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“Decker's mother lives in Dubois.”
“Where's that?” she says, brows pinched.
“Wyoming.”
“It'll be a coincidence,” she says, dismissively. “That’s too sloppy for Decker. He’s meticulous, remember. He never slips up, never leaves a trail.”
“Maybe. But it could be something,” I say, but the connection sticks with me.
She nods. “Going back to your question about why we’re moving faster now and why I’m taking you on your offer is the discover that Decker's so-called 'business partner' is suddenly calling in a favor and sending in a PI—you–into the club undercover to look at the books? An ex-cop with a checkered past and who might be seen as being an easy mark to look the other way. Or even better, cross over to the dark side himself.”
All the reasons why my cover is solid. “Shit. Why do I feel like I've walked into a trap.”
Her eyes soften. “We don't know that you have yet.”
“But you can't rule it out, can you?”
She shakes her head. “No.”
“I need to call Harry,” I say, patting my pocket for my phone and coming up empty. I sigh, rolling my eyes as I look over the table. “You think I can get my phone back?”
“Soon,” she says. “It’s being checked over right now.”
“Of course it is. I'll call Harry in the morning. He probably wouldn't appreciate an early morning wake-up call anyway.”
Marlee leans forward, resting her arms on the table and pinning me in place with an intense stare that has the hairs on my arms standing on end. “You can’t do that, Aiden,” she warns. “You can’t tell anyone what I’ve told you tonight. Especially Harry”
I jerk back, my chair scraping against the floor from it. “Why not?”
She swallows hard but she doesn’t look away, which means I see the war being waged in her gaze. What is she hiding?
She looks away first, just as footsteps get closer outside the room. “You’ve got to understand, Aiden. I couldn’t… I just…—” That reaction confirms my suspicion.
“Just say it, Marls. Rip off the Band-Aid.”
Then the door opens and I’m the one frozen, one of the reasons she’s being cagey becoming very clear.
“Because,” Barrett Lucas says, coming to a stop next to Marlee and crossing his arms over his chest, the flash of his gold wedding band on his ring finger twisting that invisible but ever-present knife inside me all that much deeper. “We think Harry’s involved.”
Chapter 14
Marlee
The look on Aiden's face when Barrett walks into the room affects me more than it should. I can see the pain, the surprise, the thinly veiled anger… and betrayal. That cuts through me like a hot knife.
But just as quick as it’s there, it’s gone. He shuts it down and a mask slips into place, turning him into a man I don’t recognize. It takes me back to that horrible morning in the hotel room a year ago. That time it was me feeling deceived. Is this what it feels like to know you've hurt someone you love?
Knowing the history between these two men, it’s understandable that they still despise each other—each with their own completely different reasons.
Aiden and Barrett were in the FBI Academy together. Best friends who were going to take on the world… together. That was until they let a woman play them against one another and destroy the bond they had. Fast forward several years and their careers took them in different, yet surprising-similar directions—Aiden joining the San Francisco Police Department and Barrett moving up in the FBI—and their paths crossed again. Once more, it was a woman that came between them. Except Alyssa Jacobs was an innocent party being used by her stepfather as a pawn, and Barrett was the man undercover to stop him. Another love triangle ensued and it was Barrett who got the girl—his now wife. The whole situation was what led to Aiden destroying his career and almost derailing mine, losing me in the process, all because of his hatred of Barrett and his determination to win Alyssa over.
And now, the same two men are face to face for the first time since everything went down last year.
Aiden stands, meeting Barrett’s angry gaze. “Should’ve known you’d be behind this.”
“I’m not behind shit, Lawrence. If I had anything to do with it, you wouldn’t be here, let alone breathing the same air as me. Marlee is the one who asked to loop you in. I voted against it but since you’re already in so deep you don’t even realize it, it was a foregone conclusion.”
“I’m not that man anymore,” Aiden growls and my breath catches when I find it’s me he’s looking at when he says it. Like it’s me he wants to hear it. His eyes snap back to Barrett. “I paid my penance and lost everything. Isn’t that enough for you?” He spits out and I can feel the pain in every word. “And for the record, I don’t believe Harry could be dirty. Even if he is, he wouldn’t bring me into it.”
