I left his office and headed for my boat. I do some of my best thinking there and I had a fuck load on my mind. I didn't call her though I was tempted. She had a lot to deal with too. Life changing decisions that I was more than willing to make for her if she didn't come to the conclusion I want. But she was never far from my thoughts. Besides, I planned to have her in my bed tonight anyway, and if I could talk her into it, taking a few days off to spend with me. I need to call ma, which I'd put off long enough. She's been good so far but unless I wanted her to encamp on my doorstep I'd better touch base with her soon. I'm pretty sure she knew I was back, because my brothers have bitch teeth and their wives are worse. Once I boarded the boat I headed straight for the phone and braced myself for the shaming I was sure was about to come and dialed her number. "Hank Mancini, this is the limit. How long this time? Did you even remember that you have a mother? One who worr
No, I can't believe this of her. The more my heart told me this, the louder the voice in my head shouted that it was the only thing that made any sense. Is this what I had to look forward to if I decided to make a life with her? The thought pissed me the fuck off. I refuse to live the rest of my life with suspicion and uncertainty, especially in my fucking bed. What bothered me the most was if this was true, then she'd undermined everything I'd worked for all these years. I wasn't worried about anyone else learning that she'd played me for a fool. I cared more about the fact that I'd start second guessing myself from now on if it turned out to be true. How can I be trusted with the lives of the people who depended on me to keep them safe if I was dumb enough to be taken in? I could come right out and ask her. That day she was here we weren't an item yet. Maybe she didn't see anything wrong with doing it then but now...No. I took a deep breath and did what I should've d
Something's wrong, I can feel it but he's not saying anything. He's back to being the guy half the agencies of the world are after. In the last day and a half he'd shown me a different side to him, a softer side, if you can call anything about him soft. But tonight he's even more withdrawn than when we first met. There's an air of danger about him. And the way he looks at me; as if he's no longer seeing me, like I'm not even there. The pain in my gut grew with each minute I spent sitting across from him. He wasn't even talking to me so I don't know why he brought me to dinner. I was growing increasingly nervous as well. Funny, I hadn't been this nervous the first time I'd gone into his place with the express purpose of catching his attention. Then I didn't know him as well as I thought. Though I'd had doubts even then that he was what they said, I still believed he was a dangerous animal. I now know that to be true without a doubt. The man had busted down my door gun d
I watched her walk away with a bitter taste in my mouth. I should let her go. I should, but barely leashed anger had me getting to my feet. I didn't hurry after her, but reached her all the same just as the elevator doors slid open and she stepped inside. She looked at me with frightened eyes as I crowded her. I heard others coming but pressed the door close button without sparing them a glance. I trapped her against the wall of the elevator after closing the door in the face of the man and two women who were rushing to catch it. "Hank I..." I didn't want to hear it, so I cut her off. I studied her face as if this was the last time we'd ever be this close again. I could kill her for doing this to me, but that would be too easy. "So, how far were you willing to go huh little Cierra? What am I saying, I already fucked you so I guess that answers that." I put my hand under her dress between her thighs and down into her underwear, driving my fingers into her, before pulling
"I don't believe that, there must be some other explanation.""If there is Jaxx I'd like to hear it. When I got back she was wearing one of my shirts, a shirt that was left on the boat. She admitted to swiping it from there but of course denied the other." "Of course she denied it you hardheaded son of a bitch. But did you listen? You know what I think? I think you're running scared. What happened brother, did she make you feel?" Figures! "What the fuck are you talking about Jaxx?""What am I talking about? We spent the few days you were gone with that girl and I'm telling you she didn't betray you, she doesn't have it in her. She's in love with you poor thing. I don't know what happened, I'd believe she took the shirt because females do that kinda wonky shit when they're in love, it doesn't matter how old they are. But planting that shit, no way. Why would she when she knows she's the first place you'd look?" That made sense but I still wasn't convinced. "M
"And you let 'er go...""Star, turn that shit off." Every time I come into my place she's blasting that shit."It's the radio big brother, I have no control.""My ass. What do you do? Look out the window for me and hit play the fuck?" Of course she ignored me. I hate this fucking song though every word is now stuck in my head. She and her husband and their brother and sister in law, my former family, have been riding my ass for the better part of a week. I'd skipped Sunday dinner, incurring the wrath of my mother but I hadn't been in the mood to play twenty questions. Instead I'd sat alone in my place contemplating the mess I'd made of my life. I should've stuck to my principles, should never have let her in. I guess the bureau had won after all. They couldn't put me away for life so they sent her to destroy me from the inside out. My lawyer was making minced meat out of their asses and they were all scrambling. But that wasn't enough to give me back what
"Come on Cierra, you've got to get out of here for a while. This can't be good for you, cooped up here all day." I pulled the covers higher around my shoulders and ignored Star as she moved around the room picking up stuff off the floor. Sabra had parked her fine rear end on the chair in the corner with a magazine in her hand. For the past few days it's been like this. The Bureau had put me on leave until the whole bug thing was sorted out. Even though Hank believed that I was the one responsible, that it had been that easy for me to deceive him, he had no idea the hell that had caused me with the agency. The bureau would never have sanctioned it in the first place, because whether he knew it or not, they were under strict orders from someone somewhere not to go near him. That was the reason for the director having such a hard on for him. It was as if there were two battles going on, on either side of him. One man was protecting him at all cost, while another was trying
I pushed myself on the treadmill until my calves burned and my lungs threatened to collapse. No matter how far or how fast I ran there was no escaping the thoughts in my head. It has been weeks and still she haunts me. I've done everything I can to prove her innocence with no results. All roads lead back to her. The girl I knew didn't seem capable, and that too is one of the reasons I've taken this so hard. The thought that she'd fooled me leaves me cold. My family seems to think that I'm in the wrong, that I should give her the benefit of the doubt, but how can I? It's not so much that she had done this thing, it's that I had trusted. That I can never forgive. The doorbell rang and I saw my brothers on the monitor. "What the fuck now?" I'm worn to the bone listening to them and their shit. Ever since the day they left here promising to get to the bottom of things, they haven't given me a minute's peace. Their latest scheme is that I'm insulting them as well seeing as h