Page 88 of Tell Me Your Desires
“Bullshit.”
“Excuse me?” Jaime knew she was overthinking here, but didn’t Anya believe that she was in this for the long haul? Her tone suggested that… partly.
“If it were me lying where you are right now, you wouldn’t be sitting here wasting time. You’d be out on the streets moving heaven and earth trying to find the bastard who did it.”
Well, shit. She has me there.But Jaime wasn’t ready to concede. She slowly shook her head, careful not to move too fast or too much. “That’s what Max is for.”
“Don’t make me say bullshit again.”
Jaime frowned. Anya wasn’t going to give her a fucking sympathetic inch. “Huh?”
“You don’t delegate, Jaime. You vindicate. And given your past, you wouldneverallow yourself to hand this off to someone else and risk not having closure for another… case.” Anya made the decision there and then that the information about Taylor’s case could wait until she had more proof. The last thing Jaime needed was to pop stitches by trying to jump out of bed and confront the bastards whomayhave killed the woman she loved.
“I…no…you…” Frustrated, Jaime sighed and cast her gaze on their hands. Getting shot was fucking hard, but losing an argument to Anya was even harder. She agreed that Anya had a point, but still… “That’s my job, Anya. Are you telling me you’ve been out there working the case while Max has been sitting on his ass babysitting me?” Jaime laughed, but her smile quickly faded when Anya gave her a puzzled look. “What?”
“Did Max tell you…anything at all?”
“Like what?”
Anya’s nostrils flared with annoyance. Jaime wouldn’t be asking that if Max had told her anything of importance. “What exactly did you two talk about?”
“Uh, you.” Jaime searched Anya’s face, but she gave nothing away. Was Max supposed to have told Jaime something? “When you weren’t here, I thought you were hurt. Or worse.” Jaime cleared the emotion from her throat, the reminder of fearing the worst still raw. “Then he told me that you were fine, and I spiraled because I thought I’d fucked everything up between us.”
“Great.” Anya shook her head before she looked back at Jaime and exhaled a deep breath. “First of all, you didn’t fuckanything up between us.” She quickly squeezed Jaime’s hand. “And secondly, I’m going to have a little chat with your partner about his cowardice.” The fatigue, stress, and intense emotions of the last several days were beginning to catch up with her. Anya pinched the bridge of her nose as she said, “Max is on administrative leave. That’s why he’s been here.”
Fuck!Jaime closed her eyes. “Because of what I did, right?”
“Because of whatwedid.”
“I’ll make it right. I’ll tell them it was all my idea and that Max had nothing to do with it.” Even though Max had played a part, itwasall Jaime’s idea. She’d been the one to put everyone’s lives at risk by thinking her stupid fucking plan would work.
Anya looked up sharply, completely forgetting every word she’d just rehearsed in her head. “No, you won’t.”
“Anya, I pushed youbothinto this. I almost got you killed. I’m not going to let Max tank his fucking career because of my bullshit.” Anya stood and checked Jaime’s IV bag with the most peculiar expression. “What are you doing?”
“Seeing if they put ornery meds in your IV because you are being extra stubborn.” Anya turned to Jaime and gripped the bed’s railing. “You’renotgoing to undermine Max. That was the deal. He would agree to the planifyou agreed that he would take the fall if it went sideways.”
Jaime sighed inwardly. Max told Anya about their agreement. “Come on, hehadto know I’d never really let him…”
“Jaime, he’s handling it. If you break your promise to him, it’s not your career you have to worry about. It’s your friendship.” Anya reached for Jaime’s hand. “As for almost getting me killed, you know damn well that gun wasn’t aimed at me. You made sure of that.”
Jaime closed her eyes and rested her head back against her pillow. Anya was rightagain. “Right, okay. Well, can you at least tell me who the fuck shot me, and did he confess to the othermurders? Who got the collar? Did Max pick him up before Brass fucked him over?”
Oh boy.
Jaime peeked one eye open when Anya didn’t answer. She didn’t like non-answers. “Babe?”
Well, ‘babe’ is a good sign,Anya thought.I have a good chance of getting her to listen to me. At least, Anya believed there was a decent chance of that happening. Okay, it was a slim chance, but a chance, nonetheless.
“Anya?” Jaime lifted her head, her full attention focused on Anya as she squeezed her hand. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Anya smiled softly, reminding herself to stay calm throughout her explanation, no matter what Jaime’s reaction was. She imagined that what she was about to tell Jaime would be challenging to hear when she was healthy and raring to go. But being confined to a bed, having your partner out of commission, and not being able to do a damn thing to ensure the safety of someone you care about when they were about to put themselves in danger was going to be a tough pill to swallow. “They haven’t caught the person who shot you yet.”
“What?” Jaime’s grip tightened around Anya’s hand. “How the fuck did he get away?! And why the fuck is Max just letting you walk around out there all by yourself?!”
“Letting me?”
“Come on, Anya!” Jaime rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re an independent woman who lives in a fortress. I get it! But that fucker knows where you live now. And those walls don’t follow you everywhere you go.” She shifted, groaning at the pain. But she didn’t care about that right now. What she cared about was that Anya was out there unprotected while she was laid up in the hospital like some lame duck. “Look, you may not have been who he was aiming for that night, but you are for damn sure his target!”
