Being with the Bang Shift crew helped her more than she’d ever anticipated. Hanging out at the shop, working on cars, worked so well to distract her during the day, and visiting with Anna, Xan, and Roxie in the evenings had been crucial. Maya and Heather even joined them a couple of times after they’d gotten back in town. They’d been gone the first weekend she got there. Something about a planned weekend with Heather’s old friend, Caitlin Cooper. Shelby remembered the name since she’d seen some of Caitlin’s news reports.
It was during those moments with them all that she’d slowly vented more and more about what she’d gone through. With the men, they’d comforted her with threats of bodily harm to Rick and Mason. With the women, they’d forged bonds of sisterhood-out-to-destroy-men. If it wasn’t for all of them, she would’ve been holed up in a hotel room crying her eyes out.
Not that her time off changed anything. Mason had discovered she’d deceived him. How, she still didn’t know. Bear had reluctantly kept in touch with Rick, but there hadn’t been any new developments. Or so he’d said. What all he really knew she had no idea. She was just surprised she mattered enough to the guys for them to reach out to her boss.
Frankly, she hadn’t been able to find the strength to care about the details. All she could manage was focusing on one moment after the next. If she looked at the big picture, grief would creep over her. So she’d hidden, and she’d worked.
But her heart was still broken.
At night, the pain had been strongest. Whenever she’d shut her eyes, all she saw was Mason’s pain-ravaged face. She’d never forget the way he looked at her when he’d revealed he knew the truth. He’d been furious, but there had been more bleeding through, his soul open, and in that moment, she’d seen how much she’d truly hurt him. She would never forgive herself for destroying him like that. Her logical side tried to tell her she was just doing her job—just like everyone had told her over the last week—but her heart kept screaming in denial.
Being with them all had helped. Her pity-party was at a tolerable level now, but it was time to return and face the truth. She was nowhere near ready to see Mason again, wasn’t sure what she’d do when she did, but she’d deal with that when the time came. For now, she was ready to be back home and talk to her team.
Starting with Viola.
She’d missed having her around the last week. They’d chatted some, but it had been brief. They had a lot of catching up to do, so when she reached town, she decided to head straight to Viola’s house. It was Friday evening, so it was too late to go into the office anyway, and if she timed it like this on purpose, she wasn’t going to admit that. She wanted to speak with Viola without the scrutiny of everyone else at the office. When she reached a stoplight, she fired off a text to Viola to let her know she was coming over.
Shelby rolled to a stop in Viola’s driveway, immediately thrown off by what she saw. The front door was open, but Viola’s car was not there. Frowning, she got out and walked slowly to the door, cursing when she instinctively reached for a weapon she didn’t have. She didn’t see anything suspicious except for the door being ajar. She hoped Dave was home and had left it open, and nothing serious had happened. When he came jogging out, she started.
“Jesus, you scared me,” he said, surprised.
“Likewise.” She chuckled nervously. “I was hoping to see Viola.”
He shook his head. “She’s working late on a case. I’m headed out of town. On business.” His eyes darted, giving her the impression he wasn’t being honest about something.
“Okay. I’ll catch her at the office.” But not tonight.
He turned and locked the door, not saying anything else. She guessed he was running late for a flight or something. Not wanting to delay him, she got in her car and headed to Darrell’s house. If Viola was a long shot, Darrell probably was, too, but she was not going to the office. Not yet. If Darrell wasn’t home, she could pat herself on the back for trying to reach out to not one but two people on her team, and then lock herself inside her apartment for the weekend.
It