Hope (Things That Matter Book 2) Read online

  Stopping her before she could finish and we ended up doing something we would both regret, I whispered, “Try to get some sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

  But I was hoping we wouldn’t—at least, not about us. It was still too soon, and not only that, but in the past, she’d slept so much better after sex, which made me think I might have been helping to shadow what she needed to face.

  I lay awake until about six in the morning, and while I was in the kitchen making coffee, Paige awoke and went straight to the couch. Turning on the television, she snuggled into the comforter left there from last night.

  I smiled when a groggy, “Morning,” came from her, but my smile quickly faded when my eyes moved to the television screen and saw her.

  The brunette I’d buried three weeks ago.

  Sophia Cruz.

  My chest constricted as I held on to the counter.

  I didn’t want to know her name, but straightway, I knew I wouldn’t forget it.

  Chapter Three

  Paige

  “Twenty-year-old Sophia Cruz has been missing for three weeks. She was last seen at Octave nightclub with two of her friends. Anyone with information, please call...”

  “Turn it off,” Caleb snapped.

  My attention was so drawn to the image of the young girl on the television screen that my thumb pressed the triangular up button for the volume instead of the power. I wanted to hear what could have been my fate last night. A second later, the remote was ripped from my hand, and the television went off.

  “What?” I turned to see Caleb tossing the remote onto the ottoman.

  “Do me a favor and keep the news off while I’m around.”

  “I was watching it.”

  “Yeah, well, don’t. You should be searching for doctors online. We’re on a timeline.”

  My eyebrows pinched together, and I frowned as he left and locked himself in the bathroom.

  Why is he all pissy this morning?

  A soft knock came from the front door, and realizing I was still wearing Caleb’s T-shirt, I headed into the closet and changed into a pair of jeans and one of my own shirts. Checking the peephole, I opened the door to a very awake Calvin standing in the hallway, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, his warm, golden skin glowing like his everlasting smile.

  “Well, good morning. I figured you would still be sleeping,” he said, walking inside and kicking off his shoes.

  “I’m awake now, and I think your best friend is PMSing or something.” I gathered the comforter and carried it to the unmade bed.

  “Definitely sounds like him.” Calvin laughed, plopping down onto the couch. “Did you give him a tampon?”

  I grinned. I liked Calvin, and for a big, muscular dude who looked as if he’d be nothing but a mean grump, he was actually kind of silly.

  “Are the rest of the guys like you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My other secret bodyguards. Are they like you?”

  “I wish I could say yes, but I’m kind of awesome, you see. So, no, sorry. But, look at it this way, you get to like me the most, which is good because guess who’s babysitting today?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a baby. I can take care of myself.” I brought my phone to the couch and coiled into a ball in the opposite corner of him, leaning my head onto the arm.

  “So I heard. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you last night, by the way. I was with my sister. She’s coming of age and all, and I had to make sure she wasn’t doing anything she shouldn’t. But are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  The bathroom door unlocked, and I tried not to move or seem too interested, but it was no use. The scent of Caleb’s body wash spread into the rest of the apartment and right up my nose. My throat dried as I imagined a towel wrapped around his slim waist, water trickling down his skin and over the V I used to trace with the tips of my fingers. I nibbled on my bottom lip. That seemed like so long ago.

  “Paige?” Calvin said, probably noticing how distracted I was.

  “Yeah?”

  “What are we doing today?”

  “Uh, I have to go talk to my manager at the gym.” I frowned. “I usually would work out, too...”

  Where am I going to work out now?

  “Calvin to the rescue because it’s what I do.” He raised a leg and propped a foot up on the ottoman. “Come work out with me at my gym. I could get you a guest pass for a week. After that, our condo in Quincy will have a gym.”

  I sucked in a breath through my teeth and stared at him. “That’s right. Caleb mentioned that. Are you ready for a female roommate?”

  “Depends. Will you judge me if a different female walks in and out of my room every week—or day, if I’m so lucky?”

  I scrunched my nose. “You’re that guy.”

  “Hmm...maybe.”

  I grinned. I never thought I would be excited about living with Caleb and his best friend, but Calvin made me feel welcome, and it was exactly what I needed. People. Friends. A sense of normalcy. “I won’t judge you. I like you, remember?”

  “Aw.” His mouth pulled into a lopsided grin before his eyes shifted to the side. “Good choice on the roomie, dude. We’re already besties.”

  I rolled back and tried to peer over the back of the couch, but my eyes could only see Caleb from his pelvis up. He was in a three-piece suit, hair still damp, and the look in his eyes would have made the ruler of a kingdom bow before him. This wasn’t the Caleb I knew. This was the lethal version of the Caleb I’d only seen glimpses of beneath the surface. Discomfort threw me as he glowered at Calvin a second longer.

  Sitting up straight, I frowned. “Don’t get pissed off at him, too.”

  His mood might have been from his lack of sleep last night, but I’d never known him to behave this way after a sleepless night. We’d been creatures of the night since we met.

  He stalked toward the door without a glance my way.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Calvin grinned. “He still loves me.”

  The front door slammed shut, and I looked at Calvin while fighting the smile stretching across my pursed lips.

  “Are you sure about that? Because I think he was trying to stab or kill you with his eyes.”

  Caleb had almost killed someone last night. It made me wonder if he had killed someone before.

  My eyes remained on the closed door.

  “Hey.” Calvin’s voice jarred me from my thoughts. “He’s okay.”

  “Is he?” I asked. “Because I suddenly feel like I don’t know him at all.”

  “Do you want my advice?” He didn’t wait for my response. “Don’t try to figure him out.”

  I squinted, and he smiled.

  “Take for example, what do you do when people try to figure you out?”

  I pushed them away or led them off course. I chewed on my lip. This mindset was no way to head back into therapy.

  “So, you have a point.” I got up. “Let’s go to the gym.”

  “I have to tell you that I’m kind of a beast, so plan on being there for a while.” He smirked.

  ❧

  The gym was bigger than the one I worked at on the other side of town, and it was filled with morning people. I called this time of the day my morning buzz because this was the motivating crowd, and I could go for hours when I was in the gym with them.

  “Jesus, woman, how much longer?” Calvin whined.

  “What happened to the beast?” I joked.

  “Ha, very funny, but he was busy lifting five times as much as you.”

  “Oh, sure, that was what you were doing,” I badgered, but I was sure that was exactly what he’d been doing.

  Calvin’s muscle mass screamed, “I might or might not be on steroids.”

  I was totally going to toss his medicine cabinet when we became roommates to make sure it was the latter.

  I hooked the bar resting on my shoulder on the stand and stepped away. With all my muscles coiled tight, I felt
like I could be one of those blue people in Avatar. Strong, renewed, and light on my feet. I loved this feeling.

  Calvin’s head turned to the side, and I followed his gaze to the redhead sauntering toward us, her gaze locked on me.

  Sergeant Bailey.

  I swallowed.

  “Madelyn,” she greeted, a bright smile on her face, and then she realized her mistake. “I mean, Paige. Sorry about that. Photographic memory. I didn’t know you worked out here.”

  “Uh, yeah, just for now, with this guy,” I said, pointing my thumb to Calvin.

  She looked even more petite out of her uniform, and her freckled skin was glowing from sweat. She looked at Calvin for a second too long, and I frowned.

  Do they know each other?

  “Hey, I’m Calvin. Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand, giving her what I was guessing was his I’m-taking-you-home-tonight smile.

  She was hot, so I didn’t blame him, but she was also the only cop I trusted to help me put an end to Alex Connor.

  My eyes narrowed as Sergeant Bailey flushed, her hand still in Calvin’s.

  “Um, so...” I turned my attention to Calvin, “Hands off. She’s taken.” More like married to an FBI agent, but I wasn’t going to be the one to put that out there with the way she’d been looking at Calvin. “Excuse him. He’s kind of full of himself. So, this is your gym spot?”

  She cleared her throat, and her head bobbed. “Yes.” She wanted to say more but didn’t seem too sure of herself. Maybe because she didn’t know if Calvin knew about what was going on.

  But there was nothing that needed to be said right now, except for what’d been bothering me.

  “Do I need to worry about Agent Langley interfering or pushing anything right now?” I didn’t trust him even if he was her husband. He’d given me the you-are-crazy eyes, and I wouldn’t forget it.

  “No. I know you need to go at your own pace, and I told him that. He shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

  “Okay, well, I’ll see you around.” I turned to go and then I paused. “You shouldn’t trust Rodriguez.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “My deputy superintendent?”

  I nodded.

  Bailey’s boss had been dabbling with the enemy, and it was better she knew in case things got ugly. Plus, if she was going to help me, she needed to start processing whom she’d be up against because, when I was ready, she needed to be ready, too.

  Chapter Four

  Caleb

  My eyes landed on Calvin, who was sitting at our usual corner booth inside the underground bar with Rob, Luke, and Ryan—the three other guys who’d been keeping an eye on Paige. I liked knowing she was protected, but I hated how close she might get to these guys, my best friend included. The image of them flirting on the couch this morning was imprinted in my mind, and I hated him for that. As my best friend, it was a dick move. It didn’t matter if Paige and I weren’t together. She wasn’t some new toy any of them would get to play with if I had anything to do with it.

  Giving a solemn nod to the guys, I allowed Paige to sit first, and then I slid in next to her.

  “I placed our order,” Calvin remarked before his eyes shifted to Paige, and he grinned. “Lemonade, right?”

  What the...

  “Yes. Thank you,” Paige replied.

  “Everything good, man?” Calvin asked.

  I gritted my teeth and stretched my lips into what I hoped wasn’t a sneer. “Yeah.”

  Paige was already talking to Rob, who was sitting next to her. I didn’t know as much about the guys as Calvin did. All four of them had a history together in the military, and Calvin trusted them. So, even though I disliked all his flirting with Paige, his trust for these guys was enough for me to trust them to keep her safe.

  Since she was moving in with Calvin and me, I might not need all of them.

  But who was I kidding? I probably needed a few more guys. This was Paige I was protecting, after all. One minute she was hot, and then the next minute, she was cold. One minute up, and then the next minute down. Her emotions were so intense that it was best to be prepared for anything. Plus, having someone around at all times satisfied me more than the thought of her having to fend for herself ever again.

  Calvin dropped a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Paige, this is Ryan. Don’t fall for his pretty-boy act. He’s a turd.”

  Next, he pointed at the fully bearded man, who was sporting a man bun and full sleeves of tattoos down his arms.

  Before Calvin made the introduction, Ryan spoke up, “That’s Luke. He acts all tough, but he’s nothing to be scared of. He’s a softy. Real softy. Makes me wonder what he’s doing here.”

  Luke narrowed his eyes at Ryan.

  Calvin slid his arm around Ryan’s shoulders while he pointed at Rob. “Don’t expect much out of him.”

  “He doesn’t like people,” Ryan divulged. “Dude barely likes us, and we’ve spent years together, blowing up shit.”

  “Don’t talk about Rob like he isn’t here,” Calvin goaded. “Just because he’s a loner, it doesn’t mean we don’t still love him.”

  “Well, this is fun,” Paige said without humor.

  It might take them some time to get used to her frankness.

  I chuckled, and it was a relief after reliving the constant flash of that girl’s face from the news in my head all day.

  “I thought you said she was nice,” Ryan said to Calvin, loud enough for the rest of us to hear.

  “She is. Just think of her as another one of our troubled kids,” Calvin responded.

  “She isn’t troubled,” Paige said, referring to herself in the third person, which wasn’t helping.

  I spoke for her, “She’d rather you not talk shit about the guy who saved her life.”

  She looked at me as if she couldn’t believe I understood, but why wouldn’t I? I’d seen her. She put on a show for everyone, even tried to do it with me, but when all was said and done, I was the one she’d crumbled on.

  Her eyes remained on me, trying to find the guy she had given herself to a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t let her find him in my eyes. He was all kinds of fucked up at the moment, thinking about how, in two weeks, he would find out if his adopted father was his real father, if Brad was his real brother, and if his mother—shit. It didn’t matter if Alex Connor had killed her himself. I needed to know what had happened to her. So, yeah, that guy Paige was looking for wasn’t in there. He was changing—and not for the better. But Paige, she was still good, and if she was going to heal, she needed good. I wasn’t good.

  A corner of her lips twitched in an attempt to smile, but it didn’t quite make it. She looked back to the guys. “Rob’s awesome.”

  “Thank you,” Rob said, smirking at Ryan and Calvin.

  The waitress arrived, interrupting the guys, who still didn’t quite know how to address Paige without pissing me off. I knew they were dying to make a crack, but they seemed to reconsider when they met my serious expression.

  Paige left the booth for the restroom after the waitress set down a tray with four plastic baskets, each containing a burger and fries. After handing a basket to each of the four of the guys, she told us she would return with the rest of our meals and refills for our drinks. By the time I looked in the direction Paige had gone, she was almost to the back hallway leading to the restrooms. As she passed the last table, someone stood, blocking her path.

  Miller. Right away I wanted to strangle him for approaching her. He hung out with Amber and Lisa at parties I’d once attended on a regular basis, but he fucked any and everything. Paige wasn’t one of the girls he could talk into having a quick fuck in the restroom. And it pissed me off that she stood there, talking to him with no idea who this guy was.

  “Miller is bad news,” I told her when she got back to the table.

  “Okay. So?” She shrugged, sliding into the booth.

  I broke it down for her. “So, he’s trying to get into your pants.”

  “Uh, no, h
e isn’t. He was just asking me about the fall semester.” She sucked on the straw leaning against the rim of her glass of lemonade.

  “Caleb’s right,” Calvin advised, and I silently thanked him. “Miller cheated on his girlfriend and has slept with more than half the girls who come here.”

  She stuck a fry into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed before offering, “I don’t care. Why are you two acting like you haven’t done the same? Besides, it isn’t as if I’m planning on sleeping with him.” She shook her index finger. “And, shame, shame, we’re at the no judgment table.”

  “I think I like this table. What’s this no judgment business about?” Ryan asked.

  “You can sleep with anyone, no judgment,” Paige explained, giving Calvin and me a pointed look like she would fucking dare participate in this no judgment shit, but I held my tongue.

  “Fuck, I really like this table.” Ryan rubbed his palms together. “Count me in.”

  Paige looked around the table. “Have you guys met Amber and Lisa?”

  Luke, Rob, and Ryan nodded, but it was Ryan who felt the need to clarify. “Oh, we’ve met.” With a lopsided grin on his face, his eyebrows jerked. “Soooo met.”

  “You can shut the fuck up now,” Calvin said, defending our other friends’ honor, but I had an inkling his outburst was more about Amber.

  After a few beers, the tension loosened in my body, and Paige and I took the metro home, leaving the guys behind to mingle with the crowd I was already familiar with.

  As I twisted the key in the lock at our apartment, Paige tugged on the hem of my T-shirt and asked, “What’s going on with you?”

  “Nothing. Why?”

  “You seem different.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yep.”

  “After you ran off that night, Tom told me that Alex Connor goes to the lab for a cholesterol checkup twice a year, and his next appointment is in a few days. So, I’ll have to bribe a nurse to take an extra tube of his blood for a paternity test.” Something true but off track to what was really bothering me. If I wanted to talk to her about it, I knew she would understand, but I couldn’t talk about it, not yet.