Jake: The Sinner Saints #3 by Adrienne Bell Page B

to go away for the weekend. It won’t keep the cops off her long, but it will buy us a couple of days.”
    Then again, maybe things were exactly as bad as they seemed.
    “A couple of days before what?” she asked.
    “Before the police get their hands on her phone and all the messages that you two have been sending back and forth to each other. Before they find out exactly who you’re with and where we are.”
    Verity’s heart clinched hard in her chest. He couldn’t be saying what she thought he was.
    “You can’t be seriously suggesting that we run from the police,” she said.
    “No,” Jake said, cocking his chin to the side. “But we can make it damned hard for them to find us.”
    “But what if it’s just a misunderstanding?” she tried. “What if we can clear everything up with a simple conversation?”
    The tight lines around his eyes deepened, and Verity instantly knew that wasn’t an option.
    “Then we can have that conversation in a couple of days.”
    “Are you sure?” Her brows pulled together. “People are shooting at us. Maybe we’re better off with the police.”
    “Maybe,” Jake admitted. “Then again, maybe not. All I know is that right now someone else is trying to make that decision for us, and until I know exactly who that is and why, we need to fly under the radar. Understand?”
    Verity bit into her lip as she gave a reluctant nod. “Yeah.”
    “Good,” he said and opened the driver’s side door. He paused before he stepped down onto the ground and turned back to her. “Oh, and tell her you’re not going to be able to contact her for a few days. Then turn your phone all the way off.”
    “So the cops can’t track it?” she asked.
    “The cops. Roman. Silas. Take your pick,” Jake said before pulling his own phone from his pocket and closing the door.
     
     
    ***
     
     
    Jake propped his boot heel up on the rear bumper of the truck and his back against the lift gate. He let his gaze lazily wander down the two-lane country road as he hung on hold, but he couldn’t help the tension that crept into his jaw while he waited for Charlie to pick up the phone.
    It wasn’t any better knowing that she wouldn’t keep him hanging. She never did. If there was one constant in this job it was that Charlie was always there when they needed her.
    No thanks to him.
    Jake gnashed his back teeth together as another sickening wave of guilt washed over him.
    He hadn’t spoken to Charlie in months. And the terrible truth was if he had any other options he wouldn’t be on the phone waiting to talk to her now.
    But there weren’t.
    If it had been anybody else sitting in his truck right now, he would have found another way. But it wasn’t just anybody. It was Verity, and for her he’d do anything.
    Even the one thing that he’d been avoiding since the day he’d walked out of the hospital.
    He didn’t want to dig too deep into why that was. Not now, at any rate.
    Later, he’d have time to figure out what exactly he saw in her dark eyes that held him so rapt. What it was inside her that made her passion burn so much brighter than everyone else’s. How she was able to draw out his most private thoughts and emotions with a single touch.
    Later, when she was back safe at home.
    And he was alone again.
    “Hey, stranger.” The familiar bubbly voice on the other end of the line jerked Jake right back into reality. “It’s been a while. For a second there I thought the receptionist was pranking me when she said you were on the phone.”
    Jake brought his boot down and kicked the dirt.
    Damn it. This was every bit as hard as he thought it would be.
    “Sorry,” he grumbled. “I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important.”
    There was a slight pause on the other end. Long enough for another wave of shame to crest.
    “Jake, you’re my friend,” Charlie said. “I’m happy to hear from you. I’ve missed you. We all have.”
    The sincerity in her voice only made him feel worse. He