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“I wish it would,” she whispers, no laughter in her voice.
We finish up lunch, and Cat and I finally end an all-day game of phone tag. “I’m in for the book! When do we start?”
“Yay!” she says. “Tonight. How about the coffee shop around six?”
“Six it is.”
We disconnect and I smile. Things happen for a reason. I left school and that lead to Cat and Cole. I wonder where this all leads for Ashley? I wish it were to her Cole. I trust Cole and she trusted this man, too. Maybe she trusted him just as much as I do Cole. I’d be crushed if Cole wasn’t what he seemed. Shocked. Destroyed. Any way you lose the person you love destroys you.
Savage brings an SUV to the office to pick up Cole and Ashley for the meeting, and I hitch a ride to the coffee shop. I don’t miss the fact that Savage, who is normally quite the personality, is silent. “Good luck, everyone,” I say, hugging Ashley before Cole steps out of the car to help me exit, offering me his hand.
Once I’m on my feet, he pulls me close, kisses me, and in a short stroke of his tongue, he has curled my toes and managed to make me moan. “I’ll come back and get you.”
“Savage is weird. Did you notice?”
“Yes. He never keeps his mouth shut and his mouth is shut. I’ll find out.”
“Make the FBI tell you what’s going on,” I say. “If anyone can, you can.” I kiss his cheek and head into the coffee shop, but I feel Cole watching me. When I step to the door, I turn and wave to him, and only then does he get in the car. He’s still getting used to our normal again and since I’m a little antsy, maybe I am, too. Not maybe. Those tears last night showed I am affected by the attack. I don’t like it, but it’s true. It just drove home that there are too many things in life, like death, that we cannot control.
I find Cat at our normal table, and it feels like old times. I hurry across the coffee shop and the two of us are quickly in deep conversation. “I didn’t think Cole was going to go for this,” she says. “He’s very protective.”
“He’s getting over it. It was pretty intense. Roger was running at me and he’s big while it was a small space.” I think of Cole’s mother, of the little boy watching his mother’s attack, and my gut twists. Certain Cat will read more into my silence and ask questions, I stand up. “Let me go order coffee.” I rush to the counter and order, texting Cole: Good luck. Love you.
He doesn’t reply, which means he must already be in the interview. I sit back down waiting on my order, and Cat and I start plotting. I try to focus, but I just keep thinking about last night. Cole holding me. Me crying. I don’t know why this is happening right now while I’m with Cat. I’m obviously on edge. It’s Ashley. I’m worried about Ashley. She has no control. I know what that feels like. It’s like hanging on a ledge by your fingers that are bleeding, barely breathing as you do. I should have gone with them to the meeting.
Cole
I’m back in the SUV with Ashley beside me, but I’m still thinking about Lori. I have no idea why I had to force myself to let her go into that coffee shop without me, but I did. I promised myself I wouldn’t let my demons suffocate her. “How close is the interview location?” Ashley asks beside me.
“Ten minutes,” Savage says from the front seat. “The agents are already at the office, looking all Men in Black or Matrix. Yeah, Matrix. They have on glasses.”
“Wonderful,” Ashley says. “Now all I need is the Terminator waiting on me.”
Savage gives a bark of laughter. “Good one,” but even then, he’s stiff. Maybe it’s personal. Maybe he knows something I don’t know.
We finally arrive at the Walker offices, and Smith is waiting to escort Ashley inside. I fall back to talk to Savage. “What don’t I know?”
“One of the agents is an ex-friend of Royce’s. It’s like having two caged tigers inside who want to rip each other’s throats out. Great fun, if Ashley wasn’t in the middle of it.”
“Wonderful,” I say, steeling myself for war. “Let’s go do this.” I head for the door.
I walk inside and Royce greets me. “Ashley is in the conference room. The agents are in an office. They sent someone I consider a bastard ex-friend. This meeting is not to help Ashley. You need to protect her, while I have someone in the CIA try to get me real answers. I don’t know what Ashley’s ex-fiancé is or was, except trouble. Prep Ashley and let me know when you’re ready. And make sure there’s nothing she hasn’t told you.” He leads me down the hallway and he’s about to open the conference room door when his phone buzzes with a text. “Houston, we have a problem. Roger is free. They let him go.”
“The man who attacked my wife?”
“Yes. Him.”
“How soon?”
“Already done. An hour ago.”
And now I know why I didn’t want to leave Lori at the coffee shop. My demons were winning. I felt this. I felt him. He was there. “Get someone to her. Get me to her.” I pull my phone out and dial Lori, but she doesn’t answer. I run for the door.
Chapter seventy-five
Lori
Cat and I are digging into the list of people we want to interview for the book when I realize I’ve finished my coffee in about fifteen minutes. I hold up my empty cup. “Guess what? Empty and I can’t think until I go to the bathroom.”
