Mind Play (Bennett Sisters Book 3) (34 page)

“
I need you to run a background check on everyone that my dad put behind bars. See if you can get your hands on a picture of their kids
.
Use driver’s license pictures, anything you can do
,
and then fax the pictures to Claire’s house.

“Oh this should be a piece of cake for you…
O
ne more thing
.
I need them by tomorrow.”

Abby pulled the phone away from her ear and grinned. “I think I’m losing you. I
can’t hear you,
”
s
he said in broken words before di
s
co
n
necting the call.
Abby placed her phone back on the counter
,
sat down
,
and grinned at Butch. “You want to place odds on who gets the better results?”

Butch laughed. “Oh no, I’d place my money on you any day of the week.” He pushed himself up from his chair. “I’m beat
;
I’m going to bed.”

“Good night,” they all said
at once
.

Butch walked into Claire’s room
,
and climbed into bed next to Claire. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her
body flush with his
. He didn’t know how he was going to keep her safe, but losing
her
wasn’t an option
he could live with
. Butch closed his
eyes, listening
to the waves crashing outside Claire’s window,
and fell asleep.

Chapter 18

Claire rolled over and into something hard. She should have been use
d
to sleeping with Butch by now
. H
ell
,
she’d been doing it for the last few weeks. Claire smiled at the man who was snoring beside her.
She thought back through the last year and all of the times that Butch had been there for her and her family. He’d always been there
,
and he’d somehow managed to win her heart.
Claire slid from under the covers and looked down at her wrinkled cl
othes. She hadn’t even been given time
to
pack a bag before being whisked away.
Claire
tiptoed
out of the room, and pulled the door c
losed quietly
,
trying not to wake
Butch up. She followed the aroma of fresh
-
brewed beans. She could hear the percolator making her favorite brew.

Blurry
-
eyed
,
Claire stumbled
into the living room to find Emma and John standing by the pot, each with an empty cup in their hand. She couldn’t recall when the entire family became addicted
to the black caffeine, but they had. Claire grabbed her own cup and
leaned against the counter, listening to the percolator making a noise that was music to her ears
. Emma
tilted her head and glanced down at Claire’s clothes
.

“Why don’t you get a cup and go take a shower
?
I bet you’ll feel better getting out of those clothes.”

Claire looked down at her sloppy clothes that had been crisp only
twenty-four
hours before. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Butch put the bag he brought in, would you?
”

Emma pointed toward the foyer. “I think he dropped it right inside the door. You might want to go check.”

Claire
s
e
t her coffee cup down on the counter and w
ent in search of
the bag
. She found it right where Emma had said. She squatted down and unzipped it
,
relieved
to find
a pair of her favorite jeans
lying on top
.
She dug
f
a
rther
down i
nto the bag
,
pulling out clothes
as she went
until she found her turquoise top.
She unzipped the side pockets where she found another bra and pair of panties. She’d be upset that someone
had gone
through her things, but she was too glad to have something clean to change in to. She didn’t care who had pulled it out of her drawers. She folded and replaced
Butch’s
clothes that she’d removed. S
he pushed herself up
and walked back into the kitchen with her clean clothes in hand. Emma held out a freshly made cup of coffee
,
and Claire took a sip and let out a happy sigh. That was what she needed. She needed a shower, clean clothes
,
and coffee to clear her head. She had to come up with a plan to catch this bastard, somehow keep
ing
everyone safe and alive in th
e process.

Claire turned
,
heading to the shower. She looked back over her shoulder and held up her cup. “Thanks
,
Emma, you might want to start the other pot. I’m going to need some more when I get out.”

Claire walked into the aged bathroom and s
e
t her clothes down on the toilet. She took another sip of her coffee before leaning down and turning on the tap. She strip
p
ed out of her clothes and climbed in the shower. She was thankful that Emma had already stocked the shower with toiletries.
T
he warm water sluice
d
down her body
,
gently easing some of the
stress coiled in her muscles. She washed her hair and her body and climbed out, grabbing a towel from the rack. She didn’t remember until after she’d been in there a while that the hot water heater wasn’t big enough for as many people that were there.

She dressed, ran a brush through her hair
,
and leaned under the sink to get one of the  extra
toothbrushes
they kept for those that forgot their necessities. She’d never thought she’d be one of them.

Claire felt refreshed
. N
ow all she needed was her coffee. She’d been in the shower long enough for her coffee to cool. She picked up her clothes and set them in the hamper. She grabbed her cup from the counter and left the bathroom back toward the kitchen
to heat up her coffee
. She’d expected more people to be up
by now
, but only Emma and John were
sitting at the table
.
They each had a file open
,
making notes. “I thought you already went through the files.”

Claire walked up behind John and scanned the file over his shoulder.

“We did, but we were only looking at the guys
D
ad put away. Abby and Butch came up with an excellent idea last night over dinner. Abby made the comment about wanting to kill whoever had shot
D
ad, and I guess it dawned on Butch that we need to
be
look
ing
into the
ir
kids too.”
Emma smiled up at her sister.

Claire tilted her head to the side
as she thought about the possibility
. “Never thought about it
being a relative
. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.”

Claire went to the fridge, pulled out stuff to start making French toast
,
and started cooking.
In the past, she’d
done some of her best thinking as she cooked. She’d just started the bacon when hands pulled her back against a muscular chest. She didn’t even need to turn around to know that Butch
stood behind her.
She would know t
he warmth and comfort of this man’s arms anywhere.

He
pressed his lips to her
neck
.
“Good morning,
angel
. How did you sleep?” His deep
sensual voice sent ripples of awareness through her.
Forgetting the food,
Claire
put
the spatula down and turned into his steel
y
arms. She pulled him down and pressed her lips to his.
Butch
didn’t hesitate drawing her in closer to him
and
kissed her back like he hadn’t seen her in days.

Claire
leaned
back when she heard the bacon sizzling and looked up into Butch’s eyes. The eyes of the man who was coming to matter more to her than anyone else
gleamed back at her
. “Snuggled up against you, who can complain?”

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead before stepping back. “I could get use
d
to words like that.” He grinned and stepped over to the coffee pot, filling himself up a cup. He grabbed hers and gave it a refill before setting it back down. “Smells good
.”

“It’s almost done.”

Butch took her free hand in his. “Do you think John can finish? I’d like to talk to you outside.”

Claire felt her heart drop into her stomach. The fact that he wanted to talk in private could only mean one thing.
Regina
. Claire handed John the spatula and grabbed her coffee. “Don’t burn it.” She teased as she walked outside, stopping at the railing and looked out into the waves that were crashing on the shore. That’s what her life felt like. Just when they’d get through with one
crisis
, another was forming right behind it to hit her again.

Butch walked up behind her and put his hands on the rails on each side of her, wrapping her in his embrace. “Regina called.”

Claire couldn’t stop her body from stiffening at the words; even though she had a feeling Regina was what he wanted to talk about.

Butch leaned down and kissed her neck. “I told her I wanted a test and if she’s telling the truth Claire, I’m going to be a father to that
b
aby.”

Claire turned into his arms and let her gaze drop. She answered softly, “I wouldn’t expect anything else.” She lifted her eyes toward his. “You’re a good man Butch Edwards.”

Butterflies in her stomach assaulted her. How was she going to let go of the only man she’d ever loved?

“Claire, I’m telling you this because it concerns you to. This doesn’t change how I feel about you. I want you in my life. I want to grow old with you, if you’ll still have me.”

An unchecked tear slid down her cheek.

Butch lifted his had to brush it away. “Don’t cry baby.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the spot where the tear had been. Claire’s stomach growled interrupting their tender moment. Butch rabbed her hand, “Come on, let’s get you some food.”

Butch
grabbed a piece of bac
on
from the plate and took a bite as he walked over
to the table and pulled out a chair. Grabbing a file
,
he flipped it open. He looked up and found Emma and John staring at him. “I guess everyone else is sleeping in?”

John laughed
.
“I don’t know how
.
Lily sure does have some powerful lungs, just like her momma
, but they don’t have anything on your snoring
.”