Page 48 of Catch Me When I Fall

I didn’t have the time nor the patience for his fucking shit today. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I asked, “The fuck do you want, Mitchell?”

I heard movement, followed by his boots hitting my office floor, getting closer and closer until he stopped in front of my desk. Inhaling a deep breath through my nose, I leaned back in my chair, looking up at him. He braced his hands on the edge of the desk, leaning down as his brow furrowed. “I want to make sure my fucking friend is okay, Gray. That alright with you?”

His words slammed into me, causing me to grind my molars. “I’m fine,” I pushed out.

“Really?” he shot back. “Because instead of going straight to your place after a mission, you came here, looking for something else to hunt.”

“Your point?” I drawled.

Hayes shook his head, a lock of his sandy blond hair coming to the front of his forehead as his green eyes hardened. “Go home. Get some rest.”

“I’m fine,” I said, waving him off.

“Go home, or I’m breaking your jaw,” he threatened.

My eyes snapped up to his. “Don’t make threats you can’t fulfill, Hayes,” I warned.

“Enough.”

Both our heads snapped to the doorway to find Dominic.

He pointed at me. “Boss, you haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in a week. Go home. Clock in at least six hours before coming back here, yeah? We have shit to do and we need you on top of things,” he clipped before looking at Hayes. “Stop being a dick just because of the Veronica shit.”

I quirked a brow. “The Veronica shit?”

Veronica was the woman Hayes had been dating for the last year, and she just moved into his place two months ago.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hayes said, his voice hard as Dominic replied at the same time with, “She slept with someone else.”

I turned back to my friend, a new kind of anger forming. “She what?” I barked.

Hayes’ head snapped to me. “Don’t fucking worry about it. It’s over. Done.” With that, he walked out of the office, not bothering to look at Dominic on the way out.

Dominic’s dark blue eyes met mine. “You sure you’re alright?” he pressed.

I nodded.

When I’d gotten back, I debriefed the team, telling them Carrie Hale was no longer our problem. I didn’t tell them about the tension between us, or the fact that I hadn’t stopped thinking about her since I closed that red door behind me.

“You’re right,” I muttered. “I need some fucking sleep.”

Dominic’s lips twitched. He loved being right. “Then go get some. We have things handled here.”

I nodded, standing. “I need to talk to Hayes first.”

He shook his head. “He’ll be fine. Go home, boss.”

Twenty minutes later, I unlocked the door to my condo, dropped my bag by my feet, and headed to the bedroom. My eyes scanned over the plain furniture. The bed was made, just like I’d left it, and as I stared at it, I began to realize how colorless my condo was, especially in comparison to the home I’d broken into yesterday.

Walking into the bathroom, I stripped my clothes and stepped into the shower, turning on the water. As steam built up, the sting of the near-boiling water began to fade as I washed the last week and a half from my mind.

I closed my eyes, seeing flashes of blonde curls and blue eyes.

“Fuck,” I hissed as my cock hardened, jutting out from my hips. I thought of how sweet she smelled, how she wasn’t afraid of me, how she didn’t flinch at the sight of my scar. Most women did, but they quickly forgot about it the moment I had them in the bedroom.

A twist of guilt fluttered in my gut—I was comparing her to other women.

There was no comparison.

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