Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) by Olivia Jaymes (reading women .txt) 📕

longer. That you need to make your peace with him before he passes. I'm not sure that I'm a big proponent of that type of thinking. Because you can never make peace with someone that wants chaos."

Chaos. That was an excellent word to describe what followed Ben Owens through his life. By his own doing, of course.

"Those are some wise words."

He'd made Logan laugh even harder. "Shit, I don't have any wisdom. I'm just talking out of my ass most of the time. Just ask my wife, she'll tell you. Just...listen to me, Knox. Don't let anyone pressure you either way. This is your decision. Frankly, I trust your judgment. You'll do fine."

That was a huge statement. Logan Wright trusted Knox's judgment. Big, big stuff.

"I appreciate that."

"Let us know whatever you need. This case has become a priority since the fire this morning. You keep your girl safe."

Had it only been this morning? It seemed as if it was days ago. So much had happened in that short span of time.

One thing was for sure. No one was getting near Jenna.

Jenna had allowed Knox to hold and comfort her while she cried and sobbed, haunted by what she'd experienced in Brett Hedgcock's house. She couldn't stop the horrifying images of Lori with Brett, possibly begging for her life or even worse, being held captive by him to live out one of his sick fantasies. Even now that she'd somewhat pulled herself together and they'd arrived back at the safe house, she couldn't shake the feeling that Hedgcock was responsible for Lori's disappearance.

Knox had been wonderful, even holding her hand while he drove back, and never letting her think that he wasn't there for her. She was sure that she wouldn't have been able to deal with any of this without him. Funny, how she'd come to depend on him so quickly. She'd always been a little standoffish about being comforted or showing too much emotion around others. She liked thinking that she could deal with whatever the world threw her on her own. Today that image had been crushed.

"Do you want me to make you a drink?" Knox asked, his hand on a kitchen cabinet handle. "I saw a few bottles up here when I was looking around earlier."

She wouldn't mind a shot of whiskey to steady her nerves but she didn't want Eli Hammond to think that she had a drinking problem. She'd only met the former lawman and new co-worker of Knox's about ten minutes ago. He seemed like a nice man, perhaps closer to forty than thirty. He had a calm way about him when he shook her hand warmly, introducing himself. He could easily see the traces of tears on her cheeks but he didn't say anything, simply offering to pour her a glass of iced tea which she gratefully accepted. Crying so much had certainly left her dehydrated.

"I'm good." She held up her glass of tea. "Maybe later."

Eli sidled closer to the back door. "I think I'm going to go outside and check around the perimeter. Let me know if you need anything."

The other man slipped out of the door leaving Knox and Jenna alone.

"I think he's trying to give us privacy," Jenna said. "He seems like a nice guy."

"He is," Knox confirmed with a nod. "I don't know him super well. He's new and helped Luke on a case before he came here. But he seems to know what he's doing and I have to say that so far, my bosses have made good hires for the most part. There's been a few that couldn't hack it but we figured that out damn quick. There's nowhere to hide in our job. If you don't know what the hell you're doing, it's going to show."

She looked up at the clock. "When are you going to talk to Cal?"

Even if Knox left right away, he wouldn't be back until late in the evening.

Grimacing, he followed her gaze. "I need to leave as soon as possible, but I don't like the idea of leaving you here when you're so upset."

"That's sweet but you need to do this. I'll be fine," she assured him, giving him her best smile. "I got upset, that's true, but I'm not going to fall apart. You need to talk to your brother. I'll be okay here with Eli."

She didn't have the luxury of continuing to be upset. They had an investigation to do. She could fall apart later when it was all over. In fact, she was going to set aside some time to do just that.

Knox went outside to talk to Eli and then came back to kiss her goodbye. He told them not to wait dinner on him but he'd try and be home for it if he could. Jenna stood at the window watching him drive away, wishing she could go with him. Not this time, though. She'd been lucky so far that he'd brought her into his work.

"I'm a poor substitute for Knox but would you like to play a board game or cards? Maybe watch some television? It might help pass the time and get your mind off of things," Eli said. "Or I can just keep quiet and sit in the corner."

The idea of Eli sitting in the living room like a garden gnome had her smiling. Which she was sure was what he was hoping for when he said it.

"I wouldn't mind a game of cards. What did you have in mind? Gin rummy? Poker?"

Eli's face lit up. "You play poker?"

"I'll take all your money and have you