Page 15 of Shea's Hero

A light knock sounds at the door. Jade stands in the doorway, a hesitant smile on her face. “Are you guys done talking?”

“Yes,” Niall replies. “Shea’s going to stay here. We figured it out.”

Meeting Jade’s gaze, I say, “I need to. It’s home. And I…”

She hurries into the room and hugs me. “I know.” Then she loops her arm around my shoulders and nudges me out of the room. “Now. I want to spend some time with my best friend. Watch movies and eat junk food and do our nails. Okay?”

I give her a quick side hug as I smile at her. “Yes. That soundsperfect.”

CHAPTER 4

OLIVER

There’s really no reason for me to check on Shea.

When I stopped by Blade and Arrow yesterday to meet with the team, I asked about her—out of professional interest, of course—and Cole reported that Shea was fine. Home at her house in White Plains with Niall and Jade. And Leo, the resident tech expert for B and A, had been over there in the morning to set up extra security.

“She’s not going back to Texas with Niall?” I asked, certain her brother would have insisted on it.

“No,” Cole replied. “I don’t know the specifics, just that Shea is staying here. We’re coordinating surveillance at her house and escorting her to and from work. So we’ll make sure she’s safe.”

I’d been over there to discuss updates on the case—unofficially, since it’s technically a police matter. But I know they’re running their own investigation, and I’m willing to stretch the rules a bit if it means solving the case sooner. It’s not that I’m not confident in my own investigative abilities, or those of the department, but Blade and Arrow doesn’t have to follow the same rules as us. They can operate more in the gray area of legality, unlike police work, which is more black and white.

Unfortunately, neither side has much to go on yet. It’s been just about thirty-six hours since the attempted abduction, and all we have is a burned out van and some grainy footage of two unidentified men. Which is not great.

It’s especially not great when I know the women who were nearly taken.

Were Shea, Jade, and Elle specifically the targets? Was it just one of them? Or could it have been any of the women associated with Blade and Arrow? If Maya had been outside, would the men have gone for her instead?

There’s no way of knowing until we get the suspects in custody, or we find evidence linking them to a larger organization. Could the men have been sent to take the women as retribution? To punish Blade and Arrow for one of the cases they’ve handled over the years? Or was it someone carrying a sinister obsession, and Blade and Arrow had nothing to do with it at all?

It’s a damn mess. A shit ton of unanswered questions and one solid conclusion.

Until we figure this out, none of the women are truly safe.

Not my sister. None of the women who live at Blade and Arrow, who’ve all been through their own struggles and traumas. And not Shea.

That’s why I keep thinking about her. We were together for over three years. It would be strange if Iwasn’tconcerned.

But she’s fine. There’s nothing to worry about. Shea has the entire Blade and Arrow team looking out for her. I doubt she’d even want to hear from me.

Except.

I can’t forget how she looked at me at the Hop-less Horseman. Not at first, when she was hurting and clearly in shock, but after. How her gaze kept sliding back to me, the sameway it used to whenever she was worried or nervous. She’d just give me thislook,like she was trusting me to take care of her.

Her eyes weren’t filled with anger or resentment or flat indifference. No. There was something else going on, some emotion she didn’t want me to see.

Could Shea have been as unsettled by our meeting as me? Or was it just situational, and now she’s going about her life without giving me a second thought?

Shit. I’m supposed to be past this.

I’m thirty-six years old, not a lovesick teenager.

But it’s Shea.

And now that the floodgates have come down, I can’t stop thinking about her.

Or I could do something else to distract myself. Since I worked the day shift, I have the entire evening at my disposal. There are lots of things I could do. I could head to the park and play a pickup game of basketball. Check out Hollow’s Edge, the new indoor rock-climbing gym. I could even offer to babysit Clara so Cole and Maya could have some time to themselves.

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