28 Ford

Ford

We made it to the safe house. Finding it empty, Austin and I fell into the first room we found with a bed and crashed hard.

I couldn’t say how long we’d been out when the soft echo of voices pulled me from sleep.

I rolled out of bed, took one look at Austin’s peaceful sleeping face, and then made my way out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me.

Following the noise, I was led to the huge kitchen at the back of the house. Reed was putting away groceries while Dune and Remy were taking trips back and forth to the car to bring in more bags than I could count. I gave a silent wave and got a couple of chin jerks in return.

“Hey,” Reed said when he noticed me. “I take it you found the place okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks. We crashed when we got here.” I replied, leaving off the part that we crashed together and that I’d left Austin sleeping when I’d gotten out of bed. My voice was raspy. A combination of smoke inhalation, exhaustion, and stress. His sympathetic kind eyes said he could see how bad this situation was wearing me down. “I’m fine. It’s just a lot. And I feel really bad because I’m pretty sure there’s nothing left of Austin’s house.”

At that, Reed cringed and looked down.

It was going to be a big hit to Austin, and it killed me that there wasn’t a single thing I could do to make it better. I wished I could go back in time to stop it. Hell, if I could do that, I’d go back and never call Reed in the first place. I’d never involve any of them. I’d keep them all safe, even if it meant the end of my life.

Somehow— I wasn’t sure how, but I promised I’d find a way— I was going to make Austin’s life better. I was going to rebuild his house and help him keep the memories alive in it. Past and present ones.

I felt the pressure of that weighted promise bearing down on me. But strangely, I didn’t feel suffocated by it.

Taking in a cleansing breath, I moved in to help put the groceries away. I had no idea where stuff went, so I mostly took things out and lined them up neatly on the counter.

“I brought you guys some clothes and things,” Reed told me.

“Thanks,” I said, feeling choked up. “I’ll pay you back when this is all over.”

He froze, his hand grabbing something inside a bag. When it became apparent he wanted me to look at him, I shifted my gaze from the package of coffee beans in my hand to Reed’s face. His brow was already arched, but when I met his eyes, he somehow managed to hike it up higher.

Reed was a billionaire, a fact that I forgot most of the time. The last thing he needed was my money. And perhaps it was ridiculous of me to even offer to pay him back, but that wasn’t even the point.

I couldn’t stop the sharp laugh that slipped out. Then he was chuckling along with me.

“I’m still going to pay you back,” I said after we’d calmed down.

“And I’m going to look at you like you’ve lost your mind when you try to.”

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” I told him, keeping my tone low. I didn’t have a problem being open or emotional, but I was worried I was close to breaking, and I didn’t know what would set me over the edge.

“Same here,” he told me, moving in close. I gave in, turning toward him and accepting the hug he wrapped me up in. It didn’t last long, but it was long enough to finally get it. Reed was my friend. My family. And I would be there for him if he ever needed me.

“We’re going to go help Jameson check the perimeter,” Remy said, setting down the last of the bags. “Give you a little time to talk.”

They were gone before I had a chance to say anything.

“Sit,” Reed said as he pointedly looked in the direction of the stools tucked under the island. I shook my head at him, laughing as I pulled one out and perched my ass on it.

He handed me a bottled drink that was green. The healthy kind of green, not the neon green that should never be put in the body. I instantly cracked it open and guzzled half of the thick spinach-and-banana-tasting drink down.

“Austin’s place?” he asked.

“Probably a total loss,” I told him, feeling like shit because it was my fault.

The corners of Reed’s mouth turned down into a frown. He was probably already thinking of ways he could help fix the situation, even knowing he could never make it right again. While I sat there, thinking it was on me, and knowing the exact same thing. There was no way to fix this. Even if we were to rebuild, it would never be the same for him. All the good memories he held onto were in that home. It was a place that his father couldn’t touch, and I had taken that from him.

“It’s okay,” Reed said, but we both knew it wasn’t. Even if he didn’t know as much as I did about Austin, it was obvious that if Austin kept something that was tied to his family, it must have been extremely important to him. “How is he doing?”

“They got him pretty bad. He slept for half the ride here. I’m worried he got hit on the head too hard, but I couldn’t keep him awake. He assured me he’s fine.” I shrugged, not sure what else I could say.

“I’ll have Dune check him out when he comes back in.”

I nodded my appreciation.

“Tell me what you’ve figured out,” I said, setting the drink down.

Reed began to fill me in while he pulled out pots and pans, talking over his shoulder as he quickly washed them in the huge porcelain sink before drying them and setting them on the gas stovetop.

When he was done, ending by saying that they hadn’t found much of use, he looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

“Let’s talk about what we do have,” I said, trying to put us on the right track.

“Lipton has an apartment outside of Washington, D.C. and a family home in Charlotte. I’m assuming he travels back and forth quite a bit,” he said grabbing a bamboo chopping board and a big chef’s knife.

“Yeah,” I said with a nod. He pulled out a couple of onions and maintained eye contact as he set them on the board. “He mostly works at the main office. He doesn’t like the Charlotte office because he says everyone there is too focused on climbing the ladder.” I rolled my eyes. He sent me a smile that said he wanted to do the same.

“Kyle caught him on a bank security system about the time they raided your place. He was pulling out money, but it wasn’t an amount that seemed suspicious. So we’re not sure if it was part of some bigger plan or just a normal thing he was doing.” Reed shrugged and then picked up the knife, chopping off one end of the onion before cutting it in half. I really wanted to question the sudden influx of men in my life making me dinner. The universe seemed to be on a kick lately, and I didn’t feel the need to argue about it. “Then he disappears. No use of his car. None of the cameras we could find caught him at any point. As far as we could tell, he never even went back to his apartment.”

“What’s his play here?” I asked aloud, but it was more of a rhetorical question. I knew neither of us had the answer. It felt like we were so close, yet we were missing something so obvious. “Why would he set me up and then go into hiding? What sense does that make?”

“Why would he leave his wife at home? She seems to be going on with her daily life like she doesn’t know anything. And his two kids are the same.” He moved on to chopping peppers.

“He has to know he’s fucked. That’s the only thing I can think of. Even though he’s set me up for the fall, there are still too many trails that lead to him and he doesn’t have time to cover them all.”

“Maybe that’s what he’s been doing,” Reed said, eyes going sharp as we exchanged a look. “We’ve been so focused on finding him that we haven’t… fuck.”

“It’s understandable. If you get him, the whole organization will likely crumble. You’ve been at it for years, chipping away slowly from the inside. Who would blame you for running full speed at a lead like this?”

“I feel like we’ve been playing right into his hand even though he has no fucking clue who we are.”

I had seen Reed tired. Seen him stressed. Seen him in love. And I’d seen the businessman mask that he wore for the outside world.

But I had never seen or heard him sound this enraged. It was a quiet anger, bubbling just under the surface, about ready to boil over. I could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice. He wasn’t going to give up. He wasn’t going to let Lipton play us anymore.

“What else am I missing?” he asked, pulling the anger back inside so he could focus. He shook his head and walked over to the stainless steel refrigerator, pulling open the door and reaching in for a huge pack of fresh chicken breasts. “Is chicken okay?”

“Yeah,” I said with a nod before quickly refocusing. “He has two vacation homes that I know of. One in Black Mountain, North Carolina, and a waterfront condo on Jekyll Island.”

“Hmm, we didn’t find those,” Reed said with a look of concentration. “They must not be in his name or his wife’s name.” He pulled out his phone and typed out a message. “I’ll get Kyle on it. Is the condo in a building or connected outside units?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been there.” I wished I could remember if he talked about the place. I felt helpless. “But I have been to the one in Black Mountain a handful of times. I could tell you how to get there.”

“Really?” His brows went up in surprise. “Maybe we should start there?”

“I mean, you seem to think that I know where he’d be hiding out, and other than the apartment and the family home in Charlotte, that’s the only other place I’m familiar with. So… seems like the most logical choice.”

“Even if he’s not there, maybe there’s something there that will give us a clue,” he said, doing his best to sound hopeful.

“Seems like the best idea,” I said, not sounding as hopeful as him. I wanted to see the end of this, but I had to stay grounded. I couldn’t build it up and then live with the letdown. Hope meant that you weren’t planning for what happened next. The after. And after the after. The places when the plan fell through and you had to be ready for what was next.

“We’ll stay here for a couple of days while we come up with a plan. That will give you and Austin a chance to recover from what just happened.” He eyed me with an expression that was full of apologies. “After that, I think it’s time to strike.”

“I do too,” I said with a slow nod. He was right, and I was ready.

The door leading to the garage opened and in walked the three members that Reed had brought and… Austin.

I did a double-take when I saw him.

“I’m sneaky,” he said with a wink and a cocksure smirk.

My face went flat as I stared at him. It shouldn’t have surprised me. This house was big enough that he could have left and I wouldn’t have known.

“He’s fine,” Dune said, looking at Reed as he slapped Austin’s shoulder as he passed him. “He was out there playing it up, trying to make me think his face was broken.” Even as he said this, he was digging around in the freezer for a package of peas, tossing it at Austin a second later.

“Was not,” Austin shot back, catching the bag with ease and instantly holding it against the side of his face. “I said I was fine.” His gaze snapped to mine. “Tell them. I told you I was fine.”

“He complained the whole ride here,” I teased, unable to take my eyes off Austin long enough to read the room’s expression.

The smirk slid off his face as he grumbled unhappily.

I hid my smile behind the top of the bottle as I tilted it back and gulped down the drink that wished it was a smoothie, trying not to grimace at the gritty texture that filled my mouth as the last of the liquid drained out.

“Broken nose, which I can’t do much about,” Dune said, tone a little more serious. “Sorry, that pretty cowboy face is just going to have to be a little off now.” Austin rolled his eyes. “Face took a beating, but swelling should go down by tomorrow if he keeps ice on it. And there’s a bunch of bruising on his torso, but nothing a couple of days of taking it easy shouldn’t fix.”

“Glad you’re okay,” I said softly. It wasn’t great, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse.

“Yeah, I bet you are,” Austin shot back. “Who’d watch your ass if I wasn’t?”

All I had to do was raise a brow to make his cheeks tint red.

“I need to shower,” I said as I slid off the stool and tore my gaze away from Austin. “I’ll be out in a bit.”

I walked out without looking back at him once.

“Oh, yeah. I need one of those too.” I heard Austin say as I rounded the corner.

“The crusty blood on your face agrees,” Remy said.

“This house has three bathrooms upstairs, so you don’t have to wait for Ford to get done,” Reed said.

“Uh huh,” Austin said, already rushing to catch up with me.