by Mandy Baxter
“We don’t need you to.” Callihan drummed his fingers on the tabletop as he spoke. “We’re not trying to catch Lightfoot in the act of anything. He’s a fugitive. We don’t need any other reason to make an arrest. All we want is for you to arrange a meet.”
“But you’ll want Seth there to meet Gerald, right?” The accusation in Tabitha’s voice stung, her blue eyes narrowed with anger.
“Yes. When we arrest Lightfoot, we’ll arrest Seth as well. That way, Seth is protected from looking like a narc. After we’ve got Lightfoot in custody, we’ll start the process of setting you both up in witness security.”
Tabitha’s eyes grew wide. She looked from Callihan, over at Gates, and back to Damien. “What’s witness security?”
“You probably know it as the witness protection program, Tabitha,” Callihan continued. “In exchange for your testimony—if needed—we’ll set you and your brother up with new identities. In a new town. You’ll both get a fresh start, and not Lightfoot, Cavello, or any of their associates will be able to find you. It’s a chance at a real life and a little freedom.”
“Freedom?” Tabitha’s incredulous outburst echoed off the walls. “You call that freedom? You might as well throw us in jail!”
Tabitha’s reaction wasn’t out of the ordinary. Callihan’s attempt to put a shiny spin on WITSEC crashed and burned like Damien knew it would. Witness security wasn’t a cakewalk by any means.
“I know it sounds scary, but you should be focusing on the fact that you and Seth will be safe.”
Tabitha looked at Damien with wide eyes, as though waiting for him to jump in and set the chief deputy straight. “I’ve got clinicals starting in less than a month! I’m so close to graduating. Seth’s got a job and he’s enrolled in college for the spring semester. You can’t expect us to give all of that up. We’ve worked hard to get to this point, and you want us to throw all of it away?”
Callihan stretched his hands out imploringly. “You won’t be throwing anything away, Tabitha. Seth can enroll in a school wherever we set you up, and as far as your education goes, we’ll do whatever we can to make sure your credits transfer over so you don’t lose any time.”
Tabitha’s eyes went wide. “I’m going to assume that you haven’t been to college recently. Transferring credits between in-state schools is nearly impossible. Doing it with an out-of-state university? You may as well ask me to start over from square freaking one.”
Damien leaned across the table, his hands itching to reach for her. “Tabitha—”
“You don’t talk to me,” she seethed, pointing an accusing finger his way. “You don’t get to say another word to me. Ever.”
She might as well have ripped his beating heart from his chest, thrown it on the ground, and stomped it into a bloody pulp. Damien welded his jaw together, the enamel grinding. The helplessness he felt grated on him, but not because he wasn’t in control of the situation. Because he had this locked down. No, what pissed him off was the fact that he was in a room with three other colleagues and Tabitha’s brother. And he wouldn’t get a chance to plead his case with her.
She’d shut him down.
You don’t get to say another word to me. Ever.
“How much time do we get to make a decision?” Seth asked.
“We need to know in the next thirty minutes,” Damien replied. “I know it doesn’t give you a lot of time to talk things through with your sister, but we need to get the ball rolling ASAP.”
“I think we need a few minutes alone then.” Seth had really stepped up to the plate. Tabitha was mixed up in all of this because of him, after all. And the fact that he was finally looking out for his sister elevated him in Damien’s opinion.
“We can give you that.” Damien and the chief deputy stood from their chairs and joined Ryan Gates and the Boise PD officer at the conference room door. “Talk it over and decide what you want to do. We’ll check back soon.”
They filed out of the room, Damien taking up the rear. As he went to close the door, he cast one final look at Tabitha. Their eyes met. The defiance, anger, and pain in her blue eyes cut Damien a little deeper, slicing through tissue and bone to add to the damage of his already mangled heart. “I’m sorry it had to go down like this.” He looked at Seth, though his words were directed at Tabitha. “If I could go back and change it, I would.”
He closed the door softly behind him.
“What do you think?” Callihan leaned against the opposite wall, his arms folded across his chest.
“They don’t have a choice,” Damien said on a sigh. “At this point, Joey is going to try to pin everything on Tabitha and me. Seth isn’t going to let his sister take the fall.” Thank fuck.
“I’ve gotta say, this is not how I envisioned this case wrapping up. But if we get Lightfoot, it’ll be worth it. I’ll put in a call to John Rader. We’ll want the Bandit task force in on this and maybe SWAT as well. Lightfoot is crafty, otherwise he wouldn’t keep slipping through our fingers. Let’s see him dodge an army when he decides to show up in town.”
It was true. Lightfoot was notorious for dodging law enforcement officials and he possessed an uncanny ability to sniff out a trap. “What about Cavello?” Damien asked. Joey was still a threat to Tabitha and he wanted that SOB behind bars yesterday.
“We won’t have any trouble getting an arrest warrant for Cavello,” Callihan said. “We’ve got enough on him from your investigation that we shouldn’t even need Martin’s testimony to get a conviction.”
With the amount of product Cavello was moving, he’d be facing a potential life sentence for drug trafficking. His associate—that piece of shit Tony—would go down, too. “The faster we can wrap it all up, the better.” Damien wanted the least amount of stress on Tabitha as possible. “But, Chief, there’s a possibility they won’t agree to WITSEC.” From the sound of it, Tabitha would have to be put in cuffs before she’d let them relocate her. “What then?”
Callihan shrugged his shoulders. “They can refuse, Evans. There’s nothing we can do about that. We shouldn’t need their testimony, you said so yourself, which means we can’t force them into the program. If they refuse WITSEC, then their safety is in their own hands.”
Damn it. Callihan was right. If he’d been thinking, Damien would have made sure that WITSEC was one of the conditions to wiping Seth’s record and protecting Tabitha from possible charges. And as stubborn as she was, he knew she’d never willingly go into the program. If anything, to prove to him that he no longer had any influence over her. Rub his face in her disdain.
Awesome.
Twenty minutes and way too much small talk later, the conference room door squeaked open. Seth poked his head out into the hallway and said, “All right, here’s the deal. I’ll help you get Lightfoot. And Cavello, too, if you want, because he fucked with my sister and that shit don’t fly. But in exchange for my help I want you”—his gaze slid to Damien—“to leave my sister alone. She’s not doing witness protection or anything else for you guys. I’ll go wherever you want, but she stays put. Understand?”
Callihan pushed himself off the wall and took Seth’s outstretched hand. “Deal. I’ll get some paperwork started and leave Deputies Evans and Gates to prep you.”
Seth swung the door wide, and over his head Damien caught sight of Tabitha, her head in her hands, shoulders shaking with emotion. Goddamn it, he’d fucked up big-time. And there wasn’t anything he could do shy of keeping what was left of her family intact, that would convince Tabitha to even consider forgiving him for what he’d done.
In doing his job, he’d ruined the only good thing in his life. If it was possible, Damien now had even more of a reason to hate Parker Evans.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tabitha stared down from her apartment balcony at the traffic zooming by on Fairview Avenue, numb. Her heart was heavy with loss and she was still so pissed off at Seth she couldn’t see straight. How could he just up and leave her? Disappear into witness protection for
God knew how long, totally cut off from her.
“This is the best option for both of us, Tabs, and you know it.”
The memory of Seth’s words brought a fresh bout of tears to the surface and Tabitha swallowed them down. Seth was all she had. Her entire life had been about taking care of him. What was she going to do without him around?
“You’re going to live your life, that’s what.”
Gah! Why did he have to pick today to be mature and responsible? U.S. Marshals and Boise PD had personnel staged outside of her building and parked around the block, all of them keeping an eye out for anything suspicious, in case Joey managed to track her down before they could wrap up their case. Because, you know, nothing about undercover cops camped out every five feet drew unwanted attention to her building.
Seth was holed up with the bigwigs from this morning—and probably Damien—back at the police station. His phone was being monitored and they were prepping him for what he could expect if Gerald did reach out to him. Despite the anger she felt, she was glad that someone was looking out for Seth and keeping him safe.
The suspense was freaking killing her, though.
She plopped back down on the cheap plastic lawn chair and snatched up the wine bottle sitting on the wooden crate that doubled as an end table. It was probably a sign of a potential problem that she was drinking in solitude, but Tabitha didn’t care. She filled the glass three-quarters full with the last of the wine, wondering if she could sweet-talk one of the deputies into making a grocery store run for another bottle.
Tonight was definitely going to be a two-bottle night.
Tabitha craned her neck toward the sliding glass patio door, the knock at her front door barely audible from outside. Speak of the devils . . . If the marshals were checking up on her, she could totally use the opportunity to sweet-talk them into going grocery shopping. Maybe if she bought them a case of beer, they’d join in her misery. At least she wouldn’t be drinking alone anymore.
She drained half of her glass in a long gulp before setting it down on the crate. Another round of obnoxious knocks followed on the heels of the first, and she blew out an aggravated breath. Pushy SOBs.
“I’m coming. Keep your panties on.”
Tabitha threw open the door and froze, her fingers curling around the knob in a death grip. “What in the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on Seth.”
She moved to slam the door in Damien’s face, but he stuck a booted toe against the jamb, blocking any attempt at a successful tantrum. “We need to talk.”
“I don’t have shit to say to you, Deputy.” She tried to force the door closed again, but Damien was too damned strong. Instead, she turned her back on him and walked into the living room. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d have no choice but to get the hell out of there.
With her back turned, Tabitha stared out of the sliding glass doors as though entertained by the traffic whizzing by below. She refused to look at him, to let the emotion shining in his gaze affect her. Because she knew it was a lie. “If you’re here, where’s Seth?” She was pissed, but she wasn’t going to let her anger stop her from checking up on her brother. “Someone had better have his back or so help me God—”
“Tabitha, look at me.”
“Go to hell, Damien. Or I guess it’s Parker, isn’t it? I don’t have to do a damned thing you say. Just tell me where Seth is and then get the hell out of my apartment.”
Strong hands came around her shoulders and turned her with enough force to send her world reeling. The meager restraint she had over her temper snapped. God, she was tired of being used. It seemed that everyone in her life wanted a piece of her for some selfish reason. Didn’t anyone just want her for herself? And why did it hurt more than any of the other hurts in her life that Damien had used her just as callously as everyone else in her crappy life. Without thinking, she pulled back her hand and let it fly.
Her open palm cracked against his cheek, the sharp sting fueling her anger like dried kindling. Damien’s brows drew tight over his eyes, and his nostrils flared. A spark lit in his golden gaze and for the second time since she’d met him, Tabitha experienced a cold tingle of fear. His fingertips dug into the skin at her shoulders, not enough to hurt, but enough to show her she’d better not try to pull away.
“That make you feel better?” His voice was a controlled burn, seething from between clenched teeth.
The fingers of her right hand curled into a fist, and as though Tabitha had no control over her own body, she struck out at him again, this time connecting with his broad shoulder. Her strength was a child’s, uselessly lashing out at a wall of muscle that refused to yield under her pathetic blow.
“Come on, Tabitha. Don’t stop there. Lay into me!”
His gaze drilled into her. The hard line of his mouth and squared jaw almost dared her to smack the stubborn expression from his face. His hands dropped from her shoulders and he took a step back, inviting whatever punishment she wanted to dole out. Blind rage and hurt sliced through her heart and Tabitha landed another weak punch to his shoulder.
He was immovable, a mountain that mocked her inconsequential existence. Tabitha let out a frustrated shriek. None of this made her feel any better. She could hit him again and again, until she couldn’t lift her arms anymore, and it would do nothing to erase the pain slicing through her. Angry tears burned her cheeks and she balled her hands into tight fists, her nails biting into her palms.
“How could you use me like that?” Her breath hitched as she drew in a deep breath. “You lied to me!”
“Tabitha . . .” Every time he said her name it created another fissure in her heart. He raked his hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “I never wanted it to go down like this. And yeah, I fucking lied and I hated every goddamned minute of it. But I never used you.”
Whatever. “Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. Just don’t stand there and pretend like you weren’t working an angle with me. You saw a way to get what you wanted and exploited it. God! How could I have been so stupid?”
“Jesus Christ, you think I was working an angle?” Tabitha’s stomach bottomed out at his angry shout, but she forced herself to stay planted to her spot on the floor. “I didn’t tell you who I was or why I was really here. I’ll own that. But the shit I told you was real. What happened between us was real. And I’m not going to let you cheapen that by accusing me of working a fucking angle with you.”
A lump the size of a basketball lodged in her throat, but she shouted past it. “I trusted you! I told you things I’ve never even told my brother, and you took that trust and stomped all over it. I thought you cared about me, Damien, and you couldn’t even be truthful with me! Jesus, that’s not even your real name!” She laid her palms against his chest and shoved, but there was no force behind the action. He simply stood there. Took every ounce of it. Didn’t even budge. “Do you know how many times I agonized over what was going on? Picked up the phone to call the FBI. Sat in the parking lot at the federal courthouse like some kind of freak!” Her strength began to flag, emotional exhaustion winning out over her rage. “Goddamn you!”
“You really think I have so little integrity that I’d play with your emotions like that?” His voice strained and Tabitha steeled herself against his tenderness. “It fucking killed me not to tell you the truth about what was going on. You’re not the only one who put yourself out there, you know.”
“Bullshit.” Her gaze drilled into his. They stood not a foot apart, the air sizzling between them. Damien’s nostrils flared with his heavy breaths and for once, Tabitha considered taking a cautious step back. “How can I possibly believe that anything that happened between us was real?”
Damien crushed her to him, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss that left her dizzy and breathless, though it did little to abate her anger. This time she turned it inward, berating herself as she thrust her tongue in his mouth, for wanting him. Craving him. Needing him like this des
pite everything he’d done to her.
Damien’s large palm cupped the back of her neck before gathering the short strands of her hair in his fist. He tugged her head back and slanted his mouth across hers in a desperate, frenzied kiss that left Tabitha weak and shaking. And wanting more.
She tore at his shirt, popping buttons in her haste to get it off of him. He kicked off his shoes and she did the same, their mouths welded together as they worked the fastenings of each other’s jeans, fingers fumbling and greedy for exposed flesh. He nipped at her bottom lip, the sting only goading her on as her sex clenched, a rush of delicious warmth spreading between her thighs. Their mouths parted only long enough for Damien to drag the T-shirt off of Tabitha’s body, and then he unfastened her bra, tearing it from her in a rush.
The cold air puckered her nipples to tight, aching peaks as Damien urged her backward, one hand clutching the back of her neck while the other kneaded her breast before he tugged on her nipple. Tabitha gasped, her head rolling back as he caught the other nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking, nibbling. Tiny bubbles of sensation burst over Tabitha’s body, and she cried out, her hands diving into his hair as he continued to suck, the light sting of his teeth taking her dangerously close to the edge.
She soared on a cloud of bliss and her feet left the floor as though she’d floated away. Damien hoisted her up in his arms and cradled her against the heat of his chest, kissing her as though every beat of his heart depended on the contact. Down the hallway they bounced off the walls as he walked, fumbling his way to her bedroom, where he collapsed on top of her on the bed they’d shared the night before.
A primal growl worked its way up Damien’s throat, rumbling in his chest as he grabbed her underwear and jerked it down her thighs. Tabitha’s breath was ragged, her throat raw as she turned and pulled open the drawer of her bedside table to grab a condom from the box she’d bought. Funny, she’d been about to throw the damned things away when she got home. Thank God for small favors . . .