Addiction (45 page)
I look over at him as he stands there and stares at it as if she will appear. “I got a call while you were in the restroom a minute ago,” I say softly, but he doesn’t turn to face me. “The toxicology report came back.” I pause to wait for him to give me some sort of movement, letting me know he’s listening. When he doesn’t, I answer anyway. “It came back positive for methamphetamines and cocaine.”
The only sign he gives me is his hand he fists down by his side. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
Still nothing! I place my hand on his shoulder, and he jumps as if I just slapped him. “I tried to tell you when I saw that cocaine in her apartment.”
I knew he’d say that. It’s my fault that I didn’t believe him. “Brecken, she passed the drug test …”
“I don’t know how,” he says through gritted teeth. “She must have had someone change out the tests. Or she paid someone else to take it. Fuck, who knows how deep her connections went,” he hisses.
“I don’t understand how she …”
“This isn’t the time to discuss this,” he interrupts me.
“We don’t have any more time,” I argue. “She’s been dead for a week, Brecken, and no one has come looking for her.” As far as we know, no one knew Rachel was at Seven Deadly Sins to see me that night Taylor had texted her from my phone. And the department is keeping her death under wraps. We are still undercover officers trying to find a man who knew every move we made. As soon as Rachel doesn’t contact him, they will be looking, wanting to know what we are up to and how we got her to go away. We went through her phone, but there was nothing suspicious about it. She must have used a different phone to keep in contact with Cricket. And of course, nothing came up in her apartment. She was good. But we already know that. She had kept us blinded for four years. “We need to decide what to do when we reopen and people start to ask about her.” The club has been completely remodeled and will be ready to open next week. I had closed it down after the night he was shot and told everyone we were remodeling. Nothing that has happened has been released publicly.
“Tell them she left,” he says simply with a careless shrug. He turns to face me, and I see nothing but blackness in his dark eyes. “Hell, put an obiturary in the paper that she was found dead from an overdose. I killed her, Case,” he says flatly. “And don’t let my feelings I had for her make you think I care more than I do. The moment I saw her lift that gun, I knew I was gonna do whatever was necessary to keep her from killing anyone. I did what needed to be done. Just like I always will, no matter what the circumstances.” With that, he turns and looks one last time at the wall in front of him. He turns his back to me and walks off with his head held high and his hands in the front pockets of his black slacks.
CASE
“Taylor Williams.”
I stand from my chair as her name is called out. Placing my thumb and index finger in my mouth, I let out a loud whistle. A huge smile spreads across my face as I remove them and clap while yelling out
Go, Taylor
. I watch the love of my life walk across the stage at her college graduation, and I couldn’t be prouder of her. Today marks a year that I first met her in Seven Deadly Sins, and I never imagined she would be the one to heal me. To save me. She always thanks me for saving her life. She always tells me that she is lucky to have me and she would be lost without me. But I am the one who would be lost without her.
It took her weeks to heal from the gunshot wound when Rachel had shot her, but she survived it. It took many tears and endless hours of pain, but she got through them and I was by her side the entire way, holding her hand and telling her that she could do it.
“Yay, Tay!” Savannah hollers from beside me as she jumps up and down. She looks over at me and giggles. “Are you nervous about tonight?” she asks, shoving her elbow into me.
I chuckle. “I wasn’t, but every time you ask me that, I get a little more concerned. Do you have something I need to know?” I question.
She shakes her head. “No. You know she would never tell you no. She loves you,” she says matter-of-factly. “Do you think you can do it?”
I look back over to her with a frown on my face. Her voice was full of concern. “Do what?”
“Keep her safe? Your world …” She pauses and her eyes drop down to look at the stage to her best friend. “… It’s so dangerous.”
I wish I could tell her she’s wrong. That it’s not dangerous, but the truth is, I’m still an undercover cop. I still own a club where drugs deals occur on a daily basis. And I am still after a man who I have no way of knowing what his plans are for me. Cricket hasn’t surfaced in over a year. We have not heard one word about him. Some even say he has quit dealing. But Brecken and I don’t believe that. He’ll surface again, and when he does, I will take him down. That’s my job after all. We never did find out who broke into their house. We chalked it up to a man seeing an opportunity to break into their house, and unfortunately, he just got away with it. It just proves that my world isn’t the only one that is dangerous.
“I can and I will,” I finally answer Savannah. I may still be an undercover cop, but Taylor is my main priority.
She wraps her arms around me and gives me a hug. My brows rise in surprise as I gently pat her back. “She’s lucky to have you,” she says and then releases me.
I smile as I look back up to the graduates sitting in the UIC Pavilion. They all cheer as the last student makes his way across the stage, and then they all shout out in excitement. I can’t believe one of those students is gonna be my wife. Well, that is, if she says yes.
I’m throwing Taylor a big party tonight up at the club, and I’m gonna ask her to be my wife. I know some won’t see it as romantic. There won’t be candlelight or the stars above us. Instead, there will be loud music and neon lights, but that’s where we found each other. That’s where our love started, and that’s where I want it to continue. All I can do is hope that she wants to spend forever with me as much as I want to with her.
We make our way down the steps from our seats. I see her dark brown hair bouncing behind her as she runs toward me with a big smile on her face. I place my arms out wide as she leaps into them, and I hug her tight. I spin her around, and she giggles in my ear as I take a deep breath letting her vanilla scent take over my senses.
“Congratulations, baby,” I say as I place her back down on her feet but keep her body pressed against mine. “I’m so proud of you.”
Her beautiful blue eyes shine as she looks up at me with that breathtaking smile on her face. “I love you,” she whispers softly.
I lower my lips to hers. “I love you too.” I give them a gentle kiss and then I release her. She squeals as Blane comes up next to us and takes her from my arms. I watch as he hugs her and then passes her over to Brecken. I wish her father could be here to see this day. I had made sure that a friend of mine got word to him in prison that she was graduating today. I wanted him to know she was not the addict he’d predicted her to be. That she was better than he was. Well, if I had to be honest with myself, she’s better than all of us are, but every day she wakes up and chooses to love me. And every day I continue to ask myself why me? What did I do to deserve something so beautiful and rare? After all the lies and the deceit, somehow she still found it in her heart to forgive me and love me. I’m a man who sins, and she’s my savior who forgives me.
She turns to face me and waves me over to her. “I wanna take a picture,” she says jumping up and down. “Hurry up,” she calls out when I don’t move fast enough. “I wanna get this gown off. It’s hot,” she says pulling on her dark blue graduation gown.
I smile as I wrap my arms around her shoulders and pull her to my side. I lean down and whisper in her ear. “Funny you mention that gown ...” She pulls away and looks up at me. “Because I was just thinking of how to get you out of that.”
She chuckles as she wraps her arms around my neck. “I was hoping that you were planning to take me home.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “We still have a few places to break in, you know.”
I reach up and run a hand through her dark brown hair, no blue remains. After that day she got shot, I moved in with her, Blane, and Savannah. I didn’t have much considering the fire took everything I owned. But when she was released from the hospital, I drove her home and never left. Three months ago, we bought a house not far from Brecken. It’s where I plan to live for the rest of my life. It’s where I plan to be the husband she deserves and give her the family that she wants. She walked into my life and gave me a reason to dream. Now, I wanna make all of her dreams come true.
“Case?” she asks with a frown. “Everything okay?”
I smile down at her as I pull her closer to me. “Couldn’t be better, sweetheart.” I place my hand in her hair and press my lips to hers.
THE END
Obesession—Brecken’s book is coming soon. Make sure to add it to your TBR list
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Shantel is a Texas-born girl who now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her high school sweetheart, who is a wonderful, supportive husband and their five-year-old little princess. She loves to spend time cuddled up on the couch with a good book.
She is the Amazon Bestselling author of the Undescribable series and is currently working on her fourth book Unforgettable, which is set to release September 23
rd
. She considers herself extremely lucky to get to be a stay at home wife and mother. Going to concerts and the movies are just a few of her favorite things to do. She hates coffee but loves wine. She and her husband are both huge football fans, college and NFL. And she has to feed her high heel addiction by shopping for shoes weekly.
Although she has a passion for writing, her family is most important to her. She loves spending evenings at home with her husband and daughter, along with their cat and dog.
For more information about the author and her books, visit:
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First I would like to thank Jenny Sims, my wonderful editor. I love you to pieces, girl. Thank you for all the help. I truly appreciate it.
My assistant Amanda Wooden, girl I would be lost without you. You do so much for me every day and I couldn’t imagine not having you as a friend. I love you!
I want to thank the photoogrpaher Dave Kelley for this amazing photo.
I want to thank my two modles, Lance Jones and Jami Watts. Thank you for allowing me to use one of your photos.
I want to thank, Sommer Stein at Perfect Pear Creative for making me such a beautiful cover. Love you princess and thanks again.
I want to thank my wonderful friend and reader Genevieve Wilkreson-Migala. You spent countless of hours on the phone with me as I went on and on with all the ideas I had for Addiction. And helped me when I got stuck. I am lucky to call you a friend.
I want to thank my awesome street team, Shantel's Erotic Entourage. I love these bitches! This lovely group of ladies are awesome at pimping and making me laugh. It’s amazing how you can become so close with someone when they live halfway around the world. These girls are my sisters, and I love them very much.
To all of my family who has spread the word about my book and shared my author page; I’m very lucky to have such a supportive family. I love them all.
And last but not least, my readers. Thank you for taking a chance and wanting to read my books. I hope that you all love them as much as I do.
