Page 39 of Silk and Steel

“Thanks for trying to cheer me up, but there’s a dichotomy about Julian you should know about.” My smile fades as the badmemories seep in. “True, he’s not connected with reality, and may never have been. But he still manages to get things done. Big things, as you’ve seen.”

“Like orchestrating an escape from jail.”

“Exactly. He’s always been like that. Managing a million dollar book deal one minute, then breaking down and punching a hole in the bathroom wall the next.”

Cole’s eyes get a down right disturbed light in them. I think maybe he’s starting to understand why I’ve been so afraid.

“I have an idea. We’re going to go talk to a friend of mine. He’s spent some time in Colombia, he might be able to give us some insight.”

I nod. Then, suddenly, I blurt: “I’m starting to think he did something to my Dad.”

Cole shakes his head.

“There’s no way for us to tell. Maybe the doctors will have some answers.”

“But he knew that my Dad was in the hospital. He asked me how he was right away.”

“There are a lot of ways he could have found out. Especially considering his resources. For now, your father is in good hands.”

“But what if they try to hurt him while he’s in the hospital?”

Cole’s brows scrunch up with thought.

“Just a minute. Let me fire off some texts to Jax. I think he still has connections in the LAPD. We might be able to arrange a police protection detail.”

“Okay, thanks Cole. I’m going for a coffee. Do you want anything?”

His mouth flies open, no doubt to tell me it won’t be safe for me by myself.

“The vending machine is literally across the hall from this waiting room. You can see it through the window, right?”

He follows my pointing finger and nods.

“All right, but don’t go far. I don’t have any reason to believe Lovejoy or his accomplices are in the hospital, but…”

I nod. “I understand.”

I walk to the machine, pleased to see that it takes cards. The selection is limited, but I get myself a mocha cappuccino and Cole a plain black coffee.

I return to him and find that he’s finishing up his text session with Jax.

“Okay, there’s a uniformed officer on the way. We’ve got them for a week. After that, if this isn’t over, Jax is going to have one of the boys come up here.”

I almost want to cry. “Thank you. Here.”

I hand him his coffee. He sips it and cocks an eyebrow.

“Is this a plain black coffee?”

“Yeah,” I reply, feeling bad that he doesn’t like it. “Do you want something else?”

“No, I’m fine with black coffee. I was just wondering how you knew I took it this way?”

I shrug. “Lucky guess?”

He shrugs. “Works for me.”

Weird. Julian took me to all of those exotic places and drenched me in opulence, but I feel like I enjoy even banal, mundane conversations with Cole so much more. If he wasn’t my bodyguard, I’d be crushing so hard right now.

---