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The officer he’d called Blake, the black guy with REED on a Velcro patch on his vest, took the woman from her. He even offered her a conciliatory look. “This way, ma’am. We’ll get you taken care of.”
The woman said, “Thank you.”
Clare didn’t know who she was talking to.
Gage hauled the guy up. “Liam. One for holding.”
“Copy that, Lieutenant.” O’Connell took the gunman and walked him out.
“Jasper, Dakota, check for anyone else. Make sure no one is injured or worse since you crashed this car into the store.” Gage’s gaze lit fire in Dakota’s direction.
Clare didn’t move.
He stalked toward her. “What kind of fool-headed, hair-brained—”
“That’s not fair,” she protested.
“You could have gotten yourself killed.” He stopped almost nose to nose with her. “SWAT just saved your life, even though you were determined to lose it. And that woman could’ve died if that risk you took didn’t work.” He shook his head.
This close to her, the past took over. Clare remembered the times they’d been this near each other. Stolen moments that got them in the mess that ended their relationship. Beauty that ended in so much pain when she lost the baby.
“What were you thinking?” He shook his head again. “SWAT had this handled before you even came in.”
“In a standoff with a hostage?” She scoffed. “That’s not what I call handling it.”
“You don’t think much of me, do you? Or you wouldn’t have thought you could do better. Maybe you wouldn’t have walked into the line of fire and tried to take over.” His eyes flashed. “You’re not the CEO out here, Clare.”
She couldn’t get past the first thing he’d said.You don’t think much of me.“I don’t think much of a guy who abandons the person he said he’d loved in the worst time of her life.” Not that it had much to do with a standoff, but it had to be said.
“I’m not talking to you about that right now.”
She huffed. “Because you’ll have to admit you were wrong about something.”
“That would be better than paying off someone to get out of your life.”
She gasped. “What are you talking about?”
“Lieutenant!” Jasper called across the room. “Get another bus. There’s an injured man over here.”
Gage started to walk away.
“We’re not done talking about this.”
He glanced back. “You didn’t want trash like me in your life.” He lifted his hands, then let them fall back to his sides. “What else is there to say?”
His officer buddy, Dakota, stared at her like she was the cause of this instead of him. Clare’s ears rang with his statement.Paying someone off to get out of your life.What was he talking about? He was the one who’d shaken his head and walked away.
Her life had fallen apart.
Because of him.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Gage pointed to a chair. “Get your report written up. I want it all on paper.”
Dakota slumped into the chair so that it rolled back. He grabbed the edge of the desk and tugged the chair back in. “So you can use it to hang me out to dry?”
Gage set both hands on the desk and leaned toward his subordinate. “You’re lucky someone didn’t get killed today because of what you did.”
