“Who’s Joss?”
“Andi.”
“What?” Gabe asked again.
Paul sighed. “Andi’s real name is Joselyn, and she’s been working with S&R undercover.”
“Undercover?” Gabe asked looking from me to Paul.
Paul chuckled. “Part of the story I can’t tell right now, but she’s FBI.”
“FBI?” Gabe balked.
“I’m Seth.” I stuck out my hand to Gabe.
“Right. Sorry. Gabe, this is Seth. Seth, Gabe.” We shook. “He’s not FBI like her, but a detective in D.C. I wanted to bring him out so we can both practice to get ready—”
“Let’s do that, yeah?” I cut him off as I sensed he was about to tell Gabe our entire plan. Our undercover plan that was top secret.
We did a few rounds and then headed back to his place. Time was getting closer to when I’d actually start my part of the undercover operation. Before any of that could happen, Joss got approval from her boss to get married to Paul. I didn’t fully understand the rush. Though, if Cat and I were together, I’d marry her before going undercover too. It was symbolic or some shit. Joss and Paul were getting married on Saturday, and then no telling how long it would take before they could start their life together because on Monday her vacation was over and the plan was going to start. Would Joss move back to D.C. afterward, though? Would she stay in Vegas? We wouldn’t know until we took down the man who had caused Joss to have nightmares for twelve years.
And I was looking forward to that day.
I still couldn’t believe it. Deep down I’d always known that something had to have happened to make her run away. I just never thought it was Joss being sold to the highest bidder to rape her of her innocence. When I come face to face with this Tony guy, there would be no telling what I was going to do. Just thinking about it made my blood boil. And that was if I got to him before Joss did. I wasn’t sure if I’d stop her from killing him if it ever got to that point. The FBI wanted a clean case, one where we just bust him and bring him in so he could serve time, but did a man who sold women for money deserve to live a life where he had a roof over his head and food in his belly? It didn’t matter that it was behind bars. I didn’t want my tax paying dollars to go toward this asshole at all.
What happens undercover, stays undercover. That, of course, wasn’t true, but we were in Vegas, and everyone knew their motto.
And this was personal.
Technically I wasn’t undercover yet. We were in the briefing stage and Joss was no longer undercover either. Andi Middlebrooke was no more. Michael Wade and his bodyguard, James Jackman were on the case.
So far beingundercoverwas like a vacation. I woke up, went to the gym, went to the range and then came back to Joss’s house where we’d talk about the case over drinks. We had a plan. A plan that, when placed in motion, would be the last time Tony would breathe free air. I now had no doubt that bringing Paul in as a bodyguard was smart. The more people we had on our side, the more likely everything would go as planned. I’d thought about asking Joss what she thought about bringing Gabe in as well. I’d found out that he was Paul’s captain in the Army, and having two trained marksmen with me would be even better. But then I’d learned that Gabe and his fiancé were expecting a baby, and not knowing what we were walking into made me realize that it wasn’t a good idea after all. Plus, we were talking about taking down pimps. How crazy could it get?
“So, I called Cat.”
The beer bottle I was holding stopped at my lips. “Yeah?”Keep cool, Seth. Keep cool.
Joss sighed. “I had to. I know I haven’t seen her in years, but I can’t get married and not have her there.”
I set the bottle on the coffee table and sighed myself. “I don’t know where it all went wrong with all of us.” I knew I wasn’t telling Joss the truth. Ididknow. I just didn’t know why Cat never gave me the chance to explain. “We were all so close.”
“Me either.” She shrugged. “I guess we all put our careers before our friendship.”
I nodded. “People lose touch. Just didn’t think it would be the three of us. We survived years with only seeing each other during the summers.”
Joss took a sip of her margarita. “She called and left a message that she’s coming so, maybe this weekend will bring us all back together. After this case is over, I feel that my life is going to change.”
“What do you mean?”
“Once we take down Tony, then what will I do? I don’t know if Paul will want to move to D.C.”
“Transfer here. Tony’s not the only pimp in town, Jossie. I mean, Vegas is notorious for prostitution.”
She stared at me for a beat. “But I’ll miss you.”
I moved closer to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, bringing her to my side. “We’re talking about you moving to Vegas. I’ll visit every vacation I get, and if I hit it big, I’ll retire and move here too.”
Joss shoved my shoulder. “You can transfer too. Maybe go to Quantico and join the FBI. We can stay partners.”
