Never knowing how tight she is when she finally says my name like she owns it.
And I can’t do that.
I start the car with the panties still pressed to my nose like a fucking psycho.
Wednesday can’t come fast enough.
I’m already hers. We all have to survive long enough to prove it.
I work the rest of my shift, thinking it over.
But her note was right. “…we both know you’ve already chosen.”
I slam the apartment door so hard the chain rattles. Deadbolt. Second deadbolt.
I toss the bear on the couch.
The rose beside it.
The Juliet notebook hits the coffee table with a thud that feels final.
I open it like I’m defusing a bomb I want to go off.
Page after page of them.
Her monsters. My monsters now, apparently.
Callum Anderson: Suspected in eight disappearances, zero bodies. Photos of him carrying duffels that were never the same shape twice. Killed Adam.
Orion Grayson: No priors. Hard ass. Security guard. Gym beast. Killed Adam.
Elliot Sterling: No priors. Goddamn therapist.
Noah Carter: No priors. Pretty, smiling Noah. Plays guitar. Makes coffee and worked at a fucking café before the bakery.
Vitaly Volkov: No priors. Launders money for Oksana. Under duress.
Juliet Lovelace: No priors. Suspect. No proof. She killed Tammy Walters.
Callum strong-armed the witness. Case closed.
Page after page I wrote like a good little detective. Timelines. Connections. Enough to bury Callum for three lifetimes.
I wrote it all while jerking off to the idea of her thanking me for it.
And now?
Now I’m going to burn it. Or swallow it. Or tattoo it on my chest so every time she rides me she can read exactly how far I’ve fallen.
Because the alternative is turning them in. Turning her in.
I laugh until it sounds like something breaking.
I’m a cop. I’ve got a badge that still opens doors, an IA file that’s one bad day from swallowing me whole, and a fixation that makes me a liability. I’ve spent four years pretending I’m one of the good ones while I looked the other way for cash.
But this? This is the line.
And I’m not just crossing it. I’m torching the fucking bridge.
