Page 57 of Love Undercover
“I need to check in with Gibson,” Chase muttered. “You got a garage or somewhere I can park my car out of sight?”
Kyle’s jaw shifted forward, and stared. Then his chin lifted. “Pull around back. I’ll open the garage for you.”
Chase made his way outside, though being out in the open gave his anxiety a little boost. Despite the night being heavier under the shade of the trees, he knew he would stand out to anyone watching, thanks to his height and bulk.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he got into his car, pulling out his phone at the same time he put the key in the ignition. He could fill Gibson in while driving around to the alleyway between rows of houses.
The conversation wasn’t long, but he turned off the car and sat in the dim illumination offered by the overhead light while Gibson berated him.
“Quite a mess you’ve made, Lundgren,” Gibson muttered, and Chase pictured the man running a hand over his face. “I’ll see what I can do, but it’s your ass on the chopping block.”
“Noted, sir.”
“Don’t get smart with me, dipshit. Check in tomorrow.”
When Gibson hung up on him, Chase sat for a few minutes more, brooding until the overhead light flicked off. He needed to shut the garage to keep his car hidden, so he forced himself out. The button to shut it glowed faintly so it could be found in the dark by searching hands, and the noisy machinery whirred tolife when he pressed it, triggering the overhead light again as the door shimmied down.
He made a mental note of the gym equipment tucked into the far side of the space, and walked out to the backyard that divided the house from the garage, feeling less exposed because of the way Kyle had it landscaped. Large trees and bushes lined the fence on all sides, boxing him in and blocking all sound. It muted his footfalls along the curved stone path and trapped an extra measure of sticky summer heat.
The back porch had creaky stairs he couldn’t combat with a light step, but he figured it didn’t matter much. Probably better so that Kyle knew he was coming.
He shook his head. He’d hoped Gibson would have a protection option for Sadie, though Chase hadn’t gotten any information from her that would label her as valuable in the Bureau’s eyes. But surely having Santiago on their tail would’ve warranted some kind of guard.
He didn’t like the flash of jealousy it inspired when he thought about no longer being the one in charge of her safety. And it likely wouldn’t get her anything more than someone stationed outside her apartment, which didn’t feel like enough. Not when he knew what Santiago was capable of, even if strategy wasn't his strong suit. Though his viciousness was legendary, he didn't think well on his feet, which was why he’d been playing second-fiddle to Chase for the last year, staying firmly in the “muscle” category.
And why he hated Chase so much.
Now Gibson was pissed at him for this turn of events, and not just because it was almost midnight. The verbal beating Chase sustained might have knocked him down in the past, but no part of him that felt the heat now. Not when he thought of what might’ve happened if he’d done absolutely nothing.
Once Chase got back inside, he settled in on Kyle’s couch as the other man headed off to bed with a tired wave, the old wood floors groaning as he walked down the hall. The adrenaline rush of having Chase show up on his doorstep had likely drained him considering that, in this business, nothing good showed up on your porch at midnight.
Chase tucked his arm behind his head since he had no pillow and Kyle’s only extras were currently in the room with Sadie. Staring at the ceiling, he worked to ignore the lumpiness of the couch and the fact that his feet hung off the end. In the quiet and stillness, the unease slithered through him. Although he had no regrets about doing what he could to keep Sadie safe, he didn’t like not having a plan laid out.
Strategy was one of his strong suits, but he’d taken some unanticipated steps, throwing himself onto a path that was only lit behind him. He could feel his way through the dark, find that thread to get onto a mapped-out course eventually, but it had seemed wisest to tap the higher-ups. Operating as an island meant he could only do so much to keep Sadie safe. With that as his priority, his determination to bring the whole thing down solidified.
A sound reached his ears, snapping him to full alertness, and he sat up. A shadow moved against the heavy darkness in the room, though he felt it more than saw it.
“Chase?” It was Sadie whose whisper danced through the shadows toward him.
“Are you okay?”
“I can’t sleep.” She stopped uncertainly before him like she was waiting for an invitation.
He lifted the measly blanket, lying back so she could she climb in with him, lay her body along his, and burrow against his chest.
“I’m worried.”
He sighed, hating and loving that her worry drove her into his arms. Lying on the couch with her snuggled into him was like the fruition of a fantasy he never knew he had, and a flash of uncertainty about handing her off to his bosses burned through his veins. The only way to guarantee anything was to have her right here with him.
“I’m sorry.” His words dropped into the darkness like a weight, heavy with all the things he was and wasn’t responsible for but felt regret about anyway.
“Don’t be sorry.”
He took a breath, ready to argue.
“Just hold me.” The words were so soft, he barely heard them.
That he could do.
