parked his wheelchair in the center of the room and crossed his arms.
Andie assessed all three ultra-high-strung men in her apartment and let out a sigh. Lord save her from drowning in testosterone.
“All right, now that everyone is calm. Let’s start at the beginning.” She turned to Cole, who seemed most likely to lose his cool and she couldn’t totally blame him considering what was at stake. “Cole, this is my friend Spencer who I told you about. He’s the one I showed the picture to, the one who I’d trust with my life.”
That last part she directed to Spencer before turning back to Cole. “I told Spencer he could show Hunter the photo—” She held up a hand before he could argue with her. “Hunter is my sister Jenna’s boyfriend and I would also trust him with my life.”
She heaved a weary sigh, hoping she thoroughly conveyed her impatience with these three. Turning to Hunter and Spencer, she said, “Cole is my new friend and he’s been honest with me.” She took a deep breath but said the words she realized were true. “I would trust him with my life.”
For a moment the silence was deafening. She didn’t dare risk a peek at Cole. It didn’t take a psychologist to see that the man had some trust issues. Probably for the best considering his line of work. But she had a feeling he wasn’t used to people putting their trust in him quite so easily and she half wondered if he even believed her statement.
But it was the truth. Kisses and attraction aside, she trusted him.
As she faced down the stares of these three jaded men, she knew without a doubt that they thought she was crazy. Or, at the very least, naïve to the point of idiocy. She could try to correct them, but what would be the point? All three of them were too stubborn to see what was right in front of their faces so it would seem it was up to her to spell it all out.
Hunter broke the silence first, his hands balled up in fists on his lap. “Andie, I don’t know what this guy told you, but you need to listen to me. I looked into this Dagger from the tattoo shop.”
She could practically feel the tension oozing from Cole and guilt niggled at her gut. “How exactly did you look into him?” she asked Hunter.
He and Spencer stared up at her with matching looks of surprise. “Are you listening to Hunter?” Spencer said. “This guy has been lying to you.”
Hunter’s gaze never left hers and he started talking as if Cole wasn’t even in the room. “If this guy is connected to Anthony Gallagher or the Corada gang—”
“Who did you talk to?” Cole’s gravelly voice shocked them all, Andie included. She’d never hear him sound so…scary. She whirled around to face him and saw the intensity that was written all over his face.
When Hunter just glared at him, Cole stood, dwarfing Andie and the rest of the room with his size. “You spoke to your contacts at the police, correct?” He didn’t wait for confirmation. “Who did you talk to?”
Andie shivered, fear coursing through her on Cole’s behalf. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like not knowing who you could trust—even among your own friends. Her expression as pleading when she turned to Hunter, “Please, just answer him.”
Hunter glanced at Spencer before turning back to Cole, his expression guarded. “I called in a favor from my old partner, Eddie Gonzalez.”
Andie was fairly certain she was the only one in the room who could see the change in Cole. The man was not exactly what anyone would call emotive but she could read him easily enough, and flicker in those gray eyes? That was relief. Not to mention the way his breathing evened out as some of the tension in his shoulders eased up.
“So that’s a good thing?” she asked softly.
He gave her a small nod. She meant to give him a reassuring smile—one that conveyed camaraderie. Instead her gaze met his and she had a terrible feeling that her smile turned just plain moony in the face of his hotness.
Jeez, she had to get this crush under control before she did something really stupid and started falling for him.
Spencer broke the silence. “Does someone want to tell me what is going on here?”
Only for Andie. There was no way he would have explained himself or his assignment to these clowns