Page 23 of Lockout

Her watery laugh made my lips twitch. It wasn’t a full smile. How the fuck was I supposed to do that when she was nearly in tears beside me? If I wasn’t there, she’d be sobbing in her car, alone. But because I was with her, she was holding back. Her beautiful deep blue eyes were glistening with tears that she wouldn’t allow to fall.

“Very funny,” she sniffed, pulling a tissue from her purse and dabbing at her eyes.

As if I was fucking kidding.

She was in lawyer mode today. She’d damn near knocked me on my ass when she’d opened her door this morning. The pants she had on were tight and perfectly tailored. And the blouse was modest, long sleeved, and exactly what a young professional should be wearing. It made me want to rip off all her clothes and dirty her up a bit. Mess up that neat bun her hair was in. Shecould keep the high heels on while I fucked her though. Those killer heels were too sexy to let her take off.

She sniffed again and peeked over at me. “You were kidding…” When I didn’t answer she gaped at me. “Lock-”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Sure, I was kidding, Keely.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why don’t I believe you?”

Because I wasn’t kidding.

“Where to?”

“Home,” she sighed. “I need to call Agent Anderson and officially resign from the civilian contractor’s position.”

It was going to be a rough day for her. She wasn’t a woman who quit anything. And twice in one day she was going to have to admit defeat and resign from a position.

We made the rest of the drive in silence, but once we got back to the clubhouse, I went into her apartment with her. When she gave me a curious look, I just sat down on her couch and made myself comfortable. I wasn’t going to make her go through this alone.

She didn’t argue. Another clue of how devastated she was. She didn’t normally do what I told her to without at least a little push back. Now she was doing everything I demanded. It was understandable. These fuckers were out to get her. She was displaced from her home because of it. Now she’d quit her job. And was quitting the task force. She was floundering. Still, I wanted to get the fire re-lit inside of her. I didn’t like seeing her so docile.

Until then, I’d be there for her in whatever way she needed. We both glanced over at the door as a noise broke through the ringing coming from her phone. I motioned for her to put it on speaker as I stood and went to the door.

I wasn’t surprised as I opened it and Auron came trotting in like he owned the place. The canine had a sixth sense about whatpeople needed. He padded over and hopped onto the couch next to where Keely sat.

“Miss Bradford.”

“Hello, Agent Anderson.”

I smirked as she put on what I liked to think of as her lawyer voice. Static did the same damn thing anytime he went into work mode. There was a cadence to her words as she explained to Anderson that she was going to have to back out of working on the task force.

The heavy pause once she stopped speaking had me tensing up. I hadn’t sat again. Instead, I was pacing back and forth in front of her.

Her right hand was buried in Auron’s fur as she held the phone with the other.

“That’s…unfortunate,” Anderson finally said.

“I understand it’s last minute,” Keely told him. “But I’ve got…family…issues I need to deal with.”

“Breaking an employment contract with the U.S. Government isn’t as easy as-”

“I’ve looked over my contract,” she said, interrupting him. “I’ve fulfilled my obligation to the government and am within the grace period to opt out according to the newest contract I recently signed. I’m taking that opportunity to decline continued employment.”

I could all but hear Anderson gnashing his teeth together on the other side of the line. He wasn’t thrilled about this. But too fucking bad. I paused my pacing to wait to see what he’d say. To see if I needed to step in.

“We’re sorry to see you go, Miss Bradford,” Anderson said at last. He knew he didn’t have the fucking authority to do anything else. “You’ll need to contact HQ and get everything rolling with them.”

“They’re my next call,” she assured him.

“Agent Hill will be sorry to see you go.”

That dickhead was going to be furious because he just lost his fucking little scapegoat. If Agent Hill thought he was getting away with putting my woman in trouble, he had another fucking thing coming. But he’d have to wait. First, I needed to deal with the LoS. Then, I’d go visit that scumbag piece of shit and fuck up his world.

For now, I listened as Keely said her goodbyes. Then she jumped straight into the next phone call and it was all about terminating her contract with the FBI.

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