Page 48 of What's Left of Me

“Agent Rose, it is my professional opinion that due to lack of proper leadership on this case, my patient has been put in more danger than before. I know your boss; I’ve worked with him many times. He will do what is best, but under these circumstances I don’t think Phoenix should be dealing with you or your team any longer.”

You could hear a pin drop after she finished talking. Agent Rose stared at Aziza for a few seconds, then gathered up his things.

“You might find you don’t have as much power as you think, Doctor.” He stormed out, leaving us to wonder how or if he was going to be able to find this guy from the coffee shop.

“Are you okay, Phoenix?” JJ kneeled in front of him, a soft smile playing on his face.

“I’ll…I mean, what if I’m wrong?”

“Do you think you are?” Aziza sat in the chair across from us.

Phoenix lifted his head from where is was resting on my chest. “When I closed my eyes, it was like I was there with him. It was too real.…I don’t think I was wrong.”

“It’s up to them to hunt him down and find out if your gut was right.” She squeezed his knee. “You need to talk about this?”

“No, I…I don’t want to think about this anymore tonight.”

“How about brownies?” JJ jumped up. “I was having a craving last night but couldn’t for the life of me decide if I wanted fudge, peanut-butter chocolate, white chocolate, raspberry fudge, or walnut brownies. So, naturally, I made Shep make them all for me, and now there’s too many.”

Phoenix smirked. “I can’t think of a world where I’d say no to brownies.”

“Ha! Exactly, come on.” JJ held out his hand, and Phoenix took it.

“I’ll meet you guys in the kitchen.” I chuckled when JJ waved us off and dragged Phoenix with him.

“He’ll be okay, Noel.”

I looked at Aziza. “I know he will be, I just don’t like this feeling.”

“What feeling?”

I rubbed my chest. “The one right here.”

“Heartburn?” There was a twinkle in her eye.

“No.”

“Heartbreak?”

“No, it’s like…nothing can happen to him, Aziza. I’ll fucking burn the world down.”

She squeezed both of my arms and grinned. “You’re the best thing in his life right now, Noel. The person he chose to connect with, and what you’re feeling is deep. It’s normal, a strong connection, perhaps.”

“It’s awful.”

She laughed at me…and left me with no advice, just her insane laughter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Phoenix

My mind was still reelingtwo days after Agent Rose had stopped by. Every fiber of my being was yelling at me that the voice in the background was Adonis. I, along with everyone else in the house, couldn’t understand how hard it could be to track this guy down. I mean, he worked with Jaron Zaffy and their family, so couldn’t they just go knock on his door and arrest him?

“I say we go to his house, grab him, and end this ourselves.” I turned in my seat where I’d been looking out the kitchen window. Noel was arguing with Nick, who appeared exasperated.

“Look, I get it. When all that shit was happening with Matt, all I wanted to do was find who was doing it and end them.”

Noel froze, a glass of lemonade halfway to his mouth, and gawked at Nick. “Seriously? That’s exactly what youdiddo!”

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