her for that.
“What about prints?” Ben asks.
Logan shakes his head. “No luck there. There were too many in the car and none that matched anyone in the system. We believe that since they abandoned the car and didn’t take Cole with them, he should be safe. Even so, I think it would be best if Ben continues to stay with you to keep an eye on things. I can also have a car stationed outside your house until we’re certain they’ve fled the area.”
“I doubt I’ll even sleep tonight, but that sounds great, thank you.” For the foreseeable future, I want to keep Cole as close to Ben and me as possible.
Logan nods. “I need to get back to the station. Take care of yourself.”
Ben stands to walk with him to the door, and I lift Cole up to take him to the portable play pen. At least I can move it around to keep him in sight while he sleeps. As I’m pulling the blanket over him, I catch a thread of Logan and Ben’s whispered conversation in the doorway.
“Did you find him?”
“I have a lead on his last place of residence, but no one’s seen him in months, so it’s possible he’s moved on.”
I hear Ben’s heavy sigh and my heart slows to a heavy thud in my chest. What in the hell are they talking about?
“Thanks, man.”
The door opens and I heft Cole’s pen so it’s shadowed behind the couch. My hands are trembling with a combination of rage and shock, and I can’t believe there’s something Ben is hiding from me that could possibly help find who took Cole.
He appears in the doorway, a hand rubbing his neck with his eyes downcast.
“Was that about Mason?”
Ben’s head jerks up and he says softly, “No.”
“Then what is it about?” After the horrors of the past few days, the last thing I want are more secrets—or more surprises.
“Livvie not now.” His face is hard and closed-off, and it sparks to life the dregs of anger that have been building since this whole mess started.
“No!” I yell. “I’ve had enough of wondering what’s going on inside that head of yours. And bullshit that it doesn’t have to do with Cole. You wouldn’t be asking Logan to check in on someone right now if it didn’t have to do with Cole.”
“I’m telling you right now, Livvie, this isn’t something I want to discuss, so drop it.”
“After what we just went through, what we’ve been building, I think you owe it to me to explain. Let me in, something.”
He doesn’t answer; his facial expression doesn’t even change. My sinuses begin to tickle, but I force myself not to cry—again—even though I want to. I stand in front of him, feeling like I’m wide open, baring my soul for him, but he doesn’t give me anything. And that hurts so much worse.
His expression hardens further. “I told you what I could give you a long time ago, Liv,” he says, his voice rough. “I told you what I was capable of. Either way, this business,” he gestures with a finger in a circle, “has nothing to do with you.”
He gives me one last hard look then brushes past me.
I wake later that night to an empty bed. I’d gotten so used to Ben’s warmth that the cool sheets beside me make me frown. Sliding from underneath the comforter, I grab my robe from the rocking chair, slipping it on as I take the stairs down to the first floor. Hank barks outside, and the sound leads me to the back porch where I find Ben. I stop in the doorway, the cool night air swirling around my bare legs.
Ben is sitting with his head cradled in his hands, wearing a pair of sweats sans his customary black T-shirt. Normally, the sight of his bare body would send my hormones into overdrive, but this feels wrong. This feels like the Ben from the night of the break-in, the one who has a penchant for leaving. A hollow feeling takes up residence in my stomach.
“Ben?” I pause in the doorway, unsure if I want to even have this conversation. Maybe it would be better all-around if I were to just turn right back around and pull the covers over my head like a child who's afraid of the dark.
He turns to look at me, his face pale in the yellow cast from the porch light. He clears his throat. “I’ve been thinking… Maybe this wasn’t