With a shush, she snatches the box out of my hand, removes the cufflinks, then places them on the sleeves of my white dress shirt. I stare at her in shock. It’s not my birthday, so she has no reason to spoil me with gifts. But even if it were, she doesn’t have the means to indulge me. She’s in debt so deep, even my shiny new salary will struggle to cover her and the girls’ day-to-day expenses.
“Look. They’re perfect.” Kristin raises her massively dilated eyes to mine. “If you want people to take you seriously, Alex, you have to look the part.”
“I can do that without expensive buttons on my sleeves and cologne that costs more than I make a month,” I fire back, my anger rising to a peak it hasn’t reached in months.
With a laugh, Kristin slaps my chest. “The cuffs weren’t expensive. I got them on sale years ago before they were stuffed into the back of my closet to gather dust. Dane never wore a suit, so I had no need for them until now.” She licks her lips, her breathing picking up. “Please don’t throw them back in my face. I’m trying to help you like you’re helping us.”
When she gestures to the hanging open bathroom door with two little faces peeking through it, I inwardly curse. I should have realized where her generosity was coming from. She’s not lavishing me with gifts because she’s rolling in money; she’s putting on a brave front for the sake of the girls.
She did the same thing last month to cheer Isla up after a bad few days. The playhouse she found dumped on the side of the road looked brand new after she spruced it up with some paint and curtains she made from the girls’ old dresses. The girls are so enamored with their new pad, they’ve barely slept in their rooms the past two weeks.
After asking Isla and Addison to wash up in the master bathroom before we eat the farewell cake they baked for me this morning, Kristin tugs down the sleeves of my suit, hiding the reason for the concerned crinkle in my brow.
Once the cuffs are concealed, she returns her eyes to my face. “If it makes you feel any better, we’ll say they’re a loan. You can give them back at any time. Okay?”
Spotting her deceit from a mile out, I should call her a liar, but if I learned anything the past five months, it is that I am as spineless at calling out Kristin’s lies as I was Regan’s. Even when they straight up tell me something, I’m hesitant to believe it.
It’s not a trust issue; it’s just a. . .
I’ve got nothing—sweet fuck all.
I need to return my focus to the task at hand before my mood sours. “Are you sure you’re okay with this, Kristin? I’m only a two and a half hour flight away, but—”
She slaps my mouth with her finger. “We’re fine. This needs to happen.” Her eyes say the words her mouth never will:it’s time to take down the bastard responsible for my husband’s death.
I nod, agreeing with her. Isaac didn’t wrap the noose around Dane’s neck, but he may as well have. No matter how hard Dane fought, he never recovered from that night in the field five and a half years ago. It made him depressed, which meant his actions five months ago weren’t his own. They were Isaac’s.
Kristin flutters her eyelashes. “Besides, it’s not just Dane’s integrity you’re fighting to uphold, Alex; it’s yours as well.”
Her tone dips at the end, mindful that just because she told the girls to leave doesn’t mean we don’t have two sets of inquisitive ears listening to our conversation. Isla and Addison have been caught spying on us many times the past five months—Isla almost daily.
“This man is the very reason you and Dane joined the Bureau. He needs to be held accountable for his actions.” Her eyes dance between mine before she adds on, “Allof them.”
The anger fueling her tone makes it seem as though it was her partner caught cheating with Isaac instead of mine. It has me thinking back to one of the last conversations I held with Dane, the one where he implied cheating is the norm in our industry. It also has me wondering if Kristin is more clued in than I give her credit for.
Taking down Isaac won’t lessen the sting of Dane’s infidelities, but it will sure as hell soothe mine. I’ve waited for this day for years, and the time has finally come. Isaac is about to face his day of reckoning head on. . .
After I’ve endured a brief stopover in Milan County, Texas.
Five
Regan
Just a little more.
Slightly to the left.
Perhaps another inch?
The thrill tightening my core intensifies when I tilt my hips. Fingers curl around satin sheets as my blood pressure spikes. He’s deeper now, thrusting harder, more powerfully.
I feel myself grow wetter as my heartbeat descends to my pussy. The smell of heated skin on sticky sheets lingers in the air as my lungs complain about the lack of oxygen.
Oh god, yes, right there.
As my lips part for much needed air, every muscle in my body tightens in anticipation, preparing for what is about to occur. This is what I’ve missed. The rush. The mass surge of adrenaline.Him.
Using erotic moans as a distraction, I block Alex from my thoughts. He doesn’t belong here, with me, happy. Not now. Not ever. Not even in my dreams. For the past five months, only one person has controlled my destiny: me.
