A few hours later and Ramsey and Ginny were gone, with promises to handle everything they could for me. Ginny had left me with a bag of her clothes that she’d thrown together while running out of their house that morning, assuming I’d be locked out of my house for a while. Ramsey left me with the advice to not fight Cash on leaving Thad with me.
Sitting in the living room floor of the new house, Biscuit playing at my feet and Mack sitting in the armchair across from me, I looked down at the only outfit of my own clothes I had left. Slightly too large jeans and an oversized t-shirt. Nothing like the clothes I’d spied in Ginny’s bag.
I could sneak back into my house and get my clothes, but I wasn’t going to chance inviting Jennings suspicion more. I wasn’t big on stereotypical feminine clothing, though. Never had been. Ginny, on the other hand, was never caught out of her skirts and dresses. She was the epitome of feminine. It was a silly thing to focus on, especially being only hours out from finding a dead man in my bed, but I couldn’t stop thinking about draping my body in a silky dress, putting my curves and skin on display.
I hadn’t worn a dress since before my mom died. After that, it had been jeans and T-shirts in an attempt to get Dad to see me as more than a girl, as capable. Before Sallisaw, I’d occasionally wear a more fitted shirt for Kevin, but after…I hadn’t touched that part of my wardrobe.
“Do you want me to keep him for you, Rain?” Mack shifted in his chair and turned up his glass.
I shook my head. “Thank you, but I like having him closer. He’s a good boy.”
With a loud snort, Mack looked to Thad, who was hovering behind me in the kitchen. “She’s delusional. Don’t leave your underwear lying around. He’ll eat them. Or your shoes. Or anything, really. He’s a devil dog.”
I glanced back at Thad, the thought of his underwear lying around burrowing into my head like an earworm and eating away all reasonable thought until all I could do was picture the big man lounging naked on the couch behind me. Blinking away the image as fast as I could, I focused on Biscuit and shook my head a little too hard for my lingering headache. I needed to get that image away from me, though.
“I have an underwear eater, too. I’ve learned where and where not to leave my underwear.” The man’s deep voice floated over to me and I felt my face heat up, like he somehow was going to know I’d been thinking about his underwear.
I shook my head again and sighed. What was I doing? Thad Brooks had been nothing but a frowning giant since arriving on Faint Island. It was obvious that he didn’t like me for some reason and he really didn’t want to be there. Yet, somehow, my brain had silently, and without my consent, taken in the looks of the man. While I couldn’t help but think of him as a giant, I supposed that just meant there was more of him to look good.
Annoyance bit at me. It wasn’t the time to notice anyone’s good looks. My body, thankfully, was still dormant. It was just my mind that was messing with me, taking in Thad’s looks and categorizing them.
“When people tell me that God is a god of love, I will now always think about two of Biscuits running around. A god of love wouldn’t make two little demons and set them free on the world.”
Dragged from my thoughts, I laughed. It felt nice, so I didn’t stifle it. Biscuit yipped at me and jumped onto my chest, his excitement at the sound clear. I rubbed his little body and then shook my head at Mack. “You’re ridiculous, you know that, right?”
He grinned at me and shook the ice left in his glass. “Blame it on the whiskey, girl.”
I put Biscuit down and moved onto the couch. Pulling my legs under me, I curled into the corner of it and watched Biscuit play on the floor. Thinking of Thad’s dog, I turned my head in his direction, still not looking at him, though. “Where is your dog while you’re here?”
“He stays with a friend when I work.”
I nodded and then stared at Biscuit. “You could bring him here if you needed to.”
Mack scoffed. “You must not like to wear underwear, girl. You’re inviting trouble in the form of two underwear eaters.”
Thad laughed, breaking the hard exterior he’d kept since arriving. I heard him shift on his stool and then his voice was even lower than before. “Underwear habits aside, Tank is a little too big for this house. He’s a Rottweiler Mastiff mix and doesn’t even fit in compact cars.”
I shrugged. “Well, if you change your mind, the offer stands.”
After a few seconds of silence, he spoke. “Thanks.”
I felt like I’d crossed one hurdle with the man. Apparently, being nice to his dog won some points in his book. I could still feel his frown turned on me, though. Not that I was trying to change his attitude towards me. I honestly didn’t plan on him staying for much longer. If it was up to me, he’d be gone within the day. If he was going to be around, however, I’d prefer it that he wasn’t scowling at me the whole time.
Mack stood up and looked around for his cane. “It’s time for me to call it a day. I started the day hungover and it’s been hanging on all day long. Now, I’m quick on my way to being hungover tomorrow, too.”
I felt antsy and nervous at the idea of him leaving me alone with Thad. “Not staying for dessert?”
He gave me a knowing look and shook his head. “I’m stuffed from the pizza. Come on over in the morning and we’ll all have breakfast at my house.”
Thad stood up and walked out with Mack, returning seconds later. He found me striding towards the room at the back of the house. “Hold up a second, Rain.”
I shivered at the command in his voice and then grew irritated. “What is it?”
He stayed where he was, halfway between the kitchen and living room and nodded back towards the living room. “You and I have some things to talk about. Come on back in here.”
Never one to love taking orders, I shook my head. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“It’s seven.”
“Mack left to go to bed.”
“He’s a hundred years old.”
“I’m telling him you said that.”
Thad sighed and ran his hands through his short hair. “Please, come sit down and talk to me. I have some questions that I need answers to.”
I hesitated with my hand on the door, so close to being away from the man. The “please” got me, though. Slowly, I went back to the couch, circling around him, and sat down. “Shoot.”
He shoved his body into the armchair that Mack had vacated and steepled his fingers. “I need to know what happened with Cash.”
I frowned and leaned away from him, as if there wasn’t already five feet of space between us. “What?”
“I got the rundown. He called you in to work the Carver case. Why?”
My old go-to defense fell flat in my own mind. I would’ve argued that it was because I was a good cop and because I was the best for the job back in the day, but I’d been forced to see better than that. “Talk to Cash about it.”
He growled. “Cash is not himself right now.”
I shivered again and grabbed at the throw blanket on the back of the couch. Wrapping myself, I watched Biscuit run over to Thad’s feet and jump on his leg. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you should leave and go help him.”
Absently, he stroked the puppy. “He doesn’t want help. Which is what makes your involvement so interesting.”
I shrugged and stood up. “I don’t know what you want to hear. I’ll keep calling Cash. You don’t need to be here. I’ll make sure he gets the point and you can get back to that dog of yours.”
Without waiting for his answer, I hurried towards the bedroom and whistled to Biscuit. The sound of his little paws hurrying along the floor was almost enough to make me smile as he bounded towards me. Opening the door, I let us both in and then locked it after closing it. It still didn’t feel like enough protection, but it was all I could do. I didn’t even have my gun.
Alone in the room, I found the shaking was in full force. Looking at the bedroom, an identical replica of what mine had been, I didn’t have to close my eyes to see the man’s dead body next to mine. I dropped several of the pillows on the ground beside the bed and curled up there with the throw blanket and Biscuit.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened while I was out the night before. How many men were around me? Was it Sallisaw himself or his goons? A part of me knew it hadn’t been Sallisaw. That would explain why I hadn’t been tortured or killed. He wouldn’t let a lackey do what he wanted to do. Why they hadn’t taken me to him was still mind boggling, though. Maybe he wasn’t ready for me, yet.
And with that damning thought, I sentenced myself to a night of tossing and turning instead of sleeping.
I strained to hear every single sound in the house the whole night long. My head hurt by morning from the strain and I felt like someone had run me over. The doctor had warned me that the sickness I’d felt upon waking up could last up to a few days, depending on my body, and my body had decided it didn’t like GHB. I was still slightly nauseous and the idea of eating made me want to throw up.
I needed coffee, though, if I was going to be able to function at all, so I eventually ventured out of my room. Still in the same clothes, I tried to be as quiet as possible on the way to the kitchen. I didn’t want to alert Thad that I was up, but I should’ve known it was useless to try to skirt around him.
I knew from my history with Clara that Cash and his brothers had been Navy SEALs and from my research when I’d agreed to help him find Clara, I assumed that the other men who worked there were ex-SEALs, as well.
Assuming that Thad was a SEAL, I should’ve known that he’d had superhuman hearing and that no matter how silent I was, he’d know exactly where I was and how many beats a minute my heart was beating.
As soon as my hand closed around the coffee pot, he cleared his throat from behind me. “Morning.”
I jumped about a foot in the air and turned on him with a dirty look. “Don’t sneak up on me.”
He shrugged. “Wasn’t trying to.”
I scowled at his perfectly pressed BDUs and form-fitted black t-shirt. Not a stain or wrinkle in sight. I looked behind him and couldn’t see where he’d even slept. Come to think of it, I hadn’t given him blankets or sheets. Feeling like a terrible person for forgetting, but refusing to admit to feeling guilty, I turned back to the coffee maker and started a pot.
“I’m going out to check the perimeter. Want me to walk Biscuit?”
I laughed before I could help myself. His deep voice saying Biscuit just got to me for some reason. Nodding with my back still to him, I stared at the coffee pot and waited for it to fill.
“The dog needs a new name. I’m not calling him if he gets away and runs through the streets. I’ve got a reputation to keep.”
I grinned and shook my head. “Was that a joke from the man who couldn’t stop frowning yesterday?”
He scoffed. “Like you’d know a joke if it bit you in the ass.”
I shrugged. “True.”
I heard the door open and close a few minutes later and looked over my shoulder to make sure he was gone. That hadn’t been a completely unpleasant encounter. I looked back to the coffee and poured what little had dripped into the pot into my cup and drank it.
Even with a good encounter under our belts, I had a feeling that I was going to need all the caffeine I could get to handle a whole day with Thad.