Page 8 of The Drag Race Debutante & the Detectives
“Head for the motorway. If we have a tail, we can lose them in the Friday night traffic.”
“I have done this before, you know?” Dane snapped.
His brother was irritated, and rightly so. Hell, Eric’s emotions were also riding high after what they’d just been through, but he wouldn’t let them get the better of him. He had to stay in control of himself, of the situation.
He had to keep them safe.
“We need to report this,” he said.
“What about Emily? Can we keep her out of it?”
Eric shook his head. He’d love nothing more than to keep Emily well away from the fallout that was going to rain down on them after this, but knew they couldn’t do that. They’d taken an oath to uphold the law, no matter what, even if it went against every protective instinct he had. “We have to do this by the book. We can’t risk letting that arsehole get off on a technicality just because we wanted to keep Emily out of it.”
Dane swore and hit the steering wheel with the heel of his palm. “You were right,” he said. “Convict is going to kill us.”
“No he won’t,” Emily said, the sharpness in her voice indicating her own heightened emotions. “And stop calling him that.” Then she folded her arms over her chest and grumbled, “And stop talking about me like I’m not here. I hate it when people do that.”
“We’re sorry, kitten,” Eric said, his jaw tightening as a throbbing ache started at the base of his skull. “We should have gotten you out of there sooner. You shouldn’t be involved in any of this.”
The gentle touch of Emily’s hand on his shoulder made him jolt, then he turned to look at her again and watched her flick silent tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry too,” she said. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have been there. I never should have agreed to go out with Matthew. I just….” She sighed. “I was just….”
“What?” He needed to hear her say it. Needed to know how badly they’d screwed up by neglecting her for so long.
“Lonely.”
Chapter Five
Emily said the word so softly, Dane almost didn’t hear her over the sound of the traffic.
Lonely.
His brain almost imploded as his warring emotions collided. On the one hand, he was mad as fuck that he and Eric had made Emily sad, and on the other he wanted to whoop with joy knowing she’d missed them as much as they’d missed her.
The sooner they got this job done and went back to their normal lives the better.
Eric reached back and grabbed her hand. “We never meant for this to happen, kitten. We got pulled into this investigation at the last minute and we’ve been playing catch up ever since. The last two months have been insane.” His brother scrubbed his free hand through his hair, his frustration bleeding out of him, making him look older than his thirty years of age. “Our lives are not our own right now, and I know that doesn’t excuse what we did. We should have told you what was going on, but this is all new to us and?—”
Emily leaned forwards between the seats. “No, it’s okay. I mean, you did say you weren’t going to be around much for a while, but I thought it was just an excuse. I thought….” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I thought. I get it now. You’re undercover. You couldn’t tell me.” She sighed. “I imagine you couldn’t tell anyone.”
“Only our dad,” Dane said.
As a retired cop himself, their father knew the challenges they faced on the job, especially when it came to balancing a life on the force with romantic relationships. Their own mother had walked out on them when they were just kids, saying she couldn’t take it anymore, the not knowing if her husband was coming home each day. Wondering if she was going to be left alone with four kids to raise and no income besides a widow’s pension.
At least that was the official version of events, the tale they were told as kids when their father was still blinded by his love for his wife. The truth was far more sordid.
Dane gritted his teeth and steeled his raging emotions. Now was not the time to be thinking about things like that. He had to focus. Had to make sure they weren’t being followed, that he was doing his duty and keeping everyone safe.
Keeping Emily safe.
He checked his mirrors again, then changed lanes and exited the motorway, headed towards Eight Mile Plains. From there he could work his way north through the suburbs and into the heart of Brisbane, then backtrack to the safety of the Berringer estate. If they had a tail, there was no way they could hide themselves for that length of time.
They fell into a somewhat comfortable silence for the remainder of the trip, and a small smile tugged at his lips when they reached her parent’s house in Sheldon, a rural residential area south of the city, and he saw Eric was still holding Emily’s hand. Still seeking comfort in her touch.
“We’re here.”
Like many of the properties in the area, the Berringer estate was three acres of well concealed wealth. A dense border of trees and subtropical gardens hid a large two-storey house, a smaller guest house, a pool, and a full sized tennis court. But as they drove down the gently winding driveway, the true gem of the property—as far as Dane was concerned—came into view to the left of the main house.
A twenty car garage housing everything from a 1949 Healey Silverstone sports car to the 1968 Datsun Fairlady roadster his future brother-in-law had used to woo their sister. It was hoon heaven, and their two families had bonded quickly over their shared love of vintage metal and modern motorsports.
