She got an idea, then. It made her sick to think about, but if it meant helping Derek, she’d do it.
“I should call him.”
“What?”Both men looked at her like she was crazy.
“No. Not a chance.” Derek looked at her pointedly.
“Maybe I can talk to him. Get him to meet me somewhere, and then you guys could—”
“You are not going to use yourself as fuckin’ bait, so get that shit out of your head right now.”
“But—”
“This is not up for discussion.”
“If you would just—”
“Derek’s right, Charlie,” Eric piped in. “No way in hell would either one of us let you do that.”
“I need to dosomething.”
“You can.” Derek cupped the side of her face. “Baby, the only way Caleb can truly hurt me is by hurting you. Promise me you won’t contact him or put yourself in a dangerous situation out of some misguided need to protect me. I’ll be fine.”
“What about Detective York? She thinks you’ve been doing all of this to scare me. She said you’re afraid I won’t stay with you unless I feel I need your protection, so you’re creating those reasons.”
Derek clenched his jaw together. “And what did you say?”
One corner of her mouth rose slightly as she shrugged. “I told her to go to hell.”
****
Chapter 19
––––––––
“I’d like to go on recordas saying I think this is a really,reallybad idea.”
