Better When He's Brave
Page 5
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Titus didn’t say anything for a long time. He silently watched me and I could see him turning the words over in his head. “Why? Why does Roark care who takes over the Point? What’s it to him and why is it worth destroying his career with the marshals?”
I crossed one leg over the other and tapped my fingers on my knee, pretending to be far more composed than the swirling, uncertain mess I actually was on the inside.
“That I don’t have an answer to. He hates the city. He hates the people that live here to a degree that borders on fanatical. I can’t tell you why he did it. I can only tell you that he did.” I bit down on my lip a little watching Titus try to fit the pieces together.
I finally cracked. My bottom lip trembled and I felt emotion start to claw and scratch its way up my throat. He couldn’t decide if he was going to believe me or not, and that hurt. Titus put his hands on his hips and threw his head back so that he was looking up at the ceiling.
“You’ve got to be kidding me with this.”
I slowly shook my head and sank my teeth into my lip. “I wish.”
He sighed heavily and suddenly bent forward and put his hands on his thighs like someone had hit him in the gut.
“How exactly do you know all of this, Reeve? Why would a dirty federal marshal let a woman under his protection in on his plan and his crime? Why wouldn’t he simply take Hartman out and go about his business? Why does he trust you enough to let you know what he’s up to?”
I heard it, the disappointment in his tone, the knowledge that things were worse than he could imagine and more dirty law enforcement was involved. I was right at the center of this particular shit show and he knew that meant I was right. He needed me.
“Why do dangerous and desperate men do anything they do, Detective?”
“Because of love,” he said emotionlessly and flat.
I nodded solemnly. “I started seeing Conner almost as soon as he whisked me away from here. After everything that happened with Dovie, I felt awful. I never wanted her to get hurt, but I had to do what I did because of the deal I made with Novak. Conner made me feel loved despite the fact that I betrayed my friend, despite the fact that I’m a horrible person. And he made me feel safe.” I really wanted you, but I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell of that ever happening, so I settled on what I thought was the next best thing . . . That part went unsaid, but I knew it was probably there, leaking out of my eyes as we looked at each other.
“This whole story is goddamn unbelievable.”
Tell me about it. Even when I thought I was doing something good, it turned out to be just the opposite.
“I can help you bring Conner down, Titus. That’s why I left WITSEC. That’s why I’m here. I hate the Point. I hate the person I am because of this place, but I owe it to you, and to the people that will never leave here, to do what I can to stop him from doing any more damage. The good guys deserve a win for once.” He deserved a win.
“How exactly do you think you can help me? All I have right now is your word that Roark is a dirty fed who broke protocol by getting involved with a witness. That can easily boil down to your word against his, and no one likes a scorned lover out for revenge.”
I was anticipating that, so picked up my purse and fished around until I found the cell phone I had stolen from Conner the last time he was at my safe house in the burbs. It had only been a day ago but it felt like a lifetime had passed. I handed it over wordlessly and got to my feet. A little zing of electricity zipped down my arm as my fingers brushed lightly across his rough palm.
“This is Conner’s phone. Look it over and get back to me. I’m in this now, Detective.”
He swore again as I reached out to pull open the door. I looked over my shoulder as he said my name in a much softer voice than he had used up to now.
He was turning the phone over and over between his fingers and looking at me like he was trying to see inside of my head. He didn’t really want inside of there; it was a crowded and convoluted place, and I think he would be shocked to see how much real estate he was already taking up.
“You say you don’t know why Conner is doing what he’s doing, if in fact he is involved, but why are you?”
That answer was looking at me with a mixture of hunger and hate so strong that it very nearly brought me to my knees.
“Because it’s the right thing to do and along the way I forgot what that looked like. I don’t want to be that person anymore. I can’t be her.”
I stepped out of the door and almost plowed over the young woman who I had nearly killed with my foolish and selfish actions not long ago.
Dovie Pryce was a sweetheart. There wasn’t anything about her that wasn’t wholesome and pure. The way her green eyes widened at the sight of me and the way she went even paler under her milky complexion when our eyes met made me feel like the lowest life-form that had ever lived.
“What are you doing here, Reeve?” Her voice was full of worry, which made me feel even worse. She should hate me, loathe me, and yet she was concerned for my well-being. She was too good for me to ever call a friend. She was too good for this godforsaken town.
I tucked some of my hair behind my ear and gave her a lopsided grin. “I just had a little business to take care of with Titus. WITSEC isn’t really working out for me.” I wanted to grab her in a hug and tell her I was sorry her asshole of a father had been executed by my equally demented and fucked-up boyfriend, but I figured Titus would do a better job at it than me. Plus Dovie loved him and was in love with the detective’s hellion of a half brother, Shane Baxter. News like that should come from family.
Dovie made a noise of concern but before she could ask me anything else about my sudden reappearance an elegant looking blond man materialized at her side and put a protective arm around her slender shoulder. I had never met Dovie’s older brother, Race, and I wasn’t eager to do so now. He didn’t know who I was but he surely knew the hand I had played in getting his sister abducted and setting a ruthless gang of thugs in his direction to deliver a beating that he had barely survived. Race Hartman had every right to want terrible, terrible things to befall me. Everyone who had made it out of Novak’s final massacre alive did.
That knowledge, coupled with the fact that Conner was going to be after me with a vengeance once he found out I had double-crossed him and sold him out, didn’t give me high hopes for surviving whatever fallout followed the events I had just set in motion. Hell, with the way my luck went, it would be a miracle if I made it out of this police station and back to the crappy no-tell motel I was currently calling home.
I crossed one leg over the other and tapped my fingers on my knee, pretending to be far more composed than the swirling, uncertain mess I actually was on the inside.
“That I don’t have an answer to. He hates the city. He hates the people that live here to a degree that borders on fanatical. I can’t tell you why he did it. I can only tell you that he did.” I bit down on my lip a little watching Titus try to fit the pieces together.
I finally cracked. My bottom lip trembled and I felt emotion start to claw and scratch its way up my throat. He couldn’t decide if he was going to believe me or not, and that hurt. Titus put his hands on his hips and threw his head back so that he was looking up at the ceiling.
“You’ve got to be kidding me with this.”
I slowly shook my head and sank my teeth into my lip. “I wish.”
He sighed heavily and suddenly bent forward and put his hands on his thighs like someone had hit him in the gut.
“How exactly do you know all of this, Reeve? Why would a dirty federal marshal let a woman under his protection in on his plan and his crime? Why wouldn’t he simply take Hartman out and go about his business? Why does he trust you enough to let you know what he’s up to?”
I heard it, the disappointment in his tone, the knowledge that things were worse than he could imagine and more dirty law enforcement was involved. I was right at the center of this particular shit show and he knew that meant I was right. He needed me.
“Why do dangerous and desperate men do anything they do, Detective?”
“Because of love,” he said emotionlessly and flat.
I nodded solemnly. “I started seeing Conner almost as soon as he whisked me away from here. After everything that happened with Dovie, I felt awful. I never wanted her to get hurt, but I had to do what I did because of the deal I made with Novak. Conner made me feel loved despite the fact that I betrayed my friend, despite the fact that I’m a horrible person. And he made me feel safe.” I really wanted you, but I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell of that ever happening, so I settled on what I thought was the next best thing . . . That part went unsaid, but I knew it was probably there, leaking out of my eyes as we looked at each other.
“This whole story is goddamn unbelievable.”
Tell me about it. Even when I thought I was doing something good, it turned out to be just the opposite.
“I can help you bring Conner down, Titus. That’s why I left WITSEC. That’s why I’m here. I hate the Point. I hate the person I am because of this place, but I owe it to you, and to the people that will never leave here, to do what I can to stop him from doing any more damage. The good guys deserve a win for once.” He deserved a win.
“How exactly do you think you can help me? All I have right now is your word that Roark is a dirty fed who broke protocol by getting involved with a witness. That can easily boil down to your word against his, and no one likes a scorned lover out for revenge.”
I was anticipating that, so picked up my purse and fished around until I found the cell phone I had stolen from Conner the last time he was at my safe house in the burbs. It had only been a day ago but it felt like a lifetime had passed. I handed it over wordlessly and got to my feet. A little zing of electricity zipped down my arm as my fingers brushed lightly across his rough palm.
“This is Conner’s phone. Look it over and get back to me. I’m in this now, Detective.”
He swore again as I reached out to pull open the door. I looked over my shoulder as he said my name in a much softer voice than he had used up to now.
He was turning the phone over and over between his fingers and looking at me like he was trying to see inside of my head. He didn’t really want inside of there; it was a crowded and convoluted place, and I think he would be shocked to see how much real estate he was already taking up.
“You say you don’t know why Conner is doing what he’s doing, if in fact he is involved, but why are you?”
That answer was looking at me with a mixture of hunger and hate so strong that it very nearly brought me to my knees.
“Because it’s the right thing to do and along the way I forgot what that looked like. I don’t want to be that person anymore. I can’t be her.”
I stepped out of the door and almost plowed over the young woman who I had nearly killed with my foolish and selfish actions not long ago.
Dovie Pryce was a sweetheart. There wasn’t anything about her that wasn’t wholesome and pure. The way her green eyes widened at the sight of me and the way she went even paler under her milky complexion when our eyes met made me feel like the lowest life-form that had ever lived.
“What are you doing here, Reeve?” Her voice was full of worry, which made me feel even worse. She should hate me, loathe me, and yet she was concerned for my well-being. She was too good for me to ever call a friend. She was too good for this godforsaken town.
I tucked some of my hair behind my ear and gave her a lopsided grin. “I just had a little business to take care of with Titus. WITSEC isn’t really working out for me.” I wanted to grab her in a hug and tell her I was sorry her asshole of a father had been executed by my equally demented and fucked-up boyfriend, but I figured Titus would do a better job at it than me. Plus Dovie loved him and was in love with the detective’s hellion of a half brother, Shane Baxter. News like that should come from family.
Dovie made a noise of concern but before she could ask me anything else about my sudden reappearance an elegant looking blond man materialized at her side and put a protective arm around her slender shoulder. I had never met Dovie’s older brother, Race, and I wasn’t eager to do so now. He didn’t know who I was but he surely knew the hand I had played in getting his sister abducted and setting a ruthless gang of thugs in his direction to deliver a beating that he had barely survived. Race Hartman had every right to want terrible, terrible things to befall me. Everyone who had made it out of Novak’s final massacre alive did.
That knowledge, coupled with the fact that Conner was going to be after me with a vengeance once he found out I had double-crossed him and sold him out, didn’t give me high hopes for surviving whatever fallout followed the events I had just set in motion. Hell, with the way my luck went, it would be a miracle if I made it out of this police station and back to the crappy no-tell motel I was currently calling home.
