Page 91 of Hideaway Heart

“Will you ever look at the pictures you took of me?”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On what you do with them.”

“WhatIdo with them? They don’t belong to me.”

“Yes, they do.” I rolled over and moved on top of her so she could see my face. “You let me photograph you—that took a lot of trust. To prove I’m worthy of that trust, I want to give you all the pictures.”

“But the whole point is that I trust you to have them and never share them. Never betray me.”

“I would die first.”

She smiled, her eyes narrowing. “Or my brother would kill you.”

“I’d deserve it. He should torture me before offing me. Make me listen to Duke Pruitt songs for hours on end.”

That made her laugh. “Anyway, I don’t want the pictures, Xander. You keep them. So you never forget me.”

I buried my face in her neck and inhaled. “I could never forget you.”

Actually, I was starting to think it might be a problem.

* * *

When I checked my messages that day, I had a voicemail from my friend with a contact at the DMV. She apologized for the delay—she’d been on vacation and was still catching up—but said she had an answer for me. The beige Honda was registered to a rental agency at the Traverse City airport.

Later that afternoon, I went out onto the porch while Kelly was in the shower and called up another friend of mine, a guy named Zach Barrett. He was also a former SEAL who worked for Cole Security. He’d worked out of the San Diego office and I’d been mostly east coast, but our paths had crossed every now and again, and I liked him a lot. Solid, trustworthy, and skilled. Plus, he could be a scary motherfucker.

Last I’d heard, he’d married a girl who lived not far from here, and he worked only part-time.

“Barrett here,” he answered gruffly.

“Hey, Zach. It’s Xander Buckley.”

“Hey, Xander. It’s been a while.” His tone lost its hard edge. “How are you?”

We caught up for a few minutes, and I learned he lived about two hours from me, was married to a woman named Millie, and they had two kids.

“You’ve been busy,” I said with a laugh. “Are you still working for Cole?”

“Here and there. I cut way back on travel because Millie—that’s my wife—owns a business and with the two kids, it was hard being gone all the time. Plus, I don’t want to be gone. I don’t want to miss anything.”

“I get it.”

“What about you? Did I hear you’re opening a sports bar?”

“Yeah. Hopefully, I’ll be up and running soon. Just waiting on a few last-minute things.”

“I’ll have to drive up and check it out.”

“I’d like that. So listen, I have a favor to ask.” I explained what I was doing and why. “I’ve got no proof the car is connected to the asshole who was on the property taking photos or whoever snapped the shots at the bar, but I had a bad feeling when I saw it.”

“I’d trust my gut on it too.”

“Any way you can get the name of the guy who rented it?”