Page 10 of Concerto of Crows and Cowards

Max just grunted and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. It hadn’t really sunk in that she was here sitting beside him. They’d fallen into their old habits and camaraderie as if they’d never been separated, and he felt as if the part of himself that had been missing was finally in place.

It had been more than a year since he’d seen her. He knew she’d gone to work for Atticus as soon as he’d started up the agency. Atticus had a lot of agents who worked for him, but he and Jade had managed to not be assigned to the same missions. Maybe she’d requested it that way. All he knew was she’d done her best to avoid him, to pretend their friendship and partnership had never existed. She hadn’t taken his calls or texts so he could apologize. He knew he’d hurt her that last time they’d been together, but two wrongs didn’t make a right.

“What are you doing here, Jade?” he asked, more harshly than he normally would have.

He couldn’t help it. It hurt that she’d cut him from her life so easily, so completely. And a day didn’t go by where he didn’t wish he’d somehow handled the situation differently. He could have taken her that day. Given her what her body had needed even though her mind wasn’t there yet.

He heard the soft exhalation of her breath. It didn’t matter that it felt like jackhammers were pounding away at his skull. That one breath had whispered across his skin until it was everything he could do not to pull over to the side of the road and take her into his arms. He’d missed her.

“I’m here for a couple of reasons,” she said. “A problem with your current mission has come to light, and Atticus needs us to try to contain the situation. I’ll fill you in once you do something about that headache.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“I thought the doctors said the headaches would go away.”

“Forgive me for wondering why the hell you care all of a sudden.” Maybe he was angrier than he’d thought.

“I guess I deserve that,” she said, looking out her window.

“We were friends, Jade. We are friends. That above all else. Running away was never the answer.”

“I owe you an apology.”

“The hell you do,” he said. “You’ve never owed me anything. Did you think I couldn’t see you were hurting? That you had needs you’d been ignoring?”

“To tell you the truth, I was embarrassed,” she said, looking out the window. “I’m still embarrassed. You always seem to be the one to witness my weak moments, and part of me hates that. I don’t want you to think I’m not strong enough to handle whatever comes up.”

“Baby, you’re one of the strongest people I know. It doesn’t make you weak to lean on someone every now and then.”

“You deserved better than what I did to you, and all I can say is I’m sorry.” She tapped her hand anxiously against her knee and kept checking the side mirror to make sure no one was following them. “If it helps, I’ve missed seeing your face.”

“Yeah, it helps,” he said, swiping to clear the blood from his eye again.

Max pulled into the underground parking garage next to the high rise where the Dynamis Security offices were located and parked near the elevators. The gold plaque inside the front of the building said that floors nine to eleven belonged to Reliance Financial Group. It was the same company Atticus used in a similar building in his offices in Washington—a legitimate front for what was really going on behind the doors of Dynamis Security.

His leg buckled when he got out of the car, and he bit off an oath as he had to wait for the muscles to stop seizing before he could walk. Jade kept silent and looked around the parking garage to make sure they were alone, but he could tell she was watching him from the corner of her eye to make sure he was okay.

Max wiped his thumb on his trousers to get the blood off before he could press it to the glowing blue plate next to the electronic keypad by the elevators. His thumb was scanned and the elevator doors opened with a soft whoosh. He could feel Jade’s eyes on him while he went through the same procedure to go up to their private floors.

“Tell me about the headaches,” she said. “I thought they were supposed to go away after a while.”

“They have for the most part.” His stomach lurched as the elevator went up, and the pain in his head was so intense blurry spots were appearing in front of his eyes. “It’s the adrenaline. The headache is just part of the crash. It’s why Atticus hasn’t sent me on any missions that will take an extensive period of time. He doesn’t want me to be incapacitated in a dangerous situation and have to rely on a team member to get me out. They come on strong and hurt like a bastard, but I’m usually fine if I take something before it gets too bad.”

The elevator stopped on the floor to the apartments Atticus kept his agents based out of Dallas—just one level above where the offices were located. There were three apartments at the end of the hall that were furnished but unoccupied in case an agent needed a place to crash or someone needed to be hidden before being sent to a safe house.

His apartment was across from the elevator. The door was oak, but it was reinforced with a steel core that would stop bullets or anything else short of a rocket launcher. He typed in his key code and said his name for the benefit of the voice-recognition program. The door snicked open on silent hinges.

“My apartment is similar to this,” Jade said as he flipped on the lights. “The one I have in DC.”

He watched as she looked around the open space with approval. The walls were painted a soft ivory and the furniture was leather and overstuffed. Colorful rugs were scattered on the hardwood floor. He wasn’t much for decorating, so his walls were bare and his shelves empty except for the worn paperbacks he enjoyed. But it was the view of the city that took her breath away. The windows were tinted so they could see out, but those in the building across the way couldn’t see in.

“I didn’t realize you’d moved,” he said.

“The apartment Donovan and I shared was just a place to land between missions. It wasn’t really a home. But the memories there were strong, so I took Atticus up on the offer to move into one of the agency apartments. It was a fresh start. It was the right thing to do.”

He didn’t know what to say, so he stood there and simply watched her as her hand trailed over the back of the couch. She was beautiful. She’d always been beautiful, but she was one of those women whose looks improved with age. What she’d been three years ago was nothing compared to the woman who stood before him.

Black cargo pants fit her like a second skin, emphasizing the length of her legs, and a black T-shirt was tucked into them. She preferred a thigh holster for her weapon because it fit her better, and for some reason every time she strapped it his desire increased. He’d never stopped loving her, and the pain of the hole she’d left in his heart was still as fresh as it had been the day she’d walked out the door.

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