“I’m protecting mypartner. And for the record, it’s common practice in the field. You don’t like it, you can yell at me later.”
She shook her head. “We don’t have time for this. We have to get on the call with Con.”
Sinner straightened as he took in her appearance again. It wasn’t just the missing button or wrinkled blouse or mark on her cheek.
He saw the way her body pulled tight like she was bracing for another hit.
“Opal.”
She whipped out her phone. “I get on the call. I always show up on time. This is what I do, dammit.”
He searched her face for a beat.
She was strong and stubborn…and not okay.
But she was here, and that was a start.
Holding her gaze, he nodded once. “Fine. Butweare a team. Andweneed to establish some code for times like this. If you get in trouble, what are you going to tell me?”
“Fuck off.”
Despite the worry she’d caused him, her sassy comeback made his lips twitch.
“No. You’re going to say, ‘Pork chops for dinner.’”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
“And the code for when we’re nearing the finish line and the trap is being set?”
“You choose.”
He cast around for a quick answer. “What about…‘It’s a done deal’? It sounds like it could be anything.”
“Good. Pork chops and deals. Now we can get on that call.”
She dialed while he hovered near her, holding back from stroking a fingertip beneath the scrape on her cheekbone. She would never accept his comfort in this state of mind, even though he wanted to carry her to bed and tuck her in with a mug of warm cocoa.
Even if he wanted to hold her tight and show her that while everyone else in her life disappeared, he would stay to the very end.
Con’s voice projected over the speaker. As if the sound triggered a reaction in Opal, all of her strength flowed out of her and she sank to the bed.
Sinner sat close to her but not touching.
She set the phone between them on the bed and folded her hands in her lap, eyes fixed forward on a cheap framed print of two blue blobs. They kept the speaker on low so it couldn’t be picked up through the thin walls, and Sinner gave Opal the lead.
She started with the hard, cold facts. The office, the dealer she approached on her lunch break, the text message that came after work with an address.
Then her voice wavered as she debriefed about the alley. Frustration echoed in her low tone, and the usual monotone was replaced by a tremor.
“Take it slow, Opal. You got to the alley and the guy was waiting for you.” Con’s matter-of-fact approach had calmed many a person, but Opal only grew more agitated.
She jerked a hand upward, and it floated there for a moment as if she didn’t know what to do with it. Finally, she raked her fingers through her black hair. “I asked him if I could get a week’s worth of pills.”
“Good.”
Her words tumbled out faster. “He told me I could pay with something other than money. And that I probably wasn’t getting any sex from my husband if he took that many pills.”
Sinner’s eyes slipped shut. Goddammit. This was exactly the thing that worried him. His weakness—his cover—had made her a target.
