A sheepish smile tugged at her lips.“Not quite.Bray woke up, so I laid with him and fell asleep.”
Happiness glittered in his eyes.“Good.I’m glad you rested.Was he upset?”
She dragged her teeth over her bottom lip, hating every second of pain her son had gone through.“I think he had a nightmare.I’m not surprised.”
He nodded, thoughtful.“It’ll take some time for normalcy to return.”
She squirmed a little on his lap.“Are you going to tell me what else happened?”She couldn’t take the suspense any longer.Brick didn’t have a scratch on him, but if he’d broken Keetan’s nose, things had probably gotten ugly.
Brick gently tugged her hair then toyed with the long strands.“He was at home.By himself.Wasn’t too happy to see me.”He leaned forward, bringing himself within her personal space, then dug into his back pocket and produced a slim phone.The case bore a sticker with the name of a heavy metal band.
She froze.“That’s Keetan’s.”
He handed it to her.“It’s yours now.”
Closing her fingers around the black plastic case immediately made her throat clench.Even though Keetan wasn’t here, couldn’t hurt her, his phone brought his energy closer to her.
“The recording’s on there.I would’ve deleted it already, but I figured I’d give you the honors.”His mouth twitched.
Her fingers itched to hear the audio that’d controlled so much of her life.Then her gut dropped.“Oh my god.I don’t have his code.”
“I changed it.It’s one two three four.”
She hesitated.Part of her wanted to delete the audio and everything connected to her, but she wasn’t so naïve to think this was the only version.
“What’s wrong?”Brick’s hand slid up and down her hip.
She should have felt a little strange sitting on his lap so casually, with only her pajama pants and his denim separating them.But nothing had ever felt more right.“I’m sure he made copies.”
“We stole his laptop, too.Zain and Taschen took it back to their hotel room.Not only will they locate any copies on the drive, but they’ll also find out if it was ever sent to anyone else.”
She grimaced.“Considering there’s an APB out for my arrest, I’m sure it’s already been shared.”
He nodded.“Probably.But the next thing on our list is to clear your name.”
Dread chewed her insides.“I can’t go to the police,” she said, shaking her head wildly.
His face softened with understanding.“You can’t keep running either, babe.That’s done now.I’ve got you.Nothing’s going to happen.You’ve gotta understand something.Keetan was in the wrong by recording you without your knowledge.Not only did he commit an offense by secretly recording you in the first place, but that so-called evidence can’t be used in court.So you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Sadness took hold of her tongue.No, not sadness.Grief.Despair.That’s what she felt when she thought about the years of Bray’s life Brick had missed out on.The years Bray hadn’t known his father.
“Hey, that’s a good thing.”
She sniffed back the emotion welling in her sinuses.“Just promise me you’ll take care of him.If I...if I go to jail.”
Brick wrapped his arm around her back, pulling her belly against his.“That’s not going to happen.Didn’t you hear what I just said?The audio can’t be used—”
She chortled.“It doesn’t matter.We lied to the police.I didn’t mean to push Shelby, and I certainly didn’t want her to get hurt.But none of that matters because Keetan and I covered up her death.”She shook her head.She’d been so cowardly.So scared of Keetan.“I could’ve gone to the police a long time ago, and I didn’t.”
“You can now.”His thumb went to the bruise on her cheekbone.“And we’ll lay assault charges against him, too.”
Brick’s confidence should have reassured her, but self-preservation prevented hope from taking root inside her heart.“I’ll go to jail just for lying.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
She dipped her chin and shot him a look of skepticism.“Are you the law now?”
He let out a growl and flipped her onto her back on the couch.She squealed as he came down on top of her.
