Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“I really don’t,” she said, sending a frightened glare at her brother and Hawk.
“But until we know what’s going on,” I went on, “the priority is keeping you safe. It’s better to waste manpower watching your back than to assume we know what’s going on and put you at risk. Do you understand?”
She didn’t answer, just huffed out a breath. Hawk took a step into the room to make space for the nurse pushing a wheelchair. “Anybody want to go for a ride?” she asked, and I clicked off the recorder on my phone.
“I do,” Avery said, sounding grateful for the excuse to escape the conversation. I helped Avery into the wheelchair, ready to follow them, when Hawk smoothly stepped in my way.
“I’ll escort the patient,” he said, his gaze flicking from Griffen to me. Hawk hadn’t missed anything either. “You can question Ford while we’re gone.”
I didn’t need Hawk’s permission to question my witness, but I knew it wasn’t about permission. In his own tight-lipped way, he was giving me a minute with Griffen. I took it. We watched Hawk wheel Avery out of the room, following the nurse down the hall.
“This is a fucking mess,” Griffen said, his arms dropping to his sides.
“I can’t get it out of my head,” I admitted. “It was a great night. Huge crowd, everyone loved her beer, and then Matthew was there, getting in her face.”
“That fucking guy,” Griffen said. “You kicked him out? I was at the craft tables with Hope and missed what happened.”
“I escorted him off the property,” I said. “I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than that, but—”
“It would have been awkward if your deputy had to arrest you for assault,” Griffen finished for me, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, something like that. I went to find Avery to make sure she was okay.” I shook my head, the image of her covered in blood flashing behind my eyes again. It would be a long time before the memory didn’t make my heart freeze.
“I kissed Avery,” I admitted, annoyed that Griffen didn’t look surprised. His only response was a small curl to his lips and a slight shake of his head.
“What?” I demanded. “Do you have cameras in here or something? How did you know?”
“I didn’t know,” Griffen said with a shrug, “but I had a feeling.”
“Well, I didn’t,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. “Until I did. And now...” Griffen just raised an eyebrow. “If you have a problem with it, you might as well say something.”
“Would you back off if I did?” Griffen asked, his voice tight, but run through with a thread of amusement. Since he was my oldest friend, and this was his sister we were talking about, I figured I was better off being honest.
“No, I’m not backing off unless she wants me to.”
“I didn’t think so,” Griffen said. “Did you think I’d have a problem with it?”
I rolled my shoulders back, annoyed that he wasn’t giving me a straight answer.
“I don’t know, man. She’s your little sister. I don’t have a sister. I’d think you’d want to beat up anyone who kissed her, even your best friend. Maybe if we were still teenagers—but if we were still teenagers, she’d be in grade school and that would be fucked up.” For a second, I felt like I was in grade school again. ”You know, I never thought about her like that. Not back then.”
Griffen snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I know. I would have killed you. And you’re not a creepy weirdo, so obviously. But now she’s an adult. She can handle herself. If she doesn’t want you kissing her, I’m pretty sure she’ll let you know.”
My cheeks felt hot for a second. I was not going to talk about Avery’s response to my kiss with her brother, best friend or not.
“West, you’re my best friend for a lot of reasons, one of them being that you’re not an asshole. You’re a good man. You’re not going to be a dick to my sister, yeah?”
“Of course not.”
“Then, I’m not going to get in your way. She could do a fuck ton worse than you, and not much better.”
“Thanks, man.” A knot in my chest I hadn’t fully realized was there loosened. I didn’t know where this thing with Avery was going. I’d barely gotten past the fact that I’d kissed her, and she’d kissed me back. But at least I didn’t have to worry about hiding it from Griffen. Or him being pissed I’d dared to touch his sister.
“I want her to stop investigating the necklace,” I said, changing the subject to take advantage of our temporary privacy.
Griffen sighed. “Do you think she was the target?”
I shook my head. “We don’t have enough evidence either way. It’s clear that one of them was. That wasn’t random. They waited until those two were away from the crowd. I think it’s even odds it could have been her.” I paused, gathering the thoughts I’d been keeping at bay. “She’s not exactly keeping a low profile in this whole fucking mess. If she is the target, it means her lead on the necklace isn’t a dead end.”