“That—” I looked over at Mason and straightened up a bit. “That’s good. So we’re not hiding anymore?”

“No, but for the duration of this case, you will continue to stay where you are, working where you are, and doing what you’ve been doing. If you want to tell your family where you’re at, that’s up to you.”

“Understood,” Mason answered when I got quiet.

“You boys work tonight?”

“No, sir.”

“Let’s go grab a beer and talk about this case and what’s going to happen when you come back to Tampa Bay. I’m not exactly in a rush to get back to my wife’s family,” he said as his eyes widened in dread.

“MASE, WE NEED to talk about this.”

“About what?”

“About not being in hiding.”

He nodded his head and lifted one hand from the steering wheel to run it over his face. “I don’t think we should tell our families where we are.”

“Agreed. And I don’t think we should tell the girls who we are yet.”

“What? Why?”

“Same reason we don’t want to tell our families where we are. We need to keep them safe. As soon as we tell them who we are, we’ll have to tell them about our lives . . . at least back in Florida. They’re going to know why we’re here even if they don’t know about the case. Their knowing anything is dangerous.”

“It makes sense, but are you going to be able to stay away from her?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like you’ve been staying away from Candice.”

“It’s different, and you know it.”

“I’m not going to put Rachel in danger, and we need to be in agreement with this. So do you agree or not?”

“Yeah, whatever. I agree, Mr. Chicken Noodle.”

“Fuck off.” As soon as he pulled into an empty space, I was out of the truck and walking to the girls’ apartment. The door was locked, and after knocking quietly and getting no response, I wasted no time at all picking the lock and letting myself in.

A smile tugged at my lips as I took in Rachel wrapped up in the comforter like a burrito, Kleenex everywhere, a half-empty Gatorade bottle on the floor next to the couch, and an empty box of Sour Patch Kids on the table next to the cold and allergy medicine. I brushed the back of my hand against her forehead, making sure she hadn’t gotten a fever since I’d left her, and she rolled toward me on a groan.

“Rach, wake up,” I whispered close to her ear, and let my fingers trail down her cheek.

She grumbled again as her eyes slowly cracked open. “Time is it?”

“Almost five. You hungry?”

Shaking her head, she closed her eyes again.

Laughing softly, I kissed her forehead and spoke against it. “It’s probably because you ate the green ones when I told you not to.”

Her body went rigid for all of three seconds before she began burrowing herself deeper into the comforter and away from me.

My next laugh was louder. “Take some more medicine, and go take a hot shower; the steam will help. I’ll make you soup for when you get out.”

As soon as she was vertical and headed toward her room, I ran back to my apartment to rid myself of my badge and gun before going back to take care of her. Mason raised an eyebrow and mentioned something about lying to her for longer than necessary, but I ignored it. Lying for now meant keeping her safe. And that’s what mattered most.

7

Rachel

I was on my way into the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, I sighed when I saw it was only half past eight. Was it already Thursday? Poor Mrs. Adams.

Walking over to the door, I flipped the locks and swung open the door, a bright smile plastered on my face, prepared for her weekly crazy. What I saw on the other side of the door had my stomach dropping and all the blood draining from my head. I thought I was going to pass out in the split second it took for me to grab the door and try to slam it shut.

Blake caught the door before it closed and pushed it open enough to get in. “Good morning to you too.”

“Get out!”

“Aww. Come on, baby, don’t be like that.” He locked the door behind him and walked toward me with his arms open. I matched each step with one of my own.

“Don’t call me that.”

“What would you prefer? Princess? Sweetheart? My girl?”

“None of the above. Get. Out.” By that time I was close enough to my room that I spun around, made it in there, and locked the door behind me before Blake came crashing into it.

“Open the damn door, Rachel!” he yelled, beating on it.

I ran over to my nightstand and grabbed my phone to call Kash, but my fingers were moving so slowly I still hadn’t gotten my password in when Blake broke the door right off the hinges. I screamed as he turned me around and shoved me into the wall, my head cracking against it. I started seeing black spots and struggled to keep myself standing.

“Why do you always do this? You know you do this to me, baby! I don’t want to hurt you!”

I tried to take a step to the side but ended up falling over. Blake caught me before I could hit the ground. He scooped me into his arms and placed me gently on the bed as he brought his mouth to mine. I pressed my lips into a hard line and turned my head away from him.

“Stop! Please!” I screamed again, hoping that someone would hear.