Better when He's Bold (Welcome to the Point #2)(90)
“And I told you to stop saying shit like that to me. Remember, I’m a cop.”
“Why are we here, Detective?”
Titus scowled at Bax and flicked a narrow-eyed look at me as well. He crooked his finger and motioned for us to move closer to him.
“I got a call from one of the federal marshals handling all the witnesses in the Novak case.” I saw his Adam’s apple bounce up and down as he met Bax’s hard stare. “Race and Dovie’s old man was murdered last night in the secure location WITSEC found for him. Hartman was willing to give the names of major arms dealers, drug suppliers south of the border, and all kinds of other information the RICO unit was chomping at the bit to get their hands on in this case. He had a full security detail, was located out in the middle of goddamn nowhere, and someone still managed to get to him.”
I bit down on my lip and shared a worried look with Bax. “How are they handling the news?”
“Dovie is a sweetheart, so I think she’s mostly worried about Race since he hasn’t said a single word. The * tried to have Novak kill her, so I think she’s just relieved that that’s one threat she’ll never have to worry about again. Race just kind of zoned out; I’ve never seen him like that before. That’s not all, though.” He rocked back on his heels and put a hand on the butt end of the pistol attached to his belt. “With Hartman being so insulated, we know the hit had to come from the inside. It had to be someone handling his move and relocation.”
Bax swore. “A fed?”
Titus nodded. “Probably.”
Bax dropped about every dirty word I had ever heard and clenched his hands into fists. “Not enough we have to worry about the bad guys, now we gotta worry about the good guys too?”
“That’s about the shape of it.”
“Why was Reeve here, Titus?” It was a sharp change in subject and obviously Bax wasn’t happy that the stunning woman was anywhere near his city.
“Because she has information I’m going to need if I have any chance of flushing out our dirty fed.”
That had Bax swearing again. “What kind of info?”
Titus shook his head and scrubbed his hands over his short hair. “That’s the line where brother and cop cross, Shane. Leave her alone, I need her to do my job and I will be seriously pissed if you get in my way.”
I was tired of the masculine posturing when I needed to take care of my man. This was a lot to process and I just wanted to get to Race. “Where is Race?”
“In my office with Dovie.” Titus stopped Bax with a hand on the center of his chest as he went to maneuver around him. “Look, I need this girl to stop what is happening in the Point. She is absolutely necessary. I told Dovie all of this and she gets it, so you need to use your head and not go off half-cocked because I will shut you down so fast it’ll make your head spin. You got me, Bax?”
Bax didn’t say anything, just pushed forcibly around Titus and stomped his way across the precinct toward a glass door that had DETECTIVE KING stenciled on it in black letters. I went to follow him, my head spinning and stuffed with the excess of information it had just been handed out, when Titus reached out to stop me.
“Race is a good man. He’s in a tough spot right now and making some really difficult choices, but he’s always been a lot softer at his center than Bax. His dad was a piece of shit, a murderer and a goddamn oily son of a bitch, but when it hits him, when it really settles, he’s gonna need a hand working through his old man being gone.”
I tilted my chin up a little defiantly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
I went to go get my golden god when he suddenly came out of the office, Bax and Dovie following behind. Bax had Dovie folded into his side, and even though her eyes were dry, she was way paler than normal and she was clutching Bax like he was what was keeping her tied to the here and now. Race looked like he always looked. That beautiful dimple flashed at me, his blond hair glimmered like gold, and when he reached me he put both hands on my cheeks and gave me a sweet kiss. If I didn’t know him as well as I did, I would have thought he really was okay, but there were fine lines of tension bracketing those evergreen eyes, and even with the dimple flashing, I could see the way his teeth were clenched together behind the smile. He grasped my hand in his and started to pull me toward the front door before I could even ask Dovie if she was okay or offer her up a hug.
Race didn’t look directly at me, he just said softly, “I have some stuff to take care of. I’ll meet you back at the house later, okay?”
I looked at his face, saw all that darkness and moodiness moving behind the green, and wrapped him in a tight hug. “As long as you promise to come home tonight.”
His eyes shifted away from me and I could see he wanted to argue that point.
“Seriously, Race. Come home.”
After a minute he nodded his agreement, dropped a hard, stinging kiss on my mouth, and walked away toward the Stingray. I watched him until he got in the car and raced out of the parking lot. I muttered a few choice words under my breath and was going to head in the opposite direction where the BMW was when I was stopped by Bax’s heavy hand on my arm. Dovie gave me a lopsided grin and rubbed her cheek on Bax’s side.
“He’ll be all right. He just has to work through it.” His tone was gruff. “I’m glad it was someone else, because I would have killed the guy if I ever got the chance.”