Page 68 of Out of Sight

“That’s fine,” I bluffed. “We don’t need to be kept all holed up. We’ll probably be safe now anyway. Blake was just saying it’s time to be deposed, and then we’ll be on our own either way.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m sure we could figure something out. I’ll work it out. We’ll get…Kaylie, is it? We’ll get Kaylie over to the base as soon as possible.”

I smiled, leaning back onto the bed and closing my eyes. Will and I were safe, together, and would stay that way.

“Okay. I see you’re tired. I’ll let you get some rest.” I heard the Colonel fidget for another moment before retreating completely out of the room. The door clicked closed behind him.

“Honey, are you actually sleepy, or are you just faking it so he’d leave while you were winning?”

I popped an eye open to see Will grinning down at me.

“Both,” I admitted, stifling a yawn. Getting shot was exhausting.

“Then sleep, Claire. I’ll stay here with you as long as you want me to.”

“Can you stay forever?”

Epilogue

Will

It only took another week before we were deposed, just enough time for Claire to be discharged from the hospital.

With the deposition already on record, Agent Blake didn’t think we were in as much danger as before. We didn’t need to go hide out at Colonel Reynold’s air force base after all—her negotiation for Kaylie’s care was unnecessary, but still the sweetest thing she could have done—but Blake still felt we needed some protection, at the very least until everyone’s trials were concluded and the entire Morelli organization was put away. We had federal agents stationed outside of Claire’s apartment at all times and an escort at the ready to drive us around anywhere we needed to go. The relative freedom was a bit of an adjustment after being with Jim 24/7.

The additional privacy was much appreciated once Claire was all healed up, considering all the time I needed to make up for by having Claire splayed under, on top, and around me. Her desperate cries only brought the agents busting in the door thefirst time. After that I set up an auto-text to send whenever we decided to get frisky so nobody needed to replace the door again.

We lived like that for seven months.

First Antonio Conti’s trial began a few months after we returned to San Francisco, concluding in less than four weeks due to all the overwhelming evidence and eyewitnesses to his psycho behavior. Carlo Morelli’s trial began two months later, concluding in a whopping five weeks thanks to a surprise witness who knew so much more about all his dirty activities than Claire and I combined. The D.A. was still putting together enough evidence to bring in Angelo Morelli, and Leo Lombardi was taken out around the same time as Antonio, though we didn’t have much to do with his case, only needed to know we were that much closer to being free.

When all the main players were finally put behind bars it was time for Claire and I to go on our first trip out of town together.

We were going to Bakersfield to help get all of Kaylie’s stuff moved up to a care facility just outside of the city in Alameda. We could finally afford it since I’d had my personal fitness business up and running for six months now and had more top-dollar clients than I knew what to do with. With the new idea of virtual meetings I could book even more people with even less overhead, so I was financially in the black for the first time in my life. Claire was similarly busy, building up her business and using my website as her flagship success story.

With everything going so great it made sense for us to take our first vacation together, even if the trip was going to be more business than pleasure. I was looking forward to seeing a new side to the love of my life.

“Just get in the freaking right-hand lane, Will!” Claire screeched. “There. We missed our exit. Are you happy now?”

I actually was.

“Now we have to double back from the next exit and lose two minutes.”

I hid my smile. Poor Claire. She had a bladder the size of a pea.

“This isn’t funny, Will!” she whined. “I might not make it, and our relationship is still too new for me to pee my pants in front of you!”

My mouth twitched. The more she said, the harder it was to hold in.

“Do you want my water bottle? You can pee in there if you want.”

“No! I want a real bathroom with a real toilet!”

My laugh was going to break free any second now.

“Why not? Which is more embarrassing? Peeing your pants in front of me, or peeing in a bottle in front of me?”

Thinking about the answer distracted her long enough for me to pull to a stop in front of the building.

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