Page 90 of Jersey

"No," Casper says with a sigh, as if he's a little annoyed someone isn't keeping up."He's psycho and thinks he's married to her. His bedroom is like a fucking shrine to Caitlyn."

"Enough," I growl, unable to keep listening to this shit. "Can we debrief later?"

"Good idea," Hemlock says into the mic before giving Casper instructions on where to send hard copies of the information he has obtained for the police to have.

"What?" Caitlyn says as she pushes her palm to my chest to create a little distance between us.

"Not you, baby," I say as I point to my ear. "They're chattering in my mic."

"Baby?" someone whispers, but I know the entire team can hear the surprise in my voice.

"I think I missed something," Echo says, his gruff voice very distinguishable.

"Do you want to pack your own bag or do you want me to go to your room and grab some things for you?"

Confusion draws in her brows.

"You can't stay here, Caitlyn. The investigation will take forever, and then we'll have to have the body removed, and then biohazard cleanup crew."

"Where will I go?" she asks as if there's more than one option.

"Back home with me."

Her eyes search mine, and I can't tell if she's finding answers in them or not. We have so much to talk about, and I hate that it came to this for me to realize just how damned important this woman is to me.

"Can we go together?" she asks, and my heart rate doubles, knowing she doesn't want to be separated from me right now.

"Of course," I say as I stand and give her room to get her feet under her before taking a step back.

"Oh God," she says when she looks past me toward the piece of shit who thought he could come in here and terrorize her.

The knowledge of the note, making his intentions clear, makes my skin crawl. If she weren't beside me, I'd go kick the guy in the fucking face.

"Don't look. Let's get some things so we can get out of here."

I press my palm to her back and guide her out of the living room and down the short hallway to her bedroom.

She seems entranced and locked into place when we step into her room, and for the life of me I wish there was some way to pull this experience from her mind, some way to shoulder the burden of it all myself.

"I don't know why I can't stand for people to touch me," she says, her voice distant as she stares off into space.

"We don't have to discuss that right now," I tell her, but I don't continue when she shakes her head.

"You're different," she says, turning to face me. "You're different."

I pull herto me once again when her sobs are renewed, holding her in the middle of her bedroom. If I could close us in here and lock us away from the world for the rest of eternity, I think I would do anything in my power to make that happen. Without the problems of everyday life and no threats of harm to either one of us, I think I could spend the rest of my life just like this with her in my arms.

Knowing that isn't possible or if it would be something she'd be interested in, I take a step back, holding her shoulders at arm's length.

"Let's pack a bag," I say. "We can talk about this after we get back to the cabin."

She dips her head, swiping at tears on her cheeks only for them to once again be replaced.

But instead of getting lost in her own thoughts again, she moves to the closet, pulling a small suitcase out and unzipping it before placing it on the bed.

I stand to the side, not happy when she starts to pack a single change of clothes. I step in behind her, pulling out the larger suitcase that matches the one she selected, and begin filling it with more clothes when she heads into the bathroom to grab her personal hygiene stuff.

She frowns when she steps out of the bathroom with her bottle of shampoo and conditioner in her hands.

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