Page 156 of Through the Water

“A year?” I echoed, my stomach sinking at the thought.

My father lifted the paper coffee cup to his lips and took a sip. “With these charges, they need an ironclad case to ensure he doesn’t walk. It’s going to take some time—” He suddenly lost his grip on the cup, the color draining from his face.

“Dad?” I snagged it in my hand before it spilled and placed it on a small table nearby before reaching for him. “What’s wrong?”

“That woman,” he whispered, pointing to one of the televisions with a trembling hand. “That’s the woman I saw—the one I told you about—I was drunk, and she was there.”

I looked up and studied the photograph of a much younger Tristan on his wedding day with a bride who could have been Ari’s twin, before reading the headline from the ticker below.

Officials are reopening a case involving the death of Tristan James’ first wife, Colleen James. The mother of the disgraced pastor’s six children died suddenly in 2010 of an intracerebral hemorrhage. Authorities claim they have new evidence that indicates the death certificate was altered. An exhumation for further forensic examination is planned.

“Ari’s mama?” I asked, my wide eyes bouncing between the screen and him.

His nostrils flared, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he stood up and began pacing.

I scratched the stubble on my jaw with my thumbnail, trying to recall our conversation the night he drove me home from the bar. “Wait—you’re telling me you went to Tristan James’ house?”

His expression hardened. “The one and only. I never got her name—hell, once I sobered up, I barely remembered her face. Never in a million years would I have imagined there was a connection with Ari, but seeing her picture, the resemblance between the two is uncanny.”

There were no coincidences in life. Just two women who shared a mother-daughter bond and a fondness for saving the Reed men when we’d needed it the most. The realization left me feeling hollow and desolate because it was a debt I’d never be able to repay.

She’d put everything on the line for me twice now, risking her very life for mine, and I couldn’t even keep her name out of the press.

“Her mama saved you, and she saved me.” I shook my head. “What the fuck did we ever do to deserve it, though?”

My father stopped moving, his stony exterior softening into a look of reflection. “There’s always a purpose for the bullshit, even when it doesn’t seem like it. Maybe that purpose is to bring this full circle. If so, then the question becomes, what are we willing to do to keep Colleen’s daughter safe?”

It was my job, and mine alone, to care for Ari. I wanted to be the one to protect her and keep her safe.

No one else. Me.

The elevator announced its arrival, pulling me from my thoughts. In the time it took me to turn my head, Noah had already reached Ari’s side and was leading her across the lobby toward us.

My father stepped up beside me and squeezed the back of my neck. “Just because she knows how to fight doesn’t mean she should have to keep doing it.” His eyes lingered on mine before he went to meet her.

He didn’t say a word before pulling Ari into his arms for a long hug, although he looked suspiciously close to tears. She met my gaze with pursed lips and a lifted brow, clearly taken aback by the rare emotional display.

“Dad.” No response. “Dad!”

“Right.” He cleared his throat and took a step back. “Let’s get you two home. I was thinking your mama and I might cook tonight. How’s that sound?”

“Sounds good to me.” Ari pressed a quick kiss of greeting against my jaw.

I cupped her cheek, letting my eyes take a field trip down to her lips. The tension she’d been carrying in her shoulders fled, and she relaxed into my body in a beautiful surrender.

The proximity left me painfully hard and aching with the need to get her alone. Unfortunately, polite society frowned upon me stripping my woman down in the lobby of a federal building.

I wanted to tease her with my tongue until she made those guttural moans that seemed to come from the back of her throat. I wanted to go back to this morning. In the minutes before the alarm had gone off, her body had been clenched around mine like a fist.

There was no better way to wake up.

I’d questioned myself initially on whether I might have been rushing things by asking her to move in, but it had felt right. Necessary even. Being with Ari just made sense, making me wonder how I’d functioned twenty-six years without her.

Her eyes grew hazy as if she knew where my thoughts were. When the corner of her mouth lifted in a lopsided grin, I took it as an open invitation to continue my lustful fantasizing.

“So, I was wondering if we could stop somewhere first,” she said, her gaze hopeful. “When I was upstairs, I saw this giant Christmas tree from the window. It has lights and everything. Hang on, I think it was—”

Ari scanned the row of elevators, chewing on her bottom lip. “Out the front door and to the right? Maybe?”

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