“You mean what you said about us helping him?”
Blake glanced across the car to him, and Waggs caught the uncertainty in his friend. “I hope I do, but honestly, I don’t know how to feel. This entire thing has fucked me up a little.”
Waggs nodded in agreement. “I think it’s shaken us all more than we want to admit. But he put Pax at risk and she got hurt, so I can understand you not feeling very forgiving.”
“It isn’t just about forgiving him, if that’s even an option. It’s about trust. He broke the bonds we share by doing what he did.” Blake sighed audibly, and Waggs watched as the sky darkened further and hoped they’d get a flight back to the UK tonight. “But, and it’s a very big but, would I have done whatever it took to protect my sisters?” Blake shrugged. “The answer is yes, I’d do whatever it took. So how can I sit in judgement on that?”
“Except we can’t forget the huge question of why he never came to us with this. We’re brothers, he knows damn well we would’ve had his back and helped him.”
Blake shook his head. “That I don’t know, but as soon as we find him, I’ll be asking.”
“Me too, brother, me too.”
Waggs lifted his phone and found he had a signal, and called Jack, updating him on the situation.
“I’ll have Lopez look into it now and see if we can get CCTV from the facility and anything from the airports.” Jack sounded like he was in a hurry.
“It wouldn’t be easy to move someone with complex needs like that so she’d probably have needed a nurse or carer.” Waggs thought it over in his head. “We should also see if we can access her medical records and find out exactly what her needs are. We might be able to use that to trace any equipment required for her care.”
“You think they’re looking after her then?” Jack was silent as he waited for Waggs to answer.
“Yes. She’s no use to them if she dies. If they’re using her to control Gunner, he’ll want regular updates to ensure her safety and wellbeing. He’s no fool.”
“Agreed. I’ll have Lopez do all that. You just get back here.”
“Copy that.”
Waggs hung up and glanced at Blake. “Let’s get back to Hereford.”
It had been an adjustment moving from the US for this job, but he’d needed a fresh start, and it came at a time when he’d needed it more than he’d known. Eidolon had saved his life in more ways than one, and he would die for these men. It made it that much harder to swallow Gunner’s betrayal. Although with what they had uncovered today, he wondered if perhaps redemption would one day be possible for Gunner. That is, if they all survived to tell the tale.
Chapter Nineteen
Callie cuddled into Reid’s side as they lay in bed after making love for the second time that morning. He was stroking circles into the skin of her shoulder in a lazy caress.
“What’s the plan for today?”
It had been a week since they’d arrived in Hereford and she liked it here, she felt safe. She’d spent time with her new friends at the gallery, gotten to know a few more of the Zenobi girls and even met another of Reid’s friends, Drew and his fiancée Mara, as well as Will Granger who was not the nerd she’d been expecting.
Reid rolled suddenly, pinning her beneath his hard, sexy body and she laughed as she gazed up at him. She felt some of his weight on her and loved how protected she felt. Since they’d decided to make a go of this, he’d been the perfect boyfriend. Attentive, sweet, caring, and so damn sexy he made her mouth water with just a look.
His eyes focused on her lips, and she swiped the bottom one teasingly with her tongue. His body responded with a growing hardness at her belly.
“You’re a temptress.”
His voice was low when he spoke, husky and raspy, and she shuddered it was so delicious. “Is that so?”
“It is, and as much as I’d love to spend the day in bed with you doing delectable things to this body, I have things I need to do and can’t ignore.”
Disappointment hit Callie, immediately followed by guilt. Reid had spent every spare second with her in between searching for her stalker. “Is there any news on the stalker?” She should’ve asked before, but it was easier to block it from her mind and just enjoy being with Reid.
He stroked his fingertips over her jaw, and she arched her neck to follow the caress. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
Callie looked at him and frowned. “And you’re changing the subject.”
His lips quirked. “I might be changing the subject, but my brain was fully engaged with admiring your flawless skin.”
Callie’s tummy squirmed in response to his words. He was always saying things that made her feel special, not like she was just a body or a face like her fans and photographers did but like he really meant every single word.
“You’re one hundred per cent a wonderful man, Kirk Reid.”
He snorted at that. “Not sure that’s true but you make me want to be.”
Callie felt emotion clog her throat, the words in her heart on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she changed the subject, terrified he wouldn’t reciprocate them. “Should I stay here or come with you today?”
“The things I have planned are at the office so you can either use the gym there or sit with Lopez and annoy him. I should be done around two. We can go for lunch in town after if you want?”
“I wouldn’t mind getting in the gym. My tummy will soon be flabby at the rate I’m eating junk food.”
A frown appeared on Reid’s face, and she lifted her hand to smooth it. “You’re fucking perfect, and I won’t have you starving yourself for some middle-aged photographer who thinks he knows what perfection is. You’re perfect exactly how you are, no matter how many burgers you eat or what you fucking weigh.”
Callie was surprised at the intensity in his voice. “It’s part of the job, baby.”
Callie watched as the anger left his face at her words, and his eyes seemed to gentle. “I like you calling me baby.”
“Hmm, shame we don’t have time for you to show me how much you like it.”
Reid grinned and kissed her neck before kissing his way down her belly. “I can always find time to show you that, sunshine.”
Then without saying another word, his lips touched her in the most intimate of places, and she lost the ability to think. His mouth still on her pussy, she screamed her release.
Her workout hadn’t been what she’d expected, but it had been so much fun. Her thirty minutes on the epilator had ended with Liam as her self-appointed trainer. He’d introduced her to the battle ropes which initially looked like torture but were lots of fun, even if they were exhausting. She’d done several reps of the double arm wave, followed by two reps on the hip toss, which involved tossing the rope in an arc from hip to hip like a rainbow.
After adding some light sparing into the mix, and a few self-defence moves, her legs and arms felt like jelly. Mentally, she felt great, her mind energised from the endorphin rush.
Liam wiped the sweat from his face and neck with a black hand towel as he watched her do the same. “Feels good, right?”