Page 19 of Love at First Rep

Rafe hoped Garrett wouldn’t question him on the many details he left out. They would come eventually, but not yet. Rafe continued.

“I managed to get the prisoners to safety, but I had a hell of a time trying to get out of Russia with no help. By the next morning, my face was everywhere. The second-in-command of the Zlodei, Nikolai Volkov, wanted blood—my blood. And he still does. There’s a contract out for my head, but I’ve managed to avoid it so far. I’m safe now that I’m stateside, and I found a hacker to help me with the hard drive. It wasn’t the first contract on my life, and it won’t be the last, but I should stay out of Russia for now.

“Long story short, that information led me here. I found where the shipments are going, but not where they’re coming from, not yet. I know they’re coming through Philly now, and someone is helping push the drug out to detention centers, jails and prisons. So we gotta cut them off here and try to use them to figure out who the supplier is.”

Garrett was quiet and thoughtful as he took another bite of his eggs and sip of his coffee.

“You expect me to ignore all the holes in your story?” he said gingerly, like he was discussing something as trivial as the weather.

Of course Garrett noticed the missing parts, but he didn’t need that information. Not yet anyway.

“The rest of the details are extraneous and irrelevant. When we’re done with this, I will tell you every detail about my life that you missed, everywhere I’ve gone, every mission I completed, every person I met. But right now, that stuff isn’t important. Stopping this cartel is. Will you help me stop them? And then I’ll share everything with you.”

Garrett’s hopeful eyes peered right into Rafe’s soul.

“Everything?” he asked.

Rafe smiled. “Yeah, everything.”

Garrett took a deep breath and returned his focus to his food.

“I’ll work from home today so we can do some digging, but if one of those extraneous details comes back to bite me in the ass, it will be your ass on the line.”

Rafe couldn’t help the wide grin that spread across his face.

“You promise?” he said, in the least innocent voice he had.

Garrett finished his meal and set his fork on his empty plate. When he turned to him, Rafe could have sworn a tinge of pink colored Garrett’s cheeks.

“There will be none of that. This morning was… a mistake,” he said, and Rafe’s smile fell. “You’re right that we should focus on this case first and we can worry about everything else after. When someone out there isn’t trying to kill you.”

Rafe had some regrets, especially after living life off the grid for so long, but he could never regret what they did that morning. With Garrett’s strong body pressed against his, he felt more alive than he had in years. Jumping out of a plane, staring down the barrel of a gun, traveling the world, triggering an explosion—those things weren’t nearly as exhilarating as kissing Garrett Pearson.

If he had to wait until they stopped this threat, Rafe could be patient. It had been twenty years, so what was another couple weeks?

————————

Garrett ran his hands down his face, but Rafe didn’t know if it was frustration with the case or with Rafe. He figured it was fifty-fifty.

They’d been digging into everyone in the Cherrywood Police Department for hours and had nothing to show for it. They both sprawled across Garrett’s oversized sofa, laptops overheating in their laps.

“Why Cherrywood?” Garrett asked.

Rafe’s head snapped to him.

“What do you mean?”

“What makes you think there’s a mole connected to this in Cherrywood, New Jersey, of all places? What was the exact intel that pointed you here?”

Well, shit. Rafe should have known Garrett would ask for that information. He was surprised he hadn’t asked sooner.

“I guess they figure it’s easier to hide in a suburban town rather than a big city where all eyes are on them,” Rafe said. “The intel I uncovered showed this all started with the murder of two members of the medical team who created the drug. A dirty cop in Cherrywood helped cover it up, and I found evidence that someone there is still on the take. Why are you looking at me like that?”

Garrett’s gaze was a cross between bewildered and flabbergasted, eyes unfocused.

“Garrett?”

He snapped out of his trance and turned to Rafe, his eyes wild.