Page 8 of Catch Me When I Fall

Everything was always connected to something.

“How?” I questioned.

His eyes dropped to the file. “The leader of the Bratva got to ex-Mayor Gellings.”

Gellings was Carrie’s father, that much I knew.

I went to grab the file off the desk, and, in a flash, Garner’s hand was around my wrist, the head of my red snake tattoo below his fingers. Suddenly, I was fighting the urge to kill him where he stood and then forgetting this city and Carrie all together. “Get your hand off me,” I ordered, my voice calm as ever as I worked to restrain the darkness swirling inside me.

Garner pinned me with a look, not letting go of my hand. “You pick up that file, there is no turning back. You don’t think about anything but Carrie. You don’t take any other cases. You don’t do anything else until she is back here, safe and fucking sound. That understood?”

I gave him five seconds to remove his hand.

He didn’t.

My head ticked to the side. “Do you think Haley would like a one-handed husband?” I asked darkly. “Take your fucking hand off me before I call her and make her listen to your screams, Agent.”

As he pulled his hand away, he kept our gaze locked.

Oh yeah. This man didn’t show fear.

Most men would’ve been crying in the corner by now, but James Garner had been around darkness his entire life. He knew it, down to his soul.

Just like me.

“You take that file; Carrie Hale becomes your number one priority. Understood?” he clipped, sticking to the issue at hand.

My next words came out calmer than before. “I don’t take orders from you.”

His upper lip curled as he huffed. “Oh, that’s right. Joseph Grayson doesn’t take orders from anyone.”

I grabbed the file and turned, ready to the leave this fucking city, get the job done, and get back to my fucking life.

“Even in the Marines, right? Following orders was difficult for you then too, right?” he continued.

There it fucking was. Last year, he didn’t mention it—not once. He pretended I was a stranger to him. That was fine. It wasn’t like I went home and cried about it.

My footsteps halted, and I looked over my shoulder, a smirk forming on my lips. “You would do well to remember who saved your unit’s ass over there, Garner.”

Everything was fucking connected.

Agent Garner served in the Marines the same time I did.

“I remember, Grayson,” he said, coming around to the front of his desk. “I’ll always remember.”

Curiosity got the best of me, and I found myself turned around as I asked, “Tell me something, Garner. If you remember so well, then why didn’t you disclose that you knew who I was when Oasis was drowning last year?”

He shrugged a single shoulder. “Wasn’t relevant.”

I lifted my chin. “Hmm. And what about when Oasis struck a deal with Hallow Ranch?” I pushed.

His brows furrowed. “I never knew Denver Langston when I was enlisted, Grayson.”

The darkness inside of me grinned. “I’m not referring to the fucking ranch owner,” I told him. “I’m referring to the Marine running the mission that prevented you from getting blown to bits.”

Agent Garner didn’t blink. “Mags had nothing to do with any of that, Grayson, and you know it.”

“Bullshit,” I said quietly.

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