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His voice laced with surprise, Bono said, “What’s that, Joss?”
“I said, get your fucking hands off her.”
Clelia gaped at Joss. He acted as if Bono was going to attack her.
Bono lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I was only helping.”
“She doesn’t need your help.”
Maya grinned. “I’d love to watch you two puppies fight over a bone, but Cain is waiting.”
Joss grudgingly stepped aside. “Watch it, Bono. Keep your hands to yourself.”
When the women walked past, Bono asked Maya under his breath, “What the hell?”
Maya chuckled. “Joss is territorial.”
Bono dragged a hand over his head. “You don’t say.”
Clelia peered over her shoulder at Joss, but he didn’t look at her as Maya escorted her into the lounge. Joss was complex, but his behavior was ludicrous. He was acting like a jealous boyfriend.
Cain stood up from the sofa when they entered. He offered Clelia a chair, but when she declined, he remained standing.
He waited until Maya had gone before he asked, “Has Joss been treating you well?”
“Yes.”
Cain’s gaze slipped to her neck. “You have no complaints about being his prisoner?”
She fought the urge to cover the marks with a hand. “I’m your prisoner, not his.”
“Ah,” he said with a pensive air. “I suppose it depends on how you look at it.”
“Excuse me?”
“I think you’ve been Joss’s prisoner for a very long time. Am I right?”
The blood dropped to her feet under his watchful eyes.
“I see I am,” he said. “You must’ve sensed this return. Did it come to you in the form of a dream? A vision? A sensation maybe?”
Shocked that he could know, she didn’t answer.
“You have reason to mistrust me. The question is, do you trust Joss?”
“Do I trust him to do what?”
“What’s right.”
“What is that?”
“There’s only one right and one wrong in the world. I don’t deal in shades of gray.”
“You’re talking in circles.”
“Joss took an oath when he was appointed as leader of this task force. He promised to protect the force and the good it stands for. Joss is a tormented soul. You mean more to him than what he gives on, but if you are going to turn dark, it will force Joss to make an impossible choice.”
She rubbed her arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Remember my words when the time comes. When there’s no way out, set Joss free. If you love him, you won’t make him choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Between you and what he protects.”
“Between me and good?”
“If you prefer to put it like that.”
“That makes me bad?”
“I don’t know. The change has only just started. At this point in time, not even you can know how you will turn.”
“You think I’m capable of evil?” The insult burned in her chest even as doubt flourished right next to it.
“No one knows what they’re capable of until they’re subjected to certain circumstances.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he picked up a document from the table and handed it to her.
She took it reluctantly. “What’s this?”
“The psychological evaluation we did on Joss when I decided to make him a part of my team.”
She frowned. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Read it.”
She skimmed over the text.
In conclusion, the test results point to a highly sensitive man who is by the same token perceptive, intuitive, and particularly emotional. He successfully manages to keep his volatile emotions under control to the point of appearing calm and reserved. Nevertheless, he is characterized by a certain dualism, between sociability, and altruism.
She looked up. “I already know all of this.”
“Read on,” he urged.
He is eccentric … a curious mix of independence and dependence … rejects accepted truths. Inclined to be introverted, he is shy and vulnerable, we are guessing due to childhood trauma.
“What point are you trying to make?” she asked.
“That passion could lead someone with Joss’s disposition, without prior warning, onto a road of fanaticism.” He waited for the meaning of his words to sink in. “I want you to know who you’re dealing with.” His voice softened. “Who you’re falling in love with. If you start loving him, you can’t stop. You can’t reverse your decision once you get to know him, and I mean really know him. It’ll destroy him.”
“Are you telling me to love him or leave him?”
“I’m asking you to love him enough to eliminate yourself, or to let us do it, if you turn dark.”
Clelia opened her mouth, but Joss entered the lounge, his hair flying in the wind that blew through the door. For a minute, the earth stopped moving as she locked eyes with him.
“Clelia, may I please have a moment with Joss?” Cain asked.
It was phrased as a question, but it was an order.
She walked to the door. As she passed Joss, he lifted his fingers and let them brush over her hand. It was a whisper of a touch, an almost undetectable movement of his hand unnoticeable to the unwatchful eye, but in Clelia’s world, it was powerful enough to change the direction of currents. Electricity flowed between them, setting fireworks off in her stomach. A fluttering echo of her earlier orgasm tightened her lower body.
