Desperate Girls (Wolfe Security #1)(97)

Brynn dropped to her knees. Erik sprinted toward her.

“Are you hit?” He clutched her in his arms, searching her face. “Are you hit?”

“I’m okay.” She threw her arms around him. “What happened?” Her words were muffled against his shoulder. “Is Skyler okay?” She pushed away from him to look.

Skyler knelt beside Ross, checking his neck for a pulse, and Brynn had a flashback of her kneeling beside him on the sidewalk right after he’d been stabbed by Corby.

Skyler looked at Erik.

“Is he—”

“He’s dead.”





LINDSEY WADED through the sea of cops and CSIs and emergency workers. Even a few marshals were here, getting the latest news on what had to be one of the most bizarre cases they’d seen. She spied Erik over the crowd. He caught her eye and motioned for her to follow him into a hallway off the Atrium’s lobby.

“This place is insane,” she said over the noise.

“You should see the rooftop.”

“I’ll pass.”

Even if she could get up there, she had no desire to see another bloody death scene right now. She’d already watched the body bag being rolled out on a gurney by the ME’s people.

“How’s Brynn?” she asked.

Erik frowned and rubbed his jaw. “I think she’s in shock.”

“Is she at the police station or—”

“Yeah, she’s being interviewed. I’m on my way over there to pick her up and take her home.”

“Home? You mean here?”

“Pine Rock. She needs to get out of here. I have to grab a few things from her apartment, and then we’re out.”

“ ‘We,’ huh? I knew there was something up with you two.” Lindsey smiled at him, but he continued to look grim as he scanned the packed lobby, hypervigilant as always.

“Listen, Erik, tell Brynn thanks for me, would you? If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have cracked this case. Ross Foley wasn’t even on anyone’s radar until she put it together.”

Erik’s expression clouded. “I’ll tell her.” He glanced over Lindsey’s shoulder, clearly eager to finish his errand and get back to Brynn.

“Anyway, thanks to both of you.” Lindsey patted his arm. “It was good working with you.”

“You, too.” He started to walk away, then paused. “And if you’re ever thinking about a career change, give us a call.”

Erik turned and walked off, cutting through the crowd of cops as Lindsey stared after him.

A career change? Her?

Something to think about.

Erik took Brynn home to Pine Rock because he knew it was what she needed. But the instant he turned onto her street, he changed his mind. The reporters and news vans camped out in front of her house had him pulling a U-turn and hopping back onto the freeway. Thirty minutes later, they arrived at his apartment, where they spent the next twenty-four hours ignoring the outside world while they stocked up on food, sleep, and time together.

It was a much-needed break, but Erik was worried about Brynn. She was too quiet. After a lazy afternoon in bed together, he went out to buy some steaks and a bottle of wine, hoping that cooking dinner with him might snap her out of her daze. When he got home from the store, he found her out on his balcony, wrapped in one of his flannel shirts.

“You all right?” he asked, stepping outside.

“Yeah.” She smiled slightly. “Just enjoying the view out here.”

“Pretty impressive, huh?”

“It is.”

He looked across the crowded parking lot at a row of pine trees. It wasn’t bad, really, if you overlooked the cars. But he wasn’t home enough to spend much time out here.

He handed her a glass of wine and took the chair beside her. She looked so pretty sitting there on his balcony in the fading daylight, and he wanted to freeze this image of her in his mind to take with him.

“Brynn?”

“Huh?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t.”

He set his glass on the table. “I’m sorry about Ross—”

“Don’t say his name.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about him right now. Or ever.”

Erik was no psychologist, but he knew she needed to talk to someone. Maybe not him but someone. She’d spent an hour this morning on the phone with her sister, but something still seemed off with her. Erik would talk to Liam. He had to know someone trained in dealing with PTSD.

Brynn cleared her throat. “I was thinking.”

“About?”

She sipped her wine and set the glass on the table. “I need to go in tomorrow.”

“Okay. I can take you to get your car.”

“Thanks.” She sighed. “I need to meet with Reggie. I’m going to ask for some time off.”

Erik took her hand and squeezed it.

“I’ve got to, I don’t know, get my head straight,” she said. “Recharge my batteries.”

He nodded, waiting for her to continue. He sensed there was more.

She turned to look at him. “What about you?”

Damn. They needed to talk about this, but he hadn’t counted on right now.