Finally something. Excitement floods me. “We going?”
Moses shakes his head. “Not tonight. It’s way easier and safer to break into a place during the day when most everyone’s at work.”
I stretch my neck and knead the knot forming there. “You sound like you know plenty about it.”
He shoots me a sideways smile. “This ain’t our first rodeo. Sometimes . . . shit gets crazy in our line of work, but we gotta do what we gotta do.”
“All right, there is nothing on a Tony or Anthony in this phone. He could be one of these nicknames, though. I just have no clue which fucking one.”
“Is there a Ghost?” I ask, partly joking and partly not, because that’s what this new fucking asshole really feels like now.
“Not one of those either. Sorry, Mags. I’ll find something, though. Just give me more time to work my magic.”
An hour later, all we know for sure is where Ricky lived, that he watched a fuck-ton of porn on his phone, and he really fucking liked knives. His eBay purchase history was full of antique ones and crazy blades. What we didn’t find is any evidence of family who might be out for revenge, and I have to admit that I’m disappointed as hell.
To distract myself, I check my cell, hoping to find a text from Desiree. She promised she’d check in when she refused to leave with the girls who were all thrilled to be getting paid to head to Gulf Shores and lie on the beach, but I haven’t gotten anything from her yet tonight.
I shoot her a message, reminding her to let me know when she gets it so I can stop worrying about her. When the telltale bubble with the dots doesn’t pop up immediately, I set the phone aside and lay my head across my arms on the table.
Moses notices immediately. “All right, mama. I’m taking you to bed. Time for you to crash.”
I hate being the weakest link, but the past few days have worn me down. Arguing, I murmur, “You’re not done.”
“I know, but you are. No need to stay awake and fuck with this shit. You need sleep. You don’t get enough as it is. Come on.”
He holds out a large, inviting hand. I take it, letting him help me rise from the table.
“I can stay awake for days at a time, Moby. I’m no wilting flower here.” I would have sounded a lot more convincing if I didn’t yawn mid-sentence.
Moses’s eyes go soft. “I bet you can, mama. You’re as tough as gator jerky, but even badasses need to get sleep when they can.”
“Fine. Only because I want to and not because you’re telling me to.” I lumber a few steps, my feet heavy. “Night, guys,” I call to Trey and Jules as I walk toward the hallway.
“Night, Mags,” Trey replies.
“We’ll see you in the morning,” Jules says with a chin lift. “I’ll have coffee on around six.”
“That’s too fucking early,” I say with a shudder.
Jules’s laughter follows us down the hall.
When we reach the bedroom, Moses pushes the door open and then shuts us inside.
I turn around and let my head rest on his chest. “Please tell me we’re going to find this guy.”
He smooths my hair away from my face and curls his palm around the back of my neck. “We’re gonna find him. This’ll all be over soon.”
I raise my head to gaze up into those green-gold eyes. “And then what happens?”
“You mean with us?”
I’m too tired to nod, but my brows lift to answer.
“You decide what kind of life you want, and I’ll figure out how to give it to you.”
I blink twice. “It can’t be that easy.”
He holds my chin up with his thumb and index finger. “It can be as easy as you want it to be. I wasn’t telling tales when I said I came back to put a ring on your finger, mama. You and me, this is permanent. I’m not letting you go again or walking away. I want you in my life and by my side every day.”
“What if I want to stay here in NOLA? Will Mount let you?”
Moses’s jaw tightens. “You leave him to me. But know this—no one is standing in the way of us being together. Not now and not ever fucking again. Not even Mount.”
More than anything, I want to believe what he’s saying. But even if Moses is wrong about Mount, I’ve got a trump card. “If he gives us trouble, I’ll get Keira involved. If she knows this is what I need to be happy, then she won’t let him fuck with it, because I haven’t had a lot of that in my life.”
Moses stares at me thoughtfully. “I’m gonna make it my life’s mission to give you as much happy as you can handle, mama. Mark my words, that’s what I aim to do.”
I slide my arms around his waist and squeeze. “You’re already off to a good start. Now . . . if we could just get rid of the cop who wants to pin the murder on me and the guy who wants me dead, we’d be doing even better.”
Moses presses a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m working on it. Now, you get some sleep. I’ll be back in later.”
As I crawl into bed by myself, I can’t help but think about everything that’s gone crazy in my life since Moses showed up.
My business is totally on hold, what’s left of my savings is taking a beating just to pay the bills, the house I worked so fucking hard to make my hidden sanctuary is already on the cops’ radar, the house I’m selling Desiree is being watched by the Feds, one guy has tried to kill me, and another is trying to finish the job.
Despite all that, I’m going to bed with a smile on my face.
There’s gotta be something fucking wrong with me, I think as I pull the blankets up around my shoulders. And then I remember the reading Celeste did for me.
Everything’s changing, and I just gotta get through to the good shit. Because that’s coming too.
Twelve
Moses
“I’m coming with you,” Magnolia says with her hands on her hips and a mulish expression on her face.
“Mama, I know you want to help, but this is something you need to stay clear of.”
“Goddamn it, Moses. If I hadn’t been there at the impound lot, shit could’ve gone sideways. I can handle myself. I’m not some PTA mom who thinks she can get into robbing houses with no problem.”
I can’t hold back my laugh at her example. “I know you can handle yourself. But it’s barely a two-man job, and there’s no need to put you at risk or chance giving Cavender more to investigate. You know I’m right.”
Magnolia bares her teeth, and it takes everything I have not to pick her up, throw her over my shoulder, and take her back to bed for a repeat of the morning wake-up call I gave her.
I lean down to nip at her lip. “I’d think you’d be less surly considering the orgasms you had this morning.”
Her glare could cut me to ribbons. “I’ll be damned if you think dicking me down first thing in the morning will make it so you get your way for the rest of the day.”
My laughter comes out in a booming burst. “Goddamn, woman. You’re so fucking perfect for me, I can’t even begin to tell you.” I school my expression into a sober one. “But you’re not going. My job, my rules. You stay with Trey and give him a hand. Jules and I have this.”