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Barrett sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair. “That’s another thing. You need to watch yourself around him.”
My whole body jerks like he's just slapped me. “Excuse me?” I say low and sharp.
As Barrett does, he ignores my tone. “You have a long history with him, and that can be both a good and a bad thing. But even you can admit that you see things in a different way when it comes to Aiden. I get that, I do. I’m just saying you need to be careful.”
“You don’t know anything.”
He sighs. “I do, because I've been where you are. I've been the one involved with a target on the case. It’s the reason I met you, remember?”
“Yet you still think ambushing the man in the middle of the night like you just did and--”
His brow jumps sky high. “You're the one who had him kidnapped off the street, Marls.”
I open my mouth and shut it again before huffing out a harsh sigh. “OK, I'll take that one.”
“Good. It was a nice touch though, just saying. But it’s now more important than ever that you keep your head about you when you're undercover, especially when he's around. We're getting so close to working this out, I can feel it. There are just a few more puzzle pieces we need to see the whole picture. Until then—”
“Keep my feelings in check, my history with Aiden under wraps, and be a robot who works and doesn't feel? Yes, boss.”
Barrett's lips twitch. “Maybe not a robot. Not sure AI is at the level of solving crimes just yet. This isn't the Minority Report movie.”
“God,” I say, fighting back a smile and failing. “That's such a geek thing to say.”
“Shut up. I love that movie.”
I shake my head. “I feel sorry for your wife. She has to put up with you and your geeky self.”
“My wife happens to love me,” he says, looking down at his watch. “Fuck. This took too fucking long.”
“Yeah,” I say, letting loose a yawn I've been holding onto for hours it seems.
Barrett rakes his hand through his hair. “OK. Now go home—well, to Quinn’s apartment—and get some sleep. You look like shit.”
I snort. “Thanks.”
Then he looks at me. “Seriously Marls. Go home. There's nothing more we can do tonight. We'll reconvene tomorrow and decide what our next move is.”
“With Aiden?”
He nods. “And with you. You're both undercover and you're going to need to work together to break this case.”
“To break Decker, you mean?”
“The sooner we work out what that asshole is up to and hopefully find Mary too, then the better off everyone will be when we bring him down.”
I nod, moving toward the door. “Marls?” I turn back to look at him, both loving and hating the soft and understanding look on his face. “I've been where you are, stuck between what you want, what you know you shouldn't have, your job and your duty. It's an impossible situation and it can tear you apart if you let it. It can cloud your brain and make you do things you wouldn't usually do. I'm never going to defend what Aiden did and the choices he made when he was in the same position, but time and distance have made me realize that I get it.”
I go still, frozen in shock. “You get it?”
“Yeah,” he replies, his voice gentle now. “I've got everything I could ever want in life and he did what he did. He made the mistake he did because he wanted what I have now. I can't imagine a life without Lys so I know that seeing me tonight, clocking her ring on my finger, knowing she's mine in a way she won't belong to anyone else, that’s had to burn because it would fucking rip me apart if I was him.”
I tilt my head, wondering when my friend, my FBI hand-holder, had a frontal lobotomy. It's the only explanation. “I think you're the one who needs sleep. You're talking like a logical man with his head screwed on straight. That's not like you, Barrett.”
“Fuck you, Marlee. In the nicest possible way,” he adds with a smirk.
“Fuck you too, Barrett. See you tomorrow. Late. I need sleep.”
“I think we all do. And Marls?”
