“Almost noon.”
“Damn. It’s that late?”
“He spent the night there,” Von said.
Since it sounded like a statement rather than a question, Janita didn’t dismiss it outright. “And your point is?”
“When you woke up this morning, was he still there?”
Janita’s heart dropped. Because she knew exactly what his point was. In Von’s eyes, Hawk was treating her as nothing more than a lowdown dirty booty call. He got what he wanted and flew the coop. But despite all kinds of evidence online to the contrary, and the fact that he had indeed left without saying a word to her, she still didn’t see him in that negative light. There was something she saw in his eyes every time she looked at him that reassured her that he wasn’t the kind of man the world made him out to be.
But then why didn’t he wake her up and at least say goodbye?
The fact that he just left like she was some five-dollar whore did hurt her. It hurt her more than she knew it should have. She even got misty-eyed when she realized he wasn’t there. So many guys had done that to her before and she just hated it. She had hoped, when she fell asleep in his arms, that he wouldn’t do that to her too.
But what she wasn’t going to do was discuss her love life with her baby brother. “What is it that you want, DeVontay?”
“I’m on my way to get you so we can hit the streets searching again.”
And in that moment, when he made her once again realize what Hawk’s presence in town was all about anyway, she got real. “I’m headed for the shower now,” she said, ended the call, and got off of her pity party and hurried for her bathroom.
But after she had showered, brushed and gargled, and was still putting on her clothes, her phone rang again. She knew it was Von. “Give me a couple minutes, I’ll be out.”
“Excuse me?”
It decidedly was not Von. “Oh, I’m sorry.” The voice was so formal that she was certain it was one of the Websters. “Yes?”
“Is this Miss Cooper?”
“Yes sir. Yes, it is.”
“This is Matthew Webster. We need to see you and your brother this morning at my parents’ home.”
Hope surged through Janita’s body. “Your mother’s been found?” she asked anxiously.
There was a hesitation, then a very coldno. Which was understandable to Janita. He was still undoubtedly reeling from what had befallen her. “My parents’ home,” he added. “Now.”
But that was just mean, Janita thought when he said now and then abruptly ended the call. He didn’t even give her a chance to ask if Hawk would be there too. As if that man, whomshe knew was the CEO of his father’s corporation, was going to engage in a conversation with the likes of her.
She finished dressing quickly, grabbed her keys, her phone, her wallet, and her gun. But as she was hurrying out of her bedroom, she stopped for a moment and looked at herself in the mirror.
She had put on a bit of makeup and had hot-curled her hair very lightly. All, she knew, because she assumed Hawk would be at his parents’ home. It still seemed impossible that he would want her, and she wasn’t living in fantasyland. But it was a strong possibility that she wanted him. That was the problem. He was exactly the kind of strong, independent man she’d been searching for all her life. Somebody who could be there for her just as she had every intention of being there for him.
Not that she was some weakling who needed a man to take care of her. She could take care of herself. Ever since her mom died when she was only eight years old, in a lot of ways she’d been taking care of herself and Von and her still-grieving father, too, until he passed away. But it still would be nice to have somebody to take care of her for a change. And Hawk, if she were to be completely honest with herself, was that man. She felt it to her core.
Why she felt it was a different conversation. But she felt it.
She left that mirror and hurried outside. Von, in their Infiniti SUV, was raring to go. But when he found out where they were going first, his eagerness was replaced with dread.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
As soon as Janita and Von walked into the Webster mansion and saw the entire family there, except for Mrs. Webster and Hawk, they both immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong. They all were staring at them with even more venom in their eyes than they had on yesterday. And Chief Donnally, the man they both despised, was at the heart of it. He was standing in front of the family.
But Janita gathered herself and kept it together. She was going to be professional even though she knew Donnally never could. “We were asked to come here,” she said.
“You better be glad I didn’t arrest you at your mama’s house.”
Von looked at Janita. But Janita was frowned and looking at Donnally. “Arrest me?”
