Page 14 of Healing Conviction
Snake rolled his eyes and smiled. Draco couldn’t help the frisson of jealousy at her nickname for him but tamped it down for the sake of the conversation.
“You guys have no trouble whatsoever involving me in the hardcore shidoobie.” Nora pointed her finger, obviously joking with the man, but her words were sending Draco into a tailspin. “But whenever it comes to my actual expertise, I don’t even get a phone call? Not cool, fam. Anywho, I vote grassroots approach, too. I can’t explain it, but I feel like this is worth looking into.”
Draco opened his mouth to question the “hardcore ‘shidoobie’” she was referring to, but Hawk interrupted.
“I get both sides, I do. We need to pull every thread we’re given to see what we can unravel and I can’t help but feel responsible for these women’s safety since we’ve saved them once before. But I don’t know who to send.”
“I’m out.” Jaybird held up his hands with a grimace. “I’m sorry, Hawk. I know this is important, but I’ve got Jules and my daughter to think about now. I’ll help as much as possible on the home front. I’m fine to go on missions, but I can’t travel all the way to the coast on a wild-goose chase, man.”
Snake unmuted himself as he cleared his throat. “I’d go… but there’s Naomi and Thea. We still don’t know where Naomi’s ex has run off to since he was bailed out of jail.”
Draco felt the dizzying sensation of being out of the loop again, but he tried his best to pay attention to the excuses as Devil scrubbed his beard and made one himself.
“Ellie, man… I’m sorry. I can’t leave her. She’s been through a shitload this year. We don’t even know if Shanna Jacobs works at the Pancake Park, or if she’s got information we could use. If I drive all the way out there for nothing and something happens to Ellie, I’ll never forgive myself. Or you guys, for that matter.”
Hawk exhaled a frustrated breath. “I can’t leave either. I’ve got this business to run. That settles it. As much as I wish we could, we’re stretched too thin and we don’t have enough resources while rebuilding BlackStone to solvepro bonocases like this one—”
“I’ll go.”
CHAPTERSIX
Even though he’d been quiet, Nora whipped her head toward him like he’d shouted.
“Excuse me, sir. Giant Viking saidwhatnow?”
He shrugged. “I’ll go. The doctor cleared me for outpatient. I’ll work on my exercises. Snake can fill me in and I can use his intel to find them. If he comes up with more answers while I’m gone, I’ll make the trek there next.”
“Draco.” Hawk’s hesitant tone only served to aggravate Draco more. No one had ever stepped on eggshells around him before. “You got out of the hospital yesterday, my man. What if you hurt yourself—”
“It’s fuckingrecon, Hawk. Not hunting terrorists or some shit. I’ll be fine.”
“You’re not one hundred percent yet,” his leader countered and Draco’s frustration flared hot in his veins, nearly boiling over.
“I’m more than capable by civilian standards. Maybe not spec ops ready, but I’m certainly clear to ask a few goddamn questions.”
Hawk sucked his teeth and tapped his lip. “Don’t you need help with the exercises? You’ve had your physical therapist this whole time. We can’t send someone out there to help you just for that.”
An idea clicked in Draco’s brain, and he went with it before he could chicken out. “Nora can come.”
Nora’s eyes bugged out behind her rose gold frames. “Uh… hate to repeat myself, but giant Viking saidwhatnow?”
The surprise in her face would’ve made a lesser man question himself, but Draco doubled down.
“Melly isn’t the only one who’s been helping me. You have been, too. If I’m too much of an invalid for these assholes, you can come babysit me. It’s only a few interviews, and you’ve already studied up on these women, anyway.”
Nora’s faded black hair bounced as she tilted her head from side to side, seemingly weighing the information. “That’s not aterribleidea, I guess.”
“Really?” Draco and Snake blurted out simultaneously before Snake kept questioning her.
“Are you sure, Nora? I know you don’t like going on missions.”
“I’m not gonna put her in fucking danger, Snake.”
Draco hated to admit it, but his irritation was borne less from his teammate’s logic, and more from Snake being so familiar with his little pixie.
“Hmm… Ellie and Jules could hold down the clinic, and I do know his exercises even better than he does. We could do a little Q and A here, solve a few crimes there, and eat some subpar waffles before we skedaddle on back to Ashland. Shouldn’t be too bad. A change of scenery might do me some good anyway.” The last sentence was only a murmur, but Draco didn’t have time to analyze it before she was slapping her hands together and rubbing them like an evil villain. “Should be a good time.However, I will warn you, my handsome Viking friend: I think I’m bad luck on these things, so it’s best you know that going in.”
He huffed and shook his head before muttering low under his breath. “Yeah, I need to fucking ask you about that after this.”