Jake saw her, too, as he grabbed a cart. “It’s hard not to come into town every now and then.”

I nodded. “We’ll move on probably tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

That was also the pattern.

Once we had to go into town, we moved. Because of that, we tried to do most of our shopping at gas stations, but there were exceptions. Like tonight. I kept hoping for one night where Raize would come back, tell us we were fine for the night, and we could let down our guards. Just for a night.

I wasn’t holding my breath.

“So.”

I looked over.

Jake’s lips had pursed as he pushed the cart forward. He looked at me from the corner of his eye. “You and Raize, huh?”

Oh. Yeah. We’d never talked about that.

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t…” He paused, his head tilting to the side, but he wasn’t looking at me. “You didn’t do that to save my life…” He looked over. “Did you?”

Oh! Whoa.

I shook my head. “No! Oh my God. No. That, uh…”

He was following my statement, bobbing his head up and down. He finished for me, “That started earlier?”

I nodded.

“In Texas?”

We started forward again, and I gave another nod.

He sighed, his hand going to his chest. “Gotta say, I’m relieved to hear that. I mean, you seemed to be attracted to him, but I guess… You just never know in this life.”

My stomach twisted. He’d thought I was faking it for his life? Damn.

“I am attracted to him,” I assured him. “I’m not faking it.”

“That’s good. And, you know, congrats and all.”

I frowned. “Yeah. I guess.”

This was the weirdest conversation… I’m sure I’d had worse, but I wasn’t going to go there. Hella awkward.

“What about you?” I asked.

Jake gave me a wry grin. “Me faking it with Raize for you?”

“No.” I laughed. “You and that woman you talked about. You think Carloni is still keeping her?”

His smile faded and his shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. I’m a romantic, wanted to hold on to something. I hadn’t seen her in months, even before I started working for Raize. Also, I’m pretty sure she and Carloni were sleeping together. Just didn’t want to accept it.” He gave me a considering look. “You know what I mean?”

“What do you think, sis?”

I lost my smile. “Yeah. I do.”

Burgers.

Buns.

Coleslaw.

Chips.

Beans.

Cheese. Ketchup. A1 Sauce. Onions. Lettuce.

Watermelon.

Jake had wanted as close to a genuine barbeque as he could get, and Cavers showed up just as we finished loading the grocery bags into the Suburban. He had a pack of beer under one arm and a brown bag that clinked as he put it next to the food.

Jake shook his head. “Boss isn’t going to let us get drunk.”

Cavers stepped back, ignored him, and shut the back. “Maybe we can plan on the possibility he does?” He swiped the keys from Jake, going to the driver’s side.

Jake and I shared a look.

They could hope, but it was a stupid hope. We all knew that.

37

Raize

A squad car was pulled over on the side of the road a half mile from the house, that pissed me off. Hitting my lights, I turned onto an abandoned road and crawled forward, getting out of sight. Considering we were out in the boondocks and the road was gravel, I doubted he saw me or anyone else going past.

This car was the first I’d spotted out here.

I was clearing the car when Jake picked up my call.

I heard the music first.

“What’s up?”

Fucking hell. I was being too nice. We were not friends.

This was Ash’s fault. I liked when people were scared of me.

Now this. Now all this friendly attitude.

“You got a cop staking the house,” I snapped. “What the fuck are you guys doing?”

“What?” He pulled away from the phone and yelled, “Cave Man, hit the music. Any alarms going off?”

I could hear Ash asking, “Who is that?”

A thudding sound came over the phone, and his voice sounded even more distant. “It’s the boss. He’s saying there’s a cop watching the house.”

I could hear Ash’s voice murmur, but couldn’t make out the words.

“The perimeter alarms are flashing,” Cavers said. “I got eyes on the cop.”

I growled into the phone, “I need a name.”

And I waited.

There was murmuring from their end, and whatever that thud was seemed to be blocking Jake from hearing me.

“Fucking hell, Jake!”

“What?” That came from a distance, then another thud and his voice came back, clearer. “What’d you say, boss?”

“Whatever the fuck you just did, don’t ever do it again. I may not be able to kill you since Ash fucking cares about you, but I’ll put a goddamn bullet in your ass. You getting me now?”

“Yeah—I mean, yes, sir. Boss. That won’t ever happen again. What’d you say earlier?”

“I need the cop’s name. After that, get your guns and your ass outside. I’m flushing him up to you.”

“Cavers is looking him up. He says his name is Martinez.”

That’s all I needed. I hung up because my waning patience.

A cop on their front yard and they didn’t know?

I wanted to do damage, but fuck. Needed to deal with this first.

There was good coverage around the house and driveway with thick forest, but I cut through an abandoned field, working my way around. Veering closer to the driveway, but still hidden by the trees, I flashed a light toward the cop.

Any good cop would pull forward to find out what was going on, and he did.

He inched forward, keeping his headlights off, which was smart.

When he was closer, I flashed the light again, farther up the driveway but still in the woods. He turned in, inching forward.

If someone came to the house, the protocol was that Ash would get on the channel and listen. The guns would head out and surround. Jake and Cavers were waiting on the driveway—just standing there with guns in hands. They weren’t raised or aiming, they were holding them.

As soon as the front of the squad car hit the driveway, he got a clear view of them.

If he was going to call for backup, he would be doing that now, but he wasn’t.

Ash would’ve alerted us if he had been. Instead this guy paused, waiting, and I moved in behind him.

Then he shot forward in the driveway, turning his lights on. He let them shine on Jake and Cavers.

He was smart, which I knew from the file I had on him, but I wanted to know what had tagged us for him. He wouldn’t have driven in if he was here for anyone off the books. He was in his squad car, wearing his uniform, and he’d opened his car door and stood just behind it. His gun was drawn, but he kept it angled down a bit. He waited, scoping out Jake and Cavers.

I rounded behind him, right at his trunk. I could’ve rested against it if I wanted, but I held off, waiting to see how he’d start this conversation.