Chapter 15

15

My phone ringingon the nightstand woke me. My first thought was I was going to skin whoever was calling. My second was that I wanted to wake up just like this for the rest of my life. I shifted Mellie’s hair off my face, the movement so familiar it was like second nature. The year we lived together after she graduated high school before I left for the Navy, this was how she slept. Diagonal across the bed, head on my stomach, her hair draped over my chest and shoulder and her arm low around my hips. When I was home on leave, the same. The few times she’d come to visit me in San Diego, the same. It didn’t matter how we fell asleep, this was how we woke up.

For the first time in seventeen years, I had it back.

This time, I wasn’t letting it go.

Last night after I told her I loved her, she used her normal evasion tactic and used sarcasm and humor to deflect. But I didn’t miss her eyes flare. And when I told her she wasn’t driving in the carpool when we had kids I watched her face go soft.

I gave her that play and didn’t push it. I continued to let her have her way when we got back to her place after dinner with her parents. Partly because she looked exhausted after a day with her niece and nephew, not to mention the FBI showing up took an emotional toll. But mostly I didn’t push because she told me about the conversation she had with her dad. I have to admit if I hadn’t been present, I wouldn’t have believed Katherine Rivers had it in her to question the FBI. And if I hadn’t heard Jeremy Rivers’ tone when he reprimanded Mellie, I would’ve never thought the man could pull off what my dad called The Dad Voice.

During the retelling of the conversation, she’d let it slip she’d been paying the lion’s share of the attorney’s fees. It was a damn good thing Jeremy had already put a stop to that. It saved me the argument that would’ve occurred when I took over those payments. One less thing to fight about when the battlefield was already stacked against me. When the time came, instead of piling more on her I took up the Herculean task of maneuvering a sleepover with me sleeping in her bed. I ended the argument by ignoring her half-hearted protests and getting into bed. At first, I thought to prove a point she’d attempt to sleep on her couch. But five minutes after I slid into her bed she stomped into the bedroom, then banged around in the bathroom before she got into bed with her back to me. When I hauled her close and tucked her back against my chest, I knew I’d won when she relaxed into me.

It was a small victory but I’d take it.

“Make it stop,” Mellie grouched. “Sunday.”

I reached for my phone, felt around on the nightstand, found it, and held it out to check the caller ID.

Cash.

At six-oh-one on a Sunday.

Fuck.

“Gotta answer this, baby, roll off.”

As soon as Melissa rolled I knifed up and took the call.

“You good?” I greeted and threw my legs over the bed.

“Yeah, but we need to talk and you need privacy.”

“Getting that now,” I told him and walked through the dark room.

I closed the bedroom door behind me. Made my way to the kitchen and went straight for the coffee pot.

“Go.”

“An hour ago, Slater Boone was found dead.”

Christ.

“Where?”

“Kitchen floor of his house.”

“Who the fuck found him on his kitchen floor at five in the morning?”

I opened a cabinet I prayed contained coffee. I was overjoyed when I found Melissa still had good taste and nabbed a bag of Black Rifle and went in search of filters.

“Steve Metzbower. He claims he and his wife had a fight, so he went to Slater’s to crash on his couch. Not sure if the wife’s been questioned to provide an alibi but I do know Steve has a key. I also know Derrick didn’t look all that surprised Slater was dead. But he is pissed that Ran’s not at home.”

“Are you still with them?” I asked.

I gave up looking for filters and opened the lid to the coffee machine. I should’ve known Mellie still used the reusable mesh filters. Thankfully, she still cleaned it after the coffee was done brewing.

I was dumping grounds into the filter when Cash answered.

“Yeah. And something else; Stater was into Ran for twenty grand but that was after he’d paid off forty thousand.”

“Analise’s life insurance,” I muttered. “How the fuck did he get sixty grand in debt playing cards and betting on games?”

“He was bad at it?”

That was an understatement.

“I get that part, but why the hell did Ran let him that far in the hole?”

The carafe was half-full of water when Cash gently muttered, “He knew he was good for it.”

“Say again?”

“The reason why the feds think Ran had something to do with Analise’s death. That’s his MO. When someone goes in the hole, they need collateral to keep betting. The only collateral he takes is life insurance policies or house deeds. Not many people have their home paid off, but a lot of people have insurance policies.”

Jesus fuck.

What a piece of shit.

“Something else.”

There was more?

“Let me guess—Ran was stupid enough to have Slater change the beneficiary on his policy to his name.”

“No, brother.”

There was something in Cash’s tone that made me brace.

“Tell me.”

“Slater opened two more policies six months ago. Steve Metzbower’s the beneficiary on both.”

My blood turned to ice.

“Get to the Rivers’ house now. I need to wake up Mellie—”

“Already on my way with the Feds.”

“Are they offering protection?”

“No.”

Of course the Feds wouldn’t. The family had nothing to offer them.

“Call—”

“Already did. Kira and Cooper are already in the air on their way here. When they land in Atlanta for their connection, Easton will reroute them back to Maryland. Only thing I need to know is if you’re coming with me, the parents, and the kids, or if we’re separating.”

Fucking Cash.

Now was not the time for my guilt to take over. It wasn’t time to process the burn in my chest and the gratitude I felt. Yet, I couldn’t push it aside.

“What’s your take, Five?”

I heard Cash’s swift inhale and realized I’d used his old Drifter call sign.

“I’m Six now, brother,” he corrected.

Theo.

After I was gone, they’d never replaced me as One. When Theo replaced me as team leader instead of him rightfully taking Drifter One, they’d called him Two. Which meant everyone shifted down a number.

“Y’all should’ve given him One,” I noted.

“Are we gonna do this right now?”

No.

“Just saying, respect to Theo.”

“Jesus,” Cash mumbled. “My thought is, with Ran’s whereabouts unknown we should split up. Choice is yours. I can sit on the grandparents and kids until you get here, then you take them and I’ll take Melissa, or I can be on the road with the grandparents as soon as they pack up the kids.”

Melissa was going to have a shit hemorrhage.

“Get the kids and go. And I mean just that, Six. Jeremy and Katherine are good people, trusting, a little naïve. If they fight you on this, snatch the kids and go. I’ll deal with the fallout.”

“Copy. Smith and Jonas are on standby. Where do you want them?”

The damn burn was back, this time strong enough that I needed to put my hand on the edge of the counter to hold myself upright.

“You got a plan where you’re headed?”

“Back to Maryland. I figure with the kids it’ll take three, maybe four days. If Jeremy and Katherine are up for it and feel comfortable driving, we could do the drive in two.”

I couldn’t imagine Katherine wanting to drive. If memory served, she didn’t like driving in the city. Though I’d never expected to see the woman stand up for her family and she’d done that in a big way yesterday.

“I’ll be right behind you, but I agree we stay separated. We can watch each other’s six that way.”

“Copy that. I’ll let you know when I’m on the road.”

“I’ll get in touch with Smith. But I need to get Melissa up and I need to swing by my parents’ house before we leave.”

“That’s it?” Cash asked.

“Huh?”

“That’s it?” he repeated with no further clarification.

“We’ve been out with less—”

“You trust me with your woman’s family?”

What the fuck?

“Brother, I trust you with my life. Seeing as you know what Melissa means to me and you know her family is everything to her, I didn’t think I needed to tell you that.”

“Good to have you back, One. It’s about fucking time.”

With that, he hung up.

A second later my phone chimed with a text.

I saw Cash’s name and hit the text string.

Cash is KING.

I shook my head at his stupidity but did it smiling.

Slater was dead.

Ran was MIA.

Cash was on his way to get Mellie’s family and he’d make sure they were safe.

I set the coffee to brew and went to wake up Melissa and I did it thinking I’d changed my mind. I did not want to wake up like this every day for the rest of my life. I wanted a life that included me waking up with my woman’s head on my stomach, her hair in my face, and me having the time to wake her up in an altogether different way that would lead to multiple orgasms followed by rolling out of bed with the taste of her on my tongue.