She stormed toward me, a fury in electric blue. She poked me in the chest with her finger, and I had a feeling that if she’d had her purse, she probably would have hit me with it...again. “You heard me. The answer is yes, Bobby. I’ve had my car searched for drugs. My mother considers the law an optional thing, and half the cops around town think I’m just like her.”

Something in her expression shifted and she suddenly looked years older.

“Remember me telling you about how I met Ryan? That he was a cop and I’d been dating this guy? Well, the guy I was dating, he was a cop’s kid. He tried to rape me one night, and when I got away from him and called the police, the only one who listened to me was Ryan. The rest of them said oh, she was asking for it. You see how that little slut dresses. Oh, they had a few too many drinks...” She glared at me. “Want me to go on?”

I caught her arms. My fingers curled into her skin and I had to remind myself not to squeeze. I didn’t want to hurt her. “Somebody tried to rape you...”

I was going to kill him. Cop’s son or not. I was going to find him and kill him...

Her lashes swept down. “That’s not the point.”

The hell it wasn’t! I’d beat the shit out of any guy who tried to force himself on someone, but the thought of someone trying that with her...it made me sick.

She reached up and cupped my face, bringing my attention back to the present. “Some cops are just assholes, Bobby. And some aren’t. But you got into this mess because you were with me. So I’ll be going with you.”

“With...no.” I let go of her and backed away, shaking my head. Turning on my heel, I recounted the events of the last few days through my head. How had I gotten into this mess? I’d just been walking home. I’d gotten fired from my job and I’d walked home. That was it. I should’ve been in my shitty apartment, trying to find another job. I couldn’t drag Carly down into my world. “You can’t go with me.”

“I don’t see why not.”

Of course she wouldn’t. I had a feeling Carly Prince pretty much went wherever she wanted to go.

But my PO’s office would not be one of those places. No way in hell.

***

Somehow, a woman with pin-up girl curves and twisty blonde curls had steamrolled her way into controlling my life, and I had no idea in hell how it’d happened.

It was roughly two hours after I’d gotten the call, and we were sitting under the harsh fluorescent lights while everybody stared at us. Well, maybe it wasn’t everybody, but it sure felt like it. Even in my nice clothes, it was clear I belonged. Just as it was clear the rest of the people with me didn’t.

We would have been there earlier, but Jake had gotten a call that his replacement would be landing at the airport in a half hour, so he’d said we’d wait to go see my PO since I apparently wasn’t going alone. I’d told him this wasn’t one of those things I could put off, and that I was perfectly fine going alone. He’d just smiled and told Ryan to make some phone calls.

Those phone calls somehow included taking my phone, so I had a feeling he’d made a call to my PO. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Beyond pissed off, obviously, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a bit like I was one of the team for real, not just a temporary replacement.

The new guy showed up at the hotel an hour after we’d heard he was coming in. His name was Ridley and, apparently, he’d been the one on vacation. Neither Jake nor Ryan seemed pleased to have called him in early, but Ridley hadn’t complained. Then again, he hadn’t said much of anything at all. I’d gotten the impression that he didn’t talk much in general, but he did thank Carly for calling him in.

Based on the look I’d seen on Jake’s face, it’d been her decision and he hadn’t agreed with it. If I hadn’t been trying to think about ways to go see Detoine alone, I might’ve tried to get a sense of the sort of guy Ridley was. But my head was already too busy.

It still was.

Detoine appeared in the door just as I was getting ready to get up and pace. I’d quit smoking not long after I got out, but sometimes, like now, the urge for a cigarette hit hard and strong. Pacing helped. Lifting weights helped. Other physical activities helped even more. Anything helped.

Well, maybe not anything.

Talking to Detoine and explaining that I was only here because Detective Dale Mitchell hated my guts for destroying his family definitely wasn’t going to help.

For a moment, his gaze lingered on the four people with me, and then he just gave a small shake of his head. “You’re sure keeping interesting company these days. You know that, kid?”

Too nervous to say much, I just shrugged as I stood up. While I never enjoyed coming to see Detoine, and I was always a bit anxious since he could get me thrown back in prison, I was even more keyed up than usual.

And I knew exactly why.

Carly bounced up right next to me. “Hi!” She gave him one of those smiles that managed to light up the entire room. “I hope you don’t mind that I came with Bobby. I think it’s probably my fault that he’s here.”

Detoine’s eyes widened as he took in the force of nature that was Carly Prince. “Ah...of course it’s not your fault. But I really need to talk...”

At that, several people started to crowd closer. Jake and Ryan calmly placed their bodies between Carly and everyone else. Ridley stayed at our back...and that was when it hit me that they weren’t only protecting Carly. Jake and Ryan were making it clear that I was with them, part of them.

My stomach gave a strange flip and I was starting to regret having eaten breakfast.

Detoine dragged a hand down his face, and then he smiled.

“Ms. Prince. Of course, you can come back.”

Somehow, I was sure she’d known that would end up happening, despite the fact that I’d told her the meeting would have to be between me and Detoine. Like I’d said before. She wasn’t the kind of person who was used to being told she couldn’t do something.

***

“So run this by me again,” Detoine said fifteen minutes later.

Instead of only Carly and me back here, it was Carly, Jake, Ryan and me. Only Ridley had been left outside the office. We’d needed someone to guard the door, after all, and he didn’t know me. I was certain, however, that he didn’t like me. The look he’d given me when I followed the others into Detoine’s office had been one I was all too used to.

“Just how did you get this bodyguard job, Bobby? By knocking her down?”

“I didn’t exactly knock her down,” I said, shooting her a look before she could interrupt me. Again.

Carly rolled her eyes and I narrowed mine. She grinned at me and reached into her purse – the deadly one – and pulled out her phone. Once she seemed occupied, I explained how I’d been walking home from the body shop before I’d gotten caught up in the melee that was Carly’s life.

“So you were walking home from your former place of employment.” Detoine nodded. He cocked his head at me. “I know where your old job was and I know where you live. That’s a hike. Why didn’t you ride the bus?”

“I felt like walking.”

Detoine’s forehead wrinkled. “Man, it was like twelve degrees that day. I damn near froze my ass off just walking to the car. It’s gotta be close to five miles from the garage to your apartment.”

“For fuck...” I stopped and cleared my throat. Focusing on the wall past his shoulder. “Look, I just lost my job. I didn’t know how long it would be before I had another one so I wanted to make my money last, okay? It’s not like work’s a dime a dozen for guys like me. I didn’t want to waste money on the bus if I could walk it. It’s no big deal.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Carly’s hands slow on the phone. I could feel Ryan’s and Jake’s eyes on me. That just made me stare at the wall even harder.