Low Sided by A.J. Downey (best detective novels of all time txt) 📕

face. Making some sort of decision, he took my hand from the arm of the chair and upended it, spilling something on a length of chain into it.

He curled my fingers around it, my gaze never leaving his and said to me, “Trust us and we trust you. Cross us, and… well… I think it goes without saying. Twice now, you’ve proven to be one of us and if you’re amenable to it, it’s no greater sense of family, safety, or purpose you could hope to find.”

He bent at the waist and kissed the top of my head. He said, “Thank you, Raven, for saving and patching up my boys. We’ll never be even, but maybe this gesture, this token of appreciation can give you some kind of idea how grateful we really are.”

I looked at his retreating back as he went for the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle and turned to look back at me.

“You have Mace to thank for what you’ve got in your hand there, and the keys to the proverbial kingdom. I hope you realize that.”

And with that, he went out, closing the door behind him.

I dropped my eyes to my hand and uncurled my fingers. It took no time at all to recognize the cross in my hand. I had stared at it long enough while Max had been raping me. Had had the dangling, crucified figure and its gold filigree haunt my dreams for countless nights.

I looked up sharply, just as Mace’s familiar and comforting figure filled the door. His expression at once wounded and guarded.

“Close the door,” I said a bit sharply, and he stepped in and did.

I stood as he turned back around to me and I held out the crucifix as though a venomous spider were perched in my palm.

“Did you really?” I asked. “Did you kill him… for me?” I asked.

He searched my face and nodded once, carefully. I dropped the metal as though it burned me and flew into Mace’s arms.

He didn’t hesitate, his arms going around me tight as he held me close, and I crashed. I crashed into him and from the adrenaline and under the sheer, monumental weight of the absolute crushing relief that fell from the sky as quickly and as hard as that foul gold necklace had fallen to the floor.

27

Mace…

“Shhh, I’ve got you,” I soothed as she trembled, clinging to me tightly. She didn’t cry loudly, instead, her body shook with silent sobs that I couldn’t see. Not with her face buried in my shoulder like it was. I put my lips to the curve where her long, slender, beautiful neck sloped in that perfect sweep to the rounded cap of her shoulder, and I breathed her in deep – that rich, organic, herbal scent – green, alive, and underneath just purely her. God, did I miss the silk of her skin, her smell, just everything about having her in my arms.

“I’m so sorry,” she sniffled, and I shook my head.

“No, you were right. I’m the one that should be sorry,” I told her, and it was true.

I shouldn’t have gone behind her back and ham-handed the situation. Even if my heart was in the right place where she was concerned, I’d violated her right to privacy and it’d been stupid. It’d almost cost me everything.

“No, about being a stupid hot mess,” she said, and I chuckled and held her a little tighter.

“I love you,” I murmured and marveled at her ridiculousness. She was anything but. She was more human than any other human I’d encountered, and it was one more of the things I loved about her.

“Let me take you home,” I whispered into her hair and she nodded against my shoulder. We stood there for I don’t know how long, and I just simply held her. No rush, she needed it and I needed her. It was such a perfect moment, a sweet reunion, I didn’t want it to end right away either.

Eventually, she reluctantly pulled away, sweeping her middle fingers under her eyes to wipe away the last vestiges of her tears.

“You good?” I asked gently, and she nodded.

“Better,” she said with a weak smile. “Thank you.”

I nodded and reached out. She put her hand in mine and I gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I need to take a quick leak,” I told her, and she nodded. I opened the door to Mav’s office, and we stepped out into the hall, both of us pausing outside the chapel door. The door was opened narrowly, and we glanced in.

Dahlia was sitting at the head of the table, Tic’s curly blond head of hair beneath her palm which was gently stroking his forehead and smoothing over his hair as she murmured low to him. Her voice was too low for us to hear but clearly soothing, her touch loving and light; and Tic? Tic looked up at her with this level of adoration I didn’t think he was capable of.

I looked at Raven and was surprised to find a raw, naked want in her expression as she looked at them. I looked back, my mind working to decipher the meaning of that look on my girl’s face, saddened to realize what it could mean… that Raven didn’t feel that bond from me. That she didn’t feel that she was loved like that, and I wondered how much of that was what’d I’d done, going behind her back the way I did.

If only I could make her realize that I loved her more than what she was looking at. I put an arm around her waist, a hand on her hip, and drew myself closer to her, leaning over slightly and pressing a kiss to her temple. She startled and looked to me, and I slipped off to deal with the urgent need from my bladder.

When I stepped out, she was right where I left her, staring at the floor with a light blush on her cheeks. I