycat dude.”

Dylan found himself talking, and the others threw in questions. An hour later he felt like a large weight was suddenly sitting on his chest. The facts were there before him, startlingly clear on the whiteboard.

“Okay, so Operation: Protect Howards has just commenced,” Joe said. “We need to make sure you guys are watched until this is dealt with.”

“I can look after my family.”

“Sure, and we’ll tag along. Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of your mom’s way. She won’t even know I’m there,” Joe said.

“I don’t want Chief Blake to know yet.” Dylan looked around the group of men. “Not until I can lay it all out for him clearly. At the moment it would be hard to get him to believe me.”

“We do,” Ted said.

And they did, Dylan thought, looking around the faces of the men he now thought of as friends. How the hell was he going to keep them safe as well if they didn’t keep their distance?

Chapter 31

Piper heard the rumble of an engine pull up outside the house. She was tucked out of sight soaking in the hot tub, as she often did in the wee hours of the morning after she’d put Grace back to sleep. Tonight she needed it more than ever, as her body ached from the fall she’d taken today.

She heard the voices approaching and ducked under the water, but her cousins simply went up the front steps and inside the house. They’d be asleep in minutes, especially if they’d had a few beers. Piper didn’t want company; this was her time. Time to reflect and regroup.

The sound of footsteps had her sinking below the water once more. Maybe they hadn’t both gone inside. She hoped they didn’t want to join her.

The view here was spectacular, especially when the moon was high as it was tonight. She could see the mountains outlined and it felt wonderful to be the only one seeing it.

Rising, she watched a figure emerge out of the darkness and walk by her, hands in pockets. The man took shape and she realized it was Dylan. He stopped at the edge of the paved area and looked up at the mountains. His exhale was loud and slow, and then his shoulders slumped and his head dropped. It was defeat she saw now in every line of his body.

The anger she’d been carrying toward him slipped away. He’d been rude to her and Joe, but she also knew he had a lot on his mind.

“Dylan?”

He turned.

“Piper?”

“Yes.”

His eyes located her, and his feet started moving. In seconds he was there standing above her. She couldn’t read his expression, but wished she could because something was worrying him.

He ran a hand down her cheek, his fingers cool from the night air.

“Why are you here, Dylan?”

“Because your cousins told me to walk around here and look up at the mountains before I drove home because it would clear my head.”

“Why does your head need clearing? I know it’s not from the beer, or you wouldn’t have driven.”

“It’s complicated.”

She felt his eyes running over her body, even though it was concealed by darkness.

“Why are you out here now, Piper? It’s 2:00 a.m.”

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