Page 76 of Even if You Fall

My stomach dropped as realization hit me, but I still asked, “And why are you here?”

“To take her.”

I got why Rush was here, especially without warning. I did. Whenever things got tense on missions, we fell back to as little communication as possible. Something I’d known was coming when I’d informed Briggs last night that Vance had been trying to get Chloe to tell him where we’d taken her.

But even though I knew letting Chloe go with Rush would be for the best because I needed to remember my place couldn’t be with her, I didn’t want her with anyone but me.

I drew in a slow breath before releasing it. “Why can’t I take her?”

A stunned laugh fled from him. “You could. Briggs thought you might want the time away from her.”

“And you volunteered?” I countered, not letting on that I really wouldn’t. “You’re supposed to be laying a trail in New York.”

Rush’s eyebrows rose. “The trail’s set,” he said slowly, firmly. “But he saidgo, so I’m here. However,youseem to have something you wanna get off your chest, so do it.”

“There’s nothing.” At his disbelieving huff, I gestured to him. “You’re just here. You’re always there, volunteering with anything that has to do with Chloe.”

Understanding quickly settled over his face. “I’m gonna stop you before you continue down that path.” He placed a hand on his chest, his voice dropping low, even as the beginning of a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I volunteer for my job, the same as you. I don’t volunteer for Chloe, so you can stop worrying I’m trying to step somewhere you clearly don’t want me to.”

I clenched my jaw as I swallowed back the lie that was easy to rise and the truth that I didn’t want to set free...again.

“I mean, Chloe’s great,” he continued when I didn’t say anything. “She’s really nice and easy to hang out with, and she’s...” He drew in a quick breath through his teeth. “She’s beautiful and?—”

“You done?” I ground out.

“Just waiting to see how long you’d let me go,” he said on a hushed laugh, then reached forward to shove my shoulder. “Look, in all honesty, you know all that’s true. And if...if things were different, yeah, sure, I might’ve given Chloe a second thought. But they’re not.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better about you being here.”

An uneasy sound crept from him as he dragged a hand through his hair. “Trust me, you’re fine. Just...unrequited love I don’t know how to let go of, and all that.”

My eyebrows drew close at the unexpected admission.

I’d worked with Rush for well over a decade, and in all that time, I couldn’t think of anyone he’d talked about or so much as looked at. He barely even dated, and even then, I was sure it was to get Gray and me off his back whenever we’d started getting on him and Briggs because all they ever did was work.

“Who?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

Rush looked around, clearly uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to tell me, man,” I said, waving a hand in apology.

But just as I took a step backward and started inviting him deeper into the house, he admitted, “Let’s just say I’d rather still be in New York.”

I stilled as I tried wrapping my head around the equally unexpected comment. I thought of the few people he’d been in New York with and felt the surprise slowly creep across my face when I remembered how close Rush had stuck to Briggs’ sister at their brother’s funeral a few months ago.

“Peyton?” I asked softly, as if Briggs were nearby and would overhear.

A miserable sounding laugh fled from Rush in confirmation.

“Does Briggs know?”

“Not a chance,” he muttered, his stare shifting away. “I’ve known Briggs would kill me since we were all teenagers. That hasn’t changed.”

“Does she know?”

Rush’s head bobbed almost imperceptibly before his eyes snapped back to me. “Unrequited, remember? Anyway,” he went on before I could say anything else, “you don’t have to worry about Chloe with me.”

I looked over my shoulder, searching for the girl in question, and released a weighted breath when I didn’t find her. “Rush, I’mworried about Chloe andme,” I admitted as I focused on him again. “I can’t?—”

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