Chapter 5

AMELIA

Visiting hours had ended an hour earlier, but I guessed since Luc and I were already there and given the circumstances, the hospital staff had allowed us to stay.

“You need rest.”

“Something bad could happen to him and I won’t be here.”

“He looks better,” he noted.

I wondered how in the hell he could say that. Sinclaire was in a coma, lying on the bed before us, healing from a gunshot and extensive surgery. There was nothing better about his look.

“What makes you think that?” I had to know.

“His vitals. Everything has significantly improved since he came back from surgery.”

In my state of worry, all the numbers on the monitor jumbled together, and I hadn’t been able to focus on any of the readings.

“Do you think so?”

He looked from me to Sinclaire. “Definitely. He should be fine, weak and completely out of it for a while, yes, but I have faith that he’ll pull out of the coma. Surviving a bullet can take its toll on you.”

“Have you ever been shot?”

He chuckled at that and sighed. “Yeah, I have. I’m guessing you haven’t.”

“I got shot while wearing a bulletproof vest once. It was a rogue bullet during a raid. I broke a rib, but that was it.” When the bullet hit me, it took me down and knocked me out, and the pain that had hit me after I came to was the most excruciating I’d ever felt in my life.

“You’re lucky. Come on. Drink the tea and we’ll go.”

I still wasn’t sure about leaving and having Luc take me home, but since it probably was a good idea, I agreed.

We were quiet as I sipped on the tea, and it did make me feel more at ease.

When we got up to go, it was nearly ten. Sinclaire’s monitor showed a stronger heartbeat, and his blood pressure had stabilized at ninety over sixty. They were all good signs. I just wished he would wake up.

I planted a kiss on his forehead and looked him over one last time before we set off to leave. I wasn’t used to seeing him so lifeless, his skin cold and clammy. I really hoped he would be okay and pull through this.

Minutes later, we were in the parking lot. I’d traveled to the hospital earlier in the ambulance with Sinclaire while Luc drove here.

I widened my eyes as he led me to a stylish, ruby red Ferrari that was completely sleek in design. I didn’t know anyone who had a car like that, or even anything similar. It suited him, the style and the sleekness. It matched the way he walked and carried himself.

It was not exactly like a cop, and certainly not like the ones I was used to. When we got to the vehicle, he held the door open for me, a gesture that was normally lost on me.

“Thank you.” I sank into the soft leather of the seat while he jumped into the driver’s side.

“What’s your address?” He turned on his navigation system.

“Twenty Cherry Blossom Road, Pacific Heights.”

“Cool.” He typed it in and put the car in gear.

Silence filled the space between us for a few long moments. I hated awkward silences and driving with anyone I didn’t know. This was both of those things. I searched my brain for topics to talk about and came up with the introduction we probably should have had earlier today when we first met.

“Where did you come from?” I asked.

He glanced over at me, taking his eyes off the road ahead. “Chicago.”

“Oh.” Out of habit, I didn’t reveal that I was also from there. People thought I was born and bred in LA, so I went with that story. “How long have you been in LA?”

“Not long. I came to see what the excitement was all about, a personal mission of mine.”

“It’s not all that exciting.” I had thought LA was exciting at one point in my life. It was also far, far away from my father. It was what I needed, but I missed the slower pace of Chicago. It was what I called manageable, still fast, but in LA it felt like you just had to keep going nonstop. There was always something to keep me on my toes.

“No? Today held its own excitement if you’re a cop.”

It had. I just wished Sinclaire hadn’t taken a hit.

“Today was …” My voice trailed off. I didn’t know what to say about the day.

He glanced over at me. “Eventful,” he filled in. “What do you think happened?”

“I’m not sure. Things have been crazy lately. Montgomery was supposed to be a major lead in our investigation.”

“That’s why he was taken.”

I didn’t even know where we’d begin to go about finding him again because he now had the advantage of knowing we were after him.

“I know a guy I’m going to check with. He’s my informant.” Cole was a guy I’d come to rely on a lot. He was a former heroin addict who’d turned his life around, and his previous addiction meant he’d traveled in underground circles that were useful to me. It was he who’d told me about Chrysanthemum, the new mixture of drugs on the streets, and raised my suspicions.

“Maybe we could check with him tomorrow?”

“No, there’s no we. You can’t come.” I shook my head.

“Why not?”

“He knows me, and Max. A new person would make him too anxious.”

“I’ll wait in the car.”

“No, you can just not come along.”

“Jesus, is this how it’s going to be?”

“Yes.” I stared at the profile of his face. “You just got here—you don’t know anything.”

“Okay, Amelia.”

It was the first time he’d said my name. All this time, throughout the day, he hadn’t addressed me, and why did he think he should call me Amelia when he’d heard everyone call me Taylor?

“Taylor, like everyone else calls me,” I corrected.

“No,” he replied, to my surprise.

“No to what?”

“I’m not calling you Taylor.”

“Why?” It was weird. “You don’t usually rebut someone’s name when they tell you to call them something.”

He chuckled, and the sound filtered over to me, warming my insides.

“I’ve decided I want to call you Amelia.”

“But everyone at work calls me Taylor.”

“Since I’m new, I’m going to dare to be different from everyone else.”

I simply rolled my eyes at him. I wasn’t going to sit there arguing over something so pointless, irritating as it was.

“Okay, Luc,” I said, putting emphasis on his name.

“Great, Amelia.”

Maybe it was the way he said it, with his voice lingering on each syllable like a gentle caress that felt a little more intimate than I liked. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him glancing at me, but I continued to stare ahead.

We pulled up at my house an hour later, and the strangest thing happened. I found myself looking around the shadows by the alleyway that led to the next street and around the side of the house. The light was on in Gigi’s room, but that didn’t mean she was home—she had a habit of leaving the lights on.

The people in the car earlier…they’d waited for me and Sinclaire, waited to kill us. They were obviously part of whoever had helped Montgomery escape, but it was the waiting to kill me part that really got me.

I’d been a cop now for six years, joined the force straight after college. I’d moved up the ranks quickly and made a name for myself, which took strength. However, it was a strength I didn’t feel at the moment. What if whoever had been in the car had found out where I lived and was waiting to finish the job?

“Thanks for the lift,” I told Luc, pulling in a breath, trying to get myself together.

I got out of the car, ready to hurry away and get into my house as quickly as I could, but Luc jumped out too and took hold of my arm to pull me to a stop.

“Not so fast.” He looked around then his gaze settled on me. Under the streetlights, those bright blue eyes turned an azure color that reminded me of the last remains of a twilight sky. “Let me check the place out.”

I wished he hadn’t said that, because nice as it was, it fueled my fears.

“What for?” I pretended I had no idea why he would suggest that. I didn’t do paranoid. It wasn’t me, and I didn’t want to start now.

“Making sure it’s safe.”

“Of course it’s safe. Why wouldn’t it be? They don’t know where I live.”

“Right. If you really believed that, you wouldn’t have checked around like you did just now.”

Before I could protest, he started walking up my drive. He went around to the back of the house, fearless, and I made my way up the steps leading to the porch and waited for him. He emerged from the shadows moments later.

“I’m good here,” I told him, not wanting him to come inside.

“I’m checking the inside too.” He gave me a stern look, and since I was too tired to argue, I opened the door and we both went in.

I stood in the hallway while he checked out downstairs. He then went upstairs, and I heard one of the doors open and close. A moment later, Gigi ran down the stairs in her fluffy pink bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her hair.

“Amelia, why is there an uber gorgeous man roaming around our house at this time of night?” She giggled, bright brown eyes staring at me mischievously. I should have called her earlier to at least tell her what happened, but like with Max, I hadn’t gotten around to it. “Please tell me you’re going to break your dry spell.”

Of course, Luc would choose that moment to come back down the stairs.

“Gigi.”

“No.” She held up a finger, silencing me. “I don’t care who he is. He’s definitely jump-bones-worthy.”

“Gigi, for the love of God, shut up.” I winced, feeling my cheeks flush with what I knew would be crimson on my pale skin.

At the sound of Luc’s laughter, she widened her eyes and got that deer-in-the-headlights look. She whirled around as he came down the stairs.

I noticed how out of place he looked in our very feminine home that had pink roses growing over the door’s archway. It had taken me forever to get them to do that, and between the two of us, Gigi and I maintained them.

“Never heard that one before—jump-bones-worthy,” Luc said with a chuckle.

“Gigi, this is Luc, my partner until Max gets back.” I introduced them to save us from further embarrassment. Gigi was the kind of person who didn’t think before she spoke.

“Hi. It’s late, and I say weird things at this hour.” Gigi blushed.

“Right,” Luc responded, doing that half-smile thing again. “Place looks clear. Get some sleep. I’ll pick you up at nine.”

“You don’t have to do that.” I’d just take a cab.

“And yet I am.” He chuckled and headed toward the door.

“Don’t think it’ll make me suddenly like you.” Truthfully there wasn’t anything not to like about him. I just hated having any form of partner that wasn’t Max.

He twisted around and gave me a slow once-over look, allowing his eyes to roam over my body. His expression pulled at my insides, deep inside at the place I kept on a leash, the place where I stored my emotions.

“God forbid.” He winked at me and continued through the door.