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I jerk my head toward her. “Ain’t that a box of bullshit? You act like you didn’t have a choice. It didn’t happen to you, you let it happen.” She opens her mouth, but I’m not done. “And no, you and your choices have no effect on my love life.” Unlike her, I know who to fight for. I stand up, not wanting to stick around to hear her excuses. “I gotta get back to work. Hope you find some happiness wherever you end up.”
Crossing her legs, she lets out a sigh. “Don’t waste my gift to you.”
I look up at the sky before turning back to her. She’s even more batshit crazy than I remember. “And what gift would that be?”
“Love.”
I blink hard once and then again. My eyebrows raise as a chill runs down my sweaty back. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“The ability to love deeply,” she adds when I stand motionless. “My heart is bigger than my head. You got that from me.” She places both hands on her heart.
As if she has one.
For a moment, the thought that she might have something to do with Kali flickers in my mind, but as soon as she spoke again, that thought vanished, replaced with a surge of anger. She is so delusional. Her heart must’ve not been big enough to care about her only kid.
Just the man she was fucking.
I’m at the point of mindlessly nodding, done with her. “Bye, Mom. Nice seeing you,” I say, with zero authenticity. “Good luck on your adventure.” I spin on my heels, and Riggs is right by my side. When we get to the front door of the precinct, I lean over and whisper to Riggs, “If you ever see her again, nip her in the ass.”
He barks once as if understanding, and I laugh. He’s too well-trained.
Unfortunately.
CHAPTER 33
Kali
“Woman, it’s not a difficult question.”
It is. It’s like a multiple-choice question where the answer is all of the above. Settling on a single restaurant is impossible when everything sounds appetizing.
Today marks six months. It’s been half a year since I thought I was going to take my last breath in a coffin. Paxton insists it calls for a celebration, a recognition of my strength and perseverance.
Unfortunately, like my investigation, the sighting of the man ended at a dead end. I’m at the point where I’m doubting the Texas Rangers. We live in a digital society. How has one camera not gotten his picture? Martinez said the guy knows what he’s doing. He’s precise in everything he’s done, leaving no traceable evidence behind. They found the guy who put the note on my car through a chain of five others, each paid one hundred dollars to pass an envelope to another guy, which when opened was a hundred-dollar bill and another envelope with instructions to pass on. Then the final guy’s note was to leave the envelope on my car. The first guy claimed he received it at an outdoor farmer’s market, a place where there weren’t any cameras. His description of the person was vague—middle-aged with a baseball hat on. That leaves half this freaking county as a suspect.
“I have to run to my apartment real fast first.”
“Hold on, I’ll go with you.”
“Pax, it’s five doors down. Finish your report, and I’ll be right back.”
After staying at Paxton’s house for a couple weeks, we started to get close again. It’s not that I didn’t want that—I do, more than anything. But with everything that has happened, I need to have our relationship grow organically. I couldn’t bear the thought that he might be doing it out of obligation just because I was staying with him.
So, I found a place.
I didn’t go far. As a compromise, I moved into an apartment right down the hallway from Paxton. I gave up my apartment with Zoe because I didn’t want to put her in danger. She understood and was probably relieved. Truthfully, I feel more at ease knowing Paxton and Riggs are close by.
And moving out is exactly what our relationship needed to progress. We found our way back to each other, but this time, it’s stronger. The connection between us deepened, bonding us on an entirely new level. I love this man, and he loves me, even though he’s yet to say it.
“Where’s Stan?” he asks.
I stare at him incredulously. “I do not need someone to walk me twenty feet. I gave him the night off since I knew we were going to dinner.” I hired a bodyguard for when I wasn’t with Paxton. It’s weird having someone tail you. On the third day, I almost panicked, ready to call Martinez about the suspicious guy following me. Paxton and I got a laugh out of it. “I’ll be right back. If I don’t get back in five minutes, send a search team.”
“That’s not even funny,” he says, his tone serious.
I walk over to the kitchen table where he’s set up his computer. Leaning against the arms of the chair, I give him a chaste kiss. “Thank you for worrying about me. But seriously, I need you to dial it back.”
It’s been a month since he found me, and I’m trying to find the sweet spot between terror and moving on that will allow me to live. His overwhelming need to keep me safe isn’t helping.
