Page 55 of Fate's Unseen Shadow

He lightly laughed. “You need to talk to your bedmate. He knew I was here before he woke you up.” He sent Damon an accusatory look. “He’s the one that didn’t give a shit.”

Damon shrugged. “You’re right. I didn’t.” He held up an empty cup. “Would you like some coffee, Ella? I bought cream and sugar for you.”

That knocked her back. “You did?”

“Yes.” He pulled the creamer out of the fridge and then the sugar from the cabinet. “Here.”

Ignoring Xavier, she moved around the counter and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you.” She kissed him. No one had ever thought of her that way before.

Damon caught her by the back of the head and stepped forward, guiding her to the other side of the kitchen, then pressed her hips back against the counter. He lifted his head long enough to say, “Xavier, leave,” before returning to the kiss.

She agreed since making out in front of someone made it hard to focus on Damon.

Xavier thumped Damon on the back. “Afraid I can’t do that, brother. I would if I could. Hell knows you deserve a little downtime with a woman like her.”

She smiled against Damon’s lips before looking over his shoulder at Xavier. “Does that mean you approve of me being with your friend?”

“Of course. But y’all will have to reschedule. We have another case.”

After another firm kiss, Damon stepped back. “Let’s fix our plates. I knew he had an important reason for showing up unannounced.”

“Another runaway?” Ella grabbed a few pieces of bacon and a biscuit. She fixed her coffee, still giddy that Damon had thought to get sugar and creamer for her. She’d had a housekeeper restock her refrigerator every Monday and Thursday, so she’d never been without coffee creamer. But Damon, knowing she liked it and making the effort to buy it, was different.

“Yes. This one is tricky.” Xavier studied Damon until he sat down, too. “It’s in Savannah.”

He laid his arm across the back of Ella’s chair. “A little far but not unheard of.”

“It’s not the distance that’s the issue. It’s the age.”

“We don’t do adults.”

“I know. It’s a mother trying to locate her nineteen-year-old son. He went out Friday night with his friends, and they said they couldn’t find him when they left the bar. They’d seen him talking to a woman and assumed he’d gone home with her.”

“Probably did. And if he’s lucky, he’s still in bed with her. Like I wish I were,” he added under his breath.

Ella picked up a slice of bacon, hoping she didn’t sound ignorant and had missed something along the way. “Can a nineteen-year-old get into a bar in Georgia?”

“Fake ID,” Damon explained. “And I guess the police will wait until tomorrow to start the search. He’s an adult, no matter what the mom thinks. Why us? We don’t normally take cases like this.”

Xavier shrugged. “I got a strange feeling. Maybe it’s nothing. I have Ryker on board. He’s taking his bike. But there’s no reason to leave before ten-thirty; we have to wait for the bars to open to talk to anyone.” He snickered. “My next stop is Slater’s house if he doesn’t answer this next phone call. I think he had company as well.”

“Do they do this in return? Bother you when you bring a woman home?” Ella fixed her coffee. “Seems like you’d be more supportive of each other.”

Xavier stretched back in his chair. “They do if it’s important to interrupt. One time, Ryker hacked into my home assistant thing. You know, the device that you can tell to turn the lights on and off or turn on music. He turned the lights on and started playing music at six a.m. when I didn’t respond to a text about a bail jumper pickup. That was last time that woman stayed over at my place.”

She held up a piece of bacon. “I guess I should be happy my morning started with a tasty breakfast.”

“Me, too,” Damon murmured.

That time, she knew Xavier heard it since he looked down at his plate and shook his head.

“What’s the plan?” Damon asked.

Xavier cleared his throat. “I figured we’d ask our questions, pull the videos, and then turn that over to the police. Let Mom know we checked into it. Give her some piece of mind.” Xavier looked at Ella and grinned. “Ever been to Savannah?”

They’d let her go? “Once.”

Damon and he shared a look. “Seriously?” Damon asked.

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