Not likebefore.
I scrubbed a hand over my face, the echo of his name still caught in my throat. Jamie. Brilliant, dangerous, chaotic Jamie. The man who moved like smoke, burned like fire, and had more fury in him than sense. The same Jamie I’d watched kill Ricardo without blinking, then turn around and help a bunch of terrified kids into the back of the truck as if he hadn’t just committed murder.
More than one, given the two lifeless guards in the hall.
He hadn’t hesitated.I had. And I hated myself for it.
Back then, there’d been nothing but chaos in him, in me. I’d looked at him and seen every bad decision I’d ever made staring back at me with haunted eyes and blood on his hands. I’d been so fucking furious—because he wasn’t supposed to do that shit on this case. Not on his own.
So I’d shoved him to his knees, half-mad with anger and need and fear. And maybe that made me an asshole, but fuck, he’d needed it—wehad. That control, that surrender. It had been a way back for both of us.
I tipped my head against the door, eyes closed.
I wasn’t sure if I was more terrified that I needed him… or that he needed me.
And if I let him stay—if I let this become more than a fuck in the dark or a coping mechanism with teeth—what the hell would that make me?
I breathed out, slow and shaky, and finally peeled myself off the door.
This wasn’t over.
Not even close.
My phone chimed where it had landed on the floor, screen up, far enough out of reach that I had to bend for it with a groan. My thighs still trembled. I caught the message as the screen lit up—simple, direct, no punctuation.
Mickey: Safe
A knot in my chest unspooled. I sank on the edge of the bed, head in my hands, for a second before I typed out my reply:
Killian:Thank you. Couldn’t have done this without you. Sending funds now.
Then a quick message to Caleb, the closest thing I had to a conscience most days.
Killian: Extra 10 to Mickey.
I watched the message go through, then stared at the thread with Mickey for a long moment.
Caleb’s uncle was our safe place foranyone who needed help, fierce, providing a sanctuary, which our team funded from what we retained from the bad guys. And now, Mickey had taken in the ones Jamie had helped to save. All of them.
Caleb:On it
Caleb:Your guest has left?
I let out a slow breath and opened the app linked to the camera system outside my building. I flicked to the front entrance and waited until the timestamp updated. Then, there he was—Jamie. Bold as fuck, walking right out of the front doors of my high-end, glass-and-steel mausoleum as if he hadn’t dropped to his knees twenty minutes ago.
He didn’t look back.
Of course, he didn’t.
I watched him until he was out of frame.
Killian:Yeah
Caleb:Team needs to talk about this shit
Killian:Tomorrow
Only then did I strip, my skin tacky with sweat, and I didn’t let myself think too hard as I walked into the bathroom, turned the dial to scalding hot, and stepped into the shower, letting the water wash away the exhaustion.
