Cole nodded. But a spurt of pain arrowed its way through her heart as he kissed her softly.
Maybe there was something wrong with her that she couldn’t completely trust him. Some righteous little demon kept her thinking that maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t been all that faithful in the first place.
Or, maybe she just needed an excuse to run away, as she had the first time. Maybe she, not he, was the coward.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Cole paced in the living room of their small apartment. Izzy and Hugo, stretched out on the floor side by side with chins in paws, watched her every step.
“What I don’t understand is why you haven’t heard from X. You called him out in public a week ago. Don’t bikers always retaliate when challenged?”
Scott sprawled in the room’s only comfortable chair with his long legs stretched out before him. “My guess is he is playing with me. That’s been his strategy all along. He strikes then goes back into hiding and waits to see how rattled I get. The first two times, I gave him nothing.”
“Because you didn’t connect the vandalism to your parents’ home to him. And I didn’t tell you about my run-in on Richards’s motorcycle.”
Scott scowled at the mention of that near-miss. “I suspected about my parents’ home but couldn’t prove it. I sure as hell would have come down on him like a ton of bricks if I’d known about you.”
“That could have gotten you arrested.”
He shrugged.
“Why is he after you? What did you do to him?”
“If I had to guess it’s because I was an undercover narc who infiltrated his gang. When things went sideways, he went to jail behind that.”
“How did he find you?”
“Remember how I called you on our anniversary? Later that same night X and I ran into each other in the parking lot of the place I’d called from. I didn’t think he’d made me. I look so different now. But after you found the hog’s head in my parents’ fridge I knew he was behind the destruction, and was using it to send me a message. Pig. Cop. Draw a straight line.”
“So this is payback?” Cole looked worried. “He’ll come at you again. And he won’t do it directly.”
Scott nodded. “More likely he’s planning to come after someone close to me.” He eyed her from beneath his lowered brows. “That’s why you don’t go anywhere without me.”
She paused to plant a fist on each hip. “Fat chance, Lucca. I’m a cop. I’m armed. I go where I want.”
He grinned at her. “Ooh, I like it when you act tough. Want to play cops and robbers? I’ll let you catch and frisk me. You can even search all my secret places.”
“Dream on.” She resumed pacing.
They had spent four tense days in each other’s company. The fact she even could joke about it helped make him feel better.
“I’ve got someone in law enforcement tracking down every scrap of information he can gather on X, past and present. We’re going to find him before he acts again.”
Cole paused before his chair. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”
Scott noticed her foot was wiggling. She was getting worked up. Time to change the subject. “You’re just bummed because Shajuanna took the girls to the Bahamas so you’ve had nothing to do this week.”
Cole conceded that point. She had really enjoying coaching Leila. Not that it could have continued for much longer.
She rubbed her brow. “How do you decompress after an undercover mission?”
“You make plans while you’re still undercover. You decide what you’re going to do first. And then second and third. You need to have some things to look forward to. Things you can’t do now.”
“Like patrol duty?”
“See, I would have gone with a short vacation. Time away is helpful. Lets you put a period between now and what comes next.”
Cole gave herself a moment to think about bright waves breaking on warm sand. Sun heating her sunscreened skin. Lazy half-awake thoughts drifting in the shade of an umbrella. She could almost taste the salt water on her lips. “I haven’t been to the shore this year.”
“There you go. A week at the shore. You’ll come back all tanned and rested and looking hot. These last weeks will be a dim memory.”
Cole didn’t bother to contradict him. The truth was, she was never going to forget the last weeks. She wasn’t yet at all certain whether that was a good or bad thing.
But that wasn’t her main concern at the moment. Her mind kept circling back to X. “How would you classify X’s behavior?”
Scott frowned. “Intimidation. Mind games. He’s a prick.”
“Yeah, but it’s like he’s got a plan of escalation that is covert. Why not just shoot you? Or stab you, if he wants revenge. Instead, he’s been coming at you through your friends and family. He’s back-dooring you.”
“What did you just say?”
“He’s using covert action.”