Page 40 of High Velocity

“The kind that is none of your damn business. Now, like I said, I can’t?—”

I abruptly stop talking when I catch sight of Jackson’s truck coming up the driveway.

Oh fuck.

I have a feeling I’m about to witness a pissing contest.

Thirteen

Jackson

It’s not hard to guess who the guy is, standing in front of Stephanie’s place.

Everything about him screams FBI; the SUV, the suit, the aviator sunglasses shoved back on his head. He gives off territorial asshole vibes right off the bat too, as he takes a step closer to Stephanie when I get out of my truck.

Well, that shit is not going to fly.

I wasn’t even sure I was going to show tonight, but when I got back to my cabin to shower, I remembered I left Ash here.

Oh, who the hell am I kidding? I’ve been trying to talk myself out of starting something with Stephanie from the get-go, and yet I keep showing up. The brutal truth is; I’m a shadow of the man I was before, I have little to offer her, and she’s so far out of my league, I shouldn’t even be breathing the same air…but here I am. Again.

Except this time, I’m facing off with a guy I feel instinctively as a threat. He fucking looks at me like he’s been there with Stephanie and aims to go there again. The message is so fucking thick in the air, I could sharpen my teeth on it.

I turn to my truck, pull the bag of dog food I brought from the back, and toss it over my shoulder. Then I walk straight up to Stephanie without looking at the asshole, hook my free hand behind her neck, and pull her in for a hard, claiming kiss.

“Hey, Hotshot,” I greet her. “I picked the dog up some food.”

Her mouth twitches. “I see that.”

She knows exactly what I’m doing, but makes no attempt to stop me from making a blatant claim on her. I turn to look at the guy as I slide my arm around her shoulders and lean my head close to hers.

“So who’s the suit? Friend of yours?”

I feel a great deal of satisfaction when she answers, “Hardly,” and I watch the man’s face turn to stone. Clearly, he doesn’t like her answer, which means I likely read his vibes correctly.

“Ben Vallard is the colleague I told you about. The one I did the favor for.”

“Right. You did mention that.” I turn a fake smile on the guy, who looks like he tried to swallow a lemon whole. “So what brings you here?”

It takes a moment for him to respond.

“I’m here to follow up on a case I’m working on.”

“Actually, Ben tracked me down because he wants my help,” Stephanie interjects, throwing oil on the flames by correcting him.

“Does he know you’re on a break?” I ask her, ignoring the agent across from us.

“Yes, I was just explaining to him about my medical leave,” she returns, leaving Vallard completely out of the conversation about him.

I can feel the anger radiating from the guy, he doesn’t like being ignored. I love it and play along.

“Good, I don’t want you to push yourself too hard too soon.”

She puts a hand on my chest and smiles up at me. “I know.”

The loud scrape of a throat draws my attention back to Vallard, who is glaring at Stephanie.

“If you hear anything useful, let me know. You have my number.” He says the last with a quick glance in my direction. “And watch your back. You never know, if Laine is around, he might recognize you.”

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