Page 50 of Tango
“If he dies, I’ll never forgive myself, Tucker. It’ll be my fault. Just like the man in that alleyway was my fault.”
“Alice, that man attacked you.”
“I still took a life. Someone’s son.”
“Alice.” She closes her eyes tightly, and a tear rolls down her cheek. “Look at me.” Because I sense she won’t do it on her own, I break one of my rules and reach out to gently touch her face. The contact sends a jolt through me, recognition that this woman means so much more to me than she should in such a short amount of time.
As Dylan has been joking lately—it seems we Hunts fall hard and fast.
A thought I shove aside because I cannot be in a relationship. Not now, and maybe not ever. Regardless of private oaths to myself, Alice needs me to remain focused. She needs me to protect her and pursue the truth—not fall in love. Still, I stroke her cheek with my thumb and turn her face toward me.
When she opens those crystal eyes, her pain is a punch to the gut. “Even with what he would have done to you, you still didn’t mean to kill him.”
“Fine. What about Logan?” Her bottom lip quivers. “He had nothing to do with this. I asked him to keep an ear to the ground. To let me know if he saw or heard anything.”
“But you didn’t ask him to intervene, right? To ask around? He did that on his own.”
She closes her eyes again and takes a deep breath, as though it’s all she can do to keep from falling apart. “That was Logan. He never could leave something well enough alone, and I should have thought about that before asking him. I was just so desperate for an ally. For someone to help me get my life back. I didn’t stop to think about what that would mean for him.”
“Alice. Listen to me. If Logan—” I trail off. “If he’s gone, then that’s not your fault. Do you blame Ramiro for what’s happening to you now?”
She opens her eyes. “Of course not.”
I drop my hand. “Ramiro brought you into this. He’s the reason you’re involved. So if you don’t blame him, then do you really think Logan would blame you?”
She hesitates. “I’m alive. Logan’s not.”
“If something had happened to your parents. If I hadn’t gotten there in time. Would you have blamed Ramiro then?”
“Of course not.”
“Then stop blaming yourself for something that’s not your fault.”
Alice takes a deep breath. “I’m trying to remain positive. To keep my head on straight because I know, at the end of the day, none of this matters. Our happiness isn’t promised here. But it’s so hard, Tucker. It’s so hard to keep my head up when all I want to do is give up.”
“I won’t let you give up,” I tell her.
“No?” she asks, turning to face me again.
Seconds of silence pass around us as we watch the sun rise above the hills. “Not a chance, 404Wonder. You’re stuck with me until the end.”
Three cups of coffee and a shower later, and my cell is finally ringing.
Lord, whatever happens, please help me help her. “Hunt,” I answer.
Alaric’s initial hesitation tells me everything I need to know.
“When?” I ask.
“ME is estimating his time of death to have been right before five in the morning.”
“So, right after we got that message.”
“We found him near his computer. Two bullets to the back. Another to his chest. There was blood smeared all over his keyboard, and whoever did it ripped his hard drive out then shredded his apartment looking for something. They were in and out quick.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I step out onto the porch. “Any idea who did it?”
“We’re running prints we found on the scene, but my guess is they belong to him. The killer was in a rush but not messy.”
