Page 16 of Inevitable Dream

Gertie:Life goes on. Can’t be afraid to walk out the door.

Gertie totally reads me. She has from the first day we met. She invited me into her home, and within minutes, I was spilling my guts about my parents, and my emotions came flooding out. I’ve never said much about my parents because the pain was deep, and to dredge it all up again was excruciating. Yet, with Gertie, the words kept flowing.

I loved my parents and hated them at the same time. I wanted a father who would be my best friend and ended up with an abusive asshole. Nothing I did was ever good enough for him. He made sure to make me feel less than, not because I was, but it made him feel big. Then one day, he and Mom were gone, and I felt like so much was left unsaid.

Sadness, regret, all the emotions came like a raging river. I worked through them all, except one. Anger. I was fucking enraged that my parents treated me and my sisters like shit.

Gertie listened to me for over an hour, letting me vent. Then she sat me down next to her, put her frail arms around me, and told me she understood because she went through the same when her husband died. Then she talked me through it, and suddenly, the huge brick that was sitting on my chest lifted, and I could breathe again.

Me:Promise me that you’ll stay close. No wild shopping sprees!

Gertie:I’m too old to go very far. Fucking ridiculous! Gertie has the energy of a thirty-year-old. It’s her aging body that holds her back, and the fact that she recently recovered from a cancer scare. Kailyn and Gertie quickly bonded, and as soon as Phoenix and Kailyn got together, she became a grandma to us all, so we all look out for her.

I’m not completely convinced that Gertie won’t go rogue on me, and I already have an idea to call Sadie later to check in. Much as I hate to admit it, Gertie’s right. I want to lock Sadie away to keep her from getting hurt, but that’ll only drive a wedge between us. Sadie was an independent woman way before she met me. My plan is to wait until Sadie is completely healed, then I’m going to teach her self-defense.

I park the truck in front of the Storm building, and as soon as I hit my office, I see that the guys have decorated my office with a Welcome Back banner, in neon pink, with matching pink streamers. They must see me from the window because Bull, of all people, is holding a pink-and-white decorated cake, and they’re all laughing so hard that the cake almost ends up on the floor.

“Did you draw the short straw?” I ask Bull. He snorts his response, confirming my suspicion. “Is it edible?” It almost looks too pretty to be eaten.

“I made it,” Kailyn responds, squeezing past Falcon, Wire, and Bull right into Phoenix’s arms, where he’s waiting to press her into his side. “With a little help from Gertie. By the way, she said to bring her a piece home,” she warns, wagging her finger in my direction.

Falcon comes closer and lightly slaps my back. “Glad to have you back. We’ve got a lot to keep you busy.”

“And we have some other news for you,” Wire adds. I lift my brows, waiting for him to continue. “I think we found the guy who assaulted Sadie. I was able to clean up the picture of the assailant’s hands and circulated it to the tattoo artists in the area. One of them recognized the initials etched in the ink and gave us a name.”

“He gave up his customer? Just like that?” I say, reluctant to believe it would be this easy to track this guy down.

“The artist has a sister. He doesn’t like it when people beat on women. When he saw the photos of what he did to Sadie, he wasted no time in talking. We got a name, but there’s no known address on file that I can find,” Wire tells me.

“Before you all get into that, cake!” Kailyn insists.

Phoenix looks down at her happy face. “Jesus, babe. It’s not even nine yet.”

“What’s the difference between sugary donuts and cake? Nothing!” she huffs with a hand on her hip.

“Cake works for me.” Wire steps in. I don’t know where that guy puts it. He eats more than all of us, making him a big, bulky guy. Don’t get me wrong, he’s all muscle, but he eats more than a sumo wrestler. If I ate like him, I’d have to work out eight hours a day.

Kailyn happily takes the cake from Bull, who looks relieved to get rid of it. “I’ll cut it up and bring you your slices,” she says, turning to Falcon. “I’m sure you want to move along with the day.”

Falcon leads the way into the boardroom. That’s how we usually start our day, either discussing new cases or getting up to speed on the ones we’re working on. I take the chair closest to Bull.

He bumps his shoulder into mine. “Good to have you back, brother. How’s Sadie’s doing?”

“She really good. She wants to get back to work too. I convinced her to take another week off before talking to her boss,” I reply.

“Got to give it to her, Sadie’s small but packs a punch,” Bull replies. Bull was there when Sadie recounted the details of the attack. He knew she fought with all she had. She even got the attacker’s skin under her nails, but the DNA didn’t match anyone in the system.

“Sadie’s a fighter,” I state proudly, although I wish she’d given the asshole her purse that night. Watching her in pain was killing me.

Falcon begins the meeting. “It’s good to have Rebel back with us. You’ve been missed, brother. We can jump into the new missions we have to choose from in a minute, but I want to talk about next steps to bring Sadie’s assailant to justice first,” Falcon says. “Wire’s done all the tracking he can do online, including looking into other muggings with the same MO. All were at bus stops, and all were in this area.” He points to the screen that shows a map with red dots depicting the attack sites. The dots are concentrated around a specific territory. “There’s a good chance that our man lives near here,” Falcon says, indicating the area on the map. “To hit his targets this close together, he probably doesn’t have a vehicle. He goes for the quick money, collecting purses and not wasting time to ask for jewelry. He wants to get in and out. He’s driven by getting money fast. Which means that he’s a low-level thug, and we need boots on the ground to flush him out.”

Falcon glances at Bull, who jumps in. “That’s where I come in. I’ve got a couple of men asking around and checking out the area on the screen. They have the description and the photo of the tattoo. Once they get eyes on the suspect, we’ll get a call.”

All eyes turn to me, but it’s Falcon who says, “Any questions?”

I look around at my buddies and answer, “First, I want to thank you for everything you’ve done. And secondly, I want first crack at this guy when we catch him.”

“Sure, but remember that we’re delivering him to the cops, so keep the bruising to a minimum,” Falcon responds with a grin.

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