If the Bureau doesn’t work out for Agent Machini, she should consider acting. She knows how to dick-tease a guy into doing anything she wants. “Sure.Ifyou have time for me? You’ve been so busy the past twelve months, I often forget we’re meant to be on the same team.”
When Agent Moses grabs the fingers she’s tiptoeing across his chest to suck them into his mouth like a soft-cock, Agent Machini’s eyes snap to mine. It isn’t Agent Moses’s actions she wants me paying attention to, but the words he speaks. “Don’t worry, I can see my calendar gaining a ton of new openings by tomorrow afternoon. We could have happy hour every morning, noon, and night.”
If he arrests Demi, he won’t need to travel three hundred miles to undertake any threats he tosses my way. He’ll merely need to walk a couple of hundred feet.
Agent Machini makes sure the disdained mask she’s wearing disappears before she plucks her hand out of Agent Moses’s mouth. “Then I guess we better get a wiggle on. The faster this is over, the faster we can…”
When she leaves her question open for Agent Moses to answer how he sees fit, he does the prepubescent crotch grab I was seeking earlier before shouting, “Let’s move out!”
In quicker than I can snap my fingers, the officers and undercover agents surrounding us pile into a line of five patrol cars, and I’m guided into an SUV at the back of the pack. My spot is wedged between two armed police officers and directly across from Agent Machini.
Agent Moses prefers to ride up front. It makes him feel superior.
After taking in the tension bristling between Agent Machini and me, Agent Moses strays his eyes to me. “We good?”
It didn’t matter if we were about to exchange words with a drug lord who tried to undercut his profits or demand money from a rich ‘fish’ he organized to be sentenced to Wallens Ridge so he could fleece him of his inheritance, he asks the same question every single time, and I answer the exact same way, “We’re good.”
Except today, I tack on another six words I’d give anything to change but am finally able to admit they need to be said. “It’s just one of those days.”
25
Demi
Iraise my eyes from my balled hands to Roxanne when she places down a mug of coffee in front of me. She’s been the perfect hostess the past three hours. She stacked the fireplace with wood, wrongly believing my shivers are because I’m cold, offered refreshments to the police officers Dimitri brought here for an unconventional trial, and she even steered my conversation with Dimitri back on mutual territory when his short temper got the better of him.
I never told Dimitri about his father’s inappropriateness when I was a teen because I thought he wouldn’t care. His reaction to my re-enactment of the event that occurred three days ago exposes that I was wrong. I stopped counting the number of times he promised to find the second assailant and gut him where he stood when I reached thirteen. He even offered to keep him alive so I could finish what Max started.
In a sick, twisted, and very Dimitri way, his offer was kind, but I couldn’t accept it. I’d owe him more than I already do, which would prolong the Walshs’ suffering I immediately ended when I accepted the life jacket Agent Machini tossed my way two hours ago.
Even hours later, I can admit everything she said made sense. If you have no chips to bet with, you have nothing to lose. When you have too many, you risk them spilling over and losing the occasional one through the cracks.
That’s what happened to Caidyn. No matter how much I wish it were different, he’s fighting for his life because of me. This vicious cycle won’t end until I wedge a plank of wood into the cogs, and to do that, I have to give up Maddox.
That hurts more than the throbbing of my brain. I’m in so much pain, I truly have no idea how I am functioning. I’m merely putting all my faith in Agent Machini’s plan. If it fails, I honestly don’t know where we will go next, but I do know we can’t keep living like this. Sloane was right. There’s such a thing as loving someone too much.
Maddox and I are living proof of this.
My thoughts shift back to the present when Roxanne asks, “Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat? I can whip up a batch of mean pancakes. Ask Dimi, he ate them and survived.”
I smile in gratitude for her offer before shaking my head. My stomach is way too messed up to consider eating, and don’t get me started on my heart.
Roxanne gently touches my arm before muttering, “If you change your mind, my kitchen is open twenty-four-seven.” Her tone dips toward the end of her sentence. She hasn’t clicked that she’s speaking to a once-enamored sous-chef. She is as startled by a fleet of police cruisers kicking up dust on her driveway as I was when they commenced arriving here over three hours ago.
When she sprints for Dimitri, Max leaps to his feet. He barks and growls at the procession of cars like he’s aware our biggest enemy three days ago were members of Ravenshoe PD. With my head too achy to stand and my heart in lockdown, I remain seated instead of greeting my guest with the respect he deserves. The only good that comes from my disrespect is my low-hanging head grants me the ability to see Max return to the non-aggressive stance he’s had the past few hours. He feels no threat at all because he knows I’m not in any danger.
After scratching behind Max’s pointy ears, I swing my eyes in the direction he’s peering. My heart leaps in my chest when the fleet of police cruisers stops at the front of Roxanne’s grandparents’ estate, and the back door of the final car pops open to expose Maddox.
When he races across the room without a single shackle clanging between his feet, I try to stay strong. I try to remember what he said in the second grade about not letting the bullies win, but within seconds, my cheeks are flooded with more tears than Maddox’s hands can keep up with.
I’m not solely sobbing about how cautious he’s being with my battered face, but also because his face is gaunter in person than it was on the video Agent Machini played. His eyes are rimmed with dark circles, and his skin is clammy. His punishment has only just begun, but it’s already taking a toll on him both physically and mentally.
“What the fuck did they do to you?” he murmurs under his breath, stealing the words from my mouth.
“I-I’m okay.” My voice is weaker than I’m hoping, but it does what I need it to do. It halves the anguish on his face. “Have there been any updates on Caidyn?”
He shakes his head at my last question before he drifts his eyes between mine. “But he will be okay, I promise you that. I just need to get you safe first.” His last sentence is barely a whisper, meaning only I hear it. It also proves Agent Machini was right. It wouldn’t matter how badly injured he or a member of his family were, he’d walk over lava to get to me.
Desperate not to hurt him more than necessary, I cup his cheeks like he is mine before whispering the words he desperately needs to hear. “It’s just one of t—”
