During this, I did make a mental note to contact myinsurance company on Monday morning, so I wasn’t a complete fail atprioritizing.
I walked his cup over to him, placing it on the coffeetable.Working on one corner, he glanced over his shoulder.“Thanks.”
Since I had tried to help already and was virtually shooedaway, I sat on the couch.“I really do appreciate this.”
“It’s no problem.”He ripped off the section of the tape.“There’re a couple of things I need to talk to you about.I was planning onfilling you in tomorrow.Maybe over some pancakes this time.”
I squeezed my eyes shut briefly and wished his words meantmore than just charming flirtatiousness.“Okay.”
“We’ve identified the victim.”He stretched the tarp downthe right side as he filled me in.“Not the most upstanding citizen, but hisrecord was mostly petty crimes, a few drug infractions.Looks like what wentdown Friday night might have been more of a turf thing, but obviously it’sbigger than that.”
My spine stiffened.“I figured as much.Creepy van dude gaveme that impression.”
“The man murdered worked for Isaiah Vakhrov.Have you everheard of him?”
“No.Should I have?”
He shook his head as he tore off another piece of tape.“Notif you want to live a long, healthy and safe life, no.Isaiah Vakhrov prettymuch runs the city, but not from the right side of the fence, if you get whatI’m saying.His fingers are in everything.Some of his business is legit andsome of it’s not.Lot of drugs come in and out of this city because of him.”
I frowned.“So, he’s some kind of crime lord?And everyoneknows this?How is he still doing what he does?”
“Cause like I said, he’s got his hands in a lot of things,and that means he’s got a lot of people in his pocket.He’s Teflon.Nothingsticks.”
“Wow,” I murmured.
“Anyway, the man murdered worked for Isaiah, and one thingevery shitbag in this state and the ones touching ours knows is you don’t messwith Isaiah’s people unless you want a target on the back of your head.Whoeverthe shooters are, either aren’t the brightest or they have more balls thanbrains.And whoever they work for doesn’t want that connection made,” he toldme.“Which explains what happened at the store and this.Someone ID’d you.Could’ve been anyone hanging around the crime scene Friday night or…”
Or it could’ve been someone in the police department.GoodGod, this was unreal.
“The thing is, knowing Isaiah, he’s going to find out whopulled that trigger before us.”His laugh was without humor.“He almost alwaysdoes.And he’s going to take care of it.But what I don’t like is whoever thepunks work for coming after you.”He yanked on the tape.“They’re not going toget close to you again.”
The way he said it almost had me convinced he couldsingle-handedly ensure that.I wanted to believe that, but he couldn’t bearound me twenty-four hours a day.The fear I’d been holding back pressed onme.“Should I…should I be worried about this Isaiah?”
“Honestly?”The muscles moved along his spine.“No.But he’snot a good guy.Don’t ever mistake him for that, but he has his own sense ofmoral code and conduct.Violence against women or children is a surefire way toget on his bad side.He will leave you alone.”
“That’s sort of comforting,” I mumbled, taking a sip of mycoffee.“Kind of.”
“Gotta say, though, you’re handling all of this like achamp.”
I got a wee bit distracted by the way his bicep bunched andblurted out, “I cried myself to sleep last night.”
Colton stilled.
My eyes widened.“Oh my God.”I placed my hand over myforehead.“I cannot believe I just said that out loud.”
Lowering his hands, he let the tarp flap to the side as hefaced me.The roll of duct tape dangled from his fingers.
Warmth invaded my cheeks.“I mean, I didn’t like sob oranything, and I don’t cry a lot.It’s just that—”
“Honey, you don’t have to explain anything.You saw someshit last night.”Dropping the roll of tape on the arm of the chair, he walkedaround the coffee table and got right in between it and me.Plucking the cupout of my hand, he placed it beside his and sat on the corner of the table infront of me.He was so close our knees pressed together when he leaned in,resting his arms on his thighs.“Having an emotional reaction is expected.Ifyou hadn’t, I would be concerned.To be honest, I didn’t like the idea of youbeing alone after seeing something like that.”
“Why?”I asked before I could stop myself.“Why do youcare?”
He tilted his head to the side.“I’m not sure what to thinkabout that kind of question.”
I exhaled slowly.“I mean, do you treat all your witnessesthis way?Bring them crepes in the morning and fix vandalized windows?”
Colton raised a brow.“No.”
