The Ex Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 1) Page 9

  Her thoughts returned to Theo, and as much as she wanted to leave her brother to sulk, a muscle tugged at the center of her chest. “How about you, Theo?” She turned to the sullen teen. “When are you going back to work? You can probably do the indoor shoots, right?”

  At first, Gabby thought the teenager was going to ignore her, but the man-child’s face actually brightened up at being included in the conversation. “Yeah, no action for a while. We just finished the big mid-season finale anyway.” His lips tilted up. “You can help me with my lines.”

  She snorted. “No fucking way.”

  “Come on, sis. It could be fun. Besides, you owe me a Ferrari.”

  “They were just lights.”

  “And a side mirror,” he deadpanned. “Maybe you can do a cameo. Maybe I should tell the writers—”

  “Theo Woodward,” Gabby warned. “Do not even think about it.”

  “We’re going to be living together anyway. Consider it bonding?”

  The other guys at the table snickered.

  She split a glare between Levi and Declan and kicked Kelso under the table.

  “Yow,” Kelso mumbled. “What was that for? I think it’d be cool. Think what it will do for the ratings.”

  “Ha … you’re beginning to sound like Nick and everyone at PrimeFlix and Revenant Films.”

  “Helping him read his lines might be a good idea,” Declan commented.

  “Do you like wearing your spaghetti, Roarke?”

  Her ex-husband’s eyes gleamed with a challenge.

  “And you,” she asked Theo. “Do you want to find your Ferrari in the junkyard?”

  He shot her a comical look like he wasn’t sure whether she was serious or not. “Damn, sis. Remind me not to piss you off again.” He stabbed his spaghetti and shoveled it into his mouth, but the corner of his lips threatened to pull into a smile.

  The mood in the house lifted a bit, but there was an underlying tension that ran from one end of the table to the other. It wasn’t her problem though. Father and son could duke it out.

  Kelso left after dinner. His bachelor life meant no one was waiting for him at home, but he was a gym rat and getting up at the crack of dawn to do his workout was his religion. Gabby caught the gym bug from him. She was getting antsy that she couldn’t do anything physical, so she decided to go over the murder book of her dad’s homicide that the captain had brought in earlier.

  Theo made an excuse to go to his room, and Gabby hoped he wasn’t playing his video games, but there was only so much she could do. That boy was seventeen going on thirty. He should know what was good for him.

  Declan and Levi were in the library, probably discussing Theo’s schedule. The captain agreed to extend their police protection since the attack on their vehicle seemed to be targeting Gabby. A meeting would convene tomorrow with the mayor and the police chief to discuss the failed sting operation last Friday.

  A text message pinged on her phone. It was Kelso, letting her know he was home and secure. Threats like this were common and she’d learned to live on the edge. The difference now was that she had Theo to worry about.

  Danger by association. Ortega definitely didn’t like their move last Friday and was quick to retaliate.

  “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

  Her heart skipped when Declan sat beside her on the couch.

  “How did you manage to sneak up on me?”

  An eyebrow rose. “Ranger here. We’re stealthy and shit.”

  “Ha. Ha.”

  “Bruised your detective’s ego?”

  “Not really. Maybe it’s the concussion.”

  “Maybe.” He frowned at the binder in front of her. “What’s that?”

  “Dad’s murder book.”

  “I thought it wasn’t your jurisdiction.”

  “Captain pulled some strings, got the RHD detectives on the case to make me a copy.” She patted the box beside her. “These are Peter’s files—papers. Or what’s left of them that was in his home office.”

  “What’s left? What do you mean—thieves took them?”

  “His laptop, back-up drives, discs. They made sure to take the television and sound system, but the detectives are puzzled.”

  “How so?”

  Gabby showed him the crime scene photographs. “They didn’t touch any of the artwork. Fair enough—maybe they didn’t know its value. But they didn’t touch his bedroom either, where he had his watch collection and that’s worth a mint. But they ransacked Theo’s room and targeted very personal stuff.”

  Declan stiffened. “How personal?”

  “His bedsheets, sneakers, his toothbrush?” She turned to the page that showed the toppled tumblers, a stripped mattress, and an empty trashcan. “One theory is that it’s a deranged fan or stalker. A very deranged fan. Nothing new in this part of California, but it still gives me the creeps just thinking about it.”

  “Nothing on surveillance?”

  Gabby puffed a derisive laugh. “None. Those CSI shows are making it more difficult for us to do our jobs.”

  “I can imagine,” Declan smiled briefly before turning serious. “They briefed us that a stalker was a possibility, but they didn’t share specifics. Levi was going to meet with the detectives tomorrow. I guess this was what they were going to show us?”

  “Yes,” she sighed and averted her eyes.

  “There’s something else,” he pressed, and her gaze returned to his face. His brows were drawn together. “Out with it.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t really say.”

  “You can’t really say,” he repeated. “But I suspect this has something to do with Claudette. And by extension—me—because I supposedly fathered a child with her.”

  “Why are you still denying it?” She lowered her voice into a whisper. “Theo looks like you. The color of his eyes is almost a carbon copy of Claudette’s.” And that was the one damning feature that Gabby couldn’t deny and it tore her heart every time she thought about it, which was why for her sanity she tried not to dwell on it. It was an open-and-shut case.

  “I knew you’d say that, so I did a bit of research. Hazel eyes, Gabby? Given the color of our eyes, hazel is difficult to predict.”

  “Mine are plain brown—”

  “Yours are a gorgeous brown—the color of warm whiskey,” he rasped.

  “I can’t even begin to comprehend what you’re trying to imply. That there was a conspiracy to swap my baby with Claudette’s? But why?”

  “Hasn’t that ever occurred to you?”

  “What, Declan? That I wished it was her baby who died and mine survived? Is that a better reality for you?”

  “There’s only one way to resolve this.”

  “Oh, great, let’s ask Theo for a buccal swab and say, oh, by the way, I think your sister who isn’t your sister might actually be your mom!”

  He stared at her for a long time, frustration swimming in his emerald irises. “You’re not in the right frame of mind to talk about this,” he muttered.

  “Oh, that’s rich coming from you,” she scoffed. “Short of rehashing our past ad nauseam, I wasn’t the one with communication problems. Besides, what would be Claudette’s objective? She didn’t even want a baby. Peter was crazy enough for her. Crazy enough that he moved her to another country just to get away from me. She said I was too caught up in my grief, that I might hurt her child.”

  “Jesus, she did quite a mindfuck on you, didn’t she?”

  “Come to think of it, she was right to be scared. I was crazy.”

  “You weren’t crazy,” Declan said quietly. “You were grieving, Gab.”

  She took her time to respond, momentarily lost in that dark time. “I was,” she admitted.

  That time was her rock bottom, a time in her life when everyone abandoned her except Nick. So she latched on to him, and it only got worse before it got better. Gabby Woodward burned to ashes, only to be reborn into the person she was now.

  “You asked how I becam
e a detective?” She closed the murder book and leaned back against the opposite end of the couch, her chin inching up, a flare of defiance sparking inside her.

  There was surprise in his eyes, but also blatant interest in what she had to say, and that melted the frost in her heart to a degree—that he wanted to hear about the watershed moment that corrected the course of her life.

  “You were right. I was grieving. The months following the mugging were hard. I was an emotional mess. Not being able to protect my baby, losing you—I’m telling you this not to make you feel guilty but to let you know where my headspace was.”

  “I get it. It was my own guilt that sent me away, too,” Declan’s voice was gruff.

  “The long and short of it was I tried to fill the void. I felt so empty. So I married Nick. He was there for me—don’t interrupt—I think I know how you feel about him. That he was interested only for the Dead Future series.”

  “Wasn’t he?”

  “I wanted another baby. I was foolish enough to think that I could easily replace the one I lost. It took us a year for me to conceive. I was obsessed with getting pregnant—” she stopped when she saw the murderous look on Declan’s face. “Yes, we had plenty of sex, Dec, get over it.”

  He jumped to his feet and began to pace. “Go on.” His tone was harsh.

  “I miscarried after eleven weeks. I was devastated and I was done. I withdrew into my shell and filed for divorce. I was twice divorced by my twenty-second birthday.” She laughed briefly, bitterly. “I was on my way to becoming a Hollywood cliché, a has-been because Dead Futures had been cancelled too after the one season I wasn’t in it.” Her face hardened. “One day, I decided to overcome my fears, go back to the place where I was mugged. On my way home. I stopped by a supermarket there. It was late and I saw a pregnant woman being harassed by two men. It brought back memories of that night. And I just felt this uncontrollable rage. Since that attack, I’ve always kept a baseball bat behind my driver’s seat.” At Declan’s curse, she added. “Don’t worry, I made sure I knew how to use it.

  “I went in swinging. The pregnant woman—I think I scared her too—later told me I let out the most horrific keening wail …” Gabby inhaled a raspy breath.

  “Don’t keep me in suspense … what happened to them?”

  “Cracked the skull of one and shattered the cheekbone of the other including other parts. They threatened me with a knife, so I was within my rights to defend myself. That’s when I met Captain Mitchell. He was a detective then, and it turned out he was also the same investigator who worked my mugging case all those years before. He remembered me. Who wouldn’t at that time? The star of Dead Futures taking an indefinite leave was the biggest news that year.”

  “He offered you a job?”

  “No,” Gabby smiled. “He gave me back my life.”

  Declan appraised her with a face full of wonder and her skin prickled with a sensation low in her belly. Then his brows drew together as if jolted from a trance and Gabby wondered if he remembered he wasn’t supposed to like her.

  He leaned forward and fished out his phone from his back pocket and frowned. It continued to vibrate in his hand.

  “Not answering that?”

  “Thinking …”

  “That’s mother.” Theo walked in, barging into their conversation. “Figured she should know you’re here.”

  Gabby clutched her throat instinctively as she realized exactly why the tension was thick between these two. Not that she doubted Theo’s powers of deduction. The boy was nothing but observant.

  The phone stopped buzzing. Declan’s eyes were glued to it.

  “Call her back.” Theo’s voice dripped with mockery.

  The phone vibrated again and Gabby saw the shutters fall on her ex’s face as he got up and excused himself, turning his back on them as he answered the call.

  “Cat’s out of the bag, huh,” Gabby said.

  Theo, who was staring daggers into Declan’s retreating back, turned to her. “Yup.”

  He took the spot on the couch that his father vacated. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s only a sperm donor.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Peter Woodward will always be my father,” he declared.

  “Theo, you have to understand he was young then.”

  “Doesn’t excuse him cheating on you.”

  “Says the guy who juggles girlfriends.”

  “I’m not married to them. They’re not even my girlfriends,” he defended.

  He had a point. “So, you and Emma?”

  “We hang out.”

  “I like her,” Gabby said.

  “You’ve only met her once.”

  “Any girl who stands up to your rudeness has my automatic like.”

  “She’s mad at me.” His shoulders sagged. “Girls.”

  “Is that why you were sulking at dinner?”

  “No. Maybe.” Annoyance marred his features. “I think I’m more pissed at Declan—Roarke. I think I’ll call him Roarke.” His mouth curved.

  “Not liking that smile, Theo.”

  “He and mother deserve each other.”

  A part of Gabby wanted to agree, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to simply give Declan to that woman. And yet, she didn’t have the right. She was an ex.

  “You should give him a chance. Get to know the man he is now.” Gabby found herself saying.

  “No thanks.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re not pawning me off on him, are you?”

  “What?”

  “You are,” he smirked. “You don’t like me. And I get it.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “Honestly, I think I was a pain in the ass when you got home because I was jealous.”

  “Jealous?”

  “Yeah, don’t let it go to your head.” He leaned away and grinned at her cockily. “Get that I’m a star, and we may no longer be related by blood, but I’ll always consider you my big sister. Of course, I look up to you.”

  “I’m …” she pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t burst out laughing. “Really touched.”

  She must not have hid her humor well, and that seemed to bother Theo. His face lost his initial arrogance and he stared at the floor, worrying his lips between his teeth. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

  “I was the one who thrashed your car.”

  “Yeah, but I was a dick for inciting the guys to make fun of your series. That was not cool, especially when you’re the one who inspired me to go into acting.”

  Gabby’s eyes slitted, studying her brother to see if he was pulling her leg, but he said those words guilelessly and— with her cop’s instinct that could spot a bullshitter a mile away—sincerely.

  “You watched my series?”

  He glanced up and smiled, almost sheepishly. “Yeah. Got my hands on them when I was ten.” Then as if remembering he was the great Theo Cole, he added. “As I said, don’t let it go to your head.”

  Rascal.

  It was kind of … endearing.

  Declan stalked back into the living room, his face dark and angry.

  He pointed his phone at Theo. “You invited Claudette here tomorrow?”

  “Don’t you want us to be one big happy family?”

  Declan’s eyes switched to Gabby and she sucked in her breath at the raw yearning reflected in them. Theo stiffened beside her.

  “That’s not possible,” he rasped.

  “Damn straight, that’s not possible.” Theo stood and stepped into his space. “Because you can’t keep it in your pants and you had to cheat on my sister. “

  “Theo!” Gabby exclaimed. Declan had no defense. He figured out he couldn’t lie about it now that her former stepmother was back in the picture.

  “You’re gonna defend him again?” Theo yelled at her. “I just … can’t deal with you all right now.”

  He stalked off.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Why are you sorry?” Declan’s voice was cold.

  “I don’t know ho
w to tell him”

  “That you cheated first?”

  A lump formed in Gabby’s throat as his statement registered. “Why can’t you just admit that you slept with Claudette?”

  “I have no defense. She’s gonna say that we fucked.”

  Gabby flinched at the coarseness of the way he said it.

  “And the only other possibility is that you would be his mother,” he added. “Which according to you would sound crazy, right?”

  The sneer on his face almost broke her. Why was he being so cruel?

  And why the hell was she trying to be the better person. “He’s hurting, Dec. He just lost Peter.”

  “Don’t need you to tell me that. I get where some of this teenage rage is coming from. At least I had the sense not to go wreck his car.”

  Her cheeks burned as her momentary lack of control came back to bite her, but Theo wasn’t the only one hurting and she tried to make it right again. “Dec, do you want me to talk to Theo?”

  He glared at her. “No Gabby. I don’t need your help with my son.”

  It was like a slap to the face but, more than that, it tripped something inside her. A tremor of the past reverberating in the present.

  The disgust on Declan’s face when he found out she was pregnant didn’t do as much damage as the words he’d said.

  “Pregnant? I’m not the sucker I once was, Gabby. Trying to pawn off another man’s child? When you deliver that kid? I’ll be demanding a paternity test.”

  He slammed the door on her open-mouthed face. It was the final jolt she needed to accept that she’d lost her husband.

  10

  The first thing Gabby wanted to do when she opened the door to her perfectly coiffed former stepmother was slam it shut again. She contemplated answering the door with a towel wrapped around her body, but she’d like to believe she wasn’t that vindictive person anymore. Besides, the effect would be severely diminished with two other people in the house.