Dream Chaser (Dream Team, #2)(114)

And I knew from our morning conversation that he would disagree, but in a roundabout way, I had Angelica to thank for putting in motion the breakdown of the wall I’d built between him and me.

Of course, I’d never tell her that.

Or Boone.

That didn’t make it untrue.

But in the end, it didn’t matter.

Because he was mine.

That was all that mattered.

And as gross and gushily romantic as it sounded, I didn’t care.

I was going to remember that morning, that chin lift and look he gave me before he left, and I was going to do that for the rest of my days.

Because it was the moment I realized that Boone was all that would matter for my eternity.





Chapter Twenty-Two





The Widow and the Rat





Boone


Boone’s phone ringing pulled him from sleep.

Ryn’s hair was all over his chest, her scarf was dangling down his stomach and over his side that she wasn’t dangling over, and he’d worked her over so good that night, she didn’t even twitch with the noise.

Which made him want to smile even when he wasn’t feeling like smiling when his phone was ringing—he turned his head and checked his clock—at nearly three in the morning.

So not to wake her, he moved carefully, but quickly, to end the noise.

He checked the screen.

The call was Hawk.

Boone did a quick mental scan of jobs they were on, and outside Jorge, Auggie and Zane (another member of Hawk’s crew) being out of town on an assignment, there was nothing anyone was on that required night work.

He took the call warily but alertly with a “Yo, Hawk.”

“I’m texting you an address. I need you here. Fast. And stealth mode, Boone.”

Boone tensed and that’s what made Ryn stir.

“Is everything okay?” he asked Hawk.

“Yes, and no. Mueller and Bogart are both dead,” Hawk answered.

At this news, Boone couldn’t stop himself from shoving three inches up the bed, which didn’t stir Ryn.

It roused her.

Her head came up.

But fuck.

Goddamn Cisco.

He couldn’t just wait for them to shake something loose.

Granted, shit was dragging out, which sucked for Ryn, but Cisco had been feeling it a lot longer.

It was nearly two weeks after his parents left town. Ryn was officially out of PTO, but Smithie was still paying her and she wasn’t liking that. Keeping a man on her was getting difficult. And with nothing happening anywhere at all with anything on that, the team had had two discussions on whether they thought a man on her 24/7 was necessary anymore.

Hawk was feeling better safe than sorry.

Boone was torn.

He absolutely agreed with better safe than sorry.

But Ryn was struggling. They were closing in on sending a press release that Smithie’s was going to a revue and they were going to have a big thing the opening night. Smithie had installed additional lighting, special effects apparatus and modified his stage to accommodate the range of the girls’ routines.

It was almost go time.

And although Ryn was working with Lottie and Pepper and Dominique on their routines (not Hattie, Hattie was in full shutdown mode, which was something else Ryn and all the Dream Team were struggling with), they weren’t getting Ryn any closer to getting back to her life.

And obviously, with this, Ryn’s Felon Fairy Godfather had decided to take matters into his own hands.

Again.

“Fucking Cisco,” he said to Hawk.

“What?” Ryn whispered, part sleepy, part concerned.

“It wasn’t Cisco,” Hawk said. “Murder suicide.”

Holy fuck.

“Say what?” he asked.

“Just get here, Boone,” Hawk ordered. “And fast. I don’t know how long Eddie can keep this scene clear for us to take our look. Axl’s on his way to keep an eye on your place and Ryn. His ETA is five minutes.”

“Text me, I’m there,” he said.

“Out,” Hawk replied and disconnected.

Boone dropped his phone hand and looked through the shadows to his woman.

“I gotta go, sweetheart.”

“Is Brett okay?”

“As far as I know, but I gotta go.”

“Why’d you say his name?”

“Baby, he’s not involved.” He cupped her cheek in his hand. “I jumped to conclusions. But I gotta get somewhere and I gotta get there fast. We’ll talk when I get home. Yeah?”

She didn’t even take a beat.

She nodded.

Christ, he loved this woman.

A realization he came to the instant she walked out of the bathroom in her chemistry teacher getup.

That wasn’t about sex.

That was about Ryn homing in on something he thought he told her as a throwaway and moving on it to give him a memory he’d never forget.

Not an orgasm he’d never forget (though he might not forget the ones she gave him that night either).

He could not imagine the courage it took to put herself out there like that for him.

But she went all out to put herself out there for him.

She knew now she could go for it.

But it took some serious fucking guts to make herself vulnerable to him in a way that was beyond their current play, but could serve to enhance it, or she could have fallen flat on her face.