“But what about Georgia?” I glanced over my shoulder toward the kitchen.

“She can stay here with Rosie.”

“I’m coming back for her this afternoon,” I told him, unwilling to back down. I wouldn’t let either of her parents run the show, and I wanted to be the one to take care of Georgia. I needed to do it to help quell my feelings of guilt over the entire situation.

“Fine.” He looked at his watch. “Let’s meet back here around four. We’ll have dinner and discuss what we’ve found.”

“That works.”

He set down his glass and moved toward me quickly. “This stays between us. Understand?” He waved his finger in my face, and it took everything in me not to slap it away.

I tried not to lose my patience. “I got it.”

“Four,” he reminded me as he held out his hand to me.

“Four.” I shook his hand and squeezed it as hard as he’d squeezed mine yesterday.

I’d made a decision about Mr. Phillips. He wasn’t going to bully me. Georgia or not, he wasn’t going to run the show. If I let him walk all over me now, there would be hell to pay in the future.

When that thought crossed my mind, I felt the blood drain from my face. The future. I hadn’t thought about the future with anyone since Jeanine. Subconsciously, I’d already started to think about Georgia and where we’d be. I didn’t have time to dissect my feelings or what this meant, but I knew there would be some major thinking to do and decisions to be made in the future.

I followed Mr. Phillips into the kitchen as both women glanced at us.

“How did it go?” Mrs. Phillips rose from the chair to kiss her husband.

“Great, love. Frisco has to go to work, but he’ll be back for dinner at four.”

Georgia’s eyes widened and honed in on the clock across the room. “Four?”

“Sorry, babe. I have to run to work and take care of a few things.”

“I can come,” she said, reaching toward the floor to grab her crutches.

“Georgia, let me take care of you today. I haven’t been able to do it in years. I want to pamper you.” Rosie grabbed the crutches from Georgia’s hand and put them back on the ground.

“But I—” Georgia began, but her mother placed her hand on her shoulder.

“Let the men work, and we’ll cook them a feast.”

Georgia glared at me. “You better come back, Frisco, or you won’t have a Felicia,” she mumbled.

“Oh, I miss that couple,” her mother whispered, trying to hold in her giggles.

“What couple?” Mr. Phillips asked, totally out of the loop.

“No one, honey.” Rosie made her way to his side. “Are you going down to the station?”

He nodded. “I told the guys I’d stop by and say hello, but I’ll be back for dinner.”

I walked up to Georgia and leaned over. “Sorry, babe,” I said, whispering in her ear. “I promise to come back for you.”

“I swear to God, if you leave me here with my helicopter parents, I’ll hunt your ass down and make you regret the day you were born,” she said with her lips against my cheek.

“Babe, I’ll be back for you,” I told her before I kissed her softly on the lips. “I have a sponge bath to give later.”

“That sounds like a reward for you,” she whispered in my ear.

“It may be my reward, but it’s going to be your pleasure.”

“I like the way you think, Mr. Jones.”

“Wait for me.” I started to back away.

She held up her hands, motioning as if to say, “Where the fuck am I going to go?” and I couldn’t help but laugh as I headed toward the front door.

“I’m going to walk Frisco out, love. Be home soon,” Mr. Phillips said before he caught up to me. He nudged me in the back and held out a business card. “Here’s my number. Call me when you get anything.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, jamming the card into my pocket before I climbed into my car and headed toward the office.

Chapter 15

Found

“So let me get this straight,” Thomas said, leaning forward in his chair after I’d explained to him and James what happened last night. “He’s a retired cop.”

“Yeah, and?”

“He wants to find this person, and what?” He tapped his pen against the desktop and stopped while he waited for an answer.

“He thinks we can be faster than the cops. He’s kind of a scary dude.”

Thomas shrugged as his lips twisted. “Sounds like my kind of guy.”

“I’m so in.” James clapped his hands together.

“Why do I have a sinking feeling?”

“Does Georgia know?” Thomas asked, tossing the pen off to the side and straightening his back.

I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose. “No.”

“Fuck me. I see a clusterfuck in your near future, my friend.” James slapped me on the back and laughed.

“Thanks, guys,” I said, dragging my hands down my face. “You sure know how to make me feel better.”

“What’s going on?” Morgan asked, sticking his head in the office.

“Frisco is going rogue,” James replied, leaning back and glancing at Morgan upside down.

“I’m in.” Morgan strolled in and took a seat. “Whose ass needs to be kicked?”

“We have a partial plate, the make, model, and color, and we know the car has body damage,” Thomas told him, typing furiously on his computer.

“I’ll get right on it.”

The printer started to spit out copies, and Thomas reached back and retrieved a couple of sheets. “Here’s the info. I want all hands on deck to find the person responsible for the accident.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I said, although I didn’t mean it. We were that kind of company. Having each other’s backs was what we did.

James waved his hand. “It’s done.”

Bear walked into the room. “Did I miss the party?”

“We have a perp to find.”

“Who?” Bear took a seat on the couch.

“The fucker that ran Frisco’s girl off the road.”

“I’ll call Tank.” Bear grabbed his phone from his pocket. “He can put out some feelers to his auto repair buddies in the area.”

“Smart,” I said, wishing I’d thought of it first.

Typically, I knew exactly how to handle a situation, but this hit too close to home. My mind was spinning, reeling from the enormity of almost losing Georgia.

I needed to remember my training and separate myself from the situation in order to focus. The ability to step outside of myself and complete a task was what made me a great soldier. There was a new enemy, and I’d do everything in my power to hunt him down and make him pay for what he did to Georgia.

“Let’s meet in the conference room in one hour to share what we’ve found,” Thomas told everyone and handed me the stack of papers with the details I’d given.

I passed them off to James, since I had the information memorized. “Sounds good.”

“On it.” Morgan grabbed the paper and headed for the door.

“Yo, Tank.” Bear walked out into the hallway. “I have something I need you to look into.”

“Should I feel guilty?” I stopped in the doorway and turned to face James and Thomas.

“Fuck no,” they responded in unison.

“I’d do the same thing if someone ran Izzy off the road and left the scene of the accident.”

“I have this feeling I can’t shake,” I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck.

“It’s not the cops you’re worried about, it’s Georgia.” Thomas shook his head.

“Go relax and let us call our contacts to get a list of possible suspects,” James told me.

I sighed and nodded before heading to my office. When I sat down, I didn’t turn on my computer right away. All I wanted to do was to lie down and take a nap. The prior evening had been stressful, and I hadn’t slept as well or as long as I’d hoped.