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Ice slid through my veins at his words, and my skin went cold.
“Where is she?”
“Safe,” he growled and produced an envelope, which he tossed across the desk. It landed right in front of me. “Open it.”
I did, hoping like hell that it wasn’t photos of Kat being stalked by one of Mueller’s crazy followers. What the black & white photos were of, was worse. Much fucking worse. Photo after photo of me and Kat.
Kissing.
Laughing.
Eating.
Fucking.
Making love.
In every fucking photo we looked like a couple in love. So deep in love that an ache formed in my chest because in that moment I realized what I had with Kat. At the same time that I realized it was over. We were over.
“Nothing to say?”
He leaned forward, an angry look on his face that I knew well, but it had never been aimed at me. Not once in more than twenty years.
I leaned back and sighed, knowing I was caught and knowing that I had to take this, whatever it was, like a man.
“What do you want me to say, Jas?”
He smacked the deck in anger. “I want you to tell me that you’re not fucking my sister.”
“I could tell you that, but I’m not a liar.”
“That’s up for fucking debate,” he growled and glared at me. “You fucking lied to me every time you were supposed to be protecting Kat. But no, you weren’t protecting her, you were fucking her!”
“Watch your fucking mouth, Ashby! Be pissed at me all you want, but don’t act like Kat is too stupid to know the fucking difference.”
It pissed me off that he even though Kat would let any man use her. Ever.
“So, what, now I’m supposed to believe you have feelings for her? Give me a fucking break man, I know you.”
“Do you?” I sat back and examined Jasper closely as I wondered if he did know me. “Because if you knew me as well as you seem to think, you’d know that I’ve been in love with your sister for years. Years, Jasper. And you know why I never did anything about it?”
“Because you were worried I’d kill you?”
I flashed a bitter smile at his words, ignoring the ache they caused.
“Because of our friendship. At least I thought it was a friendship, now I’m not so sure.” And that hurt worse than anything.
Jasper shook his head, refusing to let my words sink in. “She’s my sister, man. My fucking sister. That’s Bro Code 101.”
I shrugged. “I’m just a dumb fuck who never went to college. I guess I missed that lesson because here I was thinking you and I were brothers. Thicker than blood.” I stood on heavy legs and shook my head.
“But that was all bullshit, wasn’t it, Jas? Meant to keep me close, to be your fucking lapdog, not your friend.” All the years I stayed away from Kat, denied my heart the one thing it desired, and it was all for nothing. “That’s what I thought.”
There was nothing more to say.
Jasper sighed and raked a hand through his hair, clear green eyes still shooting fire in my direction. “How can I…”
“How can you what, trust me? If you have to ask then you don’t fucking trust me, man.”
And there it was, my biggest fear realized. My best friend, my brother, hell my family, all gone in one fucking minute.
“After this,” he motioned to the photos, “how can I?”
I nodded, acknowledging the truth from Jasper’s perspective. The end of my time with the Ashby family.
“You can’t.” I turned on my heels and walked away, knowing this was it.
The end.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Kat
Terry had been absent the past few days. As much as I worried about him, it was also nice to not be watched like a hawk for the past fifty-odd hours. Jasper hadn’t said anything about putting Terry on another assignment, then again, he wouldn’t tell me anything because he was in charge and didn’t have to.
Asshole.
Sitting in my office, well Jasper’s office, I picked up my cell and tried to call Terry for what was the tenth time in the past two days. Once again, I got no answer.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded of the phone as if it could answer. Then I smiled at the photo of Terry’s sleeping form that I managed to snap when he was asleep the other night. That was the last time I’d seen him, and now I feared those three little words had ruined everything.
Everything.
There was one way to find out, so I dialed the number of the one person who could give me a definitive answer on Terry’s whereabouts.
“What is it, Kat?”
The annoyance in his voice pissed me off immediately. “What’s your problem, Jas? I just called to see where my babysitter was.”
Jasper let out one of his exasperated older brother sighs, which provoked an eyeroll that unfortunately, he couldn’t see.
