Page 56 of Dangerous Lies

Ginger winked at her as they walked out of the room.

Xavier had a phone pressed to his ear in the hallway outside of Sarah’s door.

“But I don’t deserve love,” Grim said so low Rose almost didn’t hear her.

Rose waited until they both had a cup of coffee. She’d loaded hers with sugar to cover the burnt taste. Grim drank hers straight black. They sat down at a table far in the corner.

“Now tell me, why you think you don’t deserve love?” Rose asked.

Grim’s eyes were on the cup of coffee before she looked up. “I grew up in a happy house, but we also didn’t have a lot of money. Sarah got straight A’s through school and excelled at sports. Me, I loved to go to the range with my father. I learned to shoot at a young age. Any chance I could, I would go. It cost money, so I would have to save. Graduation my senior year, I was shooting instead of out partying.” She took a deep breath. “A man in a black suit walked up and started to talk to me.”

“CIA?”

She nodded. “I was eighteen, didn’t have the grades for a scholarship, and hell, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. The man offered me a job. It sounded so cool, but they wanted my skill. Plus, when someone is small, female, and plain, they can go under the radar. It was easy to get to targets.”

Rose’s heart twisted for the woman. The CIA handler used an eighteen-year-old who didn’t know what they were getting into.

“The first kill still keeps me up at night. I wake up gagging on the taste of blood. I won’t go into detail how I killed him, but it was bad. Taking someone’s life no matter how evil the person is takes something out of you.” She paused. “People talk about Grim and how great she is. I want one person to see me as Angel, not Grim.”

Rose didn’t have the same past as Grim, but she knew what it was like to want to fit in. To have someone accept you for who you were.

“I don’t see you as Grim. Casanova fell for you, not for your reputation. I think you need to look deep inside you and figure out what you want. Your sister is also going to need you.”

“She refused to see me.” Grim wiped a tear from her eyes. “And if Casanova dies, I…”

“He won’t,” Rose said, feeling it deep in her gut. “He chose to sit in the van and guard me. Men get weird when they get hurt. He’s dealing with a lot you need to give him time.”

“You’re right.” She let out a shaky breath. “This talk helped. I should go check on Xavier. He’s using work to escape from his feelings. Sarah refuses to see him.”

They chatted on their way back up to the room. Grim stopped to talk to Xavier, and Rose headed down to Ginger’s room. When she pushed the door open, her heart contracted. Tyler was sound asleep, and Ginger had his eyes closed.

Ginger opened his eyes when she sat down. “How is she?”

She shook her head, not wanting to talk about Grim. She knew the woman was in a bad place, but she would find a way to climb out in time.

“Doc said I should be able to get out tomorrow,” Ginger said.

“Can we go home?” she asked, worried he couldn’t ride in the car that long.

“Yes,” he said, linking their fingers together. “We have to stop and get our things, but it’s time we go back to Vegas and live our life.”

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

She smiled and couldn’t help dreaming about their future.

* * *

One month later - Ginger.

Ginger slipped past the nurse’s station down the hall. Lucas had given him the room number. Casanova hadn’t allowed anyone into his room, including his teammates.

Ginger opened the door and shut it behind him. The room was dark and quiet.

“Not time for my meds,” Casanova bitched.

Ginger wouldn’t let his friend push away everyone who cared about him. Lucas had said Grim’s eyes were puffy every day, and she had thrown herself into work. Even Xavier tried to talk to her, but she wouldn’t talk to him.

It seemed Ginger was about to be a therapist.

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