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One
Zali
“Z
ali Rose Stephens, you’re under arrest.”The words echoed in my head like a gunshot. Betrayal sang through my veins. Anger tinted my vision red.
But I didn’t know whether it was anger at Ezra or myself.
He’d strode toward me like a man on a mission and gasped my name. His voice cracked as he cupped my face, holding me like I was precious. His hands were shaking. His eyes, the ones that were always filled with warmth and humour, were dull and pinched with worry.
He’d looked me over, searching for something. But I had no clue what.
My skin had pricked with awareness, a sixth sense kicking in. I looked at him, and for the first time ever, I saw him. The man, not the police officer.
I watched him, witnessed that same fear as he frantically searched for Flynn and Ry, his gaze locking onto them when they stepped off the plane stairs. It was as if he’d needed to see them with his own eyes to believe they were still there.
But why?
He’d sagged with relief, a weight appearing to lift off his shoulders. It was a beautiful sight, one I wouldn’t forget in a hurry. The breath had rushed into my lungs, the squeeze on my chest no longer restricting my inhale.
Then he’d kissed me.
It was revolutionary. It sent my world spinning off its axis and righted it at the same time. It unlocked a part of me that I’d kept buried. Hidden from everyone, even myself. The part of me that had wanted him, yearned for him, for almost as long as I could remember but had never acknowledged it.
We weren’t compatible. He was my police handler, my employer of sorts. He lived life in the light, while I savoured the depths. The shadows. We could never be together.
But for that one moment… fireworks.
I could still taste his kiss. The desperation in it. The need. The way he held me like he never wanted to let me go.
We’d let down our guards and acted on instinct. He was just a man, and I was just a woman. He wanted me, and I wanted him too.
I’d craved his arms around me, his touch. His protection. His passion.
He’d given all of it to me in that one kiss.
But reality had come crashing down on us. Thrust back into our roles, the rigid lines drawn between us had snapped back into place.
So had his cuffs.
That second right there. It changed everything.
Or maybe it was earlier than that—the moment Flynn had turned away from me.
He’d cried out and screamed, “Leave her alone,” when the handcuffs closed around my wrists. But that was Flynn to a tee. His big, beautiful heart was in the right place. He was still trying to protect me. But it didn’t mean he wanted to be with me anymore.
I never thought it would happen. Never believed for a moment that I could lose my best friend. I didn’t want to face a reality where he wasn’t in it, but it wasn’t my choice to make. And Flynn’s message in the plane had been pretty fucking clear.
He’d pulled away from me and slipped his hands into his pockets. He didn’t want to touch me. Like I was tainted goods. I’d been good enough for him to stick his dick inside of but not for him to hold my hand. He’d dismissed me, looking out the window instead of at me. He’d told me that he loved me only a few minutes earlier.
What had happened?
Oh, right. The fucking cops.
I’d never fought with Flynn. We’d never had a bestie spat or an argument as kids. We were inseparable from the moment we met.
The sex was… fuck, I didn’t even have a word to describe how phenomenal it was. But it had changed things between us. I thought it had opened us up for more, knocking down the wall that had delineated the boundaries between friendship and love. But all it did was risk me losing him for good.
