“Mm, exactly what I was thinking.”
I ignored Hound’s whimpers from the other side of the room as I locked lips with her. I forgot everything,almosteverything. Chael’s words continued to ring heavily in my ears.
She’s in danger.
I tightened my arms around her body. The need to keep her safe and close to me pulsed through my veins with every beat of my heart.
Chapter Twenty-Six
He’d been acting strange ever since we got back from our trip out west. Not that I could put my finger on any one thing in particular. I found him watching me, giving me long stares, as if he was waiting for me to disappear, or that someone would spring out on us at any moment. Even when we were at home alone together. There were the times when he was at work, and I’d be at the house, he would call or text more frequently to ‘check-in’ as he put it.
I wasn’t buying it.
Something about our trip had put him on edge. I ran over the conversation we had with Patricia numerous times. There was a lot that she’d added. It angered me that the sheriff’s department of their town hadn’t looked deeper into Amy’s case. Patricia’s suspicion of that guy who came to her house seemed pretty spot on. He’d be the first suspect on my list if I were in charge of the case. Yet, the Abilane Sheriff’s Department hadn’t cared. Then there was the case Micah told me about in the hotel room. Another young girl missing and eventually found dead.
Sure, it could’ve been a coincidence, but I believed in coincidences less and less the older I got.
None of that explained why Micah seemed even more protective over me the past few weeks since we returned.
“What do you think, Hound? Huh?” I questioned, scratching him behind his ears as I wrapped the towel around my waist and headed for the bathroom. Oh, that was another thing he’d done, leaving Hound home with me, encouraging me to take him wherever I went, even if it was to the grocery store. Though, to be honest, I didn’t mind. Hound was great company.
“Good boy,” I said when he sat back on his hind legs, perched in the doorway, watching me as I stood over the sink, staring at my newly purchased hair clippers. My hair was growing too fast for my damn comfort, and the days were getting hotter. I was not about to let my hair get the best of me in the heat.
“What do you think this button is for?” I asked, holding out the clippers. He tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, I don’t know either.” I shook my head and pulled out the instruction manual from the box. I’d returned from the store with the clippers, and unfortunately, they were nothing like the old pair that I used back at home. My dad gave me those clippers once he finally made peace with the fact that he was balding, and I complained about having to go to the haircutter every few weeks to keep my hair low.
As I plugged in the cord, I heard the downstairs door beep and push open. I inhaled quickly and looked at Hound with bulging eyes. He rose to his feet to stare down the hall, and barked, as heavy footsteps made their way up the stairs.
“Snitch,” I whisper yelled at him. We’d planned for this. Hound was to hide in the hall closet if Micah ever got home before we expected.
I braced myself for what I knew was coming.
“I knew you let his ass up here when I wasn’t around,” Micah said with folded arms as he glared at me from the doorway.
I shrugged. “He wanted to watch me cut my hair.”
His gaze narrowed. “He told you this?”
“With his own mouth. Didn’t you, boy?”
Hound barked.
“See?”
Micah shook his head, but I caught the laughter shining in his eyes. “Let’s go. You know your ass isn’t supposed to be up here,” he grunted, taking Hound to the edge of the stairs and waiting as he slowly sauntered down.
“You hurt his feelings,” I griped, staring down the hallway.
“He’ll get over it. What are you doing?”
“I’m about to cut my hair. These are new, and I don’t quite know how to work them yet, though,” I said, as I picked up the instructions that’d fallen into the sink. Before I could read the first line, Micah pulled them from my hand and began reading the directions himself.
“Let me cut your hair for you.”
I stared at him over my shoulder like he was crazy.
“It’s not too hard. I used to cut my brothers’ hair when we were teens all the time.”
I frowned. “Maybe I should give them a call and ask how those cuts went. Do you have any pictures of the finished product?”
