afternoon," Grant said. "Someone accessed the file a couple of days ago, and then tried to erase their incursion."
"A couple of days ago?"
Grant nodded. "You don't want to know how pissed Adam was that he hadn't been informed right away."
Chloe could guess how angry Lusty's sheriff was. The man took his job seriously. She'd had her faith in law enforcement restored, thanks to the professionalism of Adam Kendall and Matthew Benedict. She nodded and said, "So that means Lockwood knows she's here, in Lusty."
"Which is why you've earned yourself a couple of guard dogs." Andrew nodded as he said that. Then he gave Chloe what had to be the sliest smile of all time. "So tell me, love, how do you feel about sleeping between us?"
* * * *
"Well I, for one, am glad they barged in the way they did." Carrie kept her voice down, because she didn't particularly want the entire restaurant to hear her conversation with her sister. "The solution is simple, and I don't know why the men didn't just think of it first off. You'll come to the ranch to stay."
"I didn't want to mess things up for you there." Chloe stopped stirring her coffee and set the spoon down. "The three of you haven't been together long. The last thing you need is me crowding your space."
Carrie reached out and covered Chloe's hand with her own. As close as they'd been all these years, Carrie was very much aware there was a bit of a wall between them. That was her fault. She hadn't let Chloe reach out to her when she'd first gone to live with her. She'd closed herself up for so long, and she hadn't understood that she'd needed what her big sister could have given her. Instead, she'd kept her at arm's length.
Funny how she'd never understood that until now.
"I'd be very happy if you'd come out and stay with us. Not only because I for sure don't want you anywhere near that bastard. But because...I want us to be close. The way we would have been if - well, if things hadn't turned out the way they had."
"You fight dirty." Chloe huffed out a breath and sat back.
"I know." Carrie sat back and folded her hands. "Listening to the tales the women here have told me about their various adventures - or maybe I should say misadventures - almost makes me want to stand my ground, lie in wait for that bastard and..."
"Shoot his nuts off?"
Carrie smiled at her sister's suggestion. "Exactly."
Chloe tilted her head to one side. "You know, hearing you say that, my first reaction is to say no way in hell, little sister, are you going anywhere near that SOB, even when that was what I had actually planned to do myself."
"I know."
"You said almost. What's holding you back?"
Carrie shrugged. "You have to figure - so many different women just barely managing to come out on top. What are the odds of that happening one more time?"
Chloe shook her head slowly. "I'm not sure that I'd look at it that way."
"And, as well, a part of me is scared. I'm ashamed to admit that, but it's true. The idea of being anywhere near that bastard scares the hell out of me."
"You've got nothing to be ashamed of." Chloe leaned forward and gripped her hands. "Damn it, Carrie, you were thirteen years old when that pervert attacked you for the first time. On top of losing mom and dad and us being torn away from each other...give yourself a break. You're not superwoman. I'd be completely terrified if I'd been through all that and then had to face the possibility of that monster coming back."
"I don't like being scared." Carrie turned her hands so that she and Chloe were holding on to each other. "When I feel scared, I feel powerless, and that's how I felt every minute of every day from the time I was taken in by the state until you found me and rescued me."
"No one likes feeling scared or powerless, baby sister. But we all do, sometimes. Try and look at it this way. You went your three rounds with the devil already. Now it's your turn to sit back and let someone else fight the good fight." Chloe exhaled. "And I guess I should listen to myself, and just say, thank you. I'll get my stuff and move in with y'all this afternoon."
"I'm glad. What are your plans for the rest of