"Ramsey—" I started.
"I'm okay," he said before I could get very far. "I just like to work out, okay?"
One hand holding my towel closed, I held up the other in a conciliatory gesture. "All right. Just don't overdo it, or you risk injuring yourself." I knew he knew that, but he had me concerned and I had to say something.
"I won't," he assured me. He lowered his voice and added, "I love you."
"I love you too." I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a smile before he hurried off to do another round of exercise. I didn't know how he had the energy after relaxing for as long as he had. I'd be ready for a nap.
I watched Otis Skinner work for a while longer before slipping out of the pool area.
The moment the cooler air hit my skin, I was snapped back to alert. Like it or not, Skinner was the enemy and I had to be careful. Especially when two people were shot in my proximity.
I'd do whatever I could to prevent a third.
Chapter Twenty
Chelsea
I pulledmy car into the huge garage and closed the door behind me when my phone rang. I'd like to say I have a cool ringtone, like a Taylor Swift song or something from Wolf Venom, but it was just one of the phone's built-in sounds. One of these days, I'd get around to changing it to something better.
I glanced over to where it lay on the seat beside me as Sadie's name flashed up on the screen. I picked it up and put it to my ear while getting out of the car and closing the garage door behind me.
"Hey." I leaned against the car while I pulled off my shoes. “How are things?” I unlocked the internal door and stepped into the house. Dropping my shoes and bag beside the door, I walked to the kitchen to turn on the kettle for a cup of coffee.
Judging by the cars in the garage, and the sound from elsewhere in the house, most of the guys were home. The only car that seemed to be absent was Ramsey's. The other guys tended to travel back and forth from the stadium together, when their schedules aligned.
Ramsey often had other things he needed to do outside of football. Things I tried not to ask too much about.
"Not bad," she said. "I'm feeling a lot better. My gunshot wound doesn't hurt anymore."
I winced, but I knew she was saying that to sound badass. Not everyone could claim to have an injury, or scar inflicted by a bullet, and live to tell about it. Personally, it wasn't the kind of scar I coveted, but each to their own.
"That's good," I said. I held the phone in place carefully with one hand and pulled a mug out of the cabinet, along with coffee and sugar. "I'm sure you'll have an impressive scar."
"That's the hope." I could hear the smile in her voice. "What's the point of getting shot if you can't brag about it?"
"I'm sure I don't know," I said with an edge of sarcasm. "I would have preferred it not happen at all."
"Yeah, well, you've got to take the good with the bad. How's things there?"
"Pretty good," I said. "It's been…almost a week since anyone in my proximity was shot."
She laughed. "Things are looking up, then?"
"For now they are." I slid open a drawer in the massive island and pulled out a spoon before scooping coffee and sugar into my cup.
I had to step away from the kitchen while the kettle boiled. Even when they weren't loud, I always had a problem hearing past them. It was a sensory problem that fortunately didn't impact my life too much. Just when I was trying to make coffee and talk on the phone at the same time.
"Maybe everything that was going to happen has happened," she said. "That might be it. You know what things are like. Sometimes someone quietly takes care of a problem and we don't hear about it for a long time afterwards."
"That's true," I conceded.
I was a long way down the proverbial food chain. If the Brantley family had Nyla Fox executed, it was unlikely anyonewould bother to let me know. It could be weeks before they deigned to tell Ramsey, if they did at all. Although, if she was ultimately behind this, we would have seen some change in King and Skinner's behaviour. Wouldn’t we?
From what I'd seen, they were as calm and controlled as ever. And neither of them had pulled any of us aside to suggest we join them in any kind of retaliation.
No, I decided she was still alive. As much as I'd like to hope we were, we weren't out of the woods yet.
