Axle had stayed with her the first few nights she was out of the hospital, but he’d gotten called in on assignment. If Viola hadn’t been here to watch her, she was sure he’d defied orders to stay by her side.
“He’s too bossy to count.” Shelby shrugged and got back to what she’d been trying to say. “If you get this apartment you’re looking at, I want to hang out more. I think I’m going to demand it, actually,” she teased.
Viola snorted. “I might be able to accommodate you.”
“No might about it, girl. If I have to lure you out under the pretense of adopting kittens, I will.”
“Oh, that’s evil.” They both chuckled. “Does that mean you’re not moving to Mayflower and starting a new life there?”
Shelby chewed her lip. The idea held more appeal than she wanted to admit. Her phone buzzing saved her from having to answer, though. “Ah, it’s my brother.” She’d already had a missed call from him earlier.
Viola smirked and got up.
“Hello?”
“It’s about time you picked up.”
“Hey, I tried calling you yesterday.” She rolled her eyes and leaned back. “And I’m allowed to shower without taking my phone into the bathroom. How was your mission?”
He grunted. “I can’t talk about that. What’s the deal with Showalter?”
“I’m doing okay, by the way,” she grumbled, since he hadn’t started off by asking something related to her injury.
“Shelby, answer the question. What’s going on with Showalter?”
“Um, what do you mean?” she hedged.
“Don’t play coy with me. When I was there, the man lorded over you like a hired bodyguard, and you were too drugged up for me to get the story.”
She hadn’t seen Mason since the day she’d been shot. Viola later told her that he’d stayed at the hospital that first week, often sitting by her side when she’d been heavily medicated and sleeping, but once he was convinced she’d make a full recovery, he’d left. He hadn’t tried contacting her either, and she knew better than to reach out to him.
“I’m still on medication.” It was the truth, but she wasn’t on an IV drip anymore. “And you expect me to believe you haven’t already dug into him?”
“Your FBI team didn’t tell me dick. Hid behind red tape.”
“And of course you didn’t try other avenues.”
He sighed. “I spoke to Hunter Anderson, former mafia and current member of a mercenary group the feds had you infiltrate before putting you undercover at a sex club. Jesus Christ, Shelby.”
She winced. “The mercenaries worked for the government. They’re good guys—”
“Oh, I bet. It’s why they hide behind a car shop.”
She wasn’t surprised he got the information from one of the guys from the garage, although why it was Hunter, she didn’t know. She figured Bear would’ve been the one to update him. Not that it mattered. “Axle, I’m not going to dog those men. They’re great guys. Hearts of gold. And loyal to a fault. That’s more than I can say about everyone on my other team.” Because she was part of the Bang Shift now. Maybe not on their payroll, but the bond was there.
“I’m sorry about your friend, Darrell, but if he wasn’t already dead, he would be.”
“I know. But you would’ve had to have gotten in line to take him out.”
“That’s cute you think so.”
She scoffed, but she also knew he’d have done whatever necessary to keep her safe.
“He’s not just an informant,” Axle said, no longer talking about Darrell, and not really asking.
“No,” she answered anyway. “But it’s a mess, and I’m not ready to go into it all.”
“Did he hurt you?” Axle asked in that deadly calm voice of his.
“It’s the other way around. I’m still coming to terms with everything, and that includes what I did to Mason.”
“Mason,” he muttered.
“Yeah, Mason. In fact, he’s the reason I called you last night.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”
Instead of answering him, she said, “He has a brother. Name’s Caleb Showalter. When I was, er, working on the case, he said his brother was dead, but our records indicated he’s a POW. Now, we didn’t talk about families back then, and I haven’t talked to him since I was shot. He could’ve just said that so he didn’t have to go into the long explanation. It could be nothing, but I’d like for you to see what you can find out.”
“You’re with the FBI, Shel. You have more clearance than I do.”
“That’s not true. You’re much more important in the military than I am to the government. Besides, the military protects its own. If it’s nothing, you’d be able to find that out much easier than I could. If there’s a cover up or something, I don’t know, more to this…you’d be able to figure that out, too.”
“Why?”
“Because I owe him.”
“You don’t owe him shit. You had a job to do.”
“If I wanted to hear the same thing I’ve heard a hundred times already, I would’ve called my boss, not my brother.”
“Do you think it’ll make a difference? Whatever happened between you two, do you think it’ll change anything?”
“No, and I wouldn’t want it to.” She sighed. “If his brother is still alive, I want him to know, but that doesn’t mean I’d go running to tell him. I don’t care how he learns the truth, just that he knows it. It’s the least I can do.” She took a deep breath to continue, but gasped at the pain.
“Damn it, Shelby.” She wasn’t sure if he was talking about her request or the sound she’d just made.
“Just look into it. That’s all I’m asking.” The doorbell rang then. “I gotta go.”
“I’ll get it,” Viola called out. “Go back to guilt-tripping your brother while secretly mooning over your card.”
She was going to kill her.
“What did she say?” he asked.
“Nothing. Love you, bub.”
“Love you, too, sis.”
Shelby hung up and yelled, “It better not be a kitty
