Better When He's Brave (Welcome to the Point #3)(76)
I blew an angry breath out through my nose like a bull as a familiar face suddenly decorated the monitor at the entrance to the building. “Booker.”
“Exactly.” I realized Race was answering my question about the firearm and not seeing what I was seeing on the screen.
“No, Booker is at the front doors and f*ck him if he’s the one that got her the gun. He’s out on bond; I’ll throw his ass back in jail.”
Race turned around and I saw his entire body go stiff. Booker walked through the front doors of the complex, looking right at the security cameras the entire time. He got on the elevator and I saw Race visibly flinch when he hit the button to the basement level.
“Shit.”
“I thought he was your boy.” This from Stark as Booker hit the lower level of the building and the cameras followed him right to the door of the room we were in right now. He paused and looked at the camera one more time before punching in the code. The door opened and then everything went black.
Race swore and Stark rocked back in the chair, blowing a whistle out between his teeth.
“You got a rat, boss.”
Race clenched his hands and looked back and forth between me and the computer guy. “He likes Reeve. Why would he set her up like that?”
“It was weird. The way he kept his eyes on the cameras. He knew you were going to see him doing it.”
Race shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
I grunted. “I don’t have to get it. I see him and he’s getting locked up. She was almost raped and killed tonight.”
Race lifted one of his gold eyebrows at me and asked, “Then I guess it’s a good thing someone gave her a weapon to protect herself with, isn’t it? This story could have a much sadder ending, couldn’t it, Titus?”
We glared at each other, neither willing to give an inch. The tension was broken by Stark clearing his throat.
“Guys, same team, remember? Maybe you should turn all that posturing and anger toward the dude that let the bad guys in the door.”
I was the first to look away. I shifted my eyes to the monitor, where it felt like Booker was looking right at me through the glass.
“If I find him first he’s going back behind bars.”
Race’s mouth pulled tight. “If I find him there won’t be anything left of him to put behind bars. This is the one safe place in this entire city and he took it away from me, away from my family. There is no explanation on earth that will make up for that.”
I used to tell him not to say stuff like that to me because I was and always would be a cop. That made his actions premeditated. Now I just told him, “Don’t get caught,” and turned around and went back to Reeve.
She was sitting in the passenger seat of the GTO. Someone had gotten her a sweatshirt, but even before I got behind the wheel of the car, I could see that she was still shaking like a leaf. I asked the detective in charge of the scene if she was clear to go. He just grunted at me and told me she was one lucky lady.
When I got in the car I noticed she was still crying big, fat silent tears.
“Are you okay?” I was still mad at her for lying to the cop, for being dishonest with me, but it was obvious she need a kinder touch than I wanted to give.
“Fine. Where are we going? We can’t get back into the loft until they clear the scene.”
“My place.” It wasn’t as secure as the condo, but look at how well that had worked out.
“Okay.” She sounded so defeated, so broken, I couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and put my hand on her knee. It made my teeth clench when she jolted and jerked away at the contact. She cut a look at me and more tears fell. “Sorry.”
I swore softly. “Don’t apologize. It was a rough night. We can talk about it later. All of it.”
“What if I don’t want to talk about all of it?” Some of the iron that fortified who she was threaded back in her tone, and pride at her fight licked up my spine. My girl had the tools to take care of herself, the fight to keep herself safe, and that made the way I risked her every day feel less like a dick move.
“You don’t have a choice. That’s what more is, Reeve. You and me and all of it. But that can wait until tomorrow.”
She looked away from me and leaned her forehead on the passenger window. “Tomorrow is another day, but I’ll still be the same girl, Titus. You aren’t going to like what I have to tell you.”
“The story has a man hurting you and me nowhere around to stop it. It has you alone and scared while fighting for your life. Damn straight I’m not going to like what you have to tell me, Reeve. The rest of it I’m going to listen to and we’re going to work through because you have to trust me enough not to lie to me anymore.”
“I have always trusted you. It’s you trusting me that I’m adjusting to.”
“Then we’ll adjust together.”
I hoped they weren’t just empty words I was handing to her because she needed reassurance. I wanted to believe that we could indeed figure out something other than the strict black and white that ruled my life and the hazy gray that filled hers. This time when I put my hand on her knee she didn’t flinch or move away; instead she covered it with her own and squeezed.
Chapter 17
Reeve
TITUS’S HOUSE WAS A little bit like him. It was a tidy little Craftsman on the outside, with a perfectly mowed yard, but on the inside things were kind of messy and all over the place. It was easy to see from his decor that he was a bachelor and that he lived alone. There wasn’t a lady’s touch anywhere and the little furniture he did have was heavy and dark, covered in discarded items of clothing and dotted with empty beer bottles and empty takeout containers. Titus was sloppy in his own space, and I would have never believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.