He nodded. “Aspen said so as well. I’m paraphrasing here, but Aspen thinks there’s something unhinged about her.”
“She’s a fed,” I reminded him. “They go through extensive psych evaluations before they’re given a badge.”
“But she joined the Bureau a long time ago,” he reminded me. “Things change.”
Could I have been so wrong about Addie? Had I spent these years since that first case we worked together seeking guidancefrom a woman who was masking some mental issues that compromised her abilities?
“I’m just saying, Sutton would’ve come back. She wouldn’t want any of us to worry about her, not after the shit we’ve already endured the last few years.”
He had a point. Not after Crew’s disappearance over a year ago, or after Reagan’s, and her sister, Lainey’s, just a few months prior.
“Check the bathroom,” I said, pointing at the women’s. “I’ll walk through the men’s.”
I doubted she was in either, but I refused to leave any stone unturned.
Crew raised a brow. “You want me in there?”
“You’re less scary looking than me,” I admitted, tapping the ink that crawled up my neck.
He chuckled. “Fair enough.”
I’d barely taken a step toward the men’s room when a scream came from the women’s Crew had just entered, followed by a low grunt. I altered course to follow him.
“What the fuck, Crew?”
Everything in me relaxed at the sound of Sutton’s voice. When I rounded the corner into the restroom, I found Crew standing a few feet away from her.
“Baby,” I rasped, unable to stop the term of endearment I’d never used for anyone but her from slipping free.
My eyes raked her body, making sure she was in one piece. Then I took in the entire scene. Crew’s hand cupped the left side of his face, and Sutton had her fist raised. It didn’t take me long to put two and two together.
“She hit you?” I asked Crew, barely able to contain my glee now that I knew Sutton was alright.
“Fuck you,” he spat, though there was no malice in the words. “She’s got a mean right hook for someone so little.”
“I’mnotlittle.”
“Compared to me, you are,” Crew explained.
Pushing past my brother, I grabbed Sutton’s wrist and twisted her side to side, inspecting for damage. Though her knuckles were a little red, there appeared to be no swelling or split skin.
“Surprised you didn’t hurt yourself,” I said to her. “My brother’s got a hard head.”
“I caught him in the jaw,” she said. “It’ll probably be bruised tomorrow, but so will his face.”
She smirked at him, and he grumbled something in return, too low for me to hear. I shot him a warning glare.
“I can’t wait to tell Aspen,” I grinned.
“She’s going to be so proud of me,” Sutton said, grinning.
“Fuck,” Crew muttered. “She’s never going to let this go.”
“Nope,” Sutton said happily. “For the record, Crew? Maybe don’t come into women’s bathrooms unannounced.”
“We were looking foryou.”
Sutton’s brow creased as she turned a confused look on me. “Why?”
