Page 135 of Outside The Wire

“You never let a woman rule your life before,” he said snidely.

“I never had a woman who was worth giving up everything for. She’s worth all that and more. Besides, I gave it up long before she came along.”

The door swung open and Wyatt walked in, his eyes bouncing between me and Chase. “Hey, I’ve got an order for you.”

“No problem. I’m just finishing up here.”

He nodded, handing over the slip, then shut the door.

“You wouldn’t even consider coming back to help with Cash?”

“I’m one man and I haven’t been back in years. What could I possibly do to help?”

“I don’t know, man. But Cash has gone off the deep end. We all owe it to Eva to do everything we can for her. There are things you don’t know. Things that…” He sighed in frustration, running his fingers through his hair. “Kavanaugh’s father was shot because he was going to tell us who was behind The Syndicate,” he said, lowering his voice. “Then Kavanaugh was shot. He almost didn’t make it. And the only fucking lead we have is Shadow.”

“Shadow?” I asked, my brows furrowing at the name. “As in?—”

He nodded. “We put in a call to Knight.”

“What the hell does he have to do with any of this?”

He quirked an eyebrow at me. “There’s so much you’ve missed, man. He’s Cash’s brother.”

Shock rippled through me. That was a lot to digest, but even with that knowledge, it still didn’t sway me.

“Right now, we’re trying to track down Cash and Shadow. We need to get ahead of this before Cash gets himself killed. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone on the inside. Someone who is no longer connected to the company.”

Just like the last op. Go undercover and gather intel. Be the inside man. That’s what he was asking of me. I knew I couldn’t do it. There was no fucking way.

“And put myself in the same position I was in with Jade? Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, anger rolling through me.

“It was just a thought,” Chase sighed. “Asher, I get that you’re happy here, but it’s all hands on deck, and we could really use you. Just tell me you’ll consider what I’m saying. At least for Eva.”

“I’ll think about it. That’s all I can promise right now.”

I knew it wasn’t enough for him. Chase wasn’t the type to let anything go. He might never understand my decision to leave OPS, but at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter what he thought. I knew I had done the right thing for me when I walked away from all of them. It was the only way to survive, and in doing that, I found life again.

33

HOLLY

“God,you make me sick with how nauseatingly happy you are,” Noelle complained. “Don’t you ever get tired of being so cheerful all the time?”

I stopped humming and turned from where I was arranging flowers in the vase for the front window. “You mean, would I like to be more like you and mope around? Not really.”

“I can take the happiness at Christmas time. I mean, it is the most wonderful time of the year. You have the name for it and with the lights and Santa and snow…how can anyone not be happy? But all year round? Ugh.”

I chuckled and went back to work. If there was ever a time when Noelle found someone who gushed over her, I would pay to see her reaction. I wasn’t sure she could handle it.

“You know, there are two types of people in this world,” she continued. “Happy people and sad people.”

I ignored her as I put the finishing touches on the flowers, then wrapped the ribbon around the vase and tied it off. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out and carried it to the front of the store, placing it in the window display, along with the rest of the spring items. Finally, everything was starting to look cheery.

My eyes must have been deceiving me because I could swear a certain woman was striding up the walk to my store, and she was followed by a man who looked very familiar.

“Noelle!” I hissed. “Get over here!”

She hurried over, dragging ribbon along behind her, staring out the window with me. She inhaled sharply. “Isn’t that Asher’s dead wife?”

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