“No.”Amka sniffed.“He told me to go to the window, so I had to try for the gun.I couldn’t let him get me outside.”
“You were smart.And brave.”Christian pressed a kiss to her temple, though all he wanted to do was break Steve’s neck.
Damian shoved Steve against the wall as May came into view, her eyes wide.“I texted Brock.He’ll come down and arrest these assholes.”
Christian helped Amka out of the room.“You scared me,” he said.
“I scared myself,” she murmured.“But I wasn’t going out that window.”
He didn’t smile.Not yet.Not until she was checked out again.Not until he saw her in clean clothes and could hold her without shaking.“May?Would you take a look at her, please?”
“Of course.”May moved on ahead.“Come down to the examination room.Um, again.”
As they left the room, Christian glanced at Steve, who had crumpled against the wall.He was lucky he still breathed.Christian didn’t say a word—just stared him in the eye with a promise of death if Christian ever got the chance.
Steve looked away first.
Chapter36
The tavern still smelled like burnt wood and bleach.
Amka sat at the far table near the back window, a warm bowl of chicken soup from the Green Plate in front of her, but her appetite hadn’t caught up yet.Daisy had brought the soup in a thermos from the café and now busied herself with cleaning soot off the bar.They’d closed for the week, but Amka wasn’t up to figuring out how badly the kitchen was damaged right now.
Lucas had come by to survey the place, muttering the entire time that he’d moved to Alaska to get away from fire and would never miss a town meeting again.That somebody else could take over as tanker chief.His jaw tight, he’d told Amka he’d be back soon for an in-depth investigation.
Poor guy.All he wanted to do was write his darn book.
Christian sat to Amka’s right, one arm resting along the back of her chair like he’d planted himself there permanently.Damian sat across from them, shoulders stiff, eyes constantly scanning the room like a threat might come through the door at any second.
Nobody spoke for a while.The soup cooled.
Christian looked at Damian.“Time for you to catch us up.We knew you were briefly married to a woman named Stella for a job in Intelligence, and that you got divorced, but you’d never talk about it.”
Amka studied the brothers.No doubt Christian had never forced his brother to talk.That wasn’t his style.
Damian ran a rough hand through his thick black hair.“Yeah, Stella and I married for a job.It was a shitshow and I can’t tell you much about it.But we never got divorced.I’ve been looking for her for years, and now that I’m out, I planned to find her.I had no clue she was in town.”
This was too weird.
“You married a purple haired pixie-like twenty year old?”Christian shook his head.
Damian barked out a laugh.“She’s a master at disguises.Stella is thirty and her natural hair color is platinum blonde.Think Russian starlet.”He tugged out his phone to text.“I’m asking Dutch to put out a BOLO on her, but they’ll never find her.She’s that good.”
Christian narrowed his gaze.“You seem okay with this.That she was in town and now she’s gone.”
Damian smiled, and there was no humor in the look.More like anticipation.“Yeah, but she was here for a reason, so I’m sure I’ll see her soon.Can’t wait.”He rolled his neck.“We have more immediate concerns, don’t you think?”
Amka stirred her soup and kept her voice even.“Yeah.Whoever keeps trying to kill me, besides Steve, has to think I know something about Jarod.Right?”
“Right,” Christian said.“I can’t think of any other reason.Brock texted earlier with news about the canvassing in Anchorage.A bartender there kind of remembers Jarod often hanging out with a woman last summer, but he can’t remember much about her.She might’ve been blonde…or brunette.”
“That’s not helpful,” Amka sighed.She hadn’t wanted to know anything about Jarod.“Whoever has the video must be starting to wonder about Jarod’s whereabouts.Nobody in town has really asked yet, because he so often took off, but even they will soon.”She’d already given the scary note to Christian, and he figured it had to be from the person that Jarod trusted.Maybe she should just pay up.Her heart hurt.How was she going to protect Flossy?The sweet woman could not go to prison.
Christian’s phone buzzed.He checked the screen, eyes narrowing.“Dutch.”He stepped away from the table, pacing toward the front window as he answered.“Yeah?”
Amka eyed him, knowing he wanted to be outside.Out hunting for whoever was trying to hurt her.“I initially didn’t want to date your brother because I didn’t want to have to take care of a man.”
Damian snorted.“Seriously?Sweetheart, you don’t read people very well.”
