Absolutely, but not in the way he wanted.
A knock sounded at the door, and I stiffened.
“I bet that’s Cole,” he said with a sigh. “I expected him sooner.”
No way. Cole wouldn’t come after me. Not after the public rejection I’d just dished. And yet I was trembling as I opened the door. Annnd...sure enough, tall, strong and impossibly beautiful Cole waited on the other side.
Sweet mercy.
“Kat and Reeve are both fine,” he said, one arm propped against the wooden frame. “They’re with Frosty and Bronx.”
“Did the guys hurt Ethan?”
“No. He was pretty freaked out by what he’d seen. They questioned him, nothing more.”
I covered my throat with my hand, a protective action. “What did he see?”
“Apparently you looked as if you wanted to eat Kat and Reeve at one point, and not in the good way.”
I wasn’t going to touch that statement. “Well.” I cleared my throat. “Thank you for the update, but it’s getting late and you’re probably wanted at home.”
He shook his head. “Sorry, babe, but I’m not leaving.”
What, was this disagree with Ali day? “It’s for your own good, Cole.”
“Right now I’d rather be bad and deal with the consequences later.”
Please be bad. Very, very bad. Downright naughty.
I shivered, and the shiver made me mad. So did my treacherous mind. “You might not survive these particular consequences.” I smiled with saccharine sweetness—and tried to shut the door in his face.
He shouldered his way inside. “I’m willing to risk it.”
Argh!
“Hey, Cole,” Gavin called from the kitchen. “You staying for dinner?”
Cole would have seen his car in the driveway and known Gavin was here, but still his back went iron-bar straight at the sound of the other guy’s voice. “Are you the chef?”
“I am.”
Cole marched forward and settled into a bar stool as if he owned it. “Good. I’m starved.”
This could not be happening.
“We’ve got the stuff for enchiladas or roast beef sandwiches,” Gavin said, glancing at me.
“Enchiladas,” Cole replied.
“Sandwiches it is, then,” Gavin said.
Cole offered him a chilling smile.
Oh, glory. If they decided to play Animal Planet, I’d...let them, I decided. Both would end up unconscious and I would no longer be trapped in this tug-of-war. Sure, I’d have to clean a pool of blood, but just then that actually seemed like the better choice. We had plenty of baking soda and vinegar.
While Gavin puttered around the kitchen, Cole swiveled in the chair to face me. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I said, taking the seat next to him. I could be polite. “How about you?
“Better.” He reached out, pinched a lock of my hair. “I’m not afraid of you, you know.”
“You should be.” I was. I tugged my hair from his grip. Softly, I added, “But we both know that’s not our only problem.”
He blanched, and I felt guilty. I shouldn’t feel guilty.
“I know what you’re thinking, and that’s not what I meant,” I said and sighed.
“Then what?”
“I’ll...have to show you.” I motioned to the hall—my bedroom—with a tilt of my chin.
He nodded, something hot and dark in his eyes.
“Once again it’s not what you’re thinking,” I said drily.
I think he...pouted.
What do you know—here was yet another side to Cole.
“Don’t you want to show me, too?” Gavin said, his tone a little tight. He chopped the lettuce with more force.
“Not this,” I replied, trying to be gentle. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to him,” Cole snapped.
O-kay. The ice was back.
“He’s my guest,” I said, “and I like him, and he’s acting civil. He deserved an apology from me, so I gave it, and now he deserves one from you. I’m not leaving this spot until he gets it.”
Gavin smirked.
Cole gritted out a very mean “Sorry.”
“Good. Let’s go.” As Cole and I stood, another knock sounded at my door. Dang it, who was that? Considering my luck, it was probably Veronica. “Just a sec.” I stomped to the door. This time, I found Justin waiting on the other side. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”Cole came up behind me, the intense heat he radiated a caress against my skin. “What are you doing here?”
A bundle of energy, Justin couldn’t seem to stand still. “You told me to contact you if I had news. Well, I have news, and besides that, I thought you told Ali what’s going on.”
Cole glanced over his shoulder, saying, “You should have called.”
“No way. This was too big.”
“What is?” I asked at the same time Gavin called, “Who is it?”
Justin pressed his lips into a thin line. He backed up, saying, “Sorry. Didn’t realize. I’ll text you as soon as I get inside my car.”
The door shut with a soft click. He’d better hurry. Curiosity was now in the process of eating me alive.
“You were going to show me something,” Cole prompted.
I nodded, and led him past the kitchen. Gavin glanced up from the loaf of potato bread he was slicing, frowned. “Seriously? You’re abandoning me?”
“Only for a few minutes.”
“You don’t owe him an explanation, either,” Cole said, dragging me away. “And I’m not apologizing again.”
I think Gavin flipped him off, but I couldn’t be sure. In the hall, I heard Nana humming under her breath.
“We have another guest,” I called.
She stuck her head out of the door and brightened. “Cole. It’s wonderful to see you.”
“You, too.”
She arched a brow when she noticed my hand on the knob of my door. “You’re going in there...alone?”
“Just for a few minutes,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded. “I’ll be watching the clock.”
I stepped inside—only to gasp. She had decorated my room with everything she knew I’d love. The furnishings were a dark cherrywood and polished to a glossy shine. Wispy white curtains covered my window, and a framed picture of Emma and me hung on the wall. She was in front of me, wrapped in my arms, and we were both smiling our biggest smiles.
There was a note taped to the border.
Angels must have held this photo in their hands, because that’s the only way it could have survived the bomb. I had it framed weeks ago, but wanted to wait to give it to you at Christmas. This seemed like a better time.
Love, Nana
Oh, Nana, I thought as tears welled in my eyes.
“You’re both adorable,” Cole said, stepping up behind me to study the photo. “You look so happy.”
“We were. We’d just finished playing hide-and-seek in the house, and of course, she had won. She always won. My legs were too long to fit anywhere. She was gloating in that sweet way she had—nah, nah, nah, I’m the crown champion again—so I snatched her up to tickle her. Mom demanded we pose.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “I have one of my mom and me, taken a few weeks before she died. It’s more valuable to me than my heart and lungs.”
I liked when he shared something from his past. He didn’t do it often. I turned, met his gaze.
He hooked a strand of hair behind my ear. I could feel myself getting lost in the moment, in him, so when his phone beeped a few seconds later, I jumped. I also sighed with relief.
“Go ahead,” I said. “Check it.”
He hesitated a moment before scrolling through the message, his features darkening as he read. “Justin says the spy is someone who was at the park tonight. Information about the fight has already hit Anima.”
“So...that rules out Collins and Cruz. And Frosty and Bronx were too busy rescuing Kat and Reeve to hand out any details.”
“Not necessarily, but I know them better than I know myself, and they’d never help the enemy. I’ve never suspected them.”
Had he ever suspected me? “You can rule out Lucas and Trina, too. I watched the spy watch them, remember? So that leaves...Veronica.”
“You saw a male in the forest.”
“Yes, and she could be working with him.”
“Maybe.” His gaze locked with mine and searched. “There’s also Gavin.”
My hand fluttered to my throat, rubbed. Gavin... He had to be innocent. And yet he wanted to stay the night here, no matter how uncomfortable he’d be on the couch. Maybe not because he hated the motel, after all, but to keep tabs on me and my dark metamorphosis.
“Anyway, they weren’t the only ones there,” Cole reminded me.
“Me?” I squeaked.
He rolled his eyes. “I never suspected you. I mean Kat. Reeve.”
“Girl. Girl.”
“Like you said, a girl could be working with a boy.”
“Besides,” I continued, “there’s no way Kat would betray us, and Reeve doesn’t know anything.”
“Kat has no filter. She—”
“Isn’t responsible,” I insisted.
“What about Ethan?”
“Bronx has already looked into him. Found nothing suspicious.”
After a short pause, he nodded. “That leaves us with...yeah, Gavin and Veronica. But I’ve already checked, and they came out clean. As you know, that’s the reason I spent so much time with her. I was going through her stuff, checking everything she said. Nothing dubious came up. More than that, the problems started before the pair got here.”
“Maybe you didn’t dig deep enough. Maybe one or both were working for Anima before they got here and asked to be assigned to your team. Talk to Mr. Ankh and your dad. They’ll have ideas about what to—”