“You are going back to St. Louis,” I finally said. “Xander will escort you back home.”
My sanity was hanging on by a thread, her love for me fighting against every instinct.
I wanted her too, but we just couldn’t be.
Chapter Twenty-One
Haley
I have been back in St. Louis for two days.Two days.
Forty-eight hours, and the man who had my heart wasn’there. Jer tried to convince me it had to do with the case, but that wasn’t the whole truth. As always, my agent was using his work to keep the truth hidden from everyone around him.
But I saw right through it.
He hated me.
I broke his trust, after years of begging him to let me in. Jer and Dean should have never seen the contents of that case file, and they did because of my foolishness.
Jer was the one who rescued me, not my agent. Actually, Casey was the one who found me, Jer trying to burn Collin’s house to the fucking ground.
Apparently, Kay ran into James in Boston.
James—
My throat tightened as I put my hands on my body, trying to ground myself. I was currently in the field office, waiting for… who the hell knew. I'd been shuffled around like dead weight for the last week.
When we arrived back in the city where this whole shitshow started, I asked Jer to just take me back to James’ apartment, and he just stared at me. I didn’t like the look in his eyes. They were guarded.
Something happened.
Something bad.
My gut was never wrong.
Instead, he took me to his apartment.
Jer and I bonded over being reckless. Street racing was our thing. It was dangerous and unpredictable. He'd never treated me like I was some fragile princess.Until now.
He wouldn’t touch me. I tried to hug him, and he backed away from me like I was contagious. He quickly made up the guest bedroom for me, told me to rest, and the Bureau wouldbe coming by to check on me. When I asked him where he was going, he told me, “To make sure I don’t lose anyone else.”
My gut told me it had something to do with Casey.
I rested.
I stared out at the city of St. Louis. I watched mindless TV.
I worried. I slept.
I waited.
For James.
He never came.
This morning, Casey showed up with two men to escort me to the field office. Apparently, it was time for me to be debriefed. When I asked Casey where everyone was, she gave me vague answers and avoided looking me in the eye. It was very unlike her.
In the time I had come to know her, Casey Gomez was head strong and fierce. Once I was settled, she practically ran out of the room.
