“Do you? Do you really?” He asked. “Because after all these years, your father still thinks I’m an asshole and that would usually not bother me. But a rapist—I can’t stay here.”
“What’s with the yelling?” Maia asked, stepping through the door. “We’re going to get thrown out of here.”
“They don’t have to.” Tarek walked out the door.
My heart shattered.
“What in the hell is the matter with the two of you?” Maia asked. “I thought you had gotten over that whole past thing.”
“I haven’t told my father I lied.” I admitted and tried rolling over. I only managed to roll onto my wound causing me to cry out.
Maia set me back on my back. “Why haven’t told your father?”
“It just got easier not to as the years passed.” I admitted. “I never thought I’d ever see him again. Then my father fucked up and here he comes, and I looked at him and…”
I sobbed harder.
“Ellie…” Maia’s voice cracked.
“He said he fell in love with me.” I cried then. “And once again I managed to stab him in the heart like an idiot.”
“You can fix this.”
“Maia, I don’t think you understand.” I sniffled. “No amount of confession to my father will fix this.”
“But it’s a good place to start.” Maia told me. “Right now, get some rest. We can figure out your heart problems later.”
I sighed, rolled to my good side and just cried.
Cobra
LeavingEllie at the hospital hadn’t been easy. I wanted her, needed to feel her against me. But my father always told me never to put my heart ahead of good judgment. I didn’t expect Jeffrey to thank me for saving his life. Being a cop in general was a thankless job. But the way he reacted one would think I had tried gutting him like a fish.
I frowned and left my desk to pour myself another mug of bad coffee. When I sat again, I sipped, winced at how bad the stuff was then set the mug beside my monitor. There was too much information to get through on Otis Valentina.
Though my captain wasn’t impressed with me coming back without actually resting, he gave in.
“If you can get Otis Valentina off our streets, I’m going to let you run with it.” The captain said. “Just don’t drop anymore bodies, please?”
“Yeah—I can’t promise you that.”
The captain had groaned and wandered off toward his office muttering thatyoung cops were going to lead him to drink.
I went through a list of the properties we’d hit. We’d round up a few thugs—none of them would talk. Strange, these men were loyal to a man who would let them rot in prison or die. How could anyone with half a brain, be loyal to a man who would hang them out to dry?
One day melted into two, then three and I wasn’t getting any closer to finding Otis. Ellie called daily, but I had yet to pick up, return her calls or listen to the messages she left on my voicemail. My heart couldn’t handle the betrayal that seemed to dig into my chest every moment I thought of her or saw her name flashed on my phone.
“You going to get that?” Taz asked as we sat around having dinner.
“No.” I muttered.
“Trouble with Ellie?” Hannah wanted to know. “Need a woman’s P.O.V?”
Taz choked. “Say no.”
“Hey, I’m good at this.” Hannah pouted prettily. “I listen to my clients all the time.”
“Not the same thing, sweetie.” Taz kissed her pout, then began clearing the table.
