Page 50 of Night Moves
“Thank you.” Despite her efforts to sound normal, her voice trembled.
“Everything okay?”
“Not really.” She told him about her sister. “I lied to them. I know it’s hard for them to understand why, and I don’t know if they’ll forgive me.”
“They’ll come around.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“’Cause I’ve walked in their shoes before, and I know how they think. Right now, they don’t want to believe one of their fellow officers didn’t do his job as fully as would be expected. Then they figure out with the high caseloads that sometimes a detective might not handle things as well as he should and could’ve been dismissive.”
“High caseloads? You’re defending the detective who blew me off?”
“No. No.” He held up his free hand. “Just saying I can see how it happened. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t listen to you now and understand why you withheld the info. They’ll figure that out too. But it might take Drake a minute or two to come around.”
“Why’s that?”
“He was the first person to assist you. Means this protection detail and investigation is more personal to him, and he’s more emotionally invested than the other guys.”
“I didn’t realize that.”
“Happens all the time. You catch a case, and you take it personally, even if you don’t want to. In this situation…” He grinned. “I also think my son has found a woman who has him thinking about letting go of his wandering ways to consider a relationship. But you didn’t hear that from me. If Peg thinks I’ve even got a hint of matchmaking in my skillset, I’ll never live it down.”
13
Dumbfounded, Drake didn’t move. What should he do? Should he go after Natalie? Tell her it was okay that she’d kept the truth from him and his brothers?
It wasn’t okay. He was putting his life on the line for her and the kids. So were his brothers. The very least they deserved was the truth.
“I know Detective Archibald,” Erik said. “He’s an OG and know it all. I can see him being dismissive.”
“Just because he’s an old guy doesn’t mean anything,” Drake said. “Dad was an OG before he retired and was still a heck of a detective.”
“That was Dad.” Erik crossed his arms. “But this guy’s disillusioned by the job and let it get to him. He retires this year. I hear he’s been phoning it in for a while.”
Drake gritted his teeth. “Still no excuse for her lying to us.”
“She didn’t lie,” Aiden said. “She just held something back. I don’t blame her. She didn’t know us. Didn’t know how we would react. Now she does and trusted us with the information. So think about it from that point of view before you go all righteous on her because you got your feelings hurt.”
Drake clamped his hands on his waist. “My feelings—”
“Save it,” Clay said. “This is personal and you know it. You’ve got a thing for her. We get it. Understand even. Just don’t expect us to jump on board your bandwagon when she didn’t do anything wrong.”
Drake stared at his brothers. How could they accept what Natalie had done just like that? Were they right? Was he being a baby because he got his feelings hurt?
“How does it feel to have one of us calling you out instead of the other way around?” Brendan’s voice came loud and clear from the iPad speaker.
“I’m not liking it much,” he said. “But I’m gonna let it go. I need to talk to her.”
After he started for the door, one of his brothers made a kissing noise. He spun to see who, but they all stared blankly at him.
Right.He was getting payback for all the times he’d called them out on so many things. But he couldn’t help it. That was who he was. Who God made him to be, and he was glad of it. At least most of the time. Having discernment was hard at times. It often made him the odd guy out.
“Seriously, man,” Clay said. “Glad to see you found someone who stopped you in your tracks long enough to see what’s out there besides putting your neck on the line in some crazy sport.”
“Never thought I’d see the day,” Aiden said. “But like Clay said, it’s a good thing.”
Drake held the doorknob, feeling the coolness against his palm. “I don’t know if it’s such a good thing or if it’s even true. Sure, I’m attracted to her. Not hard to be. She’s very easy on the eyes. But I don’t think it goes further than that.”
