Page 133 of Prey for You

“Iamthe good guy.”

“Oh? Guess who she’s always come to before when she’s scared? It wasn’t you.”

“I don’t give a shit—”

“So, a funny thing happened today when shit got real in that courtroom and she finally woke up and saw the truth about you… Guess who she came to todayforcomfort?”Then the bastard smiled.

And fuck me, but I took the bait. “Why did she needcomforting?”

“Because I showed her the picture of you talking to her Dad in prison. The two of you scheming when you thought no one was looking. Prison ministry, my ass, Sam, you’ve been in his pocketthis whole time.And now she knows you’re just one more Gordon Reynolds puppet—”

My hand shot out to grip his neck of its own accord and I plowed him backwards, right into the wall, pinning him there by his throat.

Way in the back of my mind a voice screamed caution, but this bastard was touching her. I knew it.

“What the fuck did you tell her?”

Jeremy was choking, but I hadn’t cut off his air completely. He gripped my fingers, trying to pry them loose, but he wasn’t panicking. He wascrowing.

“Feel free to… make me pass out…” he managed to shove between his teeth. “There’s… bailiffs and… Police out there… you won’t… get five feet—”

I cut off his air entirely. As he jolted and clawed at my hand for real, I leaned right up in his face.

“Just a chat? Man-to-man? Not talking about the case, huh? But you have to invoke theUnited fucking States of America…You’re not the good guy here, Jeremy. I don’t care how many medals or promotions, or commendations or whatever the fuck you get. She’s all that matters.If I find out you hurt her… well, itsounds like I’m going to prison anyway, so what’s one more charge?”

His face turned purple and the veins in his forehead stood proud.

I gave him one more shove against the wall, then let him go. He coughed and slumped, sucking at the air like he’d been underwater.

I opened my mouth to threaten him again, to make sure he stayed down there when I left and saw what I’d done.

I stared in horror at Jeremy—a fucking FBI Agent—curled up on the floor, gasping because I’dstrangledhim.

He provoked me, I reminded myself. He started it. But he hadn’t touched me. He’d said he wouldn’t and he didn’t, and Ilost my fucking mind.

I clawed my hands into my hair. “I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m sorry. I just… I’m sorry.”

Then I whirled for the door, but I’d forgotten that he locked it. I struggled for a few seconds to work out the lock, and meanwhile Jeremy gave a wheezing laugh.

“You… lose… Sam.”

His voice was hoarse because I’d almost crushed his larynx.Shit.

“I could have killed you and I didn’t because I’mnot that guy anymore,” I snarled, rattling the door and slamming the back of my fist into it.

“You… should have. Because I got you… I fucking… got you.”

Shuddering with fear and rage, I finally turned the little tick on the doorknob so I could get out of this fucking cage. I yanked that door open and bolted faster than Bridget when she wanted me to hunt.

But I was still shaking an hour and a half later when I got home.

Bridget wasn’t answering her phone. The court case was going bad. And I put hands on a fuckingFBI Agent.What the hell had I been thinking?

I called Bridget’s burner phone again, and again it just rang and rang until it hit voicemail.

I dropped onto the couch in my living room, face in my hands. “God, help me.What the fuck is happening?”

43. I See You

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