here telling me this?”
“Calm down, Ledger,” Ciro said.
“He was in the car with a Trinity Mason. She was pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital and because of her announcement tonight—”
“I never heard any announcement. She’s dead?” I shot out of my chair. “Is Jason going to die?” I turned to Ciro, who was now a few inches from me. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Mr. Campos. I was asked to stay with you until I could bring you into the station for a few questions. From what we gathered, Mr. Zabel and Ms. Mason were on their way here, to Haven Hart. Witnesses say a car was chasing Ms. Mason’s vehicle, and she must have lost control, because she spun out and hit a divider. That’s all I have. As Mr. Zabel’s emergency contact, and due to your involvement with the situation, we need you to come in.”
“Come in? You think I had something to do with this?” At this point, I wasn’t even trying to lower my voice.
“No, obviously you were working. But Trinity Mason announced tonight that you and she broke off your relationship, and then this happened and—”
“Broke off…” Shit, she was able to work it in her favor. “We never had a relationship other than friendship, Officer.”
He gave me a placating nod. “And you can sit with the detectives and tell them everything.”
I fell back into the chair, my head spinning. How was this happening? Just thirty minutes ago I was flying high; now I was crashing and burning.
Chapter Twenty-One
Shane
I kept going around to the other side of the bar to see if Ledger and Ciro were still in Atlas’s office. The longer they were, the more worried I became.
“Can I have a gin and tonic, please?” someone asked.
“Yeah, martini coming up,” I mumbled, but it was clearly loud enough to make the person respond.
“I said gin and tonic!”
“Oh, right, sorry.” Through sheer muscle memory I made the drink, not even thanking the customer. When I saw Ciro leave the office and walk fast toward Atlas, who was just getting off the stage, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to concentrate until I knew what was going on, so I sought out Max.
“Can I take my break?”
“Um…” he looked around. It was busy, but I knew the others could handle it. “Yeah, okay.”
“Thanks.” I rushed over to Atlas and Ciro. “What’s happening?”
“We have an issue,” Ciro answered.
“Seeing the cop take Ledger into Atlas’s office was a good indication of that, Ciro. How about pretending I’m not an oblivious dolt.”
“Dolt?” He furrowed his brow. “Good word.”
I huffed and turned to Atlas. “Please tell me.”
He sighed and pulled me to the back room, where they told me everything that was going on. A part of me hated that my first reaction was to be pissed at Trinity for lying about there being any relationship. Ziggy being in the hospital and her being dead should’ve upset me more.
“They want Ledger to go in to the station for what? He was here. He would never hurt his friends.”
“It’s a complicated situation, Shane,” Ciro said. “According to witnesses, there was a car chasing them. It’s really early still, they don’t have much information, and I think they’re hoping Ledger can shine a light on stuff.”
“He’s in there with the cop? Is Ziggy okay? For fuck’s sake, this is a mess!” I was livid, worried; I was everything all rolled into one, and I wanted to see Ledger. “Can I go in?”
Atlas gave a nod, and that was all I needed. I darted past them and went into his office. The second I opened the door, my heart ached. Ledger sat, head in hands, and the cop even appeared to be feeling the depression of the room.
“Ledger,” I whispered as I fell to my knees in front of him, my hands gently pulling his away from his face. There was no hiding his sadness when red-rimmed eyes looked my way.
“Shane.” The anguish in his deep voice vibrated through me, and I crawled into his lap and listened to him cry as I hugged him to my chest.
I heard the click of the door but didn’t bother to move even an inch to see who it was or what they wanted. Ledger’s hold on me was bordering on painful. As I listened to his breaths, felt the shake of his shoulders, heard his cries, I was no longer angry with Trinity. He wasn’t upset with her either. Because no matter