Bad Taste (Part II) // Colby Brock

215 - Rebecca

Unfortunately, Sam didn't come back with anything useful but he took note of the kind of environment Julian cleared liked and explained that it was unlikely he'd take refuge in some kind of motel or low-grade apartment. We could be sure he wouldn't be doubling back on that as it was doubtful he thought we'd be able to figure that out, so Sam ended up having to contact a "friend" to hack into the hotels in the area and access their security footage.

There was so much to go through that we decided to leave him to it, focusing instead on the rest of our leads. Angela came over but she and Aryia went straight up to his room without a word—not even to the vampires—and we figured we'd wait for Danielle first.

We took the rest of the night off as a group until the morning, when I was laid curled up in Colby's arms. He was sleeping like a baby, oblivious to my racing thoughts. I was evaluating every possible person, place and thing we could use to find or against Julian. There had to be a person—maybe this Danielle—and there had to be a place—where he was staying. But was there a thing? Was there something we could use against him that'd tip the odds in our favour, or even kill him?

There had to be.

For the first time in a while, I didn't end up falling asleep. I was comfortable, warm, I felt safe, but it just never happened. It was still early enough in the evening that I wasn't feeling the effects of being awake for too long, but I knew I would be. If only we didn't have to interrogate two separate people today.

Colby, the happily sleeping Colby, woke up after everybody else and, by then, I was struggling to keep my eyes open, all while not being able to fall asleep. Colby didn't seem to notice it as we got up at the same time, showered and almost got dressed. Before I could drop my towel to put on today's outfit—and before Colby had a shirt on, he reached over and stopped my wrist.

"You're tired," he said simply. I stared at him in silence. "I can sense it, feel it, and see it. Sleep, Rebecca. We can handle your sister and Danielle."

I shook my head. "This is my investigation."

"I want to kill Julian almost as much as you do. You know you can hand me the reigns for just one night."

"This is too important," I insisted, then, softer, I added, "I don't want to miss anything. What if there's a clue you don't catch onto?"

"We'll have Angela around when Danielle's here," Colby pointed out and my stare became a glare. He held his hands up as if surrendering, allowing me to see the half-sleeve tat on his arm. I couldn't help but look at it first, then at his eyes. He was waiting for my attention. "Can you step back for a minute? I'm not playing the "grief" card, I'm just asking you to sleep."

It was then that I realised he was openly talking to me knowing the others, if they wanted, could listen. A part of me hated it and a part of me liked it. He was comfortable now; more comfortable than he'd ever been. But he was using it against me because now everyone knew I was fucking exhausted. I couldn't go down there if they knew that.

Finally, I said, "Fine. I'll sleep for a little bit. You can talk to Angela without me, but not Danielle." Colby opened his mouth so I cut him off. "I refuse not to meet this girl. She might have been close to Julian. That's far too important to miss."

"If I argue with you, you're just gonna get less sleep," Colby decided, "so I'm not gonna bother. I'll catch you up later."

"And you'll wake me up before Danielle arrives." He didn't say anything. "Colby-"

"I'll wake you up."

Satisfied, I told him to take my phone so he'd see the text from Jax when Danielle was on her way, then I crawled into his bed in just a t-shirt of his and curled up. He sat down with me for a short while, brushing his fingers through my hair until I physically couldn't stay awake for any longer.