“Your parents and brother?” he asked, motioning toward the collage of photos Hadley had with her mom and dad, and a much younger version of her and Gideon.
There was another whole collection of pictures of Gideon on another part of the wall from when he was little all the way up to the one taken just before he died. She noticed that Carter was focusing mostly on her parents, probably thinking she didn’t want to talk about her brother. She appreciated that even if it wasn’t really necessary. She also noticed the way Carter was looking at her parents while covertly looking Hadley’s way, almost certainly noticing the lack of family resemblance.
“Yes,” Hadley said, coming to stand beside him as he gazed at the photos. “And before you ask, yes, Gideon and I were adopted when I was eight and he was eleven. Rose and Simon Delacroix were a little older than your average adoptive parents when they found us, but they were perfect for us. There weren’t many people looking to adopt two kids at once, especially as old as we were. But Rose and Simon took us both in and they loved us without reservation, even with all the issues we brought to the table.”
“I’d love to hear about them sometime,” Carter said, reaching for her weekender. “You ready to go?”
She nodded, looking around longingly at her condo before leading the way to the door.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I might be wrong, but didn’t we drive past this corner a few minutes ago?” Hadley asked, twisting around in the Hummer’s passenger seat to look at the nearest road sign. “I’m not sure how to ask this without insulting your inherently manly navigation skills, but are we lost?”
Carter didn’t answer right away, his attention focused on his side mirror. “No, we aren’t lost,” he said, taking the next turn without apparently caring which direction they were going. “I’m making sure no one’s tailing us.”
And just like that, any humor Hadley had been feeling disappeared as she remembered why they were heading back to Carter’s apartment after a long day of work.
“I guess that’s also why you insisted on getting takeout instead of eating at the restaurant?” She glanced in her own side view mirror like she had some idea what she was looking for. “You’re worried Strickland might be out there somewhere watching us?”
“It’s been sixteen hours since Strickland escaped Coffield,” Carter replied, turning his attention to the rear-view mirror. “If he’s intent on finding you, getting to Dallas in that amount of time would have been easy.”
Hadley didn’t have anything to say about that since Carter probably knew more about how fast a wanted criminal could travel. She simply hoped like hell that Strickland was already crossing the border to Mexico never to be seen again.
“And as far as eating at the restaurant, the place was too crowded with way too many entry and exit points to keep an eye on you,” Carter continued, apparently satisfied by whatever he saw—or didn’t see—behind them. “Strickland could have been sitting a few tables away and we probably wouldn’t have seen him until he made a move. It wasn’t worth the risk. Safer to go back to my place.”
Hadley got a shiver in her stomach at the thought of Strickland being that close to her, watching while she ate. And the idea that he’d see her with Carter, and consider him an obstacle between him and the person he’d sworn to hurt in the worst possible way, had her feeling faint.
“Hey, you okay?” Carter asked, glancing at her with concern.
“Yeah, of course,” she said quickly—perhaps a little too quickly. “Why do you ask?”
“Because your heart is beating faster and I can smell the fear coming off you.”
Right. In the midst of her panic attack, she’d forgotten werewolves could sense stuff like that. She sighed. “I was just thinking about Strickland watching us while we ate. It was a creepy thought. Speaking of eating, I’m hoping we can stop driving around in circles soon. The aroma coming from the takeout bags in the backseat is driving me crazy.”
“Try having a werewolf’s nose.” Carter chuckled. “We’ll be home soon, promise. One more circle around the block to check for long-distance tails.”
Hadley tried not to sigh too loudly as she sat back in the seat and did her best to relax. The scrumptious aromas coming from the backseat helped. They’d stopped by a restaurant she’d never been to before so she hadn’t been sure what to get, but she’d gone with Carter’s suggestion and ordered a cheeseburger with a side of fries. Carter had gotten two of the much larger double bacon cheeseburgers with two orders of fries. Apparently, werewolves didn’t have to worry about eating too much.
It wasn’t fair. Hadley loved fries. Unfortunately, they loved her too. If she ate too many, they’d never leave.
“Stay here and lock the doors,” Carter said when they finally reached his apartment complex. “I want to scout the area before you get out.”
Hadley started to ask if that was really necessary, but then decided against it. She was a psychiatrist, not a cop. She’d let Carter do what he did best. So she sat in the Hummer, waiting patiently as she tried to keep him in sight.
Once he felt the area was secure, they headed up to his place with her weekender and take-out bags. After washing up, Hadley opened the cabinet to grab some plates, earning a snort of amusement from Carter.
“Please tell me you weren’t planning on eating out of the bags?” she asked with a laugh, bringing the plates out to the coffee table in the living room.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Carter said with one hand on his chest and a solemn expression on his face.
She was already sitting on the couch setting the burgers and fries out on the plates, when he walked over with two small dessert bowls and a huge bottle of ketchup, along with two bottles of water. She was a little confused about what the bowls were for until Carter proceeded to squirt enough ketchup into each to make a swimming pool for the fries.
“Fine dining at its best,” Carter announced with that same solemn tone and expression only to crack up and chuckle a few seconds later.
Hadley laughed as she picked up her burger. It was juicy and cheesy and perfectly seasoned.
“I should probably let you know, Mike officially knows that you spent the night sleeping with me,” Carter said, pausing in between bites of his fries. “He picked up your scent on me while I was talking to him after the briefing.”
