Price wasn’t sure which thought put more fire within him.
He’d told JJ the night before that he would think about it—really consider helping her while also keeping it a secret from everyone he knew—but the truth was, he hadn’t considered it all.
Because Price had already decided the moment he’d seen Lawson Cole’s hand around JJ’s neck in that elevator.
She wasn’t going to be alone ever again.
Not while he was around.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
They dropped Winnie off for her shift at the coffee shop but didn’t go in. They had other plans. Plans that included JJ letting Price into her home.
“It’s pretty standard,” she said after coming into the house from the garage. They had already shut his truck inside, hoping to keep his being there on the down-low. It wasn’t in the middle of the night and not even early morning anymore, but still, JJ wanted to err on the side of discretion.
“The house, I mean,” she tacked on. “It was already furnished when I bought it. I think most of this comes from a show house, to be honest. It’s a very furniture storeroom floor kind of vibe. But it works.”
JJ felt a flash of nerves at having the deputy in her personal space. Then again, she had just insisted that she sleep on his couch the night before. It didn’t seem right to shoo him away from her house, especially since it wasn’t exactly special.
There was only one room that held any kind of sentiment for her, and she still needed to hype herself up for that.
“I don’t think it’s standard,” Price replied, politely. He motioned around the living room. “It’s neat. Unlike my vibe of an explosion at a yard sale. You’ve seen how many little things I have collecting dust.”
JJ remembered all the family and friends in pictures that he had framed and displayed.
She had only a handful and, of those, they had all been carefully curated to uphold her backstory if anyone ever visited. As for little knickknacks and collectibles, she had none. JJ had spent the better part of her life building skills, not hobbies. Fun memories? Those were few and far between.
It hadn’t bothered her before. Yet now she couldn’t help but feel self-conscious about it. Like they had just left a warm room filled with music and stepped into a cold expanse of silence.
Just to cut through it, she fumbled with the TV remote and turned the flat-screen TV on.
“Make yourself at home while I run and take a quick shower.” She tossed him the remote. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
JJ hurried to her bedroom, threw together a fresh change of clothes and was in the shower before the water could even heat the rest of the way up.
Price Collins was in her home and not just for a visit. He was there to talk about her brother, Lawson Cole and how to deal with both. It made her feel jittery, but not necessarily in an uncomfortable way.
If JJ was being honest with herself, she was excited.
Not just to have someone to help, but to have Price’s help.
He had surprised her, more than once, since meeting him. He seemed like a good, charming guy who was quick with a joke, easy for a smile. He was a great father, evident in how close he and Winnie were. A good friend too, based on the fact that even Corrie couldn’t disparage the man.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
JJ had seen it while she was in the elevator. She’d seen it fighting with the man in the hood at Jamie Bell’s. She’d seen it while fighting him herself at Josiah’s.
Price had an edge to him.
A sharpness that could split.
It was the same sharpness she had seen when he had pulled her aside after breakfast.
“I’m in.”
Two words.
Simple, but even as she showered, they made her stomach flutter.
