“Oh,” she said with understanding. “So, he’s your boss.”
“Well, he has to be somebody’s, since his wife is clearly the boss at home.”
“Funny, asshole,” Jake narrowed his eyes at Derek.
“For once, I have to agree with my brother,” Eric joined in on the razzing.
“Don’t you have a job to do?” Jake spouted back.
All four men laughed. It was the first real smile she’d seen on Trevor’s face tonight. Not that they’d had much to smile about.
In a more serious tone, Jake spoke to Trevor again. “You need anything?”
“Just to find the bastard who did this.”
Jake gave him an understanding nod. “Derek said you already have someone who looks good for it. Robert Lockwood?”
Lexi let out a slight gasp. “You think it was Rob who did this?”
“You don’t?” Trevor asked, sounding surprised.
“I...I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it being him.” Addressing Derek, she challenged, “You said he was in California.”
“He was.”
“And as far as we know”—Eric spoke up—“he still is.”
“That would be a pretty big fuckin’ coincidence,” Derek offered his two cents. “Lockwood assaults her a few days ago, and then someone else just happens to break into her home tonight? I mean, no offense, Lex”—he glanced at her briefly, and then back to his brother—“but she’d have to have some pretty damn bad luck for that shit to happen.”
Lexi didn’t bother telling him that wasexactlythe kind of luck she had. She also noticed Derek hadn’t bothered to censor himself the way he had at the diner the other day. Not that it bothered her in the least. She had a few curse words flying through her brain, too.
“Let’s not forget her tire,” Trevor reminded Eric.
“Tire?” Jake echoed.
“Someone purposely let the air out of one of my tires while I was at work last week,” Lexi answered for Trevor. After all, it was her shitty luck they were discussing.
“I’m with Trev on this one, Eric,” Jake said pointedly. “Sounds to me like someone has a personal beef with Lexi.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I can’t be sure, but I don’t think he sounded like Rob.”
Four sets of surprised, intense eyes shot to hers.
“He spoke to you?” Trevor asked. His tone became sharp as he began to interrogate her. “Did he sound like Lockwood? Was his voice familiar in any way? What exactly did he say, Lex?”
“Calm down, man,” Jake suggested quietly. “Let the woman talk.”
“Think hard, Lex,” Trevor’s low voice rumbled with the order. “What did he say...exactly?”
Lexi paused to think. “Um...he said something about me fighting him. ‘I didn’t expect you to be such a fighter.’” She looked directly at Trevor. “Those were his exact words. Then, he said something about how I needed to save my energy, because I was going to need it. I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I can’t remember exactly how he worded that part, but it was something like that.”
The testosterone level skyrocketed then, and Lexi could have sworn all three men inched closer. Almost as if they were instinctively protecting her.
Jake and Trevor shared a look, as did the two brothers.
“You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” Derek asked Eric.
“This wasn’t a simple robbery,” the handsome detective answered honestly.
