He leaned in and brushed a quick kiss to her forehead, breathing in the scent of his own shampoo in her hair."Good.Because I'm kind of attached to you at this point."
Her eyes went bright, suspiciously shiny, but she smiled."You're not half bad yourself, Landon."
ChapterTen
Colby's phone buzzed in his pocket, breaking the moment.He glanced at the screen.A text from Hank:You coming in today or what?Bike's not going to fix itself.
"I need to head over to the shop for a bit," he said."There's a bike in pieces on the lift that's going to haunt my dreams if I don't put it back together.You okay here for a couple of hours?"
"As long as your new alarm army is on duty," she said, gesturing at the nearest motion sensor."I've got a call scheduled with the insurance company anyway.They want to walk me through the next steps."
He nodded."I'll be back after, and we can go through whatever they tell you together.Talk strategy."
"Deal."
He kissed her again, slower this time, letting himself linger for just a moment before pulling back.Then he grabbed his keys from the counter.
"Text me when you get there," she called as he opened the front door."Fair's fair."
"Yes, ma'am."
The motion sensor chimed softly as he stepped outside.
Hank and Brianwere already in the garage bay when Colby pulled up, the big rolling door open to let in the morning air.Music played low from a speaker mounted in the corner, some classic rock station that had been Hank's default since before Colby joined the team.
The shop smelled like motor oil and metal and the particular chemical sharpness of brake fluid, scents that had become as familiar to Colby as smoke and sweat.A half-assembled bike sat on the main lift, its parts arranged in neat rows on the workbench in the order Colby preferred.Hank must have set it up that way, knowing he'd be in eventually.
Hank stood near the lift, wiping grease from his hands with a rag that had seen better decades.His dark hair was pushed back from his forehead, the silver threading through it more visible in the overhead lights than it had been a year ago.Marriage looked good on him, Colby thought.The permanent furrow between his brows had eased since Bree came into his life.He smiled more.Worried less.Let himself be human.
Brian leaned against the far workbench, his long frame folded into a casual slouch that looked effortless but probably wasn't.He'd always been the tallest of their group, all lean muscle and easy coordination that made him look like he was moving in slow motion even when he wasn't.A plastic straw dangled from the corner of his mouth, and he was scrolling through something on his tablet with the kind of focused attention that meant he was either checking race stats or avoiding something.
Brian looked up as Colby walked in, his dark eyes narrowing with assessment."You look like you slept about three hours.Maybe four if I'm being generous."
"Better than that," Colby said."But it's been a week."
Hank's gaze sharpened, cutting through the casual greeting to something more serious."How's Sabrina?"
"Shaken," Colby admitted.He grabbed a stool from near the tool chest and sat, the metal creaking under his weight."But she's hanging in.She's tougher than she gives herself credit for."
Brian dropped the straw into a nearby cup and set the tablet aside, his casual posture shifting into something more alert."We saw the fire on the local news feed.Diaz confirmed arson.You're apparently in the middle of all of it, and somehow we get theCliffsNotesversion from a news anchor instead of you?"He spread his hands."That's rude, man.We thought we were friends."
Colby dragged a hand over his jaw, feeling the softness of his beard in a way he hadn't felt it before, a fleeting thought that he should shave it."It's been moving fast.Everything happened at once, and I didn't have time to brief everyone.You're getting the full version now."
He told them.All of it.
Finding Sabrina at the hospital with smoke still in her lungs and fear in her eyes.Getting her discharged and bringing her back to the site of what used to be her home.The way she'd stood in that field of ash and talked about cabins, about rebuilding, about refusing to let the fire be the end of her story.
Gavin Hartley appearing on the sidewalk like a ghost from her worst memories.The way she'd frozen, gripping Colby's arm hard enough to bruise, her breath going shallow and fast.
Diaz's call this morning.The lack of answers.The list of suspects that kept growing without narrowing.
By the time he finished, Hank's jaw had gone tight, the muscle working beneath the skin.Brian's easy posture had disappeared entirely, replaced by something coiled and watchful.
"So he's here," Brian said."The ex.In Copper Moon."
"Was here," Colby said."Diaz doesn't know if he left after we spotted him on Main or if he's still lurking somewhere.She's pulling what she can from the city cameras, but you know how spotty those are on the side streets."
"And he's already tried to spin the fire as somehow her fault," Hank said, his voice flat with controlled anger."Insurance.Land.Making her look like the suspect instead of the victim."
