Was that allowed?I didn’t know.Suddenly bone weary, Iwalked over to the chair and sat down, exhaling heavily.Over the years, sinceKevin’s death, I had learned how to deal with things.Last night, I had letmyself have that little breakdown.It was understandable.I’d been a witness toa murder.If you were going to flip out about something, that was high up onthe list of things to freak out over.But I needed to get it together now.Iwasn’t a shrinking violet, nor was I someone prone to hysterics.
The responding officer came in and I answered all hisquestions.When had I left the house?Where had I been?When I told them aboutstopping at the grocery store and the subsequent creeper dude in the creepervan, Reece snapped to attention.
“Why didn’t you say something at the store?”he demanded,his eyes sharpening as he reached for his phone in his pocket.
“Um, I was kind of distracted by the dire message of notgoing home,” I said.“But I’m telling you now.”
Reece opened his mouth but seemed to rethink what he wassaying.“I’ll be right back.”Stepping outside, I saw him lift his phone.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed before I got up andaccomplished what Reece had suggested.I checked everywhere, concentrating onmy office and my bedroom.Nothing of any value was missing, which is what Itold Reece when he appeared in my room.
I knew what the brick through the window was.
A message.
As I stood in front of my untouched jewelry box, Ishuddered.Message was received, but that didn’t mean I was going to listen.I’d already told the one officer and Reece, and I would tell Colton.
“Abby?”a deep voice boomed from downstairs.“Reece?”
I turned at the sound of Colton’s voice and Reece’sanswering, “We’re up here.”
A handful of seconds later, Colton appeared in the doorway.He had changed since this morning, wearing a different police-issued polo.Hisblue eyes were fastened on me as he stepped into the bedroom.
“Are you okay?”he asked.
“She’s okay,” Reece answered, and then rolled his eyes whenColton shot him a look.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, smoothing my hands along my skirt.“I’m just shook up.”
Colton crossed the room and within a heartbeat, he wasstanding right in front of me.One hand curled around the back of my neck in afamiliar, comforting gesture.The other landed on my shoulder.Our eyes locked,and my lips parted.
“The man at the store, he didn’t harm you or anything?”hedemanded, his gaze intently searching mine.
“No,” I whispered, swallowing hard.“He just told me thatI…I needed to keep my mouth shut.That I better not identify anyone from lastnight.And then he said that I’d understand quickly how serious the messageis.”
A muscle flexed along Colton’s jaw as his gaze swept over myface.“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I was going to.I was picking up my phone to call you, butyou called me first.I was so caught off guard by what was happening here thatI focused on that,” I explained.
His hand tightened along the nape of my neck.It wasn’t aconstrictive or threatening move.It was one that was oddly tender.Intimate.Way beyond what he had to do, as a member of law enforcement, to comfort me.
The moment, whatever was going on between us, stretched out.There was something there, a jolt.Like touching a live wire.He sucked in anaudible breath.His fingers spread along my shoulder, and the sudden urge toobliterate the tiny distance between us, to press my body against his, rode mehard.Without thinking, I stepped forward.
Reece cleared his throat.
Flushing, I looked away from the unnerving intensity inColton’s gaze.A shiver chased after his hand as it slipped off the back of myneck and dropped to his side.
“I need you to tell me exactly what happened at the store,”Colton said after a moment, his voice rougher than normal.
I did exactly that.
It was odd to have both Colton and Reece in my bedroom.Their presence made it feel much smaller than it was.Any other time I would’vebeen amused by having two extraordinarily attractive brothers who were alsocops standing in front of me, but I was too thrown by everything.
The murder last night.
Colton showing up this morning with crepes.
Creepy van dude.
