Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Tell me the rest.”
“I announced I was going in, and the SWAT commander ordered me to wait because it sounded good, like you were in control and Brodie was calm, but I know him. I remember how he would just snap, how volatile he was back when he was on the job.”
I had too, which was why I’d kept yelling at him. We had all been on him all the time, and that part was normal for him. Treating him like he was still a member of the team had been key right then.
“I said I was going, and the SWAT commander says no again, and they’re barring the door, but then—then Kage arrived with Dorsey and Ryan, and Jesus, Jed, I’ve never been so happy to have backup in my life.”
I knew the feeling. The knowledge that you had people with you, it was overwhelming.
“And Kage brought the modified beanbag gun with him, and Dorsey gives it to me and tells those guys we’re getting you out of there right fuckin’ now.”
I smiled, and amazingly, I got one back.
“Yeah. It was pretty great. You know how Dorsey is when he’s pissed.”
“He’s loud is what he is. I’m surprised I didn’t hear him.”
“Right?”
He was sounding better, more like him. More alive.
“Kage put me in the front and told me to get in there. They were worried we would need to break down the door, but I said no, I knew you’d left it unlocked and that Brodie wouldn’t have noticed that it was.”
“He didn’t, you were right.”
“It’s because he was focused on you, not what you were doing.”
“We always got along pretty well.”
“Which is probably why he came here,” Bodhi told me.
“It’s weird, though, that he knew where I lived. We were still living together in your buddy Joe’s apartment when he was fired. He visited us there before, but never here.”
“When I was on my way here to you, I was on the phone with Becker, and he told me about Mills. The intel on all of us was from him. He was feeding Brodie information the whole time, not just in the last twenty-four hours.”
“That’s horrible.” I put my hand on his cheek, then pushed his hair out of his face, just wanting to touch him.
“Mills told Brodie that Eli was giving a press conference before it was announced, and he called Brodie to say that Ian was leaving the building. Mills saw all of us every day when we passed him in his office downstairs.”
“I can’t imagine holding a grudge like that,” I said, scooching closer, loving that Bodhi slid a hand around the side of my neck. “I mean, I guess I get Brodie. The career he thought he was going to have was over. But Mills was only demoted. He still works for the marshals service. It’s crazy that he threw in with Brodie.”
“But they shared a common enemy in Sam Kage.”
“Which, again, is insane,” I told him, then smiled as he leaned forward and kissed me.
It wasn’t the mauling he’d given me earlier; this was gentle but possessive, and he took his time and kissed me thoroughly.
“We’re still out here,” Becker called to us.
Bodhi broke the kiss to laugh, and I was chuckling along with him.
“This pizza is going in the garbage,” Becker yelled. “Who eats this stupid pineapple shit?”
“Good,” Bodhi said, turning his head to answer. “It’s the worst.”
“Hey,” I whispered, and his gaze was back, locked on mine.
“I know you were scared.”
He took a breath. “We just… It’s brand-new, Jed. I can’t lose you. I can’t be this close to everything I wanted and lose.”
I nodded.
“I had tunnel vision when I came in.”
“As you do,” I reminded him. “If you look at everything and everyone, you can miss something or get hurt.”
“Yeah,” he whispered, “but once he was down and I saw you, I sort of checked out.”
“Well,” I said, grinning, “we both do actually need a vacation.”
“We do,” he concurred, surging toward me, rolling me to my back so I was under him and he was hovering over me, hands down on the bed on either side of me.
“Oh, man, please tell me I’m about to get ravaged.”
But he took that moment to turn his head, and Chickie licked his nose.
“Really?” he said to the dog.
I nearly choked laughing.
The tech team got what they needed, which wasn’t a lot. I was a witness, there was a recording of Brodie being in my house, and the SWAT guys who’d followed Bodhi, Dorsey, and Ryan into my house all had on body cameras that captured the breach. So the reports we wrote were pretty self-explanatory. Mine was longer than Bodhi’s, as I had to add what occurred before they got here.
“Why didn’t you just shoot him in the face when he was outside on the porch?” Bodhi asked, leaning sideways to read my report as we sat together in bed.