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“Don’t get too mouthy, Mr. Calloway. I’ve been told to bring you in, too. Turn around. Hands behind your back.”
Fuck.
Charlie locks eyes with me, and I know he’s thinking the same thing I am.
This is Ryker.
He knew this would happen, arranged for these warrants to suddenly pop up. He’s making sure I’m alone.
An officer grips Charlie’s wrist. “Touch me again, and I’ll tear off your arm and slap you with your own hand.” He looks back at Quinn. “Think about this. You get an anonymous tip and suddenly we’re both arrested? You don’t think that’s a little strange?”
Quinn shrugs. “As long as I get to inconvenience your day, Calloway. Cuff him. Now.”
My hand shakes as I run it through my hair, watching as both Mercy and Charlie are handcuffed.
“You’re smarter than this!” Charlie insists as the officer tries to pull him away. He glances between me and Quinn, and I’m fixed in place, trying to steady my breathing. “Fine, arrest me, but don’t leave her alone, Quinn.”
She frowns. “You can’t be serious—”
“Why do you think I’m here!” he bellows as he’s dragged to the door. “Put everything between us aside. Do. Not. Leave. Her. I’m begging you.” Detective Quinn glances at me, light brows pulled together. “Quinn!”
“Okay, fine, I’ll stay,” she snaps. “You better not be bullshitting me, Charlie.”
“I’m not.” He looks at me. “Lock the door. Barricade it. Call Xavier and Yale.”
I nod quickly, and Mercy gives me one last concerned look before being taken away.
The quiet that follows the door slamming closed feels like a weight pressing against my lungs. With a trembling hand, I call both Yale and Xavier, but neither call connects. My palms are sweating and I drop my head back, closing my eyes and breathing deeply. I can’t afford to panic. Quinn is here, and that’ll have to do for now.
Ryker wouldn’t kill a cop, would he?
“Why is he protecting you?” Quinn asks.
I tip my head forward. “I can’t … I can’t tell you.”
She huffs. “Then how do I know he’s telling the truth and not just trying to delay me looking for Gio Morelli?”
“Do you think he’d do that? Lie about my safety?”
She purses her lips together, and something crosses her expression before she looks away. “I can’t stay forever.”
“That’s fine. Just until I can call my boyfriends.”
The word sticks in my throat, like boyfriend isn’t enough for what Xavier and Yale are to me.
“Boyfriends? I thought you were married?”
“Long story,” I mumble, dialing Yale again, then Xavier. It isn’t ringing or connecting to voicemail—an automated voice just keeps telling me that the call can’t be connected.
Quinn keeps her eyes on me. “You know, if you tell me what’s wrong, I could help.”
“And ten years ago, I’d have done just that.”
She shakes her head. “Silence, when you get involved with men like Charlie, they convince you that we’re the bad guys. It’s too complicated to call the cops, or we wouldn’t understand. But you know in your gut you should talk to me.”
I twist my phone in my grip, anxiety churning in my gut, my heart beating too fast. I can’t tell her, but every instinct drilled into me by society is screaming at me to ask for help, to hand over the burden of Ryker to officials, even if it’s just for a little while.
“Silence—”
