Page 13 of Skin Game
Again, no response, so Gabe closed his eyes and did his best to fall asleep.
SIX
GABE – TUESDAY MORNING
“Your forehead looks lovely. That’s sarcasm, by the way,” Casey said as he came through the door.
“Yeah, it looks worse this morning,” Gabe agreed before Casey could add another snarky comment. “Maybe I should have put a slab of rib eye steak on it like Elton suggested. And I think I may have sprained a rib. But don’t worry, I took some pain killers.”
Casey shot him a look, one that telegraphed,You are possibly an idiot,his stupidly sexy eyebrows drawing together. Why had Gabe been relieved that Casey hadn’t stayed over?
“Does it hurt when you laugh?”
Gabe considered that the correct response for him was probablyIt always hurts when I laugh, but Casey was already wound up tight, so he decided to skip it. “It twinges, I guess? Not that I’ve been ha-haing much since I rolled out of bed though. That first step was a doozy.”
“Personally, I think that’s a waste of a perfectly decent steak. Is your head bothering you?” Casey asked. “No nausea or dizziness?”
“No, it’s really not. I am fine, I swear.”
“Are you ready for Seattle, then?”
Gabe eyed him. Ranger Man never missed a damn thing. He especially never missed things Gabe wanted him to. Because no, Gabe was not ready for this.
“Fine. You busted me. I’m not ready, and if it weren’t for you and Elton, I would have ignored the letter. Huh. Maybe that’s why Heidi used him as a liaison?”
The other thing Gabe wasn’t ready for was telling Casey about the young woman who had dropped by and claimed to be his daughter. It wasn’t true, but he didn’t want Casey to think poorly of him. Gabe didn’t need more sympathetic glances or worse, pure pity. He wanted his life to be normal.
Really, Chance? Normal?
Fine. Normal-ish.
It had been difficult enough for him to get on Ranger Man’s good side, but they were together now, and Gabe wanted things to stay that way. Casey didn’t need to know there was someone out there peddling complete fabrications about Gabe’s past. If Juliet Carter returned with something more than printouts, then he’d tell Casey. Until that time, he was the only one who needed to know about yesterday’s visitor, mostly because he could not figure out thewhyof it.
“Let me finish getting dressed, then we can blow this popsicle stand.”
Gabe feltCasey’s gaze on his forehead again as Casey shifted the Wagoneer into reverse and started backing out of the gravel driveway. “You’re sure that doesn’t hurt? We can call and tell her we’re coming another day.”
“I swear, it doesn’t hurt. And I just want to get this next Gabriel Karne side quest wrapped up,” Gabe replied. He clipped his seat belt and settled back for the ride. “If it makes you feel better, I did slap some more antibiotic ointment on it. It’s all good. Let’s get this over with. I, for one, am not looking forwardto this trip to Seattle.” Gabe glanced into the back, expecting to see a familiar fuzzy face there. “Where’s my dog?”
“We might need the space for whatever we’re picking up, so Bowie’s with Elton for the day. I was going to ask Mickie to watch him, but”—Casey breathed out a sound of frustration and pressed on the gas pedal—“I thought Mickie might think I was using it as an excuse to check up on him.”
Gabe suppressed a chuckle when Casey flipped on his indicator before turning onto the main road. There was no one else in sight, not even Juliet Carter’s beat-up Ford Focus coming back with more lies.
“Try for the ferry first?” Casey asked. “If it’s full, we’ll drive around.”
“Sure, I like the ferry as much as the next person. Plus, there are jigsaw puzzles to entertain ourselves with.”
Either way, they would be crossing over several long bridges and various bodies of water between here and their destination, which would also give Gabe plenty of time to dive into the problem that was Mickie Lundin. He’d much rather talk about Casey’s brother than his own new crop of problems.
“Are you checking up on Mickie?” Gabe asked after a chunk of scenery had been passed by. “When we talked about this the other day, you said you were going to give him some space. Would you be? Using Bowie as a way to check up on him, that is?”
Casey was quiet for long enough that Gabe thought maybe he wasn’t going to answer. Which, fine, he could understand.
They passed by Norskland General Store, currently on limited hours since it was a weekday during the low season. He frowned at the closed sign. Yes, Gabe had a fancy espresso machine of his own, but he still liked stopping by for a coffee and a chat, so Mercy and Barry’s absence bugged him. He even liked talking to the teenagers; it was always good to keep up with what they were into.
“No. At least, I don’t think I am,” Casey finally said. They’d crossed onto the mainland and were headed toward Hood Canal Bridge. “I just worry.”
They’d had this conversation a few times since Mickie had been exonerated by Eli Rizzi’s confession to the murder of Maya Crane and finally released. After years of worrying about his brother, Casey was having difficulty finding the Off switch. Gabe understood, at least he thought he did, but he knew for sure that Casey needed to let his brother do his own thing. For both their sakes.