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He scowled at me. “You should focus on your own investigation.”
“Bringing down the Russos, or at least forcing them to confine their operations, is part of my investigation.”
“I want to help you.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“I know this man. I know the principal players here. I can help you.”
I couldn’t believe how seriously I’d once thought about exploiting Rogue’s connection to the Carlottis because now I hated the idea of them coming anywhere near him.
“I’m not fragile.”
“No, but you’re also not invincible.”
“Tell that to Fury.”
“The bull you rode when you got your career-high score.”
His eyes grew huge. “You know about my wins?”
“I researched you and the rest of your family. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t. It’s my job.”
“I can’t say I love the idea of you poking around in my past, but at least you saw some good things too.”
“You’re an amazing rodeo star, and watching what you can do, well… let’s just say I was already prepared to like you when I got here. But the thought of you risking your life like this makes me crazy inside.”
“Does it?”
He held my gaze, and I realized I’d let too much of my feelings show. But seeing that soft look in his eyes, the clear hope that I really did care, made it impossible for me to lie to him.
“It does. I don’t like to think about anyone hurting you, not this fucker who thinks he can use you when you fought like hell to get out of working for the Carlottis, not your brothers, not—”
“My brothers have saved my life more than once.”
“They’ve hurt you too.”
“How do you know that? My relationship with them isn’t something you can research, not even with the kind of clearance I’m sure you’ve got.”
“I know they’ve hurt you because I see it when you talk about them. Agents like me don’t just learn to do background checks. We learn how to read people.”
“You said I could do anything. Did you mean that?”
I nodded. I was as sure of Rogue’s abilities as I was of my own to silently creep up on a mark like Teddy and take him out before he ever knew I was there.
“Then let me help you with this. I need to do this to be able to fully move on from that part of my life. I need Teddy out of the picture if I’m ever really going to be free.”
“I can make sure he dies a painful death. You don’t have to be there.”
Rogue frowned. “Promise me you’re not going to take off and handle this on your own.”
“I promise.” I rarely promised anyone anything, but when I did, I took it seriously. I’d been on the wrong side of far too many broken promises to take giving my word lightly. “I have to talk to the agent in charge of this operation, then I’m going to need more information from you. I want to know every word you remember from the phone call and anything that might give a hint about how much they know about me and this operation.”
“I can do that, but, um…”
I frowned. “What is it?”
“You really need to know everything?”
“If we’re going to have the best advantage, then yes.”
“Teddy isn’t just my contact. He’s my ex-boyfriend.”
I wanted to have heard him wrong, but I was sure I hadn’t. “You went out with that asshole?”
“It’s not like I’m proud of it, and it didn’t last long, but… yeah.”
Knowing that only made me want to kill Teddy even more.
“He’s a dead man.” I gave Rogue a quick kiss. “I’ll call you later today.”
“Okay. You should probably get going. You don’t ever want to underestimate how early one of my brothers might get up, especially when there’s a new baby in the barn.”
I leaned in and kissed him one more time. “Don’t worry about me. I’m a ghost, remember? They’ll never see me.”
17
ROGUE
“Where are you going?” My brother’s question made me freeze with my hand on the back doorknob.
“I’m meeting a friend from the circuit. Grant said I could have the day off. I’ve been working damn hard.” After pushing hard to move on Teddy, Ghost had gotten the go-ahead the night before, and I was meeting him to coordinate our operation.
“You have, but were you really going to disappear for the day and not tell me?”
I’d hoped he was so wrapped up in TJ and what was going on with TJ’s family that he wouldn’t notice. That was stupid. Rhys always noticed if I wasn’t around, same as I did with him. “I didn’t want to bother you and TJ. I’ve heard enough of the two of you creaking your damn bed. I don’t need to see it too.”
“Rogue.” Shit. He was definitely on to me. I turned around to face the inevitable. “What’s going on with you? You’ve been acting strange for the last few days, jumpy and happy but also out of it.”
