Chapter 24

The last few days had been hell, Trace thought. He hadn’t realized just how much Connie had become a part of him until the day after he walked out of the safe house. Since then, everything seemed duller. Quieter. Life wasn’t as fulfilling as it had been with her.

As he sat in his living room, playing his saxophone, the rich, sharp melody seeped into his soul, filling the emptiness in his heart. The last notes of Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me” flowed right into Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You.”

Trace closed his eyes and poured everything he was feeling into the instrumental. Love. Loss. Pain. Heartache. He knew he needed to get himself together and pull out of this slump. That was why he’d picked up his sax. Sorting out his feelings with music had always helped clear his head.

Connie was vulnerable. He knew that, especially after all that she’d been through lately, but her accusation cut deep. Trace hadn’t given her any reason to doubt him. He definitely hadn’t given her a reason to think that he’d stoop so low and go after her job. It pissed him off all over again just thinking about it. But he still loved her. He still wanted her in his life. He just didn’t know how to help her move on from past hurts.

He played the last verse of the song and didn’t stop even when his alarm system signaled he had company. Trace already knew it could only be one of a few people walking into his home without ringing the bell. Just as he hit a high note, his visitors came into view. Langston and Maxwell stood on the edge of the family room, looking at him as if he had two heads.

“Well, at least he’s gotten better at playing that thing,” Maxwell said and set two shopping bags on the dining table.

Langston just stared at Trace as if seeing him for the first time. Once the song ended, his brother started clapping. “I’ll have to tell the family that you finally learned how to play,” he said and dropped down on the leather sectional.

Trace unhooked his saxophone from the strap and set the instrument back in its stand without commenting.

“It’s bad enough I had to work a double,” Langston continued and stretched out his legs before folding his arms across his chest. “But to get a call telling me that your ass is missing made the day that much longer.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m not missing. So who sent out the distress signal that has you both invading my privacy?”

“Trinity,” they said in unison.

“I should’ve known.”

Trace had left her a voice mail telling her that he was resigning his position at LEPA. Though a small part of his decision had to do with his relationship with Connie, she hadn’t been his sole reason. It was time for him to move on from security work and start his own business. He had enough money saved up to live comfortably for at least a year. Included with his verbal resignation, he had told Trinity that he’d be available to fill in on occasion when she couldn’t find anyone else.

As for him and Connie, Trace wasn’t giving up on their relationship. He had just needed a few days to regroup and make sure she was who he wanted to be with. He knew without a doubt that he didn’t want anyone else.

Maxwell pulled a six-pack of beer out of one of the bags, along with chips, dip and a host of other junk food. He handed a beer to Langston and then tossed one to Trace before sitting in the leather recliner near the window.

“Why are you guys really here?” Trace asked.

“I’m here because your neighbors called in complaints about noise coming from your unit,” Maxwell said with a straight face, but his lips started twitching. “They’re expecting me to give you a citation.”

“And I’m here to make sure you’re alive.”

“Well, I’m alive, and I’ll stop making noise. I guess that means you two can leave. Oh, and before you go, leave my house key on the table. It was supposed to be for emergency use only.”

Langston’s eyebrows drew together and he glared at Trace. “This was an emergency. Now quit being a jerk.”

“Fight nice, guys.” Maxwell took a long drag on his beer. “Since I don’t have any plans for the evening, I was thinking we can play poker. I figure since Trace is all up in his feelings, I might be able to win a hand or two and take his money.”

That made Trace laugh. Considering Maxwell’s best friend was a professional poker player, Max couldn’t play worth a damn.

“I ain’t that down-and-out. There’s no way you’re taking my money. Unless you brought Gunner with you, I’ll be a little richer before...”

The intercom buzzed, and Langston burst out laughing.

Maxwell stood and walked over to the intercom with a stupid grin on his face. “Hmm... I wonder who that can be.”

A few minutes later, Gunner strolled in with his traveling poker gear and set up everything on Trace’s table. They played several hands before one of them brought up Connie. Trace shot down that conversation quick. He’d been thinking about her nonstop but wasn’t ready to discuss what had happened between them.

“Did I ever tell you guys about the time Trinity tried to leave me?” Gunner asked.

Everyone around the table groaned. Gunner wasn’t a big talker, but when he did, he went on and on and on.

“It was when we first started dating and it was during one of the biggest poker tournaments of the year. Trinity hated the fact that I was a gambler, and it didn’t matter that I was a professional poker player. She couldn’t understand the importance of me needing to keep my head in the game.”

Maxwell threw a couple of poker chips into the center of the table. “I’ll raise you twenty, and Gunner, man, is this story going anywhere?”

“I was losing at this point in the tournament,” Gunner continued, as if Maxwell hadn’t said anything. “I couldn’t get focused. So I had to put some mental distance between me and Trinity.” He gave a mock shiver and grimaced, and Trace laughed. “You guys know what a hothead that woman is. She wanted my undivided attention even though there were millions of dollars at stake.

“Anyway, the tournament was here in town, but we were staying at the host hotel. By the third or the fourth night of me practically ignoring her so that I could get my head on straight, she’d had enough. She told me she was going home—back to LA—and was planning to leave my ass in the hotel.”

“What did you do?” Trace asked. He could totally see Trinity cutting out and not looking back.

“I let her go,” Gunner said, sticking his chest out like he was the man. “I gave her the keys to the car and said, ‘See ya.’”

“Man, quit fronting.” Maxwell laughed. “You let her go for about five minutes. Then you called the hotel’s concierge and had them stop her in the lobby. It was too late, though. Trinity was already in his car revving the engine.”

“Not just any car. Get it right if you’re going to butt in to my story.”

“Okay, his precious, overpriced BMW sports car,” Maxwell said, making a face as if to say “big deal.” “Anyway, Gunner had to run after her and jump into the passenger seat. Long story short, they ended up getting chased by some guy who was trying to kill Gunner, and you both know how Trinity drives. She had them flying down secluded roads and hugging curves on two wheels.”

Gunner shook his head. “Scared the crap out of me. I thought we were going to die, but there was no other place I wanted to be than with her.”

Trace could only imagine how that ride went. Trinity was trained in defensive driving, but even before she became a cop, she’d driven like she was trying out for NASCAR.

“Okay, maybe it’s just me, but what the hell is the point of this story?” Langston asked, frowning.

Trace and Maxwell burst out laughing, but after a while, Trace turned serious.

“The point is, even though he and Trinity were mad at each other, he refused to let her walk out of his life. Ride or die,” Trace explained.

“That woman was and still is my heartbeat,” Gunner said to all of them, but his gaze was on Trace. “That tournament and the ones that followed meant nothing if she wasn’t in my life. I couldn’t just let her walk away and risk never seeing her again. I had to go after her. I had to make sure she knew that she was it for me, no matter what.”

Trace nodded. His and Connie’s situation was a little different, but that was how he felt. He didn’t know how to get past her defenses. All he could do was love her unconditionally and hang on for the ride.

“Thanks for that, Gunner. I get it. I’m not giving up my woman. And all I have to say to you two—” he glanced at his brother and Maxwell “—is that you’re useless. If you’re going to come over and give a pep talk, at least come with a story like Gunner did.”

“Man, forget you.” Langston waved him off and started moving around the cards in his hand. “I already told you that I only came over to make sure you were alive.”

Maxwell’s cell phone, which was sitting on the table next to him, rang. He glanced at the screen, then hurried and answered.

“Yeah, this is Max.”

Trace could only hear one side of the conversation, but whoever his friend was talking to was giving him some good news.

“All right, thanks for letting me know.” He disconnected the call and smiled at Trace. “They got him,” he said.

Trace stared, trying not to get too excited. “Who? Daniel Atkinson?”

“Yep. They got a tip from a caller that said he and two other guys were hiding out in Boulder City at some woman’s house. They picked them up a little while ago.”

“Are they sure one of them is Atkinson? Gray eyes, tat and—”

“It’s him, and they’re confident that they can break the other two, get them to turn on each other. But we’re going to want Connie to come to the station and see if she can pick Atkinson out of a lineup. Oh, and it helped a lot that you and Langston were able to figure out that he was part of the One-Seven Crew.”

Trace was cautiously optimistic that the chaos that had become part of his life was over. But now, what to do about Connie?

Later that night, Trace was sitting on his balcony when his cell phone rang. Unease swept through him when he saw that it was Riley. His friend had been doing a good job keeping him up-to-date on how Connie was doing, but rarely did he call this late.

“Is she all right?” Trace asked by way of greeting.

“You’d know how she is if you had bothered to answer her calls over the last few days.”

“Just tell me!” Trace snapped, his heart rate amping up as his concern for Connie increased. “Is she okay?”

“Besides not eating or sleeping, she’s fine.”

Trace massaged his temples, trying to tamp down his anxiety. Connie couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds. She couldn’t afford to not eat.

“She wants me to go to the police station with her tomorrow.”

That surprised Trace. She rarely asked anyone for anything, and now that Daniel was in custody, Trace was surprised that she wasn’t trying to get rid of Riley.

“Good. I think it’s a good idea that she doesn’t go alone.”

“Trace, man, I get that you’re pissed about whatever went down with you two. Clearly, it was something she did, because she said something about you never being able to forgive her. But whatever happened, it’s not worth seeing her miserable. You’ve been acting like an asshole—Trinity’s words, not mine—and I’m thinking this might be a chance for you to patch things up.”

“How so?” Trace asked, wondering where the conversation was headed.

“Instead of me taking her to the police station, you take her. That’ll give her a chance to apologize since that’s what she’s been trying to do, but you keep dodging her calls.”

Trace huffed out a long, exhausted breath and stared into the night. Sitting on the balcony reminded him of the first night that Connie had stayed at his place. She loved it out there. Now, whenever he hung out on the balcony, it was impossible not to think of her.

“All right. You drive her to the police station, and I’ll meet her there.”

The next day, Trace stood near the help desk at the police station waiting for Connie. What a difference a couple of weeks made. It was like déjà vu, being back there. They’d been through a lot since the bank robbery, and it was over.

Almost, he reminded himself. It was almost over. He wouldn’t be totally comfortable until Atkinson was behind bars for life.

Trace glanced at his watch. Connie would be there in a few minutes. He had mixed feelings about seeing her. Part of him wanted to pull her into his arms and never let go. The other part of him knew he needed to tread lightly. They needed to talk and figure out if they were going to give their relationship another shot.

Left up to him, it would be a no-brainer. But he needed to see where her head was at.

Trace glanced at the door just as Connie walked in. She didn’t look his way, which gave him a chance to get his fill of her. Her hair was hanging down around her shoulders, and she was casually dressed in a yellow short-sleeved blouse and navy blue pants. Her signature high-heeled shoes covered her feet.

As if sensing him staring, she glanced his way and her eyes grew round. He already knew Riley hadn’t told her he’d be there, and he was glad he could surprise her. She had definitely lost weight, and the dark circles under her eyes were proof of lack of sleep. Despite that, though, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“Trace,” she said on a breath, but didn’t make a move toward him. She folded her lower lip between her teeth and her eyes searched his. It was as if she was trying to decide what to do or say.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said, pushing off the wall and moving toward her. She met him halfway and launched herself into his arms.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she mumbled against his neck.

“Not as much as I’ve missed you. Damn... I’ve missed you like crazy.”

“I am so sorry for everything,” she said. When Trace set her on her feet, she reached for his hand. “I never meant to hurt you. Can you ever forgive me?”

“I already have.” He had told her that before leaving the safe house that day. Yet, considering he hadn’t answered any of her calls, she had every right to doubt that he really meant it. “We’ll talk more later.”

“Okay, but what are you doing here?”

He pushed her hair out of her face and cupped her soft cheek. “I didn’t want you to go through this by yourself.”

Connie leaned into his touch and her eyes drifted closed for a minute. When she looked at him again, Trace’s heart flipped inside his chest. The love glimmering in her beautiful hazel eyes told him everything he needed to know. She was his, and he was hers.

“Thank you for being here for me. I know I don’t deserve you, but if you feel anything for me...will you give me another chance?”

Trace studied her, his heart bursting with love, and he nodded. “Definitely. It’s you and me, baby.”

He lowered his head and kissed her sweet lips. All the anguish from the last few days drifted into the background. He kissed her hard and thoroughly, wanting her to feel how much he loved her. Wanting her to feel how much he had missed her. Sure, they had things to work out, but he was confident that they would get through this rough patch.

When the kiss ended, all he wanted to do was carry her out of there, but she had a job to do.

“You ready to help put a bad guy behind bars?”

She nodded. “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”