Wicked as Lies (Wicked & Devoted 3)

Zy clenched his teeth and cursed as he sent her a gaze that burned with anger and unquenched need. “Bye.”

Her reaction was irrational, and Tessa blamed leftover adrenaline and emotion, but the thought of him leaving was nearly enough to make her weep. Still, she had to let him go—but it was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. “Bye.”

November 17

The weekend passed so slowly, Zy thought he’d lose his mind. A hundred times, he picked up the phone to call Tessa. Every fucking time, he put it back down. If he’d called her, he would have insisted on being with her. And if he’d gotten anywhere close to her, he would have pulled her into his arms to reassure her—and himself—that she was all right. And once she’d been that close, he couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t have kissed her. Wouldn’t have touched her. If he’d done that, even once, he would have done anything to feel her against him, under him—alive, safe, naked, and his.

So he’d stayed away and waited for her to call.

She hadn’t.

And now that Monday had finally rolled around, Zy was about to lose his fucking mind. Yeah, he knew the colonel himself had stayed with her that night, just like he knew the bosses and their brother-in-law, Kimber’s husband, Deke, had rotated guard duty the rest of the weekend. She’d been safe.

But how upset had she been? How much had she needed a friend?

When Tessa finally walked into the office a little before eight, she looked so damn gorgeous with pale curls skimming her breast-hugging gray sweater and black sheath skirt that it fucked with his head. But at least he was seeing her. He could breathe again.

“Zy.” She looked him over like she was thrilled to see him and wanted to touch him every bit as badly as he wanted to touch her.

“You didn’t call.”

She glanced down almost guiltily. “You did so much, I didn’t want to make anything harder for you.”

Fuck. Everyone knew he’d fallen for her, even Tessa. So he wasn’t allowed to touch her. Yeah, he got it. He hated it, but he got it.

“You okay?”

“Let her breathe, Garrett,” Hunter admonished, crossing the foyer to step between them. “You okay?”

What the hell? He’d just asked the same question.

“Fine.” She gave Edgington a smile that said she wasn’t fine at all, and Zy’s worry multiplied.

“The baby okay?”

Her smile turned more genuine. “Hallie seems no worse for the wear, and I think she enjoyed playing with the other kids this weekend. Thank you for that.”

“Our pleasure,” the boss assured, then turned to him with a glare. “Don’t you have an assignment?”

Yeah. To prove his best friend was innocent, even though they thought he was guilty as fuck. Zy was really starting to resent these assholes. “On it.”

“Good.” Hunter shot him a biting smile and gestured him to his desk.

Jesus. Tessa had lost her father, but she’d seemed to gain a handful of overprotective daddies.

Glowering, he made his way back to his corner of the building, threw himself into his chair, and bit back a curse.

Trees sipped his coffee and looked up from his screen. “Tessa okay?”

“She’s fine, but something is wrong with everyone else around her. They’ve turned into fucking hens.”

His buddy laughed. “Would you like some good news?”

“Fuck, I could use it.”

“I did some digging this weekend. Madison has a friend who’s a reporter at the local rag, and her beat is covering city politics. Apparently, Tessa’s ex spent Friday night in the hospital and the weekend in the county jail.”

Zy froze. “No shit. He couldn’t muster the money for bail?”

“He was denied bail—at his uncle’s request.”

Seriously? “Even though he weaseled Cash out of trouble after he smashed Tessa’s window?”

“Yep. When word broke that Cash had threatened to beat and rape his baby mama and that Councilman Bennett had allowed his nephew to get off scot-free once, the women of the community—led by his own wife—had a collective shit fit and demanded Cash spend the weekend in the clink. The rest of the city council seemed to agree. Bennett issued a statement that said he hadn’t seen the harm in helping his wayward nephew when Cash had stupidly broken a window while drunk, but the councilman drew the line at his nephew being violent with the woman who’d given him a daughter.”

Thank God for politicians and appearances. “So where is Cash now?”

Trees smiled. “He’ll be seeing the judge in less than an hour. The consensus is that he’ll probably be shown to a court-mandated rehab facility.”

Rather than prison. Zy would prefer to see him go down, but if the asshole got some help and he learned a lesson or two—primarily to stay away from Tessa—he’d count it as a win. “At least that would get him out of her hair for…what? Sixty days?”