“They might as well have been. They worked hard enough at it.”
I sneak another step closer. I don’t really have a set plan, other than to get that gun away. I need the element of surprise.
“And what about Jordan Dunwoody?” I push. “He was a young kid.”
That seems to net a reaction. A flinch and a slight shift of the barrel.
“That wasn’t meant to happen. He was with me that night but when I woke up the next morning he was gone, along with my—”
The gun’s barrel dropped far enough and my eyes dart to Paul who blinks once and twists away, right as I lunge, swinging my fist clenching the keys between my fingers, aiming at Rob Wenner’s face.
But I never land a hit.
Jay
“Right side. Just past that curve.”
Good thing I asked Carlos to drive at the last minute. My head feels no better and my vision is blurring at best.
I spot the flashing lights through the trees and shoot up a quiet prayer Meredith is all right.
“Where is she?” I ask Agent Dylan Barnes, who stops us halfway down the drive.
“She’s okay.”
I open the door and get out, needing a second to fight off a dizzy spell. Then I turn a glare on the agent. “Where. Is. She?”
He cocks a thumb over his shoulder toward a group near Meredith’s front door and I immediately start walking in that direction.
“She’s treating the suspect,” he calls after me, but I already have her in my sights.
I don’t even notice who else is there, nor do I care. All I care about is the flash in those green eyes when she spots me.
“Jay, what the hell? You can barely walk straight.”
She rushes up and tries to wedge her shoulder under my arm for support, but I have other plans. I cup her face in my hands and pour everything into the kiss I lay on her.
“Was afraid I’d be too late,” I whisper, leaning my forehead against hers. “That something would happen to you and you’d never know…”
Her hands grab on to my wrists.
“Jay, baby, you need to sit down.”
I start shaking my head, which makes me even dizzier, but I push through.
“Fucking love you, Merry. Never thought I’d say those words to anyone, but I need you to know I love you.”
Last thing I’m aware of is a pair of strong arms wrapping around me from behind just as my knees give out.
Chapter 29
Meredith
As much as I love the mountains, there’s something special about the sunrise out here. The colors are stunning as the sun hits, deep golds and hues of pink coat the landscape.
I take a sip of my coffee and take in the view.
Behind me the door slides open and Beau, who’s been sniffing around the yard, lifts his head and starts wagging his tail.
“I woke up and you were gone.” Jay steps up beside me and brushes the back of his fingers down my cheek when I look up at him. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Mmm.”
I tilt my head and lean into his touch.
The truth is, I haven’t done more than doze occasionally these past two nights, my brain was too busy processing everything that happened. Nothing like finding out someone you know turns out to be a monster to examine every interaction you’ve ever had with them. Asking yourself if perhaps there were things you missed, clues you didn’t pick up on. It’s exhausting.
The fear and adrenaline kept me sharp while I was facing off with Rob, but my options had been limited. If the FBI hadn’t shown up when they did, if Agent Barnes wasn’t an excellent shot, if any one of a million possible things had gone wrong, I may not have been sitting here, sipping coffee, and enjoying the view.
Paul and I were lucky we walked away, and Rob…well, he would survive the shoulder wound, but is facing a life behind bars. It was instinct and professional responsibility that had me tend to his injury but I had to turn off any emotions.
Of course then—as if my world hadn’t already been wrenched off its axis—Jay tells me he loves me. In the middle of a crime scene, in front of everyone, while teetering on his feet. If Keith hadn’t walked up just then and caught him, he would’ve hit the ground.
Men are idiots.
He just got out of the hospital, hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and charged out of the house to come to my rescue. Thank God Carlos had been behind the wheel or Jay would’ve driven himself off the road.
He hasn’t mentioned it since.
Granted, he spent a lot of the day yesterday sleeping, while I puttered around his house; folding laundry, checking on the horses with Beau in tow, making use of the groceries Carlos apparently stocked up on so we had meals for a few days. Basically, killing time while in my head I was busy trying to a grasp on to what happened. Thinking about who of the deceased I had on my table and handed off to Rob might’ve ended up being sold off piecemeal.
You hear about these things, but as much as I see in my line of work when it comes to human depravity, it is a hard shock to the system to realize this was happening right under your nose by someone you thought you knew.
It kept my mind busy and, if I’m being completely honest, it also kept me distracted from what Jay said right before he almost went down.
Maybe I wasn’t ready to examine how I felt about it yet. It wasn’t until the wee hours of this morning, after two nights of tossing and turning while Jay slept soundly in the bed beside me, that the full weight of his words hit home.
I reach for his hand and press a kiss in his palm.
“Sit down.” I wait for him to pull up a chair. “How are you feeling?”
“Getting there. Better than a couple of nights ago.”
A corner of his mouth pulls up as he throws me a sideways glance.
“I bet. What the hell were you thinking?”
I take some of the sharpness out of my words by taking his hand in mine, lacing our fingers.
“Getting to you.” He chuckles. “That was honestly the only thing on my mind.”
Fair enough.
Besides, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing had the roles been reversed. Heck, it’s only days ago I was so hell-bent on getting to Jay I almost bowled over a couple of officers. Then two nights ago, I jumped in and faced off with Jay’s father without a second thought.
For a few minutes I watch the sky brighten as I sip my coffee, and enjoy the simple connection of my hand in his larger one. I’m in an old pair of men’s flannel pajama pants, an oversized, tattered T-shirt, and my hair is probably a rat’s nest after rolling around all night, but I don’t care and as it would seem, neither does Jay.
It’s nice. More than nice.
I could get used to this.
The only other man I ever shared morning coffee with was Philip and that was a completely different experience. One where I’d come downstairs—already fully dressed—to Philip sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee while reading his newspaper. A perfunctory “Good morning” was all we shared before we would each go about our day.
I was a different person then, had molded myself into something I thought was expected of me. I don’t blame Philip, it’s something I’d done since childhood, trying too hard to please. It may have had something to do with the fact I was adopted at a young age. The lack of sense of identity. That didn’t develop until after Philip died. Before then I had no idea who I was.