Page 83 of Instinct & New Identity

Oh, shit.Imay have been drunk, butIknew where he was going with this.

“He reported back to his crew thatIgot married, so they chose to go afterAceas retaliation for testifying, and to send a message to me.Idon’t know all the details, butIknew she had a rough time growing up.Shehad just graduated and was about to get her dream job.Ididn’t want to be responsible for her losing that.Ifiled for an annulment, andIput on the paperwork that we had only just met and it was a drunk accident getting married.Iwanted it noted so that if they went looking, they wouldn’t think she meant anything to me and they would leave her alone.”

I understood why he did it.AndInow knew that he understood whyIdid whatIhad to do withCat.Ihad to protect her likeArcherhad protectedAce.Hegot it.Henever talked about the divorce though.Ihad always just assumed it was because he got too drunk, married her, and then realized he was an idiot and got it annulled.

“Biggest regret of my life,” he revealed. “IfIhad to do it all over again,Iwouldn’t have divorced her.Iwould have found a way to make it work.”

I was sorry he felt that way, butIdisagreed. “Arch, they would have come after her.Youdid the right thing.”

“Man,Ihave never stopped thinking about her since the day we got divorced.Sixmonths ago,Ihad a few drinks at the pub and went home with a woman.Icalled herAcewhileIwas having sex with her.Twice.”

I winced.Worstthing you could do when having sex with a woman was call her someone else’s name. “Similarname?”

“Not even close.ItwasNatalieor something.”

“Shit.”Ifelt bad for both of them because that had to be awkward.

“I’m telling you all this becauseIdon’t want you to make the same mistakeIdid.”Hefinally turned to look at me. “Catis your person.Don’tthrow that away just because of a chance something may or may not happen.”

“But somethingdidhappen.Shealmost died tonight,Arch,”Ireminded him. “That’swhat worries me.”

“Yeah, and you heard your dad tonight.Thesame thing happened with your mom, but your dad saved her.Justlike you savedCat.Yeah, your job may put her in those bad situations, but your job will also save her.Andjust pointing out, if that assholeParkerhadn’t been in on it, they never would have pulled this off.She’ssaferwithyou protecting her than she iswithoutyou.Ifsomeone came after her a couple months from now, she wouldn’t have you to keep her safe because you’re a dumbass and broke it off with her.”

I started to speak, but he held up his hands and cut me off.

“I’ve said my piece.NowI’mcrashing in your spare bedroom.AllIwill say is think about it.Don’tmake the same mistakeIdid and lose the one thing that means the most to you.”

He got up and walked away, leaving me there to think about what he had just said.Ifell asleep on the couch to the notion thatIhad screwed up and needed to fix it.

* * *

I woke to the sun shining brightly in my face and the smell of coffee.IrealizedIwas on my couch and the blinding light source was from my giant window in the living room.Iturned my head to see the source of the smell was fromArcherstanding in my kitchen brewing a fresh pot.

“God,Icould use a cup of that,”Iannounced asIlifted myself up into a sitting position, immediately regretting it as the world spun a little around me.

Ever so slowly as to not make my head hurt worse,Imade my way into the kitchen to get a cup, and a few ibuprofens as well.

“Here,”Archersaid, handing me a filled cup. “I’mtaking a travel mug becauseIhave to go home and shower and get over toRuthie’splace to see how she andJackfared.I’mguessing the two of them either killed each other or finally gave in and played tonsil hockey like teenagers.”

I laughed at his extremely accurate assessment.Ivaguely rememberedArcherorWadesayingJackwas staying over at her place last night to make sure she didn’t injure herself even more with her cast on.Shewould also need help with her dog, since she clearly couldn’t walk him with crutches.

“Let me know how it goes,”Isaid to his back as he waved and exited my loft.

I made my way to my shower.Ihoped the hot water would help my brain come back to life and help me figure out what to say toCat.Aftersleeping on it,Irealized the guys were all right.Myjob may be dangerous, butIcouldn’t live without her.Iwas a selfish bastard, andIwanted to keep her.

AfterIshowered and dressed, my plan was to grab something to eat and then head over to the apartment and see ifCatwould talk to me.AsIwalked toward the fridge,Iheard the front door open.Onlyso many people had keys to my place.Assumingit was more likely to beArcherthanCat,Iwaited in the kitchen to hear if someone called out.Amoment later,CatandValboth walked into the kitchen and stopped when they saw me standing there.

“We’re just here to get her clothes.We’llbe gone in a few minutes,”Valsaid, glaring at me the whole time.

I knewIdeserved that.Ialso knewIneeded to talk withCatbefore she left.Thistalk would likely involve a lot of groveling.

“Cat, canItalk to you for a minute?”Ispoke directly to her, but she stared at the floor.

“No, you may not,”Valbarked back, grabbingCat’shand and guiding her toward the back hall to my room, where she could get her things.

“I’m sorry.”Iwent straight to the point asIstepped in front of them. “Seeingyou hurt in the hospital yesterday broke something in me.Knowingyou were hurt because of me, because of my job…”Isighed, trying to think of how to put whatIfelt into words.

They stopped,Valstill glaring at me, whileCatfinally looked up at me, andIcould see her eyes were wet, but also filled with anger.Ihated thatIhad done that to her.

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