CASE

“What if we are looking at this the wrong way?” Brecken announces as we hear the spare bedroom door shut.

“Which is?” Miller asks.

“Maybe all this revolves around Taylor.”

“Why would it revolve around Taylor?” That thought makes me fist my hands.

“Her house was broken into before anything else happened.”

I shake my head. “She walked in on the suspect. He had seen her. If he wanted to hurt her, that would have been his best chance. Why wait a month later to go after her again?”

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Brecken says sounding confused. “They had to have been looking for something. The way they destroyed everything. They were on a mission. Just what was it?”

The morning after Blane had informed me about their house getting robbed, Brecken and I went over there while both Savannah and Taylor were away at work. We had delivered furniture and looked the place over. After that, I went up to her work to see her. That was when I gave her my card and offered her a job at Seven Deadly Sins. It’s crazy that was just a month ago. It’s crazy how fast your life can change “Maybe that had to do with Blane,” I offer. “Maybe his dad ran his mouth in jail that Blane was slinging drugs for him and someone tried to take advantage of that. Thought they could find his stash.”

“Do you think that their dad would really rat Blane out?” Miller asks sounding surprised by that thought.

“Absolutely!” I answer. “He is one sorry son of a bitch,” I hiss.

Brecken closes his eyes and inhales deeply. “Are you okay?” I ask him. He looks good for a man who was just shot ten days ago, but his dark eyes are heavy.

“It’s just been a long couple of weeks,” he responds.

I know he didn’t get much sleep in the hospital. And I know there is no place like being back at your own house.

I stand. “Go to bed. I’ll go get Taylor and we’ll go home. Get some rest. We can get back at it tomorrow.” I shouldn’t have come over here in the first place. I was just so pissed when I found out that it had been set with acetone. I had to tell them what I knew, and I thought if we were all in the same room, we could get it figured out. But we have been here for over three hours and we’re no closer than I was yesterday.

“Do you have a detail on her house?” Miller asks as he stands as well.

I nod. “Yes. And they will stay there around the clock until this is settled.” I turn around and start to walk down the hallway to the spare bedroom to wake up Taylor …

“Case?”

“Yes?” I turn to face them.

“Stay here.” Brecken points to the door in front of me. “I’m sure she’s already asleep. We’ll get a fresh start on it first thing in the morning.”

“I don’t think …”

“Stay!” he interrupts me. “Just get some rest. Tomorrow, we will go up to see Jones at the station and see if they were able to get any prints from your house.”

It stings that someone took everything I had. I never did spend much time at that house, but it was still mine. It was the first thing I bought when I moved here, and now it’s gone.

I nod my head. “Thank you.” Opening the door to the room, step in and find that he was right. Taylor is already dead asleep. And I’m tired as shit. I close the door and make my way in the dark over to the right side of the bed. I undo the belt on my jeans as I kick off my shoes. When my jeans fall to my ankles, I step out of them not bothering to even pick them up. I pull my shirt up and over my head and fall down onto the bed. I wrap my arm around her stomach and pull her to me. I smile to myself when I feel that she didn’t even take her clothes off. She was more tired than I thought.

I close my eyes as I let out a long breath. Not knowing what is going on is terrifying me. I feel like she and I finally have a chance, but some psycho out there is trying to take it away from us. And I refuse to let that happen.

TAYLOR

I wake up and sit straight up in an unfamiliar bed. I look around at the darkness as I take a deep breath.

“I know who did it,” I announce. I had a dream. I know, that sounds crazy, but somehow it all came together in my dream.

I look next to me and see that Case is asleep. What time is it? Grabbing my phone, I see it’s four in the morning and I reach over and shove him. “Case. I know who did it.”

He doesn’t even budge. “Case …” I pause. How am I going to get them to believe me? I mean, I could be wrong. I’m pretty sure I’m not, but there’s a possibility.

I take a deep breath as I push my hair away from my face. Just calm down, Taylor. Think …

I get out of the bed and walk over to the side Case lies on. I use my phone as a light looking on the nightstand to see if his is there. I stomp my foot when I don’t see what I’m looking for.

I spin around shining my phone on the floor. I pick up his jeans I find over by the bed. I smile when I reach into his back pocket and find his iPhone. “Bingo,” I whisper. I then dig into his front pocket for the keys to my car. Without taking another look at him, I walk out of the room and out the front door of Brecken’s house while I come up with a plan.

CHAPTER FORTY

 

CASE

“Dude, wake up!”

“Stop.” I growl, gripping the soft thing lying in front of me and pulling it closer to me.

“Case!” I hear Brecken say and then I feel his fist in my side.

I turn on my side and open my eyes. “What the fuck …?”

“Get out of bed. We gotta go.”

I roll back over to hug on Taylor but realize I had been hugging a pillow. “Taylor?” I ask sitting up. I look around the room and frown when I don’t see her. “Taylor?” I demand. It’s still dark outside. Where the hell is she?

“She’s gone,” Brecken announces.

“What?” I shoot up off the bed. “Where is she?” I demand.

He holds up his phone in front of my face, and I yank it out of his hand.

Case: Grab Case and get up to Seven Deadly Sins. Now!

I run a hand across my face. “I didn’t send this to you,” I say confused. It shows it’s from me. And it also shows it was sent fifteen minutes ago.

“I know.” He yanks it back from me. “That’s because Taylor sent it from your phone.”

“No. There’s no way …” I walk over to my jeans on the floor, and I pick them up. I reach into my back pocket and frown. I try the other pocket. Nothing! “What the fuck?” I reach into my front pocket for her car keys and they’re gone. “I don’t understand …”

“I don’t either, but your girl is telling us to get our asses up to Seven Deadly Sins. So you wanna continue to sit here trying to figure it out? Or do you wanna go and ask her?” Brecken demands.

I immediately start to put my jeans on, followed by my shirt. We’re out the door within seconds.

“Give me your phone,” I order as he pulls out of his driveway.

I go to my number and hit send. She answers on the first ring. “Brecken …”

“Taylor!” I snap. “What the fuck are you doing up at the club?” I all but yell. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Case,” she says softly. “Please listen to me.”

“What could you possibly have to say that would make you leave Brecken’s house in the middle of the night?” I growl. “With my cell phone?”

“Please, Case? I know you think I’m crazy and I might be, but I know who is behind this.”

I drop my head and run my hand through my hair. There’s no way she could know who is behind this. The guys and I were up until two hours ago going over every possibility. We had been trying to decide who knew where I lived, but the thing was it could have been someone who didn’t know until that night. Miller reminded us that they had figured out who Blane was, so maybe someone figured out I was undercover and it just took them over a week to figure out where I lived.