Page 26 of Red Hunt

But leaving her had felt wrong.

I’d turned and tossed through the night, her big, blue eyes hovering just outside of my rational mind.

Sometimes those eyes looked at me pleading. Sometimes they were scared. And then they lost their intensity as if they were looking inward, distancing themselves from reality.

Boy, Milli had me entirely wound up. I got up, moved to the fridge, and got myself an energy drink.

“Another?” Peaches got up and stepped next to me and took a bottle of water for himself. “What’s wrong? You’re off today. Something troubling you?”

I could feel the desire to deflect on the tip of my tongue. But it would be wrong. Peaches and Goofy were my teammates. My family. They deserved the truth. Even though I didn’t really know what that truth was exactly.

“I stumbled over a girl yesterday…a woman. She had a bicycle accident on the road up here. I found her, called in an emergency, she’s fine…”

“But?”

He knew me too well. “She’s hurt and bruised, and she’s living alone, so I’m…”

“Concerned. Why don’t you go check in on her?”

“Because…I don’t know her. It was just a chance encounter.”

“But she takes up brain space you can’t afford to give up. Since your brain isn’t all that big, really.”

I frowned and whopped him, but despite his build, Peaches was fast, so it ended up being barely a love tap against his shoulder. At least it got him to spill water on his shirt.

“Hey.” Peaches pulled his wet T-shirt away from his skin, then he chucked it over his head. “Not fair.”

Goofy, who had followed our conversation without butting in, snorted with laughter. Usually, it was him being the jokester, not Peaches.

“You been working out, Peachy? I can’t remember you ever sporting a six-pack,” I said.

Peaches had always worked out, as we all did, but boy, was he getting ripped.

“He’s trying to impress a woman,” Goofy said, earning a huff from Peaches.

“What? Think I didn’t see the way you looked at Madam Deputy when she cornered you after the meeting?”

The meeting. I hadn’t been there—it had been too short notice for me to attend. But the others had filled me in on what had happened at the sheriff’s office a couple of days ago. Filled me in on how besides the Sheriff’s Department, there were also two DEA agents in attendance.

They’d mentioned Deputy Sheriff Belinda Graves. What they hadn’t mentioned were any…entanglements that had arisen from there. “Deputy Sheriff Belinda Graves?”

Peaches rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Nothing there. Goofy is imagining things…as always. Look, we’ll hold down the fort while you take care of your thing. Sound good?”

I nodded because really, who was I fooling?

Not my teammates, apparently, and lying to myself was the easiest path to a wasted life.

I took the stairs two at a time, grabbed my keys, and was cruising down my mountain before I could talk myself out of it, leaving my teammates and the peace and quiet of my normal life behind.

16

MAX

Once I’d arrived at the grocery store in Moon Lake, I looked up at the windows of Milli’s small apartment above. Her home.

I didn’t get out of the truck, though.

Somehow, it was as if I’d suddenly grown multiple personalities. On the one side was the part of me who wanted peace and quiet. And the other one—the new one—the one who’d latched onto Milli and, despite knowing she meant trouble, couldn’t let go of caring about her well-being.

---