Page 56 of Love Undercover
“She’s not a whore,” Chase said through his teeth. “She’s a kindergarten teacher who’s caught in the crosshairs because of an ex-boyfriend.”
Kyle squinted at him, brief humor dying. “Whose crosshairs?”
“Right now, just mine and Santiago’s. But Zim will catch on soon enough.”
“Fucking A, man.” He shook his head, one hand curling into a fist. Then he jabbed a sharp finger in Chase’s direction. “You have one night. I got a meet in the morning with Casper. You better be gone before I’m back from that. I’m not interested in this kind of trouble.” He appraised Sadie again, jaw muscles working.
Chase held up his hands. “No problem.”
Kyle’s lips flattened, but he jerked his head for them to follow him down the hall. “I only have the one extra bedroom. You can have the couch.”
Based on the way Kyle glanced back with a brow raised, it was apparent they weren’t fooling anyone, but she kept her urge to touch Chase for reassurance in check anyway. It felt like a test, and Chase had put a distinct distance between them since they’d arrived.
Kyle stopped and gestured to a dark room, waiting. Sadie scooted past them both to go inside, and Kyle reached in to flip the light on, revealing a smallish bed on a wrought-iron frame. A worn quilt was spread neatly over it, but there was not much else to the room. She felt herself shrink.
“If, uh-if you need a change of clothes, there’s some stuff in there.” Kyle gestured to the closet. “Not much. Stuff I’ve been meaning to get rid of.” His face had softened. “Ex-girlfriend left some shit.”
Sadie nodded and turned to shut the door, that familiar sense of desolation snaking through her as her gaze locked with Chase’s before the door was a barrier between them.
She faced the room again, fighting the urge to cry.
22
Over Your Head and Above Your Paygrade
Kyle pushed past Chase to head back down the hall to his living room. “You must be out of your damn mind,” he hissed as soon as they had distance from the bedroom.
Definitely am, Chase thought as the compulsion to turn right back around and go to Sadie plucked at his self-control. She’d looked ready to burst into tears, and his arms ached to hold her.
“Your stoic fight to stay put is commendable. But I know exactly what this is.” Kyle snatched a throw blanket from the floor in the corner and threw it at Chase with jerky aggression.
Though Kyle clearly knew what was up, Chase would never openly admit how far over his head he really was, so he grasped for the first verbal jab he could find.
“Ex-girlfriend, huh?” he said, dark humor in his voice, though he didn’t smile. “She must have done a number on you.”
The glare Kyle shot him was a weapon that would have dropped him dead. “I know a smart guy making dumb-ass decisions when I see one.”
“I know a bitter bastard when I see one,” Chase shot back.
He shook out the blanket to give himself something to do instead of letting the anger flare into a full on inferno. It wasn’t Kyle’s fault Chase was all wound up, or that he’d gotten himself into this. Or that Kyle might be right about him being out of his mind.
Kyle stopped moving, straightening to his full height—a good ten inches shorter than Chase—to give him a serrated stare. He’d always been rough around the edges, an easy pick for undercover work.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, anyway,” Chase said before Kyle could form his comeback. “This is about keeping an innocent woman alive.”
“Doesn’t hurt that she’s drop-dead gorgeous, does it?” Kyle bit out. That edge of his had sharpened in the last year.
Chase kept his face from giving him away, though his stomach flipped, and his gaze threatened to pull away from Kyle’s. He spread the blanket over the nearly defunct couch.
“Look, I get it, man.” There was a rare softening in Kyle’s demeanor, and Chase wondered exactly what had happened with that ex-girlfriend. “When you’re the good guy, and there’s a pretty girl that needs help, you feel like you’re the only one who could offer it.”
Kyle’s intention fell flat with that last part, and the flame burned brighter, the dragon shifting inside of Chase. He stepped in Kyle’s direction, knowing how much of a threat was laced in the movement.
”Iwasthe only one,“ he growled, danger in his voice. “Santiago and Travers were on their way to her apartment. You know what those guys are capable of.”
Kyle just crossed his arms over his barrel of a chest. Chase might have almost a foot on him, but he was a scrappy guy. “Yeah, and then what happened? You kept her with you. You’re here instead of passing her off to the Bureau.”
Based on Gibson’s reaction when he’d called, it hadn’t seemed like an option. But he hadn’t asked and Gibson hadn’t given him the choice. The mention of Gibson was the reminder that Chase needed. He walked his anger back, knowing it was misplaced.
