Home > Wild Beauty (Soul Sister #2)(6)

Wild Beauty (Soul Sister #2)(6)
Author: Audrey Carlan

I fingered the card and put it back in my pocket. Then Mama went off into the kitchen to cook which was something she always did when she was worried. One by one each of my sisters except Simone hugged me and gave me words of encouragement before taking their leave. I in turn apologized for the trouble which they all took in stride. You could knock over a Kerrighan sister, but you couldn’t ever keep her down.

Man, my family was the best.

“Addy, baby, I’ve got fresh baked cookies and tea brewing,” Mama called from the kitchen. Sweets and tea, her answer to every ailment.

Simone chuckled then turned to Jonah. “I’m going to hang out with Addy and Mama Kerri. Do you think your dad and Luca will mind if I don’t make it back to work for the rest of the day?”

He dipped his head and took her mouth in a sweet and fast kiss. “Not at all. I’ll call them on the way back to the office. Stay here. Don’t leave for any reason. I’m gonna get Amber and bring her by before I head back out.”

“Honey, we don’t need our dog here.” Simone tipped her head to the side.

He threaded his hand at the back of her nape. “Simone, that dog would fight to the death to protect her mama. I want that added layer of protection for my girl and her family, yeah? Just let me have that. It will make me feel better when I’m out chasing down a monster.”

She rolled her eyes but then smiled and pecked him on the lips. “Okay, babe. You can have that.”

“Love you,” he whispered and kissed her once more. I looked away and stared out the window, because every time they were close I felt like I was intruding on a private moment even if it was innocent. One day I hoped to have that for myself. A man who adored and worried about me. For now, I was thrilled that at least one of my sisters had it.

“Bye, Addy,” Jonah called out.

“Bye and thank you!” I said, waving.

Jonah smiled at me and then glanced at Simone and winked.

Both of us sighed simultaneously, then looked at one another with big smiles and burst out laughing. Simone put her arm around my waist. “Come on. Mama’s got cookies, and I missed lunch.”

“Me too.”

“My girls haven’t eaten lunch?” Mama hollered. “I’ll make you some sandwiches first! Fuel before sweets,” she amended as we entered the kitchen and sat at the picnic-style table we’d grown up with.

“Now, tell me about this photographer?” Simone wiggled her eyebrows and grinned.


* * *

“Go for Fitz,” the warm honied voice answered when I called.

“Hello, Mr. Fitzpatrick?” I asked just to clarify.

“Yeah, you’ve got him.”

“Hi, um, this is Addison Michaels-Kerrighan…you were the photographer on my shoot this morning.”

“Addison, hey, I’m glad you called. Everything go okay with you being absconded by the FBI?” His tone held humor, so I knew he was joking.

“I wasn’t absconded by the FBI. My somewhat brother-in-law got a little over-protective about a situation that I’m once again involved in.”

“That suit was your brother-in-law?”

“Technically, not officially, but it looks like it’s going that route. He and my sister Simone shacked up a couple months ago and she’s now the office manager at his father and brother’s construction company.”

“Tight family unit,” he surmised.

“On both sides, yes.”

“And the murdered woman? How are you involved?” he asked conversationally.

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he stated softly.

I closed my eyes. “It’s not that it’s too personal it’s just…scary. A situation I find myself in that I never thought I would. And I’m barely healed from the last frightening experience.”

“I gotta admit, I looked you up on the Internet after our session this morning. You were kidnapped by the Backseat Strangler.”

“Yeah. My sister Simone was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guy crawled in the back of her car. The FBI pulled her over, which is how she met her boyfriend Jonah—the suit, as you said. The killer shot them both but thankfully none of them were wounded beyond repair. Then he went on a bit of a spree.”

“Were you close with the other victims?”

Tabby’s lifeless gaze staring up at nothing in that hellhole flashed across my mind. “Look, it’s really kind of you to want to talk about it, but I don’t really want to get into it further. And it’s not the reason I called.”

“Okay. I can appreciate that. Though I hope you’re talking to someone about it all. Saying things out loud takes away some of the power they have to hurt you emotionally and mentally. And I know a survivor when I see one. I’ve been in your shoes, so to speak.”

“What happened to you?” I asked instantly.

He chuckled. “Now that conversation is for another time. Maybe over a bottle of wine and a nice meal.”

“Are you always this forward?” I fired off without thinking.

“When I’m talking to a beautiful woman I’d like to know more about, yeah, I am. Though it’s been quite a while since I’ve met anyone that flips my switch.”

“Smooth, real smooth.” I laughed. “You photograph models and you’re smokin’ hot. I’m sure a lot of pretty faces flip that switch,” I teased.

“You’d be surprised. And I told you that photographing models was a newer venture.”

“What did you used to do before fashion photography?”

“I was a war photojournalist,” he said rather tightly.

“Oh, wow. I didn’t expect that.”

“Not many people do. It’s a specific type of position and the good ones have special training. First, I served in the Army. Brought my camera. Took photos and shared what we saw and a lot of what we did. It blew up from there. After my four years of service as a soldier, I did ten years as a photojournalist.”

“And now?”

“Now I take pictures of things that are beautiful. Things that bring me joy, not pain.”

“I see. Noble work. All of it.”

“Thank you. You said you called for a specific reason?”

“Oh yeah. You stated earlier that you’d be happy to continue the photoshoot on a freelance basis and that you had a studio?”

“I do, yes. And I’d definitely be interested in photographing you again. The camera loves you.”

I bit into my bottom lip as butterflies took flight in my stomach. “Well, in an effort to give you full disclosure, we’d need to do the full shoot, whatever is intended, outside of the normal process.”

“You mean because of the homicide that your brother-in-law mentioned?”

“Honestly, I don’t really know. All I know right now is that the Backseat Strangler may or may not be a duo or a copycat killer and that person is on the loose. He killed a woman that looks very much like me and had a picture of me torn from a magazine in her hand when the cops found her.”

“Jesus, Addison. I’m sorry. You must be out of your mind with fear.”

“I’m not exactly jumping up and down and doing the limbo that’s for sure.” I chuckled dryly but it felt off and disingenuous.

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