Truth Be Told (Blackbridge Security Book 4) Marie James (latest novels to read TXT) 📖

the situation, checking his surroundings for danger. It makes me proud and sad he’s had to do it all at the same time.

“Go wait in the truck for your mom.”

He walks outside without hesitation.

Cooper, thankfully distracted by his cell phone, doesn’t even notice when Tinley walks out of her room with a packed bag, and we leave him in the living room without a word.

“He’s going to trash the house again,” she mutters as we walk to the truck.

“Maybe not.” He will. “He knows he wants it to sell quickly, and more damage would hinder that.”

She sighs, not taking my reasoning as gospel. She knows her brother better than I do after all.

She melts into the passenger seat, eyes fluttering closed as if getting away from the house finally gives her the permission to relax that she’s been waiting for.

She doesn’t ask where we’re going or argue when I pull up outside of the house I’ve rented. She’s bone-tired, both mentally and physically exhausted.

“I’ll make sure Alex gets to school and home from practice every day,” I tell her as I turn off the truck.

“Whose car is that?” Alex asks, not making a move to climb out.

“That’s—” I look over at Tin, deciding what the best approach is. I hate that I used to know everything about her, and now, even though many things are familiar, she’s still so much a stranger to me. “It’s a rental until I can get your mom’s car looked at.”

Tinley frowns, but she doesn’t open her mouth to argue.

The silver car parked in the driveway isn’t a rental, but I know she wouldn’t just readily accept it. I don’t think I’m getting away with an argument either when Alex jumps out of the truck and pointing out to her that it’s her favorite color. I know I’m in for it when she rolls her head on the seat and glares at me.

“It’s for him,” I specify before she can argue. “He wants you safe, not stranded someplace when the car won’t start. Yes, it helps you too, having something reliable, but it’s also for him.”

Her mouth snaps closed, but I still don’t feel like I’ve won.

“Come on, let’s get you two settled.”

The house has three bedrooms, something I know Tinley doesn’t miss. It’s also fully furnished, a short-term rental probably used more for people attending conferences or needing an escape from the grind of their daily lives.

Alex is excited about the huge television in the living room and the pool table on the enclosed back patio, but Tinley seems unable to take her eyes off the bed.

“You can take a nap. I’ll stick around long enough for you to get some sleep.”

Her eyes dart to mine.

Please ask me to stay.

“If I go to sleep now, I won’t sleep well tonight,” she says instead.

“Check this out!” Alex hollers from somewhere deeper in the house before she can tell me to leave. “Did you see this?”

I grin at his excitement, leaving Tinley standing in the bedroom she’s selected, grateful my son just gave me the opportunity to hang out with them even if it’s just for a little bit longer.

“Have you never played one of these before?” I ask as I join Alex in the game room. His eyes are wide as he looks down at the pinball machine.

“Do you have any quarters? They had one at that little pizza place, but some ass—some jerk broke it before many people got to play it.”

“Doesn’t require quarters, just pull the lever back.”

We spend thirty minutes in the game room, Alex entertained by the game before Tinley joins us. Her hair is wet from a shower, piled on her head.

I want my lips on her throat, my hands all over her body. My mouth between her legs again.

I just want her.

But we haven’t spoken about that night in the hotel. Other than comforting her at the funeral earlier, we haven’t touched. There’s no longing in her tired eyes when she looks at me. I don’t see the heat she couldn’t control that night, and it’s killing me because I want her with every fiber of my being.

“Do you have one of these at your house?” Alex asks, his eyes staying locked on the game as he tries to keep the little ball from falling out of play.

“No, but I could get one,” I answer simply.

Tinley clears her throat, and when I look at her, she’s glaring in my direction.

“You’ll have to get up a little earlier for school,” Tinley says instead of confronting me about building Alex’s hope about moving to St. Louis.

“It’s no problem, Mom. I’ll just go to bed earlier.”

Tinley and I both look at him.

“Who are you and what did you do with my son?” Alex just smiles as he continues to play. I think the grin makes Tinley calm down some, a little hint that the future isn’t as bleak as she’s let herself believe.

Chapter 24

Tinley

Sometimes there is a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

The rainbow I’ve tried to celebrate since my mother’s death is that Ignacio was right. Cooper didn’t trash the house while we were at the rental property last week. The pot of gold is that he was gone when we returned to the house, leaving a note that demanded to let him know when the house sold.

Of course, the bracelet my dad gave me when I turned thirteen and my father’s wedding band Mom kept after he died are gone as well, but getting upset because my brother is awful will only give me a headache, and the tears I’ve cried since I came into her room are already doing a good enough job at making my temples throb.

I touch each item of hers, not wanting to get rid of anything because each item holds sentimental value to me.

The long, red socks she’d pull up to her knees over her lounge pants were her favorite despite the tiny hole in the toe of one.

The faded sweatshirt she