Page 142 of The Complete Truth Duet
She blinked at me, her face unreadable.
So much had happened in the last day that I knew she had to be overwhelmed.
But I couldn’t take the limbo anymore.
Our journey through hell was far from over. Thomas was still alive. Drew was rip-roaring and ready to go after him. And Catalina was hell-bent about going to the cops. Having some sort of resolution between the two of us would have gone miles in easing the pressure in my chest.
“Say something,” I whispered, my heart pounding until I feared she could hear it. “Snatch off the Band-Aid. Whatever it is, just say it.”
Her eyes got soft, and while she didn’t make a sound, I saw her whole body sigh.
Hope sang in my veins.
And then the tiniest of tiny smiles tipped her lips. “I was right. Your new leaf really was covered in cheesy lines.”
I narrowed my eyes, but seeing as to how I’d never smiled so wide in my entire life, I didn’t figure it packed any heat. “Were you always this big of a smartass?”
She nodded, inching toward me until her chest became flush with mine, her soft body molding around me. “Yeah. It’s one of my better facets.”
“What’s one of the worst, then?”
She shrugged. “My taste in men.”
“Ouch.”
She giggled, snuggling in close.
“You never answered my question about why you picked accounting.”
“I’m good with numbers. It’s an honest living. And it’s boring as hell.”
“Yeah. I could use some boring right about now.”
She hummed but said nothing else.
I stared up at the ceiling in that bedroom, counting her breaths.
One in. One out.
As the minute hand ticked, her body became limp and her breathing evened out.
I’d wanted to talk more. Nothing had been resolved.
But she wasn’t sad anymore.
She was cuddled into my side, comfortable enough to finally doze off. Trusting me enough to hold her as she did it.
That in and of itself was further than any conversation was going to get us right then.
And she was cuddled into my side, so this made me comfortable enough to finally doze off too.
Cora
The sound of her angry snarl ripped me from sleep. I bolted upright, and Penn lurched to his feet before his eyes had even opened.
“Get your fucking hands off me!” Catalina yelled from the other side of our bedroom door.
I didn’t fully process the what, when, or where of what was going on outside. But I knew the who and darted toward her voice.
Penn grabbed my arm, pulling me up short, roughly whispering, “What are you doing? Someone could be out there.”
I opened my mouth to say, Yeah, Catalina.
But he lifted a finger to his lips and ordered around it, “Shhhh… Stay here.”
That would have been fine and dandy if he hadn’t magically produced a gun.
What the hell…
“Penn, wait.”
He glared at me impatiently and snapped his finger before pointing deeper into the room. “Get. Back.”
I wasn’t fond of the whole “snapping and telling me what to do” thing, but I was quite attached to my pulse. If he was right about someone being out there, Penn had a gun and I had morning breath.
I was stubborn but not stupid.
Stepping away, I vowed to discuss the snap with him later, like when I was cutting vegetables with a very large knife—assuming I made it that long.
Silently twisting the knob, he cracked the door and peeked out.
I held my breath, my hand at my star as I started doing the math on where River could be in the apartment. I’d vaguely remembered seeing her and Savannah in the hall just before my countless emotional breakdown of the day.
Then my back shot ramrod straight as Drew’s growl floated into the room.
“You need to chill the hell out.”
Penn’s shoulders sagged and he blew out a ragged exhale, yanking the door open. “Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell are you two bickering about?”
Relief surged through me—prematurely.
“Oh, good. You’re awake,” Cat snapped, pushing past Penn. Her brown eyes landed on me, the light from the hall revealing an alarming amount of anxiety. “Get your shoes. We’re leaving.”
“The hell you are,” Penn rumbled.
“You guys can have Thomas,” she told Penn. “Kill him. Skin him alive. Hang him from the courthouse steps, I don’t give a damn.” She pointed at me. “But she and I, and all the kids, are leaving. Now.”
My stomach twisted. Catalina wasn’t known to be dramatic. She hurt, she cried, but she wasn’t Debbie Doomsday. So whatever had set her off had to be bigger than big, and it made me nauseated before I even knew what it was.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Penn moved to my side, his arm going around my stiff shoulders, but I only had eyes for Catalina. “Tell me.”
She looked at Penn’s possessive hold on me and flashed Drew a pointed glance before starting in. “Early this morning, a judge granted my father a temporary release to attend his sons’ funeral. As of twenty minutes ago, the correctional officer who was guarding him was found dead, with no sign of Manuel anywhere. It’s all over the news. A full manhunt is underway.”
