Page 137 of Hard to Hold
All three of us turned our attention to the woman now standing a few feet behind us.
I had to give her credit. She had balls. She met my gaze head on, held it. “My name’s Joanna Tannenbaum, and I’m a Houston detective. I’ve worked under Kelly Jackson for years.” She looked at Amy. “Your sudden exit from his life made me suspicious. That’s the only reason I’m here. I’ve been tracking this for the past nine months. When I found out he’d visited here, the red flags went off. I knew it wasn’t a coincidence at that point. Rather than approach you directly, I wanted to meet with the sheriff. See what we could do to … protect you.”
“So he knows where I am? That I’m alive?” Amy asked, her short fingernails digging into my arm, her hands trembling.
“I’d say it’s highly likely. And if he doesn’t, it’s not because he hasn’t tried to find you,” Joanna explained.
Leaning down, I pressed my mouth close to Amy’s ear, speaking only loud enough for her to hear. “He won’t hurt you, Amy. I swear to you. I won’t let him.”
Her grip on me tightened and I tugged her closer, glancing over at Rhys. “I need to get her somewhere she feels safe. This ain’t it.”
Rhys nodded in agreement.
“Come on.” I ushered Amy into the truck and offered one final look back at Rhys and the detective.
“What if he followed her?” Amy questioned when I climbed in the driver’s seat after helping her in the truck. “What if he’s here?”
Knowing I couldn’t answer her questions, I decided to call in backup. Grabbing my phone, I dialed Lynx’s number first.
“What’s up, hoss?”
“I need you to meet me at Cooter’s. I want you to get my dad, too.”
“Everything cool?”
“No,” I said firmly. “But I’ll explain everything when y’all get there.” I pulled out onto the main road. “Shit. And Lynx, grab Reagan while you’re at it. I want her aware of what’s goin’ on, too. Since she’s stayin’ at Amy’s place, she could be in danger.”
“I don’t like the sound of this one fuckin’ bit. But I’ll corral ’em all and meet you there.”
“Thanks.”
I hung up and dialed Rhys’s number. “All right. Here’s the plan. I’m takin’ her out to Cooter’s place. If you trust that detective, I suggest you grab her and meet us out there. Just make sure you’re not followed.”
“Will do. See you in a few.”
Tossing the phone in the center console, I reached for Amy’s hand. I linked my fingers with her icy-cold ones. I fucking hated that I could do nothing to ease her fears. Nothing yet, anyway.
“Amy?”
“Yeah?”
“No one’s gonna let that bastard get close to you. You hear me?”
She nodded, but I could tell she wasn’t convinced.
Good thing actions spoke louder than words, because I was about to show my girl just what happened when an outsider threatened one of our own.
Amy
It was a good thing I hadn’t eaten anything. I knew for a fact I wouldn’t have been able to keep it down. Not while the icy ribbons of fear were latching onto my insides, clutching painfully tight.
Even now as I sat in Wolfe’s uncle’s house, a solid wall of men between me and the outside world, I couldn’t stop shaking. It hadn’t helped that I'd had to repeat my story so that the rest of Wolfe’s family understood what they were up against. And just like the first time I'd relayed the details, I watched grown men hover close to the edge of a killing rage. I'd never felt more protected than I did here, but I knew Kelly. They didn’t. The man was a monster. A powerful one, at that.
The arrival of the detective had sent my world into a spiral. If Kelly didn’t know where I was before, he definitely did now. Not that I was disillusioned enough to think he hadn’t figured it out long before now. I'd always suspected he was watching me. It seemed like a perverse game he would play.
The question was, when would he show his hand?
“Hey, you okay?”
