Page 63 of High Velocity

“Look, I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. My life has been shaken up these past few months, and we’ve just had a shitty few days, and it makes me feel a little better knowing I’m still able to. Even if it’s just going to the bank or the grocery store on my own. It has nothing to do with you.”

I take a deep breath and let that settle in. If I’m being completely honest with myself, I want her to need me. It would make me feel better, but I hadn’t really considered how it would make her feel.

“Fair enough. Understood,” I concede, which earns me a sweet kiss on the lips.

But I can’t help myself from asking, “Are you going to call Vallard back?”

The agent was blowing up her phone all yesterday afternoon, but she let his calls go to voicemail. Part of me wonders if that was because I was with her. She knows I’m not a fan of her getting more involved in this case, and I’m even more convinced that’s not a good idea since the fire. But I can’t lose sight of the fact Stephanie is a trained and experienced FBI agent, leave of absence put aside. Hell, in all truth, she’s better equipped than I am to deal with scum like Mitchel Laine and even sleazeballs like Vallard.

“I should probably check in with him. He’ll be wondering where I am.”

I bite my lip and nod, limiting myself to, “Just be careful.”

Jonas and Sully are loading up the back of the truck when I get to the barn.

“Are you okay to ride?” is the first thing my stepfather asks.

He probably wants Sully to man base camp.

I rap my knuckles on the socket of my artificial limb. “Got a new gel sleeve for this one and it fits like a glove. I’m good.”

I had to leave my good prosthesis there, but with this new sleeve, the old one fits better than it ever has. Even though a marathon may be out of the question with this limb, it should be fine for riding.

“Good. Go give Dan a hand loading the horses, and as soon as JD and Wolff get here, we’ll grab some coffee and have a quick brief before we roll out.”

When those guys arrive a few minutes later, we have the horse trailer loaded up, and all the equipment—including the brand-new, high-end drone Jonas apparently bought—is in the back of the truck. We congregate in the big kitchen, where Ma has coffee going and is slapping together some egg and Canadian bacon sandwiches.

“Where is Ama?”

The woman is normally here by six, ruling the kitchen. My mother does her best, but she’s no Ama in the kitchen, evidenced by the slightly charred toast and crispy eggs.

“She needed a break,” Ma answers curtly.

“Yesterday was hard on her,” JD explains. “Dad’s taking her home for a visit for a couple of days.”

From what JD has shared with me over the years, home is the Flathead Reservation where he grew up. They still have family living there.

I know Ama had a very strong bond with Thomas. They bickered all the time, but she cared for him deeply. She looked after him like a daughter would for her father, when the rest of us went about our daily business, so I’m not surprised his loss cuts her to the core.

“Okay, here’s what we have,” Jonas starts. “Two guys tried to climb up to Snowshoe Peak and fell forty feet down a rock wall last night. One of them is in pretty bad shape, the other guy managed to stabilize him, thanks to some first-aid training. They were in a dead zone though, so the one guy was forced to leave his friend to find a signal. He was barely coherent by the time he got through to dispatch. All we have is a ping on a map and a starting point at Leigh Lake trailhead. We need to find both, and extract them. Jillian is on standby to bring in the dogs if we can’t get a visual on those guys.”

My mother hands him a travel mug and a breakfast sandwich wrapped in paper. He gives her a resounding kiss on the lips before turning back to us.

“Guys, help yourselves and let’s roll out.”

Ma sees us off from the porch with a “Be careful out there,” when we get into the trucks.

Just as we pull away from the ranch and pass the cabins, I catch sight of Stephanie stepping outside, a coffee mug in her hand. She smiles and blows me a kiss when she sees me in the passenger seat.

I don’t realize I’m grinning until I glimpse my reflection in the side mirror.

Fuck, I look happy.

Stephanie

It feels a little weird to be out in athletic wear when I have no intention of hitting a gym, but, other than work suits, that was all I had left in my closet back at my apartment.

All the casual clothes I had—and there weren’t too many to begin with—got lost in the fire. So yoga pants and a zippered hoodie it is until I can find myself some more serviceable clothes, which is on my list of things to tackle today.

---