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“Hello?”
“It’s me. Find anything on the Boogeyman?”
“No. This guy is pissing me off,” he grumbles. “How’s Logan?”
“He’s in one piece and untouched. He’s also recently single.”
He grows quiet, and I ignore the tear that rolls down my cheek.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, since I’d feel so much better if you weren’t dating a federal agent or living with cops, but are you sure you’re not overreacting?”
“He didn’t bother to care that I was going out of my mind with worry, even though I’ve jumped through hoops to keep him updated on my safe-and-sound state.”
“Sounds…petty. Sure you’re not just looking for an excuse to get out before you get too attached?”
I’m already too fucking attached. I don’t cry.
I haven’t cried since the day the tears stopped falling.
Yet tears are breaching my eyes with a renewed vigor as I drive toward Jake’s house.
“Petty is getting pissed that he doesn’t call when he says he will. Petty is not being livid that he didn’t bother to tell me he was alive. I can’t do this, Jake. I can’t live with cops in my house. Those badges…I want to rip them off and flush them down the toilet. They wear them with pride.”
“They’re not from Delaney Grove, babe. You can’t confuse the two.”
“I’m not. They’d be dead if there was any confusion. I just feel…dirty. I don’t want them there. I don’t want him there anymore—not because he makes me feel dirty. I’m giving up too much by playing by his rules. I haven’t even started Anthony’s house yet besides the two cameras.”
“I’ve jumped a leg on that one for you, since I knew it’d be hard to go put more cameras in a house if a cop was trailing you to keep you safe. Pretty sure aiding a murderer isn’t what they had in mind.”
He’s trying to be light and funny, but I don’t have the headspace for it right now.
“Good. I need something to focus on.”
“Feeling stabby?” he muses, still trying to lighten my mood.
“Very.”
“Where are you?”
“Heading toward your house. Plotting a murder at mine isn’t going to be easy for a while.”
“Why the burner phone? And why don’t I hear your Mustang?”
“I’m in the new Altima we picked up. I’ve had a cop in my house for however long it’s been—feels like years. I don’t trust him not to call friends and put a whatever out on my ride. Also, the FBI have the ability to turn a phone on if the battery is in it, so I don’t trust the GPS to not give them my location.”
“Paranoid much? They can’t do that unless you’re a suspect.”
“You’re acting like they play by the rules. Don’t forget Agent Hadley Grace hacked my hospital records. Well, Kennedy’s hospital records.”
He blows out a long breath. “I take it back. I’m very glad this relationship is over, even though I hate that you’re losing the first thing that seemed to make you smile in over ten years.”
Bitterness rises, but I swallow it down as I angrily bat away the fresh tears. I don’t have time to cry and wallow over a breakup. It was stupid to think I could ever be in a relationship.
I survive to avenge the wrongs of the past.
Falling in love? It’s the end of a girl like me.
“Speaking of Agent Hadley Grace,” Jake says, breaking me out of my concentration. “I dug up that dirt you need.”
