“Hi.” I grimace. I can guess what she’s calling me about. “Sorry for scaring you earlier. Did Kurt sort it all out?”
“Oh, don’t worry.” She sounds chipper enough. “Yeah, he filled in all the blanks. So Declan loves you, huh?”
I flinch. “Let’s talk about something else.Anythingelse.”
“Well actually, that’s kinda why I was calling.”
I so don’t have the emotional capacity for this. “All right,” I say, flopping down onto the sofa and cuddling a cushion to my chest. “Hit me with it.”
“After Kurt called me and explained everything, I got to thinking. You told Kurt that Declan hadn’t resigned, right?”
“Right.”
“So he’s still technically an agent.”
“Exactly. And I can’t imagine him throwing hiscareer away now that I’ve removed his reason to leave.”
“Uh-huh. Funnily enough, that’s along the lines I was thinking, too.”
Finally. Someone seeing thingsmyway. “Thank you, Tasha. That means a lot to me.”
“Dario was here,” she continues like I hadn’t spoken, “getting under my feet and generally being a pain. So I sent him off to Declan’s apartment.”
I sit up, the cushion falling to the floor. “You didwhat?”
“Not totalkto him. Just to watch.”
“Oh.” I slump back down. “He’s not there. He’s at hissister’s.” Yeah, sister’s.Nothis ex-or-current-or-whatever wife’s. Likely consoling her after I scared the crap out of her. She’ll probably be drawing up the paperwork to press charges of brandishing a firearm with intent to criminal menace, and he’d be well placed to advise her. I can just imagine them working diligently at the kitchen island.
“Well, he was. He got back about two hours ago.”
“Oh.” I huff a sigh, not caring if she hears. “Tasha, not to be rude, but why are you calling me to give me updates on the movements of someone I don’t care about one little bit?”
“Because firstly, that was a blatant lie, and secondly, you need to hear this.”
I roll my eyes. “Get on with it, then.”
“Dario followed Declan to the FBI office in Beverly Hills.”
I close my eyes in pain. Three hours after I told himto go fuck himself, he turns us all in. Damn it, I hate being right. “Does Kurt believe me now?”
“And Declan was in there all of about ten minutes.”
“Okay… then I’m guessing he left at the head of a task force and is currently ripping apart the unit for forensic evidence? So you are where?”
“I’m at home. But no. Instead, Declan crossed the road to where Dario thought he was unobtrusively observing from, and said, ‘Tell her it’s now official.’ Then he rode back to his apartment.” She pauses. “Although, technically I suppose it’s not his apartment anymore.”
I swallow hard, trying to hold onto my anger. “And Dario believed the lying sack of shit?”
“Yes, babe. Dario believed the man who has just given up everything he’s ever had. Foryou.”
Tears are prickling my eyes, and they have no right to be there. “Yeah, well we all know what Dario’s judgment is like.”
“Solid. Dependable. A little slow sometimes. More reliable when he’s eaten recently.”
All true. Damn it.
“Well, whatever. I don’t see how this has anything to do with me.”
