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“You might have fooled the local cops and the judge, maybe even the prosecutor,” Agent Beck snarled at Sadie as we made our way to the waiting car behind the precinct. “Don’t think for one fucking second that I’m done digging into you, Ms. Ashby.”
I stepped between the two women before Sadie did something stupid, like give the annoying agent exactly what she had coming to her.
“You do what you have to, Agent Beck, but harassing Ms. Ashby now makes you look like a sore loser.”
Agent Beck threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, I haven’t lost a damn thing.”
“That’s funny because I was there when the judge laid into you about your distinct lack of evidence against Ms. Ashby. If you think you have a case, go do your actual fucking job and make the case. Otherwise, leave her alone, or I will have you arrested for harassment.” I glared at the bitch and growled to let her know I didn’t issue idle threats.
Beck laughed again and leaned around me. “Having your butler fight your battles now, Sadie?”
I smiled and shook my head. “It’ll be pretty fucking hard to find out what happened to Jack without that shiny little badge of yours.”
I turned away from her and guided Sadie into the back of the car.
As soon as we were alone, Sadie’s silence took a break. “That fucking ginger bitch will never let this go. I need to find a distraction for her.”
I agreed that we needed to find another bone to throw at the dogged agent, but there were more important matters at the moment.
“Kat’s wedding is tomorrow. Let’s give the ginger bitch a rest until after the wedding, yeah?”
She turned to me with an annoyed sigh and a small nod of agreement.
“I’m not the one getting married, Thomas. I can think of ways to keep the bitch busy and out of my business while I get dressed up and play my mother-of-the-bride role.”
Her answer didn’t surprise me at all. I was sure she’d spent hours of lockup thinking of ways to eviscerate Agent Beck.
“I know that, but Beck can wait a day or two.” My words were met with silence, and I let out a sigh and decided to change the topic just as we arrived back at the Manor. “Good to be home?”
“So fucking good.” A small smile touched her lips as she took in the mansion that had been her home, her castle since she was a teenager. She walked inside. Her strides determined as she made her way to her favorite room in the house. Her office-slash-parlor. “Cocktail?”
Before I could answer, Sadie had already mixed an Old Fashioned for herself and held up a short rocks glass with a strip of orange peel swimming alongside a big ball of ice.
I put my hand over the glass. “I thought you were done with that, Sadie?”
She smiled and handed the glass to me with a smile. Then she reached for another glass and put some freshly made ice in it. She produced a bottle of fizzy water from the small fridge and poured it into a highball glass. “You’re right. I said no more booze. My word is good. To freedom. Of all kinds.” Sadie held her glass up expectantly.
I lifted mine to hers. “To freedom.”
Her smile widened, and Sadie drained half the glass. “Damn straight.”
We drank in silence for a full minute, and I knew this was my moment, the one time over the next day or two that I would have Sadie all to myself. No interruptions.
“I want to talk to you about something.”
Surprise flashed in Sadie’s eyes, but she banked it quickly because heaven forbid the woman is ever surprised by anyone’s actions.
I took a final sip of my drink and set the glass down. I felt like a wimp, nervous about spilling my guts to this woman, but I needed to know what was going on between us. We’d fucked off and on over the years, but never like this. Never so regularly and with so much trust.
Whether Sadie knew it or not, she was mine in every fucking way that mattered, but what did that mean for our future? Did we even have a future? Could I do my job, keep Sadie safe, while I was sharing her bed?
Sadie’s gaze met mine, and she nodded slowly as if she could tell exactly what I was thinking. Maybe she could.
“I’d like you to escort me to Kat’s wedding tomorrow.”
Yeah, she knew exactly what I was thinking, and this was her way of placating me. I wouldn’t let her.
“You want me to be your date.” It wasn’t a question, but I waited for an answer anyway.
