Page 71 of Stay in Your Lane!

Everett exhaled, letting his shoulders drop, and he shook his head. “I didn’t. I mean, I knew there was…” He paused as if to collect his thoughts. “My—well, he’s not—” He gave a sharp, frustrated wave. “Let’s just cut to the chase and say Theo is my brother-in-law.”

“Uh. Okay?”

“Right, so my sister was going to meet with Theo to tell him all the shit that’s going on with my family’s business. You know, about someone fucking with our paperwork with the city?”

I nodded slowly. “Right. And they got a lawyer involved?”

“Well, that’s the thing—Theoisa lawyer. He’s a prosecutor, and he works for the D.A.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled. “Aw, fuck…”

“I’m sorry!” Everett said earnestly. “I really didn’t think they’d?—”

“No, no. It’s not your fault.” I dropped my hand. “Do they know about the situation with Ricky?”

He shook his head. “I mean, they might’ve heard about it? But the only thing my sister was going to talk to Theo about was the people messing with the family.” He furrowed his brow. “Leanne saw Detective Reardon giving me shit, though. She knows who he is and that he’s involved. So she probably told Theo.” Everett rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “I didn’t think he’d do something this… public.”

I studied him, and slowly my anger and hurt shifted to guilt. I should’ve known Everett hadn’t gone behind my back or made some move without me. And deep down, I’d known he hadn’t left me out of anything maliciously; if anything, I’d figured he’d just forgotten to tell me or something.

But no, it turned out he really hadn’t made that move at all.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, shoulders slumping. “I didn’t… I should’ve known you wouldn’t…”

“It’s okay.” He wrapped his arms around me, carefully avoiding the sore spots, and I leaned into him, loving his warmth and closeness. “I really didn’t think he’d do that. But he’s a pit bull who really,reallywants to be God’s gift to prosecutors, so I should’ve known.” He kissed my temple. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” I lifted my head and brushed my lips across his. “We, um… I need to pack a few things, and then weneed to go get your stuff. My brother wants to hide us until this blows over.”

Everett’s eyes flicked toward the fish tank.

Before he could say it, I said, “He’s sending someone to stay here and look after the fish. They’ll be fine.”

“Oh.” He nodded, but he didn’t relax. Chewing his lip, he shifted beside me.

“What?” I asked.

“Just…” He swept his tongue across his lips before meeting my gaze again. “We’re, like, ninety-nine percent sure the cops are involved in Ricky’s death. Right?”

“Of course. And they’re definitely covering it up.”

“Right. So… I mean…”

I tilted my head, waiting for him to organize his thoughts.

Finally, he asked, “Do you really think it’s safe to let the cops hide us?”

That slammed right into my chest and forced a breath out of me. “Holy shit. I didn’t eventhinkof that!”

He grimaced. “I mean, I don’t want to say I don’t trust your brother, but unless he’s personally sending us somewhere and keeping us out of every other cop’s sight…”

“Shit,” I breathed. “I don’t know. I… I mean, if we go someplace ourselves, we’ll have to use a credit card. The cops can track that down.” They’d need a warrant, of course, but I was beyond believing the cops involved in this situation were concerned with legalities. We couldn’t take anything for granted at this point.

“You trust your brother, right?” Everett asked.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Okay. Well. Let’s do what he told us to so far—pack our stuff, be ready to roll. Once we meet up with him, we figure something out that keeps us off the cops’ radar.”

That was…

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