Explosive Attraction - By Lena Diaz Page 0,31

to resist the lure of looking at more pictures while she waited. Seeing a family that looked so happy, so close, was such a refreshing change from her memories of her own family.

She picked up a picture of Nick and Rafe, both with their arms around the waist of a petite older woman standing between them. Darby had no doubt the woman was their mother. Rafe had her coloring, but Nick had her nose, her sensual mouth and her chin.

The woman reminded her a bit of her own mother, although it had been years since she’d seen her. She sent her mother and father money every month, called them on their birthdays and all the major holidays, but since escaping that miserable world when she’d turned eighteen, she’d never had the desire to return, not even to see her siblings.

A wave of guilt swept through her, but she tamped it down. She’d struggled and clawed her way out of the poverty and neglect that had marred her childhood. There was no reason for her to feel guilty about not wanting to go back. She did what she could, by sending money. She didn’t owe her family anything more than that.

“Okay, got a pen and paper.” Mindy’s voice came over the phone. “Go ahead. What files do you want?”

Darby described the ones she needed, files she wanted to go through to try to figure out who might be after her. She also described what she’d need from her house—files, notes, a few more personal items to get her through a week at most. She couldn’t be gone longer than that. She’d worked too hard to build her career to let it fall apart now.

“Where are you?” Mindy asked. “I’m at the office right now. I can have this stuff ready within the hour and meet you.”

“That fast? Great. I hadn’t thought about where to meet. I don’t even know the address I’m at right now, but I don’t think we’ll be here long anyway.”

She tapped her nails against the phone and tried to think of a location that was nearby, easy to get to. “All right. I know where we can meet.”

* * *

NICK AND RAFE FACED each other in the galley-style kitchen, each of them leaning back against a counter, their arms crossed.

“You think a cop is involved in this,” Nick said. “Otherwise you would have taken one of the cars from the station. Why do you suspect a cop?”

Rafe blew out a long breath. “I have little to go on and it’s too early to make conclusions. It’s just that...” He pursed his lips, thinking back to the stair landing, when Jake had pointed a gun at him.

Knowing what Nick would say if he admitted what he was thinking, Rafe debated telling him. But it wasn’t as though he could keep anything from his brother. Rafe was the oldest, with Nick eleven months behind, and four years separating Nick from the next sibling in age, Lance. That four years of separation meant Nick and Rafe grew up close, the two of them against the world from the time they could walk. He’d never been able to lie to Nick and get away with it.

“I don’t want Jake to know what I’m driving, or where we are.”

Nick swore and shook his head. “No way is Jake involved.”

“You sure about that? He was searching the hospital rooms for Darby and me, with his gun drawn. He never announced he was a cop, or called out to us. When he found us, he pointed his gun at me.” He shook his head. “I really don’t know what was going through his mind. I thought he was going to shoot.”

“But he didn’t.”

“Because the SWAT team came up the stairs.”

Nick swore again. “Did you ask Jake why he pointed the gun?”

“He said he was just being an ass.”

“Well, nothing new there,” Nick mumbled. “Seriously, man. You need help. Both of you need help. I know things are rocky between you two, but Jake would never hurt you. He’s family.”

“Not anymore.”

“Family is always family, no matter what. Have you ever stopped to consider that Jake isn’t the one with the problem? It’s been a year since you lost Shelby.”

Rafe winced, but Nick plowed ahead anyway.

“You have to let it go, move on. Why don’t you just tell Jake the truth? If he knew, it might make it easier for him to—”

“It wouldn’t make it easier. Trust me on that.”

“Jake’s a reasonable guy. At least talk