did like the company. After everything that happened, she felt confused, lost, and having someone around helped her from drowning in her sorrow. Okay, she’d been dog paddling in it for weeks, but she’d stayed afloat because Viola had been here.
“You know. You’re my best friend,” Shelby told her. Viola’s eyes twinkled as she smiled again.
“Is that because your brother doesn’t count?” she asked with a smile, and Shelby noticed a subject-change when she saw it. “That hunk of a man can come visit you anytime he wants.”
Axle had stayed with her the first few nights she was out of the hospital, but he’d gotten called in on assignment. If Viola hadn’t been here to watch her, she was sure he’d defied orders to stay by her side.
“He’s too bossy to count.” Shelby shrugged and got back to what she’d been trying to say. “If you get this apartment you’re looking at, I want to hang out more. I think I’m going to demand it, actually,” she teased.
Viola snorted. “I might be able to accommodate you.”
“No might about it, girl. If I have to lure you out under the pretense of adopting kittens, I will.”
“Oh, that’s evil.” They both chuckled. “Does that mean you’re not moving to Mayflower and starting a new life there?”
Shelby chewed her lip. The idea held more appeal than she wanted to admit. Her phone buzzing saved her from having to answer, though. “Ah, it’s my brother.” She’d already had a missed call from him earlier.
Viola smirked and got up.
“Hello?”
“It’s about time you picked up.”
“Hey, I tried calling you yesterday.” She rolled her eyes and leaned back. “And I’m allowed to shower without taking my phone into the bathroom. How was your mission?”
He grunted. “I can’t talk about that. What’s the deal with Showalter?”
“I’m doing okay, by the way,” she grumbled, since he hadn’t started off by asking something related to her injury.
“Shelby, answer the question. What’s going on with Showalter?”
“Um, what do you mean?” she hedged.
“Don’t play coy with me. When I was there, the man lorded over you like a hired bodyguard, and you were too drugged up for me to get the story.”
She hadn’t seen Mason since the day she’d been shot. Viola later told her that he’d stayed at the hospital that first week, often sitting by her side when she’d been heavily medicated and sleeping, but once he was convinced she’d make a full recovery, he’d left. He hadn’t tried contacting her either, and she knew better than to reach out to him.
“I’m still on medication.” It was the truth, but she wasn’t on an IV drip anymore. “And you expect me to believe you haven’t already dug into him?”
“Your FBI team didn’t tell me dick. Hid behind red tape.”
“And of course you didn’t try other avenues.”
He sighed. “I spoke to Hunter Anderson, former mafia and current member of a mercenary group the feds had you infiltrate before putting you undercover at a sex club. Jesus Christ, Shelby.”
She winced. “The mercenaries worked for the government. They’re good guys—”
“Oh, I bet. It’s why they hide behind a car shop.”
She wasn’t surprised he got the information from one of the guys from the garage, although why it was Hunter, she didn’t know. She figured Bear would’ve been the one to update him. Not that it mattered. “Axle, I’m not going to dog those men. They’re great guys. Hearts of gold. And loyal to a fault. That’s more than I can say about everyone on my other team.” Because she was part of the Bang Shift now. Maybe not on their payroll, but the bond was there.
“I’m sorry about your friend, Darrell, but if he wasn’t already dead, he would be.”
“I know. But you would’ve had to have gotten in line to take him out.”
“That’s cute you think so.”
She scoffed, but she also knew he’d have done whatever necessary to keep her safe.
“He’s not just an informant,” Axle said, no longer talking about Darrell, and not really asking.
“No,” she answered anyway. “But it’s a mess, and I’m not ready to go into it all.”
“Did he hurt you?” Axle asked in that deadly calm voice of his.
“It’s the other way around. I’m still coming to terms with everything, and that includes what I did to Mason.”
“Mason,” he muttered.
“Yeah, Mason. In fact, he’s the reason I called you last night.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”
Instead of answering him, she said, “He has a brother. Name’s Caleb Showalter. When I was,