No one was getting into that house tonight.
No one was getting past me.
I fixated on the bedroom window and found myself wishing she’d walk by. Maybe look outside. I wanted to see her. Just see her face once again.
Minutes ticked on, the silence of night settling into the woods.
I pulled the whiskey from the bag and took a swig.
I checked the time; almost ten o’clock.
Another minute slid by, then, like a click of an alarm, my focus shifted behind me. A finely tuned instinct that told me I wasn’t alone.
Seconds faded to minutes as I mentally tracked the person who had set up shop behind a thicket of bushes six yards to my east.
I waited, listening.
A few more minutes passed.
Finally, I sighed, shook my head, and looked down.
Gunner might not have known the full reasons of why I was doing what I was doing, but between Andrew’s murder, the odd request to send me my horse and a bag, and my bloody knuckles, he’d taken it upon himselfto be my backup for the evening. Myuninvitedspot. I’m sure he knew that I knew he was there. I’m sure he wasn’t announcing his presence on purpose because he knew I’d drag his ass home.
The Steele brothers were loyal and always had each other’s backs. But I couldn’t help but wonder if it weren’t for my “injury,” if Gunner would’ve been back home. Instead, he was there, in the damn cold, in case I needed something.
In case I couldn’t handle the situation I’d placed myself into.
That cut me deeper than any guilt I’d felt before.
I’d become the burden of all burdens. I was failing my family, my business, myself.
I took a gulp, the amber liquid sliding down my throat with that familiar burn.
What had I turned into?
Who was I?
I was someone who needed to walk away from Dr. Floris. She didn’t need my baggage, and I didn’t need whatever the hell the woman was doing to me.
I decided that after that night, I’d find another therapist, and that would be that—after I made sure Rose made it through the night untouched.
With that plan in place, I grabbed my bag and ripped it open. I pulled the camouflage tarp, thermal blanket, and pocket warmers from the bag, set them aside. Pulled out the box of tacos, set them aside. Then, I grabbed the night vision scope and scanned the windows, then the woods around the cabin as I would do a hundred more times over the course of the night.
Seconds passed and I imagined her sliding into bed.
Wondering what she was thinking.
Wondering if she was thinking about me.
Wondering if she felt like I failed her, too.
24
PHOENIX
Two hours later, headlights suddenly flooded the woods. I tossed the tacos aside and jumped up. Puffs of exhaust rolled from Rose’s SUV. I looked at my watch—12:14 a.m.
Where the hell was Rose going at midnight?
