Chapter 1
“I’m willing to make an exception for you.”
-Cat
Four weeks ago
“Kill me now.”
“Don’t tempt me,” I eyeball the dirtbag in the back seat.
“I’m serious,” he whines. “I can’t do this. Take me back. I’ll take my chances with my family.”
“Your family tried to murder you - three times,” my partner Sheila Rector snorts from the driver’s seat.
“Your point?”
“Whatismy point?” Sheila looks at me.
I laugh. “Your point is, you’d hate for him to be the first person to be killed in Witness Protection history.”
“Yeah, that sounds good,” she smirks.
“Seriously? No one’s ever been killed?” Griego sounds more amused than whiny. I’ll take it as a win.
“Nope,” I glance at him. “Not one since the program started in 1971.”
Griego slumps in the backseat. He doesn’t look happy, but at least he shut up. The man has been a constant pain in my ass since we took custody of him this morning in New York. The flight to Georgia seemed longer because he’s been yammering on non-stop. My head is pounding.
A buzzing adds to the noise in the car. Sheila’s phone has been blowing up since we landed.
“You going to get that?” I rub my forehead.
“Nah,” Sheila blushes. “I’ll call him back.”
“Oh, Mr. Loverboy,” I tease. “When am I going to meet the mysteriousDrum?”
She doesn’t answer because it’s at this moment that Greigo gets an eyeful of his new hometown.
“A goddamngeneral store? Is this a joke?”
“Felix,” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I suggest you get your head out of your ass and realize this is your life now.”
“I hate that name,” he pouts. “Felix Green sounds like a pervert.”
“Too fucking bad. It’s your name now,” I snort. “It’s designed to keep you under the radar. Which you’ll be doing, right?”
He rolls his eyes. “I bet there aren’t any single women here, either.”
“Not my problem,” I grit out.
Felix leans between the seats, putting his face on my shoulder. “Don’t you want to help me out before I am stuck in a life of celibacy in ShearBOREDOM, Georgia? Have a little fling before I go on the straight and narrow?”
I sigh. Not the first time a criminal propositioned me. But I was getting tired of it.
“Mr. Green, sit the hell back and put your seatbelt back on,” I grunt. “First of all, the place is called Shearwater. Secondly, I don’t date criminals. Third, I got out of the ‘bad boy’ phase years ago.”
I swear Sheila mutters, “Yeah, right,” as she coughs.
