Page 33 of Hot & Bothered

Rayma smiled. “Fiona is taking him to his new foster home today. It’s two women out in Sooke. They’ve got dogs, cats, rabbits and an enormous house with an ocean view. It’s perfect. They’ve been doing the foster parent thing for a long time and are excited to have a little guy again. They’ve just got teenagers right now.”

Peyton exhaled in relief. “Oh, thank you.”

Rayma nodded, her eyes twinkling. “Of course.”

“I love you,” Peyton said, sipping her chai latte and enjoying the sugar and caffeine that flowed through her bloodstream.

“I know. I love you, too. But also, that Tiberius fucker needs to know that if he messes with my girl, I’m going to rip him a new asshole.”

Peyton smiled at her best friend. “I believe it.”

As promised, Rayma called her brother-in-law, Heath and within the hour, the Harty Boys were on the job.

Rex, one of the four brothers, was Peyton’s assigned body guard. If she left the office, he went with her. But she didn’t leave at all, and Jace came to get her.

He met her outside her office and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder. “How are you holding up?”

“Been better,” she said wearily. “I don’t think Tiberius wanted to hurt me, though.”

“I’m not going to take that risk. Cops are out looking for him.”

“So are the Harty Boys.”

All Jace did was grunt.

“And Chase is doing his computer genius-thing to try to locate Michaela.”

“I’m going to pretend you haven’t said any of this. If they’re doing things outside the law, I need to remain ignorant of it.”

“Right.” She nodded. “Sorry.”

They made their way down the street and to the parking garage.

“Did you just walk here?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “Had Jordan drop me off after the gym.” He shoved his free hand into his coat. The wind had picked up throughout the day and as it whipped across the bare skin of her cheeks, it created a burning sensation. They took the stairs down to her car and she handed him the keys. She hated driving on a nice day. There was no need for her to drive on a cold, dark, icy night if she didn’t have to.

He slid in behind the steering wheel and she got comfortable in the passenger seat. The seat warmers came on when he turned over the ignition and her buns began to heat up, thawing out the numbness she felt all day after her encounter with Tiberius.

As terrifying as the moment was, after finding out thewhybehind his actions, she actually felt sorry for the guy. Compassion trumped the fear in her heart, and she found herself nearly as desperate as Tiberius to find Michaela.

It was a long shot that she was still alive. They all knew that. But even if she wasn’t, Tiberius deserved closure. He deserved to know that his sister was at peace and to stop looking for her.

A big, warm hand landed on her thigh and gave a squeeze. “Haven’t known you that long yet, but I can tell you’re thinking about Tiberius and his sister.”

She smiled weakly. “Knowing his motive changes things.”

Jace sighed and nodded slowly. “It does. But it also doesn’t. He’s going about things the wrong way.”

“And going to the police and asking for help would have gotten him where? He’s an ex-con with gang ties. Would you have given him the time of day or entertained his notions about his sister? Based on everything I’ve learned from television, the cops would have made him rejoin the gang as a snitch as payment for information on his sister.”

His mouth twisted in thought for a long moment. They reached a red light, and he finally shook his head. “No, probably not. But also, we wouldn’t use his sister as leverage. That shit doesn’t happen in real life.”

“So, he’s doing what he can to get attention. Just like a toddler, negative attention is still attention. And you never know, maybe hedidgo to the police and ask for help, but they brushed him off. So this is Plan B.”

He squeezed her thigh again and glanced over at her with a warm smile. “You’re something else, you know that?”

She didn’t feel like “something else” she felt helpless. Which was probably very similar to how Tiberius felt.

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