“Let’s hope not.”
“So, we’re ruling out Viktor for the time being?” Jacob asked.
“Yeah. The DNA test only just came back, so I doubt that he’s heard about it yet. And why would Viktor have it in for three girls in an anonymity group? He’s already been exposed, tried, and found mother-fucking guilty.”
“I agree. So, we focus our resources on identifying HAK?”
“Yeah. I’m still running the photos of Valkyrie, but I was hoping that my girl at the anonymity group could wing a real name from the other members; otherwise, we’ll both have to sit tight until Saturday.”
“Just sitting here drives me fucking nuts. Can you give me the names of the other girls in the group? I can go and talk to them. Officially, that is.”
“No can do. They use those pseudonyms and don’t have listed contact information. The girl that I managed to rope into helping me said she’d do it on the condition that she could keep as much as possible confidential. I agreed, but only because I knew that she’d flat out refuse to help if I said no.”
“Fuck.” Frowning at the phone for a few seconds, he thought about what he could do, then, raising it again, asked, “How did you even manage to track an informant down then?”
“I used my internet skills, dashing good looks, charm, and charisma.”
“Meaning you found the specific anonymity group and a contact detail online?”
“Well, yes.”
“Shit. I can’t wait until Saturday to interview the other women. That’s not soon enough, Zac.”
“Don’t you have other work to do?” Zac asked, but Jake could tell that he was grinning.
“Har. Har.”
Zac laughed and Jacob smiled. For a moment they were both silent, both remembering a time when conversations like this had been a part of their everyday routine. “It’s been good chatting, man. When this is over, we should grab a beer.”
“Yeah. I’d actually like that.”
“Let me know if you find anything else? I’ll do the same. And send me those pictures. I might be able to help identify Valkyrie.”
“Sure thing.”
“Zac? Thanks for this. It…means a lot.”
“Of course, Jake. Just keep her safe.”
The line went dead, and Jacob let out the breath that he had been holding. He hadn’t thought about mending the bridge with Zac, especially since they hadn’t spoken in so long. But seeing him again, talking to him for just a while had been…nice. It had brought back all the memories of the good times they’d had together, the stupid shit they’d done when they’d been smartass rookies, the shit they’d gotten into with their captain on more than one occasion.
He wondered if part of his need to bridge the gap had risen from the fact that he was truly in love for the first time. He’d never really been able to put himself in Zac’s shoes until he met Lola, but now…just the thought of something happening to her made his stomach roil. He couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he lost her, if she died because of a case that he’d been working on. He wondered if he could cut all of his friends out of his life and drop off the face of the earth like Zac had done when he’d lost Tara.
Fucking A. With an almost brutal clarity, he realized that he probably should have been a better friend. He should have gotten over the hurt and tracked Zac down to check that he was okay. Instead, he’d nursed his own anger at his friend’s abandonment to the point where it had kept him from reaching out at all. But not anymore. He was going to be a better friend, he was going to try and help Zac where he could because that’s what friends were for and so far, he’d failed the test royally.
Chapter 17
Lola glanced up from her bathroom mirror when Jacob knocked on the door. Although she’d given him a key, she now kept the deadbolt locked during the day, even though a uniformed police officer was sitting in her parking lot.
She knew that it was Jake because he had texted her when he had been leaving work only twenty minutes earlier to say that he was on his way to pick her up. A fact which had completely thrown her off because twenty minutes earlier she had been up to her elbows in paint, their double date with Matt and Sarah completely forgotten.
Walking over to the door, she looked through the peephole to confirm that it was him, and then slid the deadbolt away and pulled the door open.
He turned to wave off the uniform before stepping inside and coming up right in front of her. Before she’d even said hi, he swooped her off her feet and, dodging the mascara brush in her hand, carried her to the bed.
She chuckled when he plopped her down on the covers and she reached over to put the brush down so that she didn’t get the inky mascara all over him. “I missed you today,” she said, looking up into emerald eyes.
His grin made her heart stutter in her chest, pulling everything tight at once. “I missed you too.”
Leaning over her, he gently pried her lips open with his tongue, taking what she offered with an urgency that made her want to strip him immediately. She reached for the button on his pants, but he caught her hands and slipped off the bed, pulling her into a sitting position with the movement. She looked at him, curious as to why he’d stopped. She could tell by the hard shape of him in his slacks that he was just as eager as she was.
“We’re going to be late meeting Sarah and Matt and I promised my parents that I’d stop by and pick up this box of stuff that they’ve been threatening to get rid of.”
She felt a small bubble of panic work its way into her throat. His parents? “What?”
He looked down at her, confused for a moment, then a brief flicker of awareness reached his eyes and he smiled. “I can just run in and grab it, say I’m late for our dinner. I don’t want to freak you out.”
“They know about our dinner?” What?
“Well, yeah,” he shifted under her gaze, “I was supposed to go over to their house with my brother and sister tonight but…with everything going on and then with the double date…I canceled on them. But if they’re too much for y—”
“It’s not them per se…it’s…me. I mean…that’s not normal. Right? We’re not even officially dating.”
“We’re not?” he asked, one eyebrow raised even as he grinned, sending his dimple flashing.
“Are we?”
He shrugged but, still smiling, said, “It is weird now that I think about it.” When she frowned, he laughed, “Our first date is going to be a double-date with your best friend and neighbor.”
“But we’ve technically been living together soo…”
“We’re officially dating?”
“If you want to.”
He leaned down and kissed her, stealing her breath right from her lungs and leaving her panting at the intensity of it all when he finally pulled away. “I think I’ve made that much clear.”
She felt her heart skip a beat and fall flat in her chest when she gazed up into grinning, green eyes, reached a hand for him, and, when he stepped closer, interlocked her fingers with his and knelt on the bed so that she could wrap her arms around him.