Page 60 of Keeping Collette

Out of all the possible theories, this was the one that Collette deemed most likely. Working for a serial killer or human traffickers—maybe? Hopefully they’ll get an answer soon as to who and what he was.

She glanced around the police station, and a shiver rippled through her. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The waves crashed gently over the shore. Around them, teenagers played volleyball, laughing and joking as if they didn’t have a care in the world, and at that age, they probably didn’t. Or they were very good at hiding the demons that hid within.

Deal shook his head to clear his mind. Just because he was well aware of the evils of the world, didn’t mean that everyone else was. Although, given the news and the way social media worked, those kids were more than likely aware of it all, but weren’t letting it bother them.

“You seem troubled. Want to talk about it?” Collette sat beside him, her fingers trailing through the sand.

They were at the beach where he’d brought her after their visit to the police station. He thought she needed to get away from the oppressive atmosphere of the police station and their reason for visiting. Not long ago, he’d received a text from Ox saying that they’d gotten some good information from Craig, and they would meet at the office to discuss.

Deal had explained where he was and what he was doing, and his boss sent back a response saying that it could wait until the next day.

As much as Deal wanted to find out what the fucker had said, Collette’s needs were more important to him at the moment.

“Kayce?” Using his given name jolted him to acknowledge that he hadn’t answered her.

“Sorry. I’m good, just envying the teenagers over there.” He canted his head toward the group who’d finished their game and were just sitting down, chatting.

“Yeah, to be that age again, when you didn’t have to adult. Although I guess I never really had the freedom they have,” she mused.

He cursed himself for reminding her about her teenage years, not to mention the fact that those kids were about the age of Courtney, and she would never be able to have the fun they were having.

“Sorry.” He didn’t think he needed to elaborate.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. I don’t want you to think you can never say anything to me because of how I grew up, or the fact that Courtney is dead.” She leaned against him. “I’ve accepted that Courtney will forever be eighteen. I’ve chosen to remember the good times we had. I’m not saying I’m not grieving, and I’m not angry at it all, I am, but life goes on. I want all those kids there to have fabulous lives.”

“You amaze me.” He played with the strands of her hair, brushing his fingers against her neck every so often.

“I’m not special, just pragmatic. I’ve had to be all my life. This situation is now different. But having said that, I still have the strong desire to make those responsible for hurting my sister pay.” She turned, and her face was so close that he could lean forward and kiss her. As much as he wanted to do that, he held back. “I heard your phone chime not long after we sat down, and then you responded. Was it from Ox or Irish? About Craig?”

At the time, he’d been surprised she hadn’t asked what was going on, because he hadn’t tried to hide what he was doing.

“It was. They got some stuff from him and wanted to discuss it.”

Being this close, he was able to see her working through why they were still sitting on the beach and weren’t back at the office. “You told them I needed some space, and Ox likely said fine, and tomorrow would be soon enough.”

He chuckled at the accuracy of her conclusions. “Pretty much. But if you want to find out what Onslow said, we can leave and head back. I can text Ox and let him know.”

She shook her head, the fine strands of her blonde hair floating around her face. “No, I’m good. Tomorrow is soon enough. If there was something really important, I feel like Ox would’ve tried to encourage you to bring me back.”

“Possibly.” Given that everyone at Alliez was aware that not only was Collette still grieving her sister’s death, she was also still recovering from her accident. He’d taken her to the doctor the previous day to get her stitches removed. He hadn’t gone into the consultation room with her, even though he’d wanted to give her that privacy, she’d returned to say everything was fine.

“Let’s walk in the shallows, I want to feel the waves on my feet.” She moved away from him and started slipping off her shoes.

He wasn’t going to argue with her request, as a SEAL, he enjoyed the water and had no qualms about getting his feet wet.

They left their shoes on the blanket. Her purse was locked safely in a compartment in his SUV, but he held out his hand for her phone. “Let me put that in my pocket and then you don’t have to worry about it falling into the water.”

“Are you suggesting that I’m clumsy?” she sassed, and he loved to see the spark of mirth brightening her brown eyes.

“Nope, just if I have both our phones, you won’t be tempted to push me into the water.”

She propped her hands on her hips. “Do you think I’d do something like that?”

He negligently lifted one shoulder in a “maybe” gesture, and she laughed. In that moment everything around him faded away, and all he could see was this beautiful woman enjoying herself.