“You’re comfy. Thank you for not being a total dick. But ’member, I’m not falling in love with you. And I’m definitely not dating you. But friends? Yeah…we can do that. No more kisses though. You’re peanut butter and I’m jelly.”
Hell no, they were not sleeping right now. “Polly, I need you to tell me you’re dropping this.”
“No can do. Night-night.”
“Polly.”
She didn’t respond, and her back moved up and down in a gentle, rhythmic motion.
He tried to relax…becausefuckshe felt good against him. Soft and warm.
But everything she’d just told him made him want to get up. To barricade her inside this house and not let her leave in the morning.
Eileen had looked into the deaths and gone missing. Then Jenna had overheard Polly’s conversation and been murdered. Every woman who’d touched this had been killed—now Polly wanted to look into it. Hell, she’d read through Eileen’s phone, so she had to be on the killer’s radar.
Fuck. He was not letting Polly become another name on the list. And if the phone was taken, it meant someone knew she’d had it.
He remained where he was for another thirty minutes, stewing over every word, letting them roll over in his mind again and again, before finally getting up.
Polly hummed at the movement but didn’t wake. He pulled the blankets a bit higher, and for a moment, just got lost in her. In the way a lock of brown hair fell over the smooth skin of her cheek. The soft murmurs that slipped from her on every breath.
So. Fucking. Beautiful.
And vulnerable.
Quickly, he moved around the house and checked that the doors and windows were locked. They were. It didn’t make him feel any damn better.
When he returned to the living room, he pulled out his cell to text the team.
Joel: Polly found a phone that belonged to Eileen Baker, and the morning of Jenna’s death, Jenna overheard Polly telling Maggie about it.
Ryan: What was on the phone?
Joel: A few photos of the forest and river and a text thread between Eileen and an unknown number. Eileen told the person that she knew who they were and what they’d done.
Connor: Done?
Joel: She knew who the killer was.
Ryan: Jesus.
Joel: Polly’s still following some leads.
Zac: You can’t let her do that.
Joel: Don’t worry, I’m going to stick to her.
He was going to be like fucking glue on her back. If she wanted to investigate this shit, he couldn’t stop her. But he could be a thorn in her side. A shadow. He would make sure that she didn’t make a single move without him being right there.
9
Aloud shrill beeping cut through Polly’s sleep. What the hell was that? It was like a razor blade to her skull.
She grabbed a pillow and shoved it over her head. Nope. That didn’t help.
The pillow hit the bed hard, and she blindly reached for her cell on the side table. Her hand hit the cold screen. She grabbed it and lifted it above her face. At first the screen was blurry. She blinked until the swirls formed words.
Get your ass to yoga!
