She pushed off me. I let her go, hesitating as she climbed off the bed. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail high on her head and then let it fall, cringing as she ran her hands through it. “I need to shower.”
“Addi.” I sat up, letting the sheet fall to my waist. She didn’t even look, staring at me with a blank expression on her face then shaking her head. “We need to talk about this. Can you at least tell me what they’re about?”
Her skin paled. “No. I don’t need to talk about it.”
She spun, tiny t-shirt and even tinier shorts clinging to the curves of her body.
I shoved my hand through my hair and groaned. In the bathroom, the water turned on. She’d be naked. Sad. Muscles tense. I could smooth those for her. Outside of that first night when she’d claimed to need me, I hadn’t touched her for anything more than soft kisses and holding her at night. There had been moments during the day when I’d approach her and she’d tense. It was barely perceptible, but it was there, and a part of me was wondering if she was reliving more than just being taken, or she hadn’t told us the truth of what had happened. At that thought, my hands curled into fists. If anyone had touched her, I’d lose my damn mind.
I shoved out of bed, forgoing grabbing a pair of sweats, and made my way down to the kitchen where I started a pot of coffee. It was only four based on a glance at the clock above the microwave, but neither of us would be going back to sleep, so I figured I might as well get ready.
While it brewed, my fingers strummed on the countertop. Four days since we found her, and outside that one picture of Daniel entering a building in New York, or at least someone we assumed to be him, we had nothing else to go on. No new information, no sign of him or MaryAnne or any Mancusso leaving New York to head back this way, which meant we were hamsters in a spinning wheel, and it was driving me mad. I was used to the long-suffering wait of finding clues during an investigation, but this was more than that. Not only were the risks of what would happen so damn ugly I wanted to punch a wall whenever I thought of them, this was also personal.
Once the pot brewed, I poured both Addi and me a cup of coffee and took hers up to her. The water still ran in the shower, and the steam from the bathroom drifted through the crack in the door she’d left open, so I nudged it open further.
Forcing my gaze to stay off her and give her that privacy, I set down her mug on the counter.
“Coffee is ready,” I called out as I stepped out of the bathroom.
“Thank you!” Her voice still wasn’t awake and still held that ripple of fear she’d had when she woke, but I had no doubt by the time she was done and dried and had drank her coffee, her mask of indifference and strength would be firmly in place.
I was at the kitchen table, my tablet open, flipping through more surveillance photos trying to track down where Daniel had fled. Maryanne could stay hidden in New York for all I gave a shit. I’d let Luca handle her. Matthew could rot in prison. I wasn’t even concerned about Addi’s dad’s existence right now as long as her mom didn’t come under fire from all of this.
But Daniel Johannsen?
He was going to die at my hands.
For all I knew, Daniel could have been holed up in the townhome next door, waiting for a moment when Addi stepped outside alone, or he’d fled back to Charleston to regroup. Hell, he could have still been in New York.
No…I shook my head. He wouldn’t stay in New York for long, and he wouldn’t retreat to Charleston. He wouldn’t leave Addi for too long. He was desperate for her for some reason. He’d hurt her, physically when she was forced to date him, and he was still hurting her emotionally.
He wouldn’t give her up, that much I knew.
More shitty news…we still didn’t know who was helping Matthew down in Charleston outside of Addi’s dad and the Mancussos, so we didn’t yet have a single idea who could be helping Daniel stay hidden now.
“You look like you want to flip the table over and roar like a lion.”
I turned to Addi, chuckling at her description.
“Not a bad idea, but no sense in ruining the furniture over this.”
She was now dressed in jeans and an army green t-shirt—simple, but the clothes clung to every curve of hers, and I bit back a groan.
When had jeans become so damn sexy?
“Have you guys found anything?” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “Anyone?”
“No. But we will.”
“Any chance we can go do anything today? I’m going crazy locked up in here.”
“I didn’t realize I was such shitty company.”
I didn’t blame her. My townhome was less than two thousand square feet, and outside of the small weight room I’d set up and the television, there wasn’t much to do. Add to that we’d been having groceries delivered by Cort or Lincoln, sometimes Briggs, and I was starting to truly believe I could climb walls.
Her grin lit up the room. Her red hair was pulled back at her ears, some strands draping down around her forehead. She’d put on makeup, light, but enough to make her green eyes pop like the grass after a rain.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re…decent company, I guess.”
“You guess?” I arched brows on my forehead. She hadn’t been playful in days. If this was her new outlook, I’d roll with it.
She shrugged and took a sip of her coffee before moving to the counter to refill it. “Yeah. I mean, you’re all right, but I just feel like I’m going stir crazy. I’ve felt like I couldn’t leave my house for weeks.”
“I’m all right,” I muttered. “You sure do know how to stroke a man’s ego.”
“Please, the last thing you need is your ego stroked.”
Yeah…there were definitely other things I’d prefer she stroked. I let that thought shine in my expression and eyes and reveled in the way she blushed before turning away.
“I’m not sure it’s safe to go anywhere,” I admitted, hating to kill the mood. I’d have to assess the risk depending on where she wanted to go, but with work, it could be managed.
“I figured.” Addi turned, putting her back to the counter, cupping her fresh cup of coffee in both hands. “But I’ve been thinking…about what Luca said…”
“About what?”
“When he left the hotel, he suggested I take self-defense. And, well, you mentioned you’d give me shooting lessons. I figured we could go do that.”
Her chin wobbled then. All playfulness was wiped from her expression, and fear began to slither back in. The coffee cup shook in her hands.
“Addi—”
“No,” she snapped, so firmly I sat up straight in my chair. “You said it’d be smart, so did Luca. I won’t be helpless again, Shawn. I can’t…” Her eyes squeezed shut, lids clamping down. “I can’t be helpless while I watch someone get hurt in front of me, because of me again. Charlie—”
I shoved out of the chair and rushed to her. Carefully extracting the mug from her clenched hands, I settled my hand at her back and pulled her to me so her forehead collapsed against my chest.
“Charlie is fine. You know that. And Mason is out of the hospital. Everyone was hurt doing their job, and they don’t regret it.”