She glared.
So did he.
“Bullets were flying, Agnes,” he gritted out. “And I get that you thought I was the heartless monster who did the shooting, but in this instance?—”
“You’re the one who keeps saying that you’re the monster. I’ve never said?—”
“The shooter was still out there. He nicked me. The first bullet was supposed to be for me.”
Her eyes widened. Then her stare was flying all over him and— “Blood! Cass!” She tried to reach for his shoulder. How in the hell had she missed that?
“Nothing. Barely a scratch. The second bullet landed in Levi. Dead in his chest. I was already dodging for cover when the second one flew, but that bastard didn’t get down. He stood there, smiling, like the cavalry had come, and the bullet took him out. One look, and I knew there was no way an ambulance would get to him in time, not given where we were.”
In the middle of nowhere? “But we didn’t even try to save him!”
“He tried to kill me. He would have killed you if you hadn’t taken the knife from him. Given that, are you so sure he needed saving?”
A brutal statement. Chill bumps rose on her arms. “He had the tattoo,” she whispered. “You must have known. You had to know that he was part of the Twins, and you didn’t say a word to me. I am so sick of being kept in the dark!”
His jaw hardened.
“You’re holding back on me,” she accused. “Dammit. We are partners! We are?—”
“You are a Fed working your own agenda. You want vengeance, and I swear, I’ll make sure you get it. I will cut off both cobra heads. You can count on that.” His nostrils flared. “And I’m holding back because, no, I don’t trust you.”
She backed up. As much as she could. The cuff bit into her wrist. “That hurts.” It actually did. And she wasn’t talking about the sting of the cuff as it cut into her skin. She was talking about the lancing pain his words had just delivered.
“Does it?” Doubting. “Does it really hurt that I don’t trust you?”
Yes, it really does freaking hurt.
“Because when I look at you, I see a woman who was willing to use me to get her vengeance. You’re in love with a dead man.”
If she could have, Agnes would have retreated even more. “Stop.” Because he was hurting her. How could he not see that? And hadn’t he said that he wouldn’t hurt her? Hadn’t he made that promise?
“You can’t crawl in the ground with him.” Hard. No, brutal. “I’m not going to fucking let you do that. So, hell, no, I was not going to let you stay out in the freaking open with Levi. Not while the shooter was still there.”
“He had answers!” Her words were as ragged—as jagged—as she felt. “He said I should have died that night! Levi wasn’t talking about recently—he was talking about that terrible night in Austin. He said I should have died with my boyfriend. He was not the one who stabbed me, the tattoo was all wrong. But he was either there or…or maybe he was the one on the phone. He knew what happened. He knew who I was. He remembered me, he?—”
“Levi was following orders. His boss told him who you were.”
Her heart slammed into her chest. “I thought you were his boss.”
“So the hell did I…until he tried to plunge a knife into me, and then he told me that a ghost from my past was still walking.”
She could only shake her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Anger had her voice going husky. “Because you don’t trust me.”
He jerked on his hand—the hand cuffed to hers—and Agnes stumbled forward, caught off guard. But…
He caught her. Hauled her closer. But their bodies twisted and heaved, and the stupid cuffs had them all tangled. “Get the cuffs off!”
Cursing, he reached into his pocket. His fingers came back up with a key, and he put it in the lock, and he freed his wrist. The snick as the cuff opened was far too loud. His cuff, then hers.
She immediately attempted to retreat, but he grabbed her in a flash. She didn’t know if he’d dropped the key or what the heck he’d done with it. She just knew that he held her tightly, and his dark gaze seemed to burn as he demanded, “If it came down to it, if it was a choice between me and the Feds you treasure so much, who would you choose?”
She could feel a thick, dark tension swirling between them. He’d gone from the violence of the fight, to the shooting, to the frantic ride that had brought them to this place. Adrenaline, rage, and so many twisting, heaving emotions filled the air.
“You wouldn’t choose me, would you? Because I’m a means to an end. The devil you want to use.” He nodded. “Done. Use me. I will kill for you. In a heartbeat. I’ll eliminate the threats. I’ll get you the vengeance that you need, but I won’t trust you. I won’t let you beneath my guard, I won’t—” But he broke off. Just stopped.
