Chapter Thirty-Five
Atticus was sitting at his desk, doinghis level best not to look at the door, waiting for Archer to return, when his cell phone rang.
“Yeah, boss,” he said, answering immediately.
“We’re headin’ to Johnson City.I need you and Archer to get down that way now.I don’t know exactly where we’re goin’, so you’ll have to track my GPS.Reese’ll keep you updated as best he can.”
Because of the urgency in Brantley’s voice, Atticus was already on his feet, heading for the door.“Sure thing.Somethin’ wrong?”
“We don’t know yet.We’ve got a guy claimin’ he’s Allison Bogart’s partner.He says he knows where Kylie is.”
“No shit?”Atticus put some extra pep in his step.“We’re on our way.”
“Thanks, Atticus.”
He wasn’t sure what Brantley was thanking him for, but that was the least of his worries as he made a beeline for his truck.
“Archer!”he shouted at his partner, who was nearing the house on whatever weird ritual he was in the middle of.“We’ve gotta go.Now.”
Less than a minute later, Archer was in the passenger seat as Atticus sped down the driveway.
“Can you send Becs a text?Let her know what’s goin’ on?”
“Might be helpful if you letmeknow what’s goin’ on.”
Atticus glanced over briefly, then returned his attention to the road.
“Brantley called.A guy claimin’ to be Allison’s partner says he knows where Kylie is.”
“No shit?”
Atticus smiled because that was the same thing he’d said when Brantley had delivered the news.
“He happen to say where Allison was?”
“No.”That was probably the last thing he cared about if the man had claimed to know where Kylie was.
They spent the next hour and fifteen minutes with the radio on and very little conversation.Atticus wasn’t sure what to say, so he was grateful for the reprieve.Based on how quiet he was, he figured Archer felt the same.
Unfortunately, the lack of conversation made it easy for Atticus to replay Archer’s words over and over again in his mind.
I fantasize about stripping you, then running my tongue over every inch of your body.But I’m not lookin’ for a one-and-done deal, Atticus.And you’ve already said partners are off limits.
I did say that.
And you meant it.
Yes, he had meant it.But that was before Archer made that declaration.Now he wanted nothing more than to give in to this ridiculous attraction simply so he could lose himself in someone.Someone who might actually want more than to dominate and control, or to observe him in the throes with another man.
It was wrong to want that.More than wrong, probably.They were partners, and Atticus knew that relationships could screw that shit up.
Well, he didn’t actuallyknowthat.He didn’t have firsthand experience with it.But he did have experience working with someone he was involved with, and that hadn’t been easy.And it likely wouldn’t be easy going forward.Slade would probably make sure of that.
Desperate to get his mind on other things, he glanced Archer’s direction.“Can you pull up Brantley’s GPS?He didn’t give me an exact location.”
While his partner did that, Atticus prepared to turn into the town proper.
“Wait,” Archer pointed straight ahead.“Don’t turn.They’re farther north.And they’re still movin’, so it looks like we caught up to them.”
