Proud of you, baby, Heather murmured.

I growled, because my dead wife didn’t get a vote. If she really cared about me, she wouldn’t have died. And London? I’d had enough of her shit, too. That bitch was gonna be mine and I didn’t share.

You do realize you’re crazy, right?

At least crazy worked for me. Always had.

“Reese? Are you okay?”

Shit. Poor woman was scared and alone, and now I was growling at her because I’d lost my fucking mind, apparently. I rubbed my chin, thinking quickly. I needed to play things smart, nudge her in the right direction if I wanted to do this right. All Evans really needed was enough rope to hang himself. He’d do the rest for me …

“There’s some truth to what he said,” I said, trying to sound somewhat sane and sympathetic. “Although it’s not exactly a comfort. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “I’ve already talked to all her friends. I can’t imagine where she went.”

“She’s probably holed up with some boy somewhere. Jess is a pretty girl—wouldn’t be hard for her to find someone to take her in.”

“She would’ve told one of her friends, though. None of them have heard from her.”

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose, torn between laughter, frustration, and a hint of crazed exaltation. Christ, but London was naive. No idea how she’d pulled that off at her age, but there was no question the woman was clueless. I wondered if that cluelessness extended to her sexual experience, too. Might be fun to teach her new things. Of course, if she already had some tricks, that’d be nice, too.

“They won’t tell you, honey. They’ll cover for her because that’s what teenage girls do.”

“Maybe most of them, but not Melanie,” London said. “She’s the one Jessica relies on the most, and she’s completely freaked out. Said she got some weird text from her about heading south.”

“What’s down south?”

“Nothing that I can think of,” London said. “I mean, the last time I heard from her mother, she was living near San Diego, but I can’t imagine she’d lift a finger for Jess, let alone invite her to come and stay with her. Amber is a selfish bitch who doesn’t want the men in her life to know she’s old enough to have an adult daughter. Jess doesn’t have the money to get down there anyway.”

“You want me to come over?” I asked her, and in that moment my intentions were almost decent. Didn’t like her being scared, and not even I was such a dick that I’d use her little cousin running away to fuck her. Probably. Maybe.

Who was I kidding? Of course I would.

“Why?”

“So you aren’t alone,” I said. “I have daughters, remember? They’re good kids but sometimes it’s hell—that’s when things are going right. I’ll grab some food and we can hang out for a while, help pass the time. Unless you have other plans?”

“I was planning to pace and look at my phone,” she murmured. “It’s a bad idea, I think.”

“You can pace and look at your phone while we eat. I’ll be over around seven, need to unload my truck and get a shower first. Sound good?”

“I don’t know … I don’t want anything happening between us, Reese. Seriously.”

“I’ll behave,” I told her. Unlikely. “And try calling your cousin, see if she’s heard anything. Never hurts to check.”

“Okay,” she said, sounding defeated.

I hung up and climbed back into the truck, considering the situation. No idea where the kid was, but Nate Evans was sure as hell making things easy for me.

Fuckin’ idiot to leave his woman open and ripe for the taking.

London needed sympathy, someone to take care of her. Dumbass should’ve picked up on that. Of course, Deputy Dick didn’t have a reputation for being the most sensitive of guys. He’d put the pressure on more than one of our dancers during late-night “traffic stops” before we’d come to an understanding about his behavior.

We’d come to an understanding about London, too. Soon.

“All good?” Bolt asked.

“Good enough,” I told him. “Gotta bail on tonight, though. Something came up.”

“Business or pleasure?”

“Both. Stopping by to see London Armstrong.”

Bolt grinned. “I knew you were into her.”

“Not exactly a secret I’m lookin’ to fuck her.”

“That what you’ll be doing tonight? Fuckin’ her?”

I laughed, because I honestly had no idea. Last time I’d felt this way, I’d been eighteen years old and crazy over Heather.

“Depends. She’s havin’ a shitty weekend. Not sure what the best strategy is just yet.”

“Usually your strategy involves getting them naked and then pushing them out the door.”

“The situation with London is a little more complicated than that,” I admitted.

“Is this the point where I sing the little song about Pic and London sittin’ in a tree?”

“Only if you want the tree shoved up your ass.”

“Might be worth it,” Bolt said, his voice sly. I flipped him off, suddenly in a very good mood.

No fool like an old one, I guess, but damned if I didn’t feel like I was eighteen all over again.

LONDON

“I’m her mother—she belongs with me,” Amber declared, her voice smug with triumph. I’d called her knowing Reese had to be wrong. Jessica would never go to Amber, even if she was furious with me. She knew better … But apparently she didn’t.

Nothing made sense anymore.

“I thought you didn’t want your boyfriend to know you’re old enough to have a grown daughter?”

“He knows I got pregnant young.”

“You got pregnant at twenty-two, not twelve.”

She sniffed.

“Did she at least take her health insurance card with her? You have to keep a close eye on her—things can go south so fast. I really think you should send her—”

“Shove it up your ass, Loni,” she said, just like we were in middle school again. I could almost see her rolling her eyes. “I’m sick of your lectures and bullshit. Go back to your boring life cleaning up other people’s shit. I have a maid now, you know. My boyfriend hired her for me. Guess you were wrong about how I’d turn out, hmmm?”

“Can I at least talk to her?”

Instead of replying, Amber hung up. I sighed, studying my phone with mixed emotions. Jess was safe. Somehow she’d gotten a flight down to San Diego, something I would’ve said was impossible. The last time we’d spoken, my cousin made it clear she had no interest in seeing her daughter. None.

It didn’t add up.

I decided to call Nate again, because the more I thought about it, the more suspicious I got. I knew he was working, so I figured I’d have to leave a voice mail. When he answered, it took me off guard.

“Hey Loni—what’s up?”

“I found Jessica,” I told him.

“Well, that’s good news,” he said “Where is she?”

“Down in San Diego with her mother. I didn’t actually talk to her myself. She still isn’t answering her phone.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

I sighed, rubbing my temple. Nate just didn’t seem to feel any urgency about the situation, and it frustrated me.

“Not much of a relief,” I told him. “It doesn’t make sense. Amber is living with some rich boyfriend and she doesn’t want him knowing she has a daughter Jessica’s age. I tried to take Jess to visit her last summer and she wouldn’t let us come. I think Amber is up to something.”

“Hon …” he said, and his voice was patient, loving, and condescending as hell. “You sound crazy.”

“I’m not crazy,” I snapped.

“I know you’re not,” he replied soothingly. “And that’s why this sounds so crazy, because it’s not like you. I know you’ve given everything for Jessica, but kids pull shit like this all the time. She’s with a family member. At least you know she’s safe, so maybe you should just enjoy the fact that she’s finally out of your hair.”

“She’s not a normal eighteen-year-old,” I insisted, walking toward the kitchen. I found the wine I’d picked up at the store earlier and grabbed my corkscrew. “Her brain doesn’t work right, you know that. And she has health issues. She doesn’t even have a doctor down there.”

“Nobody who’s eighteen years old has a brain that works right,” he said. “You know that—we all know that. Kids are wonderful but they do stupid shit. Sooner or later she’ll call you, ready to apologize. Until then fighting with her is pointless.”

I took a deep swig straight from the bottle, because a glass just seemed like extra work at this point.

“Is there anything you can do to check on her?” I asked, frustrated by his lack of sympathy.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, don’t cops have ways of finding people? Like, calling in favors from old friends or something? I don’t know.”

“I think you’ve been watching too much TV,” he said firmly, his voice going from condescending to annoyed. “We could call in a welfare check, but that’s a waste of time and resources because you already know she’s fine. You have to let this go and I have to get back to work. We’ve started something good here, babe, but I’m not interested in drama. Time to get over this shit.”

He was probably right, but he didn’t need to be a jerk about it.

“Okay,” I said, frowning. “I’m sorry I bothered you at work.”

He didn’t answer for a moment.

“It’s all right. But don’t do it again, okay? Not unless it’s a real emergency. It sucks that things aren’t going like you hoped, but this doesn’t qualify and I’ve got shit going on. I’m hanging up now.”

“Do you still want to try to get together sometime this week?” I asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know—are we going to pick up where we left off on Friday?”

The question startled me.

“Probably …”

He sighed.

“Loni, I like you a lot and I’ve been a good guy, but I’m tired of this. You’re so caught up in Jessica that you don’t have the energy for me. I’m exhausted, I’m grumpy, and I’m not in the mood. Let’s talk later, okay?”

“Wow, so sorry that my family obligations are getting in your way,” I snapped. “But I actually give a damn about Jessica. She’s my responsibility. That doesn’t just go away because she turned eighteen.”

“I can’t believe we’re still talking about Jess,” he muttered.

Then he hung up on me.

What the hell?

Nate hadn’t been himself the past two days, not even a little bit. He’d always been so concerned and supportive of me, even over the smallest things … and he’d never pressured me for sex. But now that I needed him, he’d checked out. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

You sure you really know him?

Reese’s nasty little insinuations burrowed through my thoughts. I shouldn’t leap to judgments, though, not while I was this upset—my perspective was all messed up. I wasn’t thinking straight.

Still, I’d expected a little more sympathy from Nate. Isn’t that what boyfriends do?

I sucked down another mouthful of wine, contemplating my unpleasant conversation with Amber. Apparently Jessica had flown down there yesterday, although it hadn’t occurred to either of them that this was information I might like to have. I had no clue where the money for the plane ticket had come from, either.

Selfish, both of them. And Nate was selfish, too … although maybe he was right in his own way. For better or worse, Jessica was an adult and she’d made her decision. I should probably just accept it and let it go, because all this stress and worry wasn’t accomplishing jack shit anyway.

At least the wine was still on my side.

An hour later I’d finished the bottle and things were looking up. For example, with Jess gone, I wouldn’t be stuck at home every weekend. I could go places, do things … Sleep with Nate any time I wanted.

Assuming I still wanted to sleep with him.

But the more I thought about it, the less interested I was in following up on that. Sure, it wasn’t like we were engaged or anything, but what’s the point of having a boyfriend if he blows you off the first time you need him?

On the other hand, finally getting laid would be nice …

I’d completely forgotten about Reese until the doorbell rang just after seven that evening. By that point I was halfway through a second bottle of wine, which was half a bottle firmly over my limit. I opened the door to find him standing on my porch with a bag of Chinese in one hand and a six-pack of beer in the other. I ran my eyes up and down his strong form, deciding he looked fantastic.

I wanted to bite him.

Yeah, definitely over my limit on the vino—I’d had more to drink in this one weekend than the past two months combined. Too bad I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Biting Reese Hayes wouldn’t be a problem if you ditched the boyfriend, my brain whispered insidiously. I decided my brain was right. If Nate gave a shit about being in a relationship with me, he wouldn’t have been such a dick.