Page 94 of Jersey

I knew we were in his room when he ran soapy hands over my body last night in the shower and my skin bloomed with the same scent I recalled from his.

"You didn't displace me, Caitlyn," he says as he points to the bed. "I slept right there behind you. Held you all night. I wouldn't have even gotten out of bed, but we had to debrief this morning."

"You h-held me?" I stammer, unsure if I should read anything more into that than him just trying to comfort me since I went through something traumatizing

"I hope that was okay," he says, his throat bobbing under a swallow.

"It's fine," I say, but I don't have the ability or the wherewithal to actually think about what it could mean.

"What do you do for a living?"

He tilts his head to the side a little before walking toward the same window Rhonda was looking out of. This window has a great view of the mountain. It's gorgeous looking out there. The other window looks out over the parking lot.

"Like for work," I explain. "You use words like debrief, and it makes me wonder what you do specifically."

"Jericho hasn't explained what Cerberus is? What we do?"

"I signed an NDA to work with Eli, but he hasn't given me specifics about the work that is done here. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."

He looks back at me over his shoulder.

"I can't tell you everything."

"I'm not asking for specifics," I clarify. "A broad explanation would work."

"Cerberus as a whole rescues trafficked men, women, and children."

"Sex trafficked people?" I say, needing to sit on the side of the bed as my knees are growing weaker.

"A lot of them are sex trafficked, but there's also forced labor. A guy in the new Vegas chapter got involved with a mail-order bride sort of thing recently," he explains as he turns around and takes a seat in the armchair on the far side of the room.

It seems like he's trying to keep as much distance between the two of us as possible despite admitting just moments ago that he held me all night. Maybe he does that often as part of his job.

"I'm so sorry for causing you and your guys so much trouble. To think my situation has been pulling you from very important work."

He shakes his head as he lowers his face into his palms.

"I went to Catalyst or whatever name it had before they got shut down and reopened as Catalyst to make sure they weren't doing anything illegal. That's why I was there the night I first saw you."

Heat washes over my face even though my time on the cross seems like a lifetime ago.

"I hated that the second I saw you, I felt like I couldn't just walk away. It pissed me off, made me angry, but even more than that, it made me... curious."

Chapter 38

Jersey

"I'm completely fucked up," I confess, holding my head in my hands because I'm too much of a fucking coward to look her in the eyes right now.

"Roman, I—"

I shake my head, making her words die on her lips.

"I have a lot to say and I don't know that I'll have the courage to get it all out unless I just drop it all at your feet in one go. Is that alright?"

I lift my head enough to see her face, and although she looks exhausted, she's the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on.

"Okay," she whispers, but I inwardly wonder if she feels like I'm treating her like a therapist with my trauma dump.

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