He mutters two words.
A name.
“If you’re lying to me . . .”
“I’m not,” he swears, looking down at his hands. “Please, just leave my family alone.”
I leave the room, and walk right into Jo.
“I’m on it,” she says, hanging up the phone she was on. “We’re looking into him.”
“Good,” I say, nodding. “We need to take him down.”
“A SWAT team is assembling as we speak. You did well in there. How did he know you’d seriously do it though? It was just words, you didn’t even use force.”
“I guess one beast recognizes another,” I say, shrugging it off, but the truth is, he saw my tattoos. If he knows what they mean, he knows I’m not one to fuck around with. I wonder if he recognized my newest tattoo, the Wind Dragon I have on my forearm, to prove that I’m telling the truth. Either way, I just hope that the name he gave is the breakthrough we need.
No more fuckin’ around.
TWELVE
Johanna
WE spend the entire day looking for this man who is supposedly in charge, and come up empty. He’s not in the system and has no priors, but we have his name, address, pictures of him. Problem is he’s obviously gone into hiding. We lost the element of surprise, and who knows where he could be now. His face is all over the news, in hopes that someone sees him. After exhausting all resources, I have to wonder if we ever will find my cousin.
It’s midnight by the time I fall onto my bed, feeling tired and extremely disappointed. I feel like crying. I haven’t cried since she went missing, because I’m the police officer. I’m the strong one. I kept telling my family that I will bring her home, and I made myself believe that I could . . . but what if I can’t? How can I live with myself? I’m mentally beating the shit out of myself when there’s a knock at the door. I open it, not really paying attention, knowing that it’s Ranger. He takes a look at my face, then pulls me into his arms, kicking the door closed with his foot and rubbing my back with his large warm hand.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he rumbles as I bury my face in his chest. I don’t cry in front of people, because I don’t like to be seen as weak, but right now I can’t hold it back. I burst into tears. He lifts me into his arms, carrying me like a bride, and lays me down onto the bed, with him still pressed against me. “Don’t cry.”
His comment makes me cry harder, big, heart-wrenching sobs. “Where the fuck is she?”
“Did you think it was going to be easy to find her?” he asks, his voice gentle. “It’s not. We’re going to have to push, and we’re going to have to fight, but we’ll get there, all right? I know your heart’s in it, Jo, but you need to stay strong. Pretend this is just another case. You need to shove your emotions aside right now so you can think with a clear head.”
“I know, I know,” I say, compelling myself to stop crying. Fuck. Why does he have to see me like this? The first man I’ve found myself attracted to in forever. Who would want to sleep with this mess? I just cock-blocked myself. And I admitted to myself that I do want to sleep with him. Fucking great. It hits me just how close he is to me, how I can feel the warmth coming from his chest and how the delicious woodsy cologne he wears is hitting my nostrils. The way he’s holding me, his hand still running up and down my back, comforting me. When’s the last time someone comforted me like this? Him on the plane? Before that . . . I can’t even remember.
Wow.
I need a life.
I try to stealthily blot my tears on his T-shirt. Luckily my nose isn’t running, or snot would be all over his T-shirt too, and that would be embarrassing. I take a deep breath, and then slowly lift up my head. His hazel eyes are already on me. They’re soft. They aren’t filled with pity, because if they were I’d tell him to get out right now. He isn’t judging me at all. They are filled with understanding. Compassion. I don’t know where the hell Ranger came from, but I’m glad he’s here with me right now.
I tell him as much. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“So am I,” he says, flashing me a small smile. “It’s okay to be vulnerable sometimes, Jo. There’s beauty in it.”
“You’re never vulnerable,” I point out.
He gives me a weird look. “I don’t think that that’s true.”
We just watch each other, eyes locked.
I don’t know how this happened, how I ended up being literally so close to him, but he’s here, and it feels . . . right.
I must be losing my damn mind.
“Hi,” I whisper, my voice croaky.
“Hi,” he says back, pushing my hair gently off my face. “I think you needed that.”
“I think I did too,” I say, already feeling better. “I’ve held it all in since she went missing. I’m the strong one in the family, so I had to hold everyone together, you know?”
“You shouldn’t have to feel that way,” he says, lips tightening. “You’re strong every day in your job, and then you have to come home and hold everyone together? There’s only so much weight one person can take on their shoulders, Jo. You shouldn’t feel like you have to be strong just because you’re a police officer. You’re still human. Don’t carry that burden for them. Why did you want to become a cop anyway?”
“My mom was one,” I say, shrugging. “It’s all I ever wanted to be, ever since I was a little girl. I saw her as a superhero growing up. What about you? What did you want to be?”