Page 12 of Proof

No one was.

Well, no onehadbeen.

“Did you get the guy? The tail?” Axel asked. I could hear our outraged client yelling from the back seat about being late for something, but I drowned out the rest of her words.

“Yeah… wasn’t a tail. Just some harmless kid in his dad’s muscle car hoping to getherattention.” I motioned toward the back seat. “I’ve got his information so we can run background on him if we need to.”

Axel held my gaze for a moment, his dark eyes searching out my words for any lies. I kept my cool as I made my way to the passenger side of the car, but my thoughts were consumed with wondering how long Cass had been following me for and to what end. If he’d wanted me dead, he’d had every opportunity to do the job and be gone long before anyone appeared to witness the event. I’d only noticed his car the day before and while I’d been sure it was him based on the Mustang alone, I’d had to be one hundred percent certain. The second I’d seen him that morning as we’d reached our charge’s house, I’d confirmed it was him and had begun planning how to confront him.

I hadn’t had any legal reason to stop him, but legalities hadn’t been my first concern when I’d realized the man who’d tried to kill me two years earlier, a man I’d ironically trusted with my life at that time, was following me, probably to finish the job.

I avoided Axel’s glances as he got the car moving again and simultaneously calmed down the actress as she demanded an explanation for what had happened. I didn’t pay her any attention because I was too focused on one question and one question only.

Would Cass leave and never come back as I’d ordered?

The question wasn’t really the issue, though. It was the answer that had me rattled. Cass needed to go anywhere that I wasn’t.

Problem was, the knot in my stomach didn’t ease at the thought of never seeing Cass again. It only grew and tighteneduntil my body was so rife with tension that it had Axel asking me, “You okay?”

No.

I definitely wasn’t the fuck okay.

“Yeah,” I said as evenly as I could. “All good.”

I glanced at Axel, who seemed satisfied with my response.

At least someone was, because I sure as shit wasn’t.

CHAPTER 5

Cass

“Tell Sully to get his fucking ass down here!” I snapped the second I yanked the front door open to reveal the Targes lobby.

Michael jumped to his feet behind the reception desk. He backed up so fast that his head hit the bottom of the Targes logo sign which was made of a combination of metal and glass. I knew I should apologize for scaring the kid, but my blood was boiling and it felt like every nerve ending was raw and exposed.

What the fuck had I done?

I’d kissed JJ, that was what I’d done. Worse, I’d let him kiss me back. If I thought I’d just wanted to bury my dick inside the man one time so I could be free of him forever, JJ had just proven to me that I wanted to do so many more things to him. I wanted him to do those things to me too. I just…wanted.

“Fuck,” I muttered. I looked up in the direction of Sully’s office. The building was a renovated warehouse, so it was mostly open space except for the few offices that were on the second floor, much like a loft layout.

“Sully!” I yelled. I could still taste JJ’s sweet flavor on my tongue. I could feel the way he’d taken over the kiss… and me.

I could also still hear the ice dripping from his voice as he’d described the wayI’dsupposedly killed a little girl and her mother.

I had no fucking clue what kind of game Sully was playing with me, but I was done. I was out. Fury clung to every part of me. It was now a constant, painful itch beneath my skin. God, I’d been so sure that JJ would admit what had really happened that night—that he’d have some kind of reasonable explanation for locking me in a cell for two years of my life.

“Sully—”

“I’m here,” Sully said quietly. He appeared from a side door, presumably one of many that led up to the offices as well as down to the lower level where the training equipment was located.

Sully’s voice and movements were calm and slow.

Like he was talking to a cornered wild animal.

An injured animal that only wanted to escape.

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