Page 41 of Fatal Deception

Copeland watched as Audra turned to Hawk, plastered on that fake smile. “Thank you,” she said, sounding like she meant it.

Copeland knew she didn’t.

“Stay safe, Audra. Beckett? I’ll be in touch.” With that, Hawk nodded at both of them and let himself out.

For a moment, the kitchen was fully silent. Audra stood by the sink, brooding out the window. Copeland sat at the table watching her.

He could probably read her mind. She was trying to figure out how to convince him she should stay. Which wasstupid, but worse than her stupidity was his. Because he was trying to rationalize it to himself.

If he stayed with her, she’d be safe. He’d protect her. He’d been here since the shooting, and nothing had touched her, even if it had touched the outside.

But someone had started that fire while he’d beenrighthere. “If you’re right, and this ties to the land and notyou, then removing yourself from the land makes yousafe.”

“And leaves my home, my life, mylivelihoodunprotected.”

“But you’ll bealive, Audra.”

Her shoulders slumped at that. “This place has been mine—my responsibility—since… God, I don’t even know. It feels like always, and you’re asking me to abandon it.”

“I’m real sorry about that, but nothing is yours if you wind up dead. And Hawk is right. Maybe no one is after hurting you, but these things they’re doing aren’t benign. Shooting and fires. It’s dangerous to be around, even if you’re not meant to be themain target.” He wasn’t getting through to her, so he had to be strategic. “Franny will be back eventually. Are you going to let her stay here with all this going on?”

She glared at him. “You know just what buttons to push, don’t you?”

“You said it yourself, right? We’re friends. Friends know stuff.”

Her glare didn’t change. “Friendsdon’t kiss like that,” she muttered.

He could handle that reintroduction a lot of ways, but he wanted to see some of that horrible tension in her expression dissipate. So he went for light. “How do they kiss then?”

“Theydon’t.”

“Oh. Bummer.”

The sound she made wasalmosta laugh, and that eased the pain in his chest a lot more than it should. But it didn’t last. The weights, the worry, the hurt all came back. Settled in her shoulders, her expression.

She inhaled, and it shook. The vulnerability in the sound unnerved him, but also prompted him to move toward her, with some ridiculous urge to comfort, to fix.

He got a hold of himself before he touched her. He had to get a better grip on his reaction to her. The kiss hadn’t helped, but he had to be stronger than some little kiss.

Little. Ha.

She turned to look at him then, tears swimming in her eyes making them an unearthly shade of blue. “I can’t leave. Maybe you can’t understand. But I can’t leave this place. It’d be like leaving my soul behind. I’m not trying to be reckless or foolish. I wouldn’t know how to be reckless if I tried. I’ve never had the time to be foolish. Leaving isn’t an option for me, Copeland. I have to be here. I have to face this. Ihaveto.”

He studied her. Yeah, it was the martyr complex talking, but there was something deeper at the root of it. Something deeper than her desperate need not to put anything on anyone else’s shoulders. She’d clearly been doing that since she was a kid. He didn’t understand what kind of awful parents could instill that on their child, but what impressed him was that Audra hadn’t let it make her bitter. Oh, she was a mess of issues, but she wasn’t angry or bitter. Her kindness seemed inexhaustible. Her concern for others admirable…and contemptible when she let it supersede reason.

She needed someone to take care of her. To take some of those weights. No one could change her into someone who didn’t take on too much, but she needed someone to share the load. Whether she liked it or not.

Not that it was going to behim. Not that it was any of his business how many weights she carried. That was her business. Her deal.

But he wasn’t about to let her wind up dead in the process. Just because she loved this place like some people loved their children. Just because he couldn’t bring himself to demand she leave when she had tears in her eyes and pleas in her voice.

“Fine.”

Her entire posture relaxed. She even reached out to touch him, just a gentle brush of her hand against his arm. “Thank you, Copeland, for understanding. It means—”

“Don’t thank me just yet. There’s a stipulation.”

Wariness crept into her expression, but she nodded, chin high. “Alright.”