Page 55 of Trust No One

He’d always treasured his independence. His easy life, where he answered to no one but himself. But after talking to Johnson, the thought of living that way for the rest of his life made him shudder. Sitting in a chair, empty beer cans lined up on the coffee table? God. What kind of life was that?

Huh. He clearly had some thinking to do.

He finally fell into a deep sleep, only to be awakened by the burner phone ringing at seven A.M. Patting the table next to the bed, he finally found the phone, fumbled with it for a moment and finally answered it. “’llo?”

“Dev?”

“Yeah, this is Dev.”

“This is Caroline Livingston.” Her voice was thick. Shaky, as if she’d been crying. “Simon was in a car accident this morning. He’s at Holy Cross hospital. I’m on my way there now.”

Chapter 19

“Oh, my God,” Dev said, shooting upright in bed. “We’ll be right there.” Couldn’t be an accident. Too coincidental.

Dev threw on clothes, then rapped on the door to Mel’s room.

“Yeah?” she called, her voice smokey with sleep. She’d sounded exactly as sexy and sultry when he used to wake her up in the morning.

“We’ve got a problem,” he said. “Okay if I come in?”

“Yeah,” she said, clearing her throat. She yanked open the connecting door, wearing a tee-shirt and underwear. Dev wanted to stare at her long, long legs, but forced himself to stay on track.

“Caroline just called. Simon was in a car accident this morning. He’s at Holy Cross hospital. I told her we’d leave right away.”

“What?” Mel shoved tangles of red hair away from her face. “Is he okay? What happened?”

“No idea. That’s all Caroline said. Throw on some clothes, and we’ll get over there as fast as we can.”

“Five minutes,” Mel said, closing the door in his face.

Dev brushed his teeth, then grabbed his jeans and a tee shirt. Made sure his gun was strapped on beneath his arm and put a jacket over it. Then he knocked at the door again. “Ready?” he asked.

“Not yet, but come on in,” Mel called.

She was brushing her hair when he walked in, and he stopped in the doorway to watch her. It brought back memories of Kabul, and Mel brushing her hair after they showered in the morning. He’d loved to watch her pull her brush through those curls of hers. Sometimes he’d brush her hair for her. When that happened, they usually got a late start to the day.

They didn’t have extra time today. And even if they did, there’s be no going back to bed with Mel. She’d made it very clear that the sex yesterday was a one-off.

Taking in a deep breath, he distracted himself by checking his pockets for his wallet and the car keys, then checking his gun again. As soon as Mel was ready, they headed out the door.

Mel already had her phone in her hand. “Holy Cross Hospital?” she asked.

“Yeah. How far away is it?”

“Twenty minutes,” she said. “Move!”

* * *

Mel watched Dev maneuver through traffic, wishing there was another route that was quicker to the hospital. But according to her phone, this was the quickest way right now. Swallowing, she shifted to look at Dev. “Caroline didn’t say anything about how he was?”

“No. She was on her way to the hospital when she called. I’m guessing the hospital didn’t say much to her, other than he’d been in an accident.”

“God, she must be frantic,” Mel said, shifting to face front again. She looked in her side-view mirror. “I’m looking for a silver sedan, but none of the cars behind us are right.”

“Keep your eyes open,” Dev said, his voice grim. “I’d bet a lot of money Simon’s accident was anything but. I’d also bet money that Kingsley had a hand in Simon’s ‘accident’.” He swiped his hands through the air in a vicious movement.

“How do you think he knew Simon had gotten together with us?”

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