Page 10 of One Night Redemption

"Yes." She chuckles deep in her throat. "I need one, but if I can get a good night's sleep tonight, I think I'll be alright. If not, I'm gonna hook myself up tomorrow."

"Well, if you do, call me, and hook me up too. I'm just as tired as you are, and I'm about to have to do some seriously strenuous stuff."

"Will do." She gets up. "So, how am I supposed to get back in when I come here and you're still out?"

I've been waiting for her to ask this question. "I'm going to give you a key. That good with you?"

Her eyes widen with surprise, mouth forming a circle of surprise. "Are you sure?"

"More than sure. There's nothing that's ever felt as normal as you being here with me, Cass." I hope like hell she realizes this isn't some line. These are the real feelings I've been scared to articulate. "I understand if you need to go home and have some time by yourself because your social battery is drained, but if you want to come back, there'll be a key on the counter waiting for you." My phone buzzes next to me. "Right now, I gotta go. Troy's here. Whatever you decide about staying, I support it. I don't want you to do something you're not comfortable with, okay?" I cup her cheeks in my palms.

She surges up, capturing my lips with hers. "Thank you, Cam. I appreciate you being understanding more than you know."

My hand travels down her back to smack her ass, before nodding. "You're welcome. I'll see you soon." As I leave, I can't help but feel like I'm leaving a piece of myself behind too.

"Are you nervous about this?" Troy asks as we sit next to each other in his SUV, heading in a long line of other vehicles to the house we're going to serve the search warrant on.

"Slightly. I couldn't tell Cassie whose house we're going to hit, and you have to admit how unusual it is for us to do this in civilian clothing and in unmarked units."

He does a double take. "Cassie was there?"

"Like you didn't see the goddamn pink monstrosity she drives around? I parked it in the back, but you had to have seen it."

He chuckles. "I didn't, but now I wish I was paying more attention. How long has she been there?"

"Two nights." I rub my palms against my jean-covered thighs.

"Longer than you normally keep them around. Does she know where you're going?"

"Fuck no." I glare over at him. Hopefully no one in Bellehaven knows where we're going so that we can get the jump on the other side of the Stevens family. "Which is weird because when she showed up at my house, she had seen Brandon and Joseph together."

"No shit? They've been pretty smart about not being seen together."

"Yup, they obviously think that they're under the radar." I whistle through my teeth. "Which is gonna surprise the hell out of them when we hit that damn door."

We're a few blocks from Joseph's house when we pull over and begin getting our plan of attack ready. Reaching into the backseat of Troy's SUV, I grab my department issued AR-15. At my back, Chief Wellington is barking orders.

"Fellows and James—come around the back."

"Got it," I answer, tucking the butt of the gun into my shoulder and clearing the spaces around us. This is exactly how we practiced, but it's different in the moment when the adrenaline is pumping and there are so many other factors that can make shit go sideways quick.

When we get to the rear of the house, my eyes are pinned to the back door, waiting for some kind of movement. I have no doubt someone will be coming through this exit, I can feel it, and my finger is twitchy on the trigger. The sound of the other officers breaking through the front comes through to us, and that's when I see it opening.

"Hands now!" I yell, as does Troy. Nobody's getting by on our watch.

"Down on the ground," Troy commands. "Face down, hands behind your back."

I stay on his point, covering as he releases his gun, and moves to put cuffs around the person's wrist. When he's done, he pulls the man up, and that's when I see who it is.

Brandon.

Cassie's ex-fiancé and the motherfucker who left her at the altar.

"Good to see you, B." I get behind him, and push so that he heads toward the front of the house, where we've set up a makeshift interrogation unit, taking names of all the people inside, and getting them situated as to where they need to go based on the charges we can file.

"Cam." He winks. "Heard there was a pink caddy at your house last night."

I squint, acting like I'm a dumbass for his sake. "That a threat?"

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