Page 41 of Kept By The Agents

"Yes. But I need you to get the fuck out of my room." Her voice was quaking with emotion.

"That doesn't really sound like you forgive m-"

"Out!"

I held up my hands in a gesture of peace. "Okay." She was on the verge of tears. Was it cowardly to leave her to face her grief alone? Yes. But leaving was what I was good at. Besides, she didn't want me here. She'd made that abundantly clear.

Heading back downstairs, I gave my friends a grim look when they asked what had happened. I was sure they heard bits and pieces of it. Going over to the stove, I scooped up spaghetti.

"Does anything ruin your appetite?" Weaver asked.

Frowning at him, I shook my head. "No. What's the point of being upset and hungry?"

Weaver gave me a look of disgust before he pulled his laptop in front of him. "I found some leads."

"So did we," Brando replied, still watching me even as he spoke to Weaver.

"What did you find?"

Brando rattled off the address. "Anyone with any information is supposed to report there. See what you can find on the place."

"Will do." Weaver slid over a paper. "That's the address of another building we should check." He explained that it was owned by a shell corporation and had been under renovation for far too long with too little work.

"Did you track the shell?" Brando asked.

"Dead end. I wasn't able to track it back to anything concrete."

"We'll look into it in the morning." Brando focused back on me. "Regretting telling her the truth?"

"No. You were right, it was past time."

"Of course I was right."

Rolling my eyes, I shoveled food into my mouth. I didn't really want to listen to a lecture from these two after getting yelled at by Cat. I may have deserved it, but it still sucked to see how much pain I'd caused her. As much as I wanted to mend what was broken between us, I couldn't say whether I'd do things differently if I had the chance to go back. Setting out on this path had changed me into who I was today. I didn't know where I'd be if I'd married Cat. Maybe it would be better than this, but maybe not. I wouldn't want to take that chance.

"She'll forgive you. Eventually." Brando tapped a finger on the table.

I hoped so. "You don't know her very well yet."

"She's stubborn," Weaver added. "She's probably going to make him grovel first."

"It's what I deserve." I shoved the plate away. Despite all my talk earlier, I was too worked up to eat. "I'm going to bed."

Neither of my friends said a word as I walked up the stairs. I went over to my bed and got down on the floor next to it. My muscles strained as I began doing push-ups. I wasn't likely to get much sleep tonight if I didn't do something about all this pent up energy. As much as I wanted to walk into Cat's room and pull her into my arms so I could force her to truly forgive me, that would just make things worse.

Brando was right, all I could do was wait this out. Sweat slid down my temples as I continued the grueling pace, but I didn't stop. I wasn't going to stop until my arms gave out. Beating my body into oblivion was the only way to get some peace of mind. All I could think about was the hurt all over Cat's face when I admitted the selfish reasons I'd ditched her so long ago.

Somehow, I'd find a way to make it up to her. Brando had also been right about leveraging the situation my way. She couldn't leave the house. Not without risking herself. She was forced to stay here and face me. It wasn't my finest moment, but I'd take any help I could get. If she was able to walk away I wasn't sure what I'd do.

The irony of the situation hadn't escaped me, but it still didn't dissuade me from my personal mission to make Cat fall back in love with me. This time nothing would take me away from her. In time she'd come to trust me again. I hoped.

CHAPTER 18

Catalina

The ache in my chest wasn't going away. The last thing I wanted was to break down in front of Suave. He'd hurt me, and hearing the truth shredded open those old wounds. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

Curling up on the bed, I let the flood of emotion escape once he closed the door behind him. I used the pillow to help stifle my sobs. Eventually, the tears slowed and my breathing evened out. Maybe once I cried all the tears, I could work on forgiving him. Then I could let this all go and move on. I ignored the pang of hurt that appeared when I thought of leaving Suave behind.

---