CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Once they were in the truck, Gage maneuvered them over the streets now slicker than in the morning, the slush that formed when the sun rose the temperatures just over thirty-two degrees in the afternoon only to freeze again when the temperature dropped. Fat snowflakes started to fall as they pulled into the drive.
He put the car in park, turned to find his wife sound asleep against the passenger side door and smiled. After the initial joy of finding out Bobby was carrying their child, panic had set in. He’d searched all the websites for new fathers and fathers-to-be in search of information about pregnancy and pregnant women. One thread on a site had men complaining that their wives, during the first trimester, would fall asleep at the dinner table or even in the middle of a sentence.
Gage shook his head as he climbed out of the truck and headed to the other side. Apparently, Bobby was going to need some extra time off in the next few months. The caveman in him wanted to whip the door open, scoop her up and carry her up to bed. The modern-day father-to-be in him didn’t trust himself to walk across the slick ground to the house and not fall with such precious cargo in his arms. Easing open the passenger door, he laid one hand on her shoulder as she slowly came awake.
“Easy sweetheart,” he said, leaning in to kiss her briefly. “We’re home now.”
She blinked, those beautiful dark eyes coming in to focus on him. “I don’t know why I’m so sleepy.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s the pregnancy, not to mention the stress of a day like today.” He chuckled as he helped her out of the truck, holding on to her arm as she steadied herself on the frozen snow and ice. “Careful there. I don’t want you falling until you’ll land in our soft bed and not on the hard ground.”
Bobby leaned into him slightly, holding her bag in the other hand as they made their way to the back door. Once they were inside and divested of their winter gear, Gage gave into the need to care for her, scooping her up into his arms.
Bobby gave a little shriek and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What are you doing?”
“Just what I said back at the station,” he said as he headed back to the stairs, “taking you to bed.”
“I’m not an invalid,” she said, even as she leaned her head against his shoulder. “You don’t need to treat me like one.” And the words would’ve impressed him had she not ended them with a huge yawn.
“Trust me, sweetheart, the last thing I have in mind for you tonight is treating you like an invalid.” He leered down at her and was rewarded with the look of desire filling her eyes and the quick intake of breath she always had for him.
Despite his words, the need to take care of her overwhelmed him. Standing next to the bed he stripped her of all her clothes, pushing her hands away when she tried to help. “Let me,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion.
From the moment she’d fallen into his arms last spring, his world had changed. She’d brought light and love into his soul. She’d convinced him that his purpose in Westen was more than filling his father’s shoes. Her love had opened him to the fact that he needed the family this town represented to him as much as they might need him. And soon they’d have a child of their own. Bobby was the most precious thing in the world to him and he needed to show her how much he treasured her.
When she stood naked in front of him, he stepped back to stare at her beautiful, luscious body. Then he sank to his knees in front of her, wrapped his arms around her and laid his cheek upon her abdomen where their child lay quietly growing inside her.
“I love you,” he whispered to both of them, tears coming to his eyes.
“Oh, sweetheart,” Bobby whispered back, her hands coming through his hair, then holding him close. “We both know you love us.”
He lifted his head enough to see her eyes in the dim light of the room. “I promise you, our child will never, ever doubt how much I love them. I will protect them and you with everything I have. I’ll protect you from dangers, both physical and any other kind.”
She smiled down at him, cupping her hands around his face. “I don’t doubt that for one minute, but…”
“But what?” Was something wrong? Did she truly believe he’d keep them safe? Was she wondering if some danger might prove too much for him?
“But, could you swear your fealty to me in the bed? Right now I’m in danger of frostbite. It’s damn freezing tonight,” she said with a mischievous grin.
Once more he scooped her up and laid her in the bed. He covered her first with the thick blankets and quilts, then with his own body after he quickly shed his own clothing. With both love and desire coursing through him for this woman who’d somehow fallen in love with him, he showed her just how important she was to him, bringing her to orgasm twice before finding his own release.
Gage rolled onto his back, pulling Bobby into his side so her face rested on his chest and covering them both with the blankets. This was one of his favorite parts of being married to Bobby. His first wife had sex like it was a duty and quickly fell asleep, giving him her back. But not Bobby. She always wanted to snuggle in his arms afterwards. Slowly, he rubbed his hand up and down her arm—waiting.
“Why do you and Daniel believe extra drive-by rounds by us at the halfway house would be necessary tonight?” she asked.
And there it was. Gage grinned in the dark. Bobby never just snuggled. She always had questions. That beautiful mind of hers never turned off after sex. No, in fact, sex seemed to stimulate it.
“Because we want to be sure no one shows up to try and remove Lexie from Melissa’s care.”
“You mean her mother, don’t you?”
“Her, or someone acting in her behalf.” A spark of anger shot through him as he contemplated the unthinkable.
“Like a lawyer?” Bobby asked, moving to rest her hand on his chest and her chin on her hand so she could stare up at him.
God, he hated having to tell her what he and Daniel feared—especially in their home, in the bed they shared. He didn’t want anything ugly to ever touch her here. But she was a deputy and in their line of work they had to deal with the horrible, ugly side of humanity.
“Gage?”
He inhaled and exhaled, slipping his hand up to smooth the hair from her face. “No, not a lawyer. Her drug dealer.”
“Her drug dealer? Why on earth would she send him after Lexie?”
“Because sometimes…” He paused and took another breath to steady the anger building inside. “Because sometimes when a parent can’t pay for their drugs, they sell their kids to their dealers.”
“They use their children as payment? Why?” she asked, quickly coming to the logical conclusion. “For sex-trafficking.”
The horror in her eyes fueled his own. The idea that a parent would use their child in such a way disgusted him, but it was reality. It was the world they worked in.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t post someone inside the Westen House around the clock?”
God love his wife. She wanted to protect the whole world. She was going to be a great mother.
“Given the weather, I doubt we really have to go to that extreme. Besides, with Wes out of town, we’re a little shorthanded.”
“If you’re sure.”
She settled against him, but he wasn’t fooled. Bobby was nowhere done with questions.
“Wes hasn’t been in contact with you since he left?” she asked after a moment.
“Not a word.”
“And you think he might’ve gone to Cincinnati to see Chloe, whom both Dylan and I haven’t had so much as a text from since before the blizzard hit?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think there’s a possibility they’re stranded somewhere together?” she asked, following it up with a yawn and slowly her breathing became soft and regular as she fell asleep.
“Yes.” He thought exactly that. Which didn’t really make him happy. The moment he married Bobby he’d inherited two little, if already grown, sisters. Anyone messed with them or hurt them, even someone he trusted as much as Wes, they’d answer to him—one way or another.
* * * * *
Sitting in his car across from Chloe’s condo, he watched the activity going on up on the second floor.
After spending the night at her place and most of the day, he’d gotten hungry. Besides, as the road crews worked on clearing the main highways he figured he was pushing his luck sticking around too long. He’d headed home, changed clothes, and meant to stay put.
But the urges wouldn’t let him.
He needed to see her come home. Needed to see the man she’d spent the night with. Needed to punish her for turning her back on him for another.
So, he’d climbed back in his car and headed back to the Mt. Adams area, picked up some tacos at the shop around the corner because it was the only thing open and the parking lot conveniently faced the front of her building. Just as he’d gotten comfortable a Jeep pulled up out front and for a minute he thought the whore had come back. Only, it wasn’t her. It looked like her—tall, thin, same facial features—only this woman had long blonde hair sticking out from beneath her hat. He’d seen the pictures on Chloe’s mantel in her bedroom. Two tall beauties book-ending a shorter version of them both. He knew she had two sisters. This must be one of them.
The guy that climbed out of the other side looked like an old-fashioned boxer—thick and compact. Definitely nothing like the man Chloe’d left with that afternoon.
They entered the building and a few minutes later the lights went on in her upstairs condo unit.
What were they doing in his woman’s home? He couldn’t help laughing. Would’ve liked to be a fly on the wall to see their reactions to the message he’d left the whore.
Removing his gloves, he unwrapped one of the tacos and took a bite. God, how did people exist on fast food? His palate was definitely too refined for this kind of food on a daily basis. But tonight he couldn’t be too picky. He hadn’t eaten all day, since all Chloe had in her house was frozen meals, spicy chips and salsa—and wine, way too much wine. And thanks to the weather not too many places had been open this late. So greasy tacos it was.
As he ate, he contemplated his options.
There were two maybe three possibilities of what would happen next. They’d already found evidence that someone had been in the condo. Do they leave? Do they call for Chloe to return? Do they call the police and wait for them to show?
If they elected the first option, he’d follow them. They might lead him to where Chloe might be hiding. If not, it might be useful to know where the sister lived. She might be useful as leverage or, yes, even a replacement.
If they called Chloe he’d be right here to see her reaction to the message he’d left in her apartment. She’d made him angry choosing that Neanderthal over him. She needed to be punished and brought to heel.
And if they called the police? Well, he’d leave. Not speed away the minute they arrived, but calmly down the street as if just driving by. Maybe he’d circle the block so he could slow down like an on-looker gawking at the police and whatever might be going on.
He smiled. Certainly no one would expect anything untoward about a Lincoln Navigator. The police would be looking for someone in an old beat-up sedan. Someone who would trash a home, not an upstanding citizen such as himself.
And as for forensics?
He glanced at the gloves lying in the passenger seat next to the bag of tacos. He’d worn them the entire time he’d been in her apartment. And DNA? He patted the pocket of his coat that contained the two pair of panties he’d orgasmed in. He’d had enough sense to bring those home with him. The one thing he’d left behind was her sheets and pillow cases on the bed.
His heartbeat gave a little jump.
Certainly no one would expect he’d actually slept there?
No, they’d think it was some punk who came in, trashed the place and disappeared. They wouldn’t find him. He was too smart for them.
That’s what attracted him to Chloe, her brain. He’d assumed she’d choose someone with the same intellect and interest in a superior life style. What did she do instead? She let her hormones overtake her and chose a muscle-bound ape.
A police car, a black SUV and a white van marked as Crime Scene Unit on the sides arrived. Two uniformed cops climbed out of the cruiser, while a man and woman in plain clothes exited the unmarked car. A team of two got out of the van and went to the back to collect what looked like tool boxes before all six headed for Chloe’s building.
Interesting.
He’d assumed only the uniformed cops would show up first. Whoever was inside had assessed the situation correctly and had enough pull to get the big guns up here quick. As much as he’d love to stay and watch all the drama, maybe even catch Chloe returning, it was risky to be seen sitting in a running car on such a cold winter night.
Wiping off his hands on a napkin, he scanned the area to be sure no one was actively watching him. He put the car in gear and drove half way down the block before turning on his headlights. A patient man, he’d wait for another day to teach Chloe to whom she belonged.