Page 53 of The Unknown Colton
“Because she doesn’t want your mom and dad to know,” Troy said. “And I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“But now that you have, you’re going to have to spill,” Parker said.
“Eli knows more than I do,” Troy said.
“That’s why he’s coming by the office to talk to Lakin,” Parker said. “It’s about Whitlaw.”
Troy nodded. “Yeah…” And it was killing him to not be part of that conversation. He had to know exactly how dangerous Jasper Whitlaw was. “Maybe we should go back and make Eli tell us, too.”
“You heard Lakin,” Parker said. “She didn’t want us there.” He looked over at Troy, his brow wrinkled with suspicion. “What’s going on with you two? She doesn’t seem really happy with you.”
“She’s not,” Troy admitted.
“And here I thought you would do anything to make her happy.”
Anything but burden her with a cripple or with debt that he couldn’t help her pay off. He remembered all too well how his mother had struggled after his dad died. He didn’t want to put Lakin through that; he loved her too much.
Maybe he had to accept that he wasn’t what would make her happy.
* * *
The boyfriend wasn’t playing watchdog at the moment. Which was too bad because the gun lay on the seat next to him, and he couldn’t wait to use it.
The boyfriend hadn’t been around as much today as he usually was. When he was, he’d been with too many other people.
Unlike Lakin, who was alone right now. There wasn’t another Colton anywhere around her as shesat alone in that office, watching the door, as if expecting someone to show up.
But he’d seen the others leave not long ago. The boyfriend and her brother were gone.
The others were as well.
She was all alone.
It was finally time to show little Miss Lakin just how much danger she was in…
CHAPTER 16
Lakin waited and waited for Eli until she finally got a text from him.
Something came up. Will have to talk to you tomorrow.
What was the something that had come up? Had another body been found? Or maybe the serial killer?
She really hoped that was the case, so that nobody else would get hurt. Nobody else should lose their life or a loved one like her dad had lost so many people he cared about. She would have asked Eli why he couldn’t make it, but too often he ignored questions like that. He had to keep the details of an investigation close to his chest so that things didn’t get leaked to the press.
Despite his efforts, things did seem to be getting leaked.
Lakin understood why he had to be so secretive, but she would feel so much better if she knew what had come up. She would also feel so much better ifshe wasn’t completely alone. But she was the one who’d shooed out Parker and Troy, so that she could talk to Eli without them present.
Now…
She could call either one of them, and they would rush back to her side. Still, she appreciated having a little distance from Troy, especially after last night.
She wanted to be with him again, wanted to sleep in his arms like she had the night before. She loved him so much, but she was pretty sure she was going to have to let him go when he went back to the oil rigs. After he’d been hurt, she would be terrified the entire time he was gone that he would be hurt again. She didn’t want to live in fear of losing him. Or of losing herself.
That was how she felt right now, like she was losing part of herself. For so many years, it had been the two of them, loving and laughing and making plans for the future. But apparently she was the only one who really intended to follow through on those plans.
No. She wasn’t going to live in fear for Troy or for anyone else. Seller had made her uneasy with his comments this morning, but she was not going to let him make her feel like a victim before anyone even tried to hurt her.
