Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

T he rest of the team had slowly trickled to their bedrooms to turn in for the night.

But Andi and Duke remained in the living room. They sat on the couch in front of the fire with a red-and-black-plaid blanket covering their legs.

With the craziness of today it would be nice to have a few minutes to decompress alone.

“I have a bad feeling about this deep dive.” Andi stared at the dancing flames, mesmerized by them. “I don’t know if it’s because of how gruesome the crimes were or what, but there’s something about this investigation I don’t like.”

“The murders were gruesome. The fact we know this guy will be striking again in four days doesn’t do much for my peace of mind.”

“Same here. This is like searching for a needle in a haystack. I usually like to be more optimistic, but I guess I’m feeling overwhelmed.”

Andi’s therapist had talked to her about those kinds of feelings.

She’d been going to therapy after the deep dive they’d done on Celeste, Duke’s former fiancée. At one point, Andi had been captured, and a mad scientist-like doctor had been about to do brain surgery on her.

Andi had been tethered to the operating table and, only moments before having her skull cracked open—while she was fully awake—Duke and the gang had saved her.

For the longest time, Andi had thought the event hadn’t affected her. She tried to stay busy and not think about the horror of the moment.

But her psyche had different ideas.

One of the effects of Andi’s recent trauma was anxiety. She’d never had to deal with it before in her life.

But now she did.

She often woke up in the middle of the night in a panic, covered in a cold sweat with her heart racing.

Through her therapy sessions, Andi had realized she had a lot of issues to work through. The realizations had been humbling and eye-opening, but necessary.

The anxiety that had hit her felt debilitating. Yet she didn’t want others to know that or to think she was weak. One of her mentors in law school had always told her that leaders didn’t show weakness.

For some reason, she was having trouble letting Duke see the severity of her trauma.

She sucked in a slow breath. Instead of sharing her thoughts, she decided to focus on the case. There would be time to talk about her anxiety issues later. Right now, they had less than four days to get this figured out.

The top of her head began to ache again.

She pressed her eyes closed, trying to quell her panic.

She couldn’t have an anxiety attack. Not now.

Please, not now . . .

Duke sensed Andi had something on her mind and waited for her to share.

He’d noticed her breathing become more labored, her body become tense.

She said nothing.

After a few minutes, he murmured, “You okay?”

She nodded a little too quickly. “Just tired.”

He didn’t believe her, but he was trying to give her space. When she was ready, she would talk. But he hated being in the dark.

He only wanted to help her. He’d do anything for her. She knew that, didn’t she?

“I just . . . I just want to not talk for a moment,” she finally said.

His heart sagged with disappointment, but he accepted her request. “Whatever you need.”

As Andi leaned against his chest, Duke planted a kiss on top of her head.

If Duke had his way, he’d propose to Andi now, and they could pick a wedding date in the near future. Andi was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He’d known it for a while and, now that he had resolution with Celeste, there shouldn’t be anything holding them back.

Except there was.

Whatever was going on with Andi, Duke would wait for her as long as necessary. He hated to see her struggling. However, he hoped she’d come out stronger in the end. Until then, he’d be there for her whenever needed.

He also dealt with some guilt. Andi would have never been in that situation with an extremely misguided doctor if it hadn’t been for him. They’d been following those leads because of his desire to gain information about Celeste.

His actions had put Andi in danger—and could have ultimately ended her life. He thought about that fact often.

Several minutes later, Andi stirred and murmured, “I should go to bed.”

“You do need your rest.”

She glanced up at him, and her gaze softened. Then, the next instant, the walls went up again.

She stood abruptly, her gaze fluttering. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Duke wished she could stay in his arms, where he could keep an eye on her—especially until he knew what was going on at the camp—and what was going on in her mind and heart.