Blacklisted (Loveless, Texas #3) - Jay Crownover Page 0,6
go unanswered, but I’d been more focused on trying to figure out the woman who jumped in the middle of the club’s bloody business like it was nothing.
“Why doesn’t she ever leave her apartment?” I asked with a frown. “Doesn’t she have a job to go to? Or friends and family to see?” The Lawtons were a tight bunch. One of the reasons I knew a relationship with Kody would never work was because of how close she was to her older brothers. Case Lawton was the town sheriff, and far from being my biggest fan.
I’d nearly convinced myself I was in love with Kody a while back. It hurt when she broke things off, but it wasn’t unexpected. What was odd was the fact that I hadn’t seen any of the Lawtons, or anyone else for that matter, check on the good doctor any of the times I’d lurked outside her building. There was more to the story than I’d gotten secondhand, and I wanted to fill in the blanks.
Top sighed heavily and lifted a hand to stroke his beard. We were the same age, both of us pushing forty, but he’d gone gray before I had. His beard and dark hair were both liberally peppered with white and silver strands, whereas mine was still solid midnight and thick enough that it was a pain in the ass when it got long. Considering the hard and rough way we lived, it was almost a miracle neither of us was sporting a snowy-white head of hair.
“Didn’t you say she has someone after her? Maybe she’s just lying low because she’s scared. Normal people don’t know what to do when their lives are in constant danger. She isn’t like you, buddy. She’s not even like Kody.”
While it was true the two women looked startlingly alike, their overall demeanor and attitudes had nothing in common.
I frowned and kept my eyes trained on the front door of her apartment. She’d opened it exactly once in all the days I’d been observing her, and that was for a pizza delivery guy.
“If she’s in danger, shouldn’t the people who care about her have even more reason to make sure she’s okay?” I shook my head slightly. “I don’t get it.”
Top swore softly and shifted on the seat of his motorcycle. “What you’re gonna get is arrested if someone reports us for loitering again. Last time Case showed up he told you point-blank he didn’t want you hanging around this apartment or the woman inside. The sheriff already has you in his sights. Stop trying to provoke him.”
It was an old warning, one I’d learned to tune out. I wasn’t afraid of Case Lawton or the long arm of the law. I wasn’t afraid of anything, really, other than the unknown. Which was why I couldn’t stand waiting for the lady doctor to make her mind up about how the club could pay her back.
Top shifted on his bike again, his impatience evident. I was getting ready to tell him to leave; after all, we still were trying to track down Jed Coleman, the guy who’d nearly killed me. I thought that Jed was still locked up, so I’d dropped the ball when it came to watching my back and taking precautions. I had no clue he’d been released early on a technicality. I also had no idea he had figured out I was the one who took out his older brother, Jethro. Jed had spent his time in prison plotting to avenge his older brother. He’d nearly succeeded, but now it was our turn to seek out justice…we just had to find the man first. However, my train of thought completely faded away when the door to that silent, seemingly lonely apartment suddenly opened and a woman walked out.
She was on the tall side, and her long legs were encased in tight jeans. She was wearing an oversized hoodie although the temps in Texas were outrageously high, even at night. She also had on a dark baseball hat and a pair of giant dark sunglasses, as if those two things would make her less conspicuous rather than making her stand out like a sore thumb. Her head rotated as she scanned the parking lot of the apartment complex. She noticeably halted when she caught sight of the out-of-the-way spot where Top and I had been parked for the last couple of hours.
I cocked my head to the side and lifted my eyebrows as the woman