Page 30 of My Prince

Fade walked in, and my heart skipped a beat. His presence always had that effect on me, taking my breath away with his rugged good looks and confident demeanor. He gave me a flirty look, his eyes sweeping over me in a way that made my cheeks flush.

“Is now the time you tell us what the hell is happening?” Mark asked, his voice laced with frustration.

“Or are we just going to have to keep covering for something that we don’t really know what it is?” Garett drawled.

Fade patted Garett on the shoulder. “Tomorrow. Yarder will clue you guys in. I don’t have it in me to go through all the shit again today.”

“You know the shit, don’t you?” Mark asked me, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

I nodded. “Yeah, and I’m too exhausted to tell you guys either.”

“Is this shit going to get us hurt?” Garett asked, his voice tinged with concern. “I got a wife and kid, man.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you, man. Don’t even worry about it,” Fade promised, though I wasn’t sure how he could promise that unless his meeting with Russ went much better than he thought it would.

“You got her tonight?” Mark asked Fade. “I slept like shit last night worrying about, well, I don’t know what, but I was worried.”

“You’re off duty tonight. Just make sure you guys lock up,” Fade replied.

Mark and Garett exchanged glances before heading out. “Stay safe,” Garett said, giving me a quick hug.

Fade locked the door behind them, and I remained on the couch, feeling the weight of his presence in my tiny house. It suddenly felt even smaller with him in it.

Fade walked over and sat beside me, the cushions dipping under his weight. “How are you doing, cupcake?” he asked, his voice softening.

I shrugged, trying to muster a smile. “Better now.”

He reached out and took my hand, his touch sending a reassuring warmth through me. “You ready for bed?” he asked.

I shook my head. The half an hour nap had rejuvenated me. “What happened with Russ?” I asked, needing to know more.

Fade sighed, running a hand through his hair. “He’s in the wind right now. We think he’s lying low and trying to gather evidence against Boone and Gibbs. His secretary showed up needing our help but also willing to help us in return. She said she was working with Russ to get out from under all of this shit, and then he suddenly disappeared, and she got fired. It’s bigger than we thought, Adalee. There’s like a fucking network, and Boone and Gibbs seem to be pulling all of the strings.”

I squeezed his hand tighter. “What about the secretary? Can you guys trust her?” It seemed risky to trust someone on their word alone right now.

“I think so,” he said, though his voice had a hint of doubt. “Her name is Fallon. Yarder believes she’s telling the truth, and right now, we don’t have much of a choice. This shit has the damn governor involved now.”

“Max McGrave?” I gasped.

Fade nodded. “Yeah, cupcake. Like I said, this shit is running way fucking deeper than we ever thought.”

I nodded. “So this probably isn’t even close to being over.”

Fade shrugged. “We don’t know, cupcake. Fallon thinks that if we find Russ, then we have a better chance of things being over. The problem is we have no fucking clue where he went. He was here, and then suddenly he was gone when he got what we think is a hit-list of people that Gibbs and Boone are going after.”

“They have a hit-list in writing?” I gasped. “That seems pretty risky.”

“I don’t think it’s from Boone and Gibbs. On my ride over here, I was thinking maybe Russ had someone else helping him. Someone who came up with that list, and for some reason, Russ took off when he got it.”

“Would Dove know where her dad took off to?” I asked.

Fade shrugged. “Dove and her dad are not that close. There’s a chance she might know, but probably not likely.”

I sighed heavily. “I was kind of hopeful that you would come in and say everything is good and it was all a dream,” I laughed.

“That would be nice, cupcake.”

There was a comfortable silence that stretched out between Fade and me.

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