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6
Rhys opened the fridge and stared into it. He didn’t know what had happened out there in the yard, but whatever it was, it deeply disturbed Jordan. His fingers tightened on the handle of the fridge at the memory of her tears and her tortured expression. He didn’t know who or what had put it there, but it was high time he found out.
Rhys reached in and snagged two longnecks. He contemplated going for the stronger stuff, but Jordan was on call. He shut the door and headed back outside.
Whatever was bothering Jordan was affecting her. She may not want to admit to it, but he saw it. She didn’t sleep well. Nightmares plagued her. The last time she had slept over, she’d had one that left her talking in her sleep and then waking up screaming and fighting the blankets. She had refused to talk about it then, citing that it was just a bad dream.
But it hadn’t been her first.
She’d got out of bed, thrown her clothes on, and gone for a run in the middle of the night, taking Honor with her.
Rhys hadn’t liked it. He had offered to go with her, but she said she’d wanted to go alone but allowed his K9 to go with her.
He slipped out the patio door and found Jordan sitting on the stairs, staring off into the distance. The sun had finally gone down, basking them in darkness. Stars twinkled off in the distance with a half-moon resting off in the backdrop. Honor lay down behind Jordan. He found it so fitting that his dog literally had his woman’s back. Honor lifted her head to glance at him. He could see the worry in her eyes. She whined and turned to press her nose against Jordan’s back. Even the dog could tell something was bothering her.
He stepped over Honor and took a seat on the step next to Jordan. Without a word, he popped the top off and handed her a bottle before he opened his own. He placed the caps on the patio ledge next to him.
They sat in silence for a while. Tension rolled off Jordan. Rhys figured he would wait for her to begin. He wasn’t going to rush her. This was a big step for her, and he didn’t want to force her.
“When I left Atlanta, it wasn’t just because of Omara and Jason,” Jordan announced. Her voice was low but steady. She paused and took a sip of her beer.
Rhys remained quiet. He would let her go at her own pace, so he just gave a nod to acknowledge her statement. After helping apprehend Derrick, Jason’s father, Rhys could see why Jordan had moved to Columbia. Her sister and nephew had been in danger. It had only been a matter of time before Derrick did something horrific. He had laid his hands on Omara before, and there was no telling what would have happened later had Jordan not moved here and stepped in.
Jordan cared for her sister and nephew deeply, and it showed.
“They were my top priority, but some shit went down back in Atlanta.” Jordan paused again, her voice ending on a hitch.
Rhys took a drag of his beer and eyed her. Whatever it was that made her pack up her life, leave a job she loved and move, had to be serious.
“I’ve never had much success when it came to relationships. Maybe that’s why I’m the way I am now. I know I can be hardheaded, stubborn or bitchy, but there is reason for it all.”
“I wouldn’t call you bitchy,” Rhys murmured, attempting a little humor to break the tension. He wouldn’t consider her too much of a bitch. His ex-wife, Sara Beth, was the queen of bitches. If anyone looked up the definition of a bitch, Sara Beth’s pale face would appear.
“I’m being serious.” A small smile ghosted her lips. She bumped him with her shoulder slightly, bringing the bottle back to her lips. She took a swallow before releasing a sigh.
“I am, too.” He snagged her hand and lifted it to his lips. He pressed a kiss to the back of it, unable to keep from touching her. He wanted to make sure she felt comfortable speaking with him. If they were to have a future, there couldn’t be any secrets. He wanted to know everything about her—the good and the bad. It wasn’t going to change his feelings for her.
“Anyway, there was this guy. We started dating, and he was different than anyone I had been with before.”
Rhys kept his face neutral. Her past was her past. He wasn’t jealous of anyone before him. He had her now, and if he played his cards right, he’d be her last.
“He was suave, said all the right things, always seemed to want to gift me things, appeared interested in my day. He had me thinking he was the perfect boyfriend,” Jordan said. She entwined their fingers together.
Her grip on his hand was tight, but he wasn’t bothered by it. He gave her a squeeze to encourage her to continue her story. The sounds of nature surrounded them. It was one of thereasons why he loved living out in the country. The city just couldn’t compare.
“Okay,” Rhys said.
“But I ignored all of the red flags that were going up. I just pushed them aside, thinking that I couldn’t be suspicious of every man. That it wasn’t fair on him for me to judge him based off the last guy I had been with. So I squashed down all the warnings and continued my relationship with him. Everything was going well, until things started getting weird. When I questioned him about his job, or places he’d be going, he would get defensive. He even started getting verbally abusive. I didn’t want to believe it was abusive at the time. I just chalked it up to him being stressed, but it got worse. It wasn’t until I finally confronted him that I found out the truth.”
She paused and released his hand. She placed her beer down on the stair and stood. Honor whined at Jordan moving away. She repositioned herself to lean off the stairs where she could keep an eye on Jordan.
“And what was that?” Rhys didn’t like the way the story was going. Who was this punk, and where could he find him? He knocked back the rest of the beer and now regretted that he hadn’t brought him a few more. Jordan hadn’t lied when she’d said they would need a drink for this.
“He’d been using me. When he’d ask about my day or how things were at work, I thought he had been sincere, but in reality, he was getting information from me. Imagine my surprise that I got called in to my captain’s office with accusations of being a leak. A mole.”
The bottom of Rhys’s stomach gave way. This woman would never be a mole or leak out important police business. She was one hell of a policewoman, and there wasn’t one person at the CPD who didn’t trust her.
“There’s no way,” he bit out through clenched teeth. Those assholes in Atlanta didn’t know a good cop when they saw one. He refused to believe anything else about Jordan. He’d seen her in action.
