The Trouble With Love (11 page)

Sabrina gnawed her lip and swiped at the tears still flowing from her eyes, "I don't want to get you involved, Luke.  I've caused enough trouble for you."

"I want to do this, sugar...I want to help you.  Cassie is my first consideration though, protecting her and our baby is my priority."

"I understand..." Sabrina did understand protecting family first.  That was her priority too, which was why she was helping Gabe.
"Maybe we could talk to them and see if they have some advice.  But whatever they say, we're leaving here as soon as we talk to them."

She heard Cole groan beside her, but ignored him.  He didn't matter to her at this point...he'd made his position perfectly clear to her.  "Is there a hotel in town?"

Cassie spoke up then, "There's a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of
Bowie
that's decent.  Want me to call and make you a reservation?  I know the lady who owns it..." she chuckled then finished, "She was my fifth grade teacher."

"Yes, please...that would be perfect."

"I'll make those calls and let you know as soon as I hear something," Luke told her and headed for the kitchen.  Cole just stood beside her as stiff as a board, anger radiating off of him in waves.  Well, he could roast in that
anger, she thought, her safety was no longer his concern.
..not that it ever was.  She'd just let herself be fooled into thinking that he was a man who cared about her...one she could trust.

***

Against Cole's protests, Luke drove her to the Double B and she and Gabe
had
gathered their things, then he
took them
to the bed and breakfast where Cassie h
ad made reservations.

They were going to share a room, because in Sabrina's estimation, there was safety in numbers.  Gabe wouldn't be alone if someone tried to get to him, and they wouldn't be looking for a couple, which is how they'd
checked in
.
  N
ot that there were any other guests in the place
, i
t seemed like she and Gabe were the only ones.

A nice gray
-
haired woman had helped them get settled in their room in the quaint, but cozy house, and told them breakfast was at eight tomorrow morning.  She gave them towels and toiletries, and showed them where the bathroom was down the hall.

Sabrina looked
up from the clothes she was folding to put in the dress to Gabe who was sitting on the other double bed and asked, "You want the bathroom first?"

"What happened with you and the Sheriff, sis?  You left with him, why'd you come back with someone else?" he asked her, his voice edgy and protective, like he wanted to beat the crap out of Cole again.

"Cole's out of the picture, Gabe...
" she told him and felt her eyes burning.  "
Luke is going to help us get with the feds, then we're getting out of
Bowie
.  We'll find someplace to hide that's safe."

"You have a job, Bri...you can't just pitch it all to help me.  I won't let you."

"I have another week of vacation left
...
but I don't care
about that
, Gabe. You're more important to me than that job."  And he was, she would quit tomorrow if it meant that he didn't get killed.  That he was safe.

Gabe groaned and flopped back on the bed throwing his arm over his eyes, "I forgot how damned stubborn you are."

Sabrina smiled and stuffed her underwear in the top drawer then shut it.  "Not anymore stubborn than you, brother."

He snorted then peeped out from under his arm and said, "So, why is the Sheriff out of the picture now?
  You two looked pretty damned cozy in the kitchen.
"

Sucking
in a breath
, Sabrina
held onto the water that rushed to her eyes, a common occurrence the last couple of hours
.
She was not a crier, had never been one, but it seemed
like
she was now. 
"Let's just say he's not the man I thought he was, and leave it at that, ok?" 

She was
not
going to discuss Cole with her brother, she'd save that for later when she had the time to fall apart.
  She kept her back to him and walked to the closet and hung up her clothes, then
put her suitcase in the bottom.  Going over to the bed, she took her Sig out of the holster and checked the
clip
to make sure it was full, then flipped off the safety and put it on the night table, so it was ready in case she needed it quickly.

Her purse was beside the bed and she picked it up and took out her extra
clip
and shoved it under the spare pillow on the bed.  She looked up to see Gabe staring at her strangely.  "What?"

"It's strange to see my little sister handling a gun like that...makes me realize the danger you're putting yourself in every day.  I don't like it."

"But it's okay for you to do
it
?" She gave a brittle laugh then said, "You don't think I've been worrying about you for years?  That I didn't worry about Kenny?"

Pain flickered in his eyes and he said, "That's different..."

"How the hell do you figure it's different, Gabe?  You and Kenny took chances that I'd never take. 
You
still take them..."
  If he said it was because she was a woman, she was going to pick up that gun and use it on him.  That's about what Cole had said to her the day she went after James Barton.
..
and
what half the men in her department
thought
.

"You're my little sister, that's how it's different
.  Kenny and I had
military backgrounds
, and the chances we took were calculated risks.
  We'd faced those same situations while we were deployed
, we were
used to thinking on our feet and improvising. 
We
certainly didn't want you taking th
ose chances
though
.  He was damned scared when you joined the force...so was I.
"

"
And look where
all that training
got Kenny..." she said with a sob
then told him,
"I don't take chances, Gabe...I'm very careful and work my ass off to make sure I stay sharp
."

"Tell that to the bullet with your name on it, Squirt."

"I tell you what," she said thoughtfully, "The day you decide to stop taking chances...when you quit carrying a gun...I'll quit too."

Gabe's jaw worked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn't say it.  He just nodded his head and laid back on the bed huffing out a frustrated breath.

"You taking the bathroom first, or am I?" she asked him again.

"You go ahead...I'll just take a nap."

***

Cole looked at the clock on his nightstand like he'd done every hour since he'd gotten home and laid down in the big empty bed in his room.  As he expected, it was one hour later,
and he had one hour less sleep than he needed.  He was tired, exhausted really, and emotionally wrung out, but he couldn't stop worrying about Sabrina.

After his careless comment to her, she'd essentially frozen him out.  He didn't really blame her, it had been callus and thoughtless, and he'd regretted it as soon as he'd voiced it
, b
ut words couldn't be unsaid. And he was afraid she'd never speak to him again.

Now, she was out at that bed and breakfast with her brother, and
Cole
couldn't protect her.  He'd called Elmer and had him send deputies by there once an hour, but that wouldn't stop anything from happening to her.  They might know about it, but by the time they could do something about it...it'd be too late.

If he'd just kept his fucking mouth shut, she'd probably be here with him now.  He could have convinced her to come here...even if he did have to put up with her asshole brother to get her here.
  Cole swallowed down the emotion that surged up in his throat,
and
the frustration he'd been fighting since Luke had dropped him off.

The house was too damned quiet, and he missed her.
  Cole threw back the covers and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. 
It was almost daybreak anyway, h
e'd get dressed then ride his bike over to that bed and breakfast to apologize to her, and beg her to forgive him, if that's what it took.  Accepting that she was out of his life for good
, or that she could get killed,
was not something he was willing to do.

An hour later, Cole was riding his bike faster than he should have on the curving roads that led out of
Bowie
.  The wind in his face helped cool off the anger that burned right under his skin, but did nothing to alleviate the fear pulsing through him that something was going to happen to Sabrina.  That had been a constant since last night.
 

The hackles at the back of his neck were on end, and he knew that feeling well from being a cop for so long.  Some bad shit was coming down the pike and he'd better be ready for it.
  He just hoped that he could do something about it before it went down.

Cole pulled his bike up to the curb and shut it off then took off his helmet and slung his leg over the seat.  He stood there a moment taking in the cute gingerbread house with the
frilly
white
lace
curtains in the windows.  He knew the woman that owned this house, and it suited her.  After her husband died ten years ago or so, she started taking in boarders and guests to help supplement her teacher's salary.
  He'd helped her out a couple of times over the years when she needed things fixed.

Putting his helmet on the seat of the bike, he walked to the front door and knocked. 
The door opened and Mrs. Simpson smiled widely when she recognized him, then held her arms up for him to lean down for a kiss.  "Cole
!
  What brings you out to my neck of the woods today?"

He stood
and was about
to tell her he needed to talk to the woman that checked in last night, but he didn't have to...Sabrina was standing at the foot of the stai
rs, her face grim and unsmiling, her gun strapped under her arm.
  Seeing her curvy body outlined in the white scooped neck t-shirt and tight jeans made his mouth water
, but t
he look on her face made him want to
run back outside and haul ass
.
  Nothing about her mood had changed since last night.

He said her name
and she spun on her heel and headed back up the stairs.  "Excuse me, Mrs. Simpson, I need to talk to Sabrina," he
told her
then walked past her
and
up the stairs after
Sabrina
.

Cole caught up with
Sabrina
at the landing and grabbed her arm.  "Let
g
o
of my arm
, Cole.  I don't have anything to say to you," she
said then
tugged her arm, but he didn't let it go.

"I have things to say to you, darlin'," he told her in a lo
w growl.

Sabrina didn't want to hear what he had to say.  He'd said all she needed to hear last night and told him so
now
, "I'm done listening to you, Cole.  I understand perfectly where you stand...there's nothing more to say."

Pulling her to him, he wrapped his arms around her and she struggled against him.  "Let me go..." she ground out.

But he didn't let her go, he
looked deeply into her eyes, then
leaned down and kissed her instead, tenderly with so much emotion behind the kiss it made her want to cry
again
. 
Sabrina
stood s
till and didn't kiss him back
,
trying to hold onto her anger
,
as much as she wanted to drown herself in
the passion
.