Page 55 of Direct Action

“Chloe—”

She stepped back with her hand up, palm in my direction, warning me off.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“How am I looking at you, honey?”

“Like that,” she spat and waved her hand.

I abandoned that line of questioning and moved on.

“Why’s he in there?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Ryan.”

It wasn’t what she said or even the tone in which it was delivered. It was that blanket of desperation that permeated the room. Despair and misery so thick I had no choice but to breathe it in, and when I did, it burned my lungs.

“Okay, Chloe.” I gave in for no other reason than to beat back the anguish that had infiltrated.

“I should get dressed. We need to go.”

We did. With the added stop at her place so she could change, we were pushing it. If there was traffic, we’d be late.

“We need to talk about work first.”

Her eyes flashed fire before they narrowed on me. Never did I think I’d be not only happy but relieved to see any woman, but especially Chloe, shooting daggers at me. But after yesterday—the dead expression, the dull eyes, the lack of fire—I was not only thrilled to have her back; I was fucking elated.

“Ryan—”

“Just listen for a second, then you can lay me out for intruding.” A muscle in her cheek jumped, and I liked that too. Anything was better than Robot Chloe. “Yesterday, I was waiting on you to come into work so I could take you somewhere private to talk about you working at the Vault. I put you on manager’s payroll so you wouldn’t lose money while we had our talk. Obviously, it didn’t happen that way.”

“Obviously,” she muttered. “And how convenient for you.”

“Yeah, though it was only convenient because the only thing that was hurt was your car. But yeah, you getting into an accident meant I didn’t have to maneuver you out of the bar.”

More fire flashed when she asked, “How were you going to do that?”

It didn’t matter because in the end I didn’t have to do anything, but I still answered, “Lie. Say whatever I had to, to get you to come with me.”

“You were going to lie to get me to go with you?”

There was no small amount of outrage in her tone. So much so I’d venture to say it was more astonished hostility than run-of-the-mill anger.

“Yep.”

“You were going to lie to me?” she mostly repeated.

“I see you’re not getting this, Chloe, and I thought I’ve been pretty fucking clear. I will do anything, any-fucking-thing to untangle you from this situation. Including lying my ass off if it means keeping you safe.”

She had nothing to say to that, which was good because I wasn’t done.

“And it fucks me to say this. And when I say it fucks me, what I really mean is it feels like I’m plunging a knife into my gut and twisting that fucker, but you’re right. There are things, people, who are worth putting your life in danger for. That’s not the part that guts me. The part that twists that knife, baby, is knowing you know it. Knowing you feel it. Knowing the reason. But most of all, knowing you’re hurting because someone you love is hurting.”

Chloe had nothing to say to that either, but the fire had extinguished, leaving behind nothing but soft. As much as I wanted to take a moment and soak in the goodness, savor the way it made me feel after all this time of not having her, wanting to be right here with her on the receiving end of a soft, sweet look, there was more to say.

And what had to be said was the only path forward after I’d royally fucked up. Even though I hated what was coming. Loathed it. Despised it with every fiber that made me the man I was.

“I do not want you involved in this. With that being said, Catarina and Calista threw down on your behalf and reminded me it wasn’t my decision—it was yours. They’re not wrong, but I don’t have to like it. And just so you’re crystal clear on this, me understanding I can’t control what you do doesn’t mean I won’t try. I get why you don’t want to give up that job. I get why you need the money. But just to point out, at the end of this there will be no Vault to go back to. We’ll dismantle the whole operation. So in reality, you’ve already lost that job.”