Page 103 of Marked for Obsession

“Not my call, Thorne,” his boss reminded him. “Not yours, either.”

Ready to sprint across the lot and haul her ass back behind the yellow line, Grady realized he’d lost his chance when the door opened, and Isobel disappeared inside.

“Fuck!”

Running a hand over his bald head, Grady spun on his booted heels and walked a few feet away.

“Hey.” Declan grabbed his bicep and spun him around. “What the fuck was that?”

“Nothing.” He clenched his teeth and swallowed.

“Nothing my ass. Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you and the pretty doc, but it has no place being here. Read me?”

Yeah, he fucking read him.

Damage control, asshole. You need to do some major damage control.

“Sorry,” Grady muttered the lame apology. “I guess after everything that happened with Poppy and Jax, I’m just a bit on edge.”

“Poppy and Jax?” Declan frowned. “That was like what, two months ago? And Poppy’s fine.”

“Yeah, but she almost wasn’t. And I just...” He rubbed the salt-and-pepper hair covering his chin and jaw. “The Doc seems nice, and I just…I hate seeing innocent women get hurt by men who think they have the right to. You know?”

“Trust me.” His partner met his angry stare. “I know.”

Yeah, the guy sure as hell did.

Between his mom—who’d been killed when Declan was just a boy—and Dec’s sweet wife—who’d damn near been murdered by a fucking serial killer—Grady knew the other man had the same innate need to be a protector as Grady.

“Shit, Dec. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply—”

“It’s all good, man.” Declan slapped him on the shoulder. “Just take a few minutes to get your head on straight. I’m going to go find out what I can.”

Watching his partner walk away, Grady did take a moment to regroup. But several deep breaths of the fresh mountain air later, and he was still every bit as keyed up as before.

Possibly more so.

Get your shit together, Thorne. Remember where you are.

Movement caught the corner of his eye, followed by several voices talking all at once. Turning toward the commotion, Grady was shocked to see a trove of hostages pouring out of the restaurant’s glass door.

He watched and waited, his breath frozen in his lungs with anticipation. Scanning the scattering crowd of terrified faces, the one he wanted to see—the one that mattered most to him—was nowhere to be found.

Son of a…

“She got him to let them all go.” Declan jogged back to where Grady stood.

“By trading herself for them?”

The thought left his gut tight and his heart aching.

“For now, but Sarge said she’s making real progress. He thinks she’ll be able to talk the guy down without incident.”

Grady looked at that door again. It was closed, now, just the HT and Isobel remaining inside.

“She’s got this.” Declan put a hand to Grady’s shoulder.

But as the minutes ticked by with no signs of Isobel or their target, the less hopeful he felt that his partner’s assessment was correct.

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