Page 56 of Tough Justice

“I spent six months in jail because of the DEA. Our savings, our livelihood, your mother…gone because of guys like him.” He jerked his head in the direction of the house but hadn’t caught sight of Deck standing just inside the door.

Six months? Tori had said her mother died ten years ago. Based on Craig’s words, her death was somehow connected to all this.

“Daddy, please.” Tori’s sobs cut straight to Deck’s heart. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought him here.”

He pushed open the door, Thor following him as he walked up behind Tori to rest a protective hand on her shoulder.

Craig stiffened, his eyes fueled with rage and bitterness. “This is between me and my daughter.”

Sensing the man’s animosity, Thor lowered his head and exhaled a low growl, forcing Deck to reach down and rest his hand on his dog’s head, reassuring him there was no threat he needed to worry about.

“Apparently,” Deck countered, “it involves me, too, and I have no idea why. Whatever it is, don’t even think about taking it out on her.”

“Deck, don’t.” Tori clutched at his arm, looking up at him with anguished eyes that tore into his very soul and made him want to protect her that much more from whatever was playing out here. “Please, just go. I’ll get a ride home.”

“I’m not leaving you.” When she began urging him to his SUV, he resisted. “Not like this.”

“Tori!” Her dad’s stone-cold tone had the effect of a slap on her face. She whipped her head around to stare at her father. A calm seemed to settle around the man as he gentled his voice. “Sweetheart, if he’s going to be part of your life—any part of your life—he needs to hear the truth. I want you to go back inside, so Deck and I can have a little talk.”

“What? No!” She gaped at her father then craned her neck to look up at Deck. “I’m not leaving you.”

Despite the drama unfolding and the obvious anguish her entire family was experiencing, Deck nearly laughed. She actually thought she needed to protect him. Sure, Tori’s dad was no small man, but still. Under the circumstances, it was sweet, and in his line of work, not many people exhibited sweetness toward him. “Tori, I’ll be okay,” he said, caressing her cheek before glancing at Craig to catch the older man’s eyes tracking the gesture.

The screen door slammed, and Margo joined them on the front lawn. She hooked her hand around her sister’s arm. “Tori, let’s go have another martini, shall we?”

Tori didn’t budge. She swept a worried gaze back and forth between him and her father. Reluctantly, she went back inside with Margo.

“Walk with me,” Craig said the second the door had closed.

Deck and Thor fell in step with him as they began walking the property. The sun was on the verge of setting, casting the sky in a dim orange hue beyond the rail post fencing surrounding the property. The first words out of Craig’s mouth weren’t what Deck had been expecting.

“My girls had a dog of their own when they were little. After Tori moved to Boston, she always wanted another one.” Still walking, he held out his hand for Thor to sniff. “Unfortunately, my daughter has never felt she had the time for another pet. Or anything that might force her to enjoy herself.”

She had always struck Deck as being reserved and, at times, downright uptight. “Why’s that?”

Tori’s father stopped and rested his hands on the top rail post, staring off into the distance at the sunset. “I’ve always thought she had an adventurous side, but she was always overly cautious.”

Again, why? Deck stroked Thor’s ears, still wondering where all this was going and what it had to do with him and the DEA.

Craig’s green eyes, so like Tori’s, bore into him. “Her single-minded focus on her job feeds her need to be cautious all the time.”

Deck was tempted to shoot from the hip and ask why Craig was telling him—a man he’d known for less than two hours—such personal details about Tori. Particularly since Craig had something else on his mind. Deck suspected he’d get around to it when he was good and ready.

“As much as I don’t want to see it, I do,” he continued. “How much you care for my daughter, and how much she cares about you.”

“I do care about her.” In fact, he cared so much that he’d called in some favors from the local PD and they’d stepped up over the last week with regular drive-bys of Tori’s house. He didn’t think T-Lo knew who she was, but it gave him enough peace of mind that he’d finally been able to sleep at night. He’d even driven by her house several times himself over the last few days but hadn’t stopped. When he’d seen her sitting in her car this morning, he’d folded like a cheap suit and had to see her. So much for keeping his distance.

“Has she told you about her box?”

“Her box?”

“More like a comfort zone, really.”

“Ah, that,” Deck said, knowing full well what Craig was alluding to.

“Yes, that,” he agreed. “Some years ago, I ran into a little trouble that affected my whole family. Since then, everything in Tori’s life has to fit safely into her comfort zone. Nothing risky, adventurous, or unsafe gets inside. Except you.” His deep green eyes locked on to Deck’s. “You are most definitely outside that zone, and you’re about to find out just how far.”

Craig rested his forearms on the post rail. Beside him, Deck did the same, and beside Deck, Thor rose and rested his paws on the same rail. Together, the three of them remained silent as they watched the sun begin to dip lower behind the Rockies.