Page 44 of Resurrect Me

“Very soon, we will be,” Aris says as he returns my embrace. “I promise. You, me, Cammy and Ben.”

I pull back and suck in a sob. “When? When will we be together again? I’m tired of being apart. I’ve done it long enough. So have Cammy and Ben. They miss their dad.”

“When this is all over,” he says and looks over my shoulder. Avoiding eye contact. He only does that when he’s hiding something. I remember that look all too well…it was almost always plastered to his face before he ran for governor and even the day he was elected. The aloofI don’t know what’s going onlook.

“Okay.” I shrug. “I’ve got to go.”

He presses his warm lips against mine, one last time, before I flop down into the seat. Closing the door, he winks at me and says, “don’t come here unless I tell you to, okay? Too many people know who you are already. And I don’t want you leading anyone here either.”

I huff. “Like who?”

“Like Declan Harvey, for one.”

I fire up the engine. Then blast the heat and adjust the vents to point at my face. The heat from sex has worn off and the ice-cold weather is taking its toll.

“I don’t see him anymore.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s not seeing you, catch my drift?”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m pretty sure I would know if he was following me, though.”

Aris chuckles and glances at the ground. “Would you, Tacy? Because you didn’t know I was following you for a full nine months before I even started texting you.”

“Are you fucking serious? You stalked me for that long?”

He laughs again and leans into the window. “It was a blast. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

“Fine. But Declan isn’t as smart as you.”

Aris reaches into the car and caresses my cheek. “He’s every bit as intelligent. And remember. He doesn’t just have his own brain to rely on. He has the entire organization to help him out.”

I sigh as I buckle my seatbelt. “But we have The Rebellis.”

Aris

“Don’t worry about Tacy, Clyde. I’ll take care of her,” I say and slide up to the council table. The usual suspects are present. Clyde, Thor, and Shawn. I notice one person is missing. My right-hand man. “Where’s Reg? Another training session?”

Clyde shakes his head. Thor clears his throat. Shawn stares silently at the wall.

“Clyde, where is he?”

“Down the hall. We had to restrain him, Boss,” Clyde’s eyes dart to Thor, then Shawn, and then back at me.

“What? Restrain him? Why?”

The room goes silent. As silent as a tomb. You could almost hear Shawn’s hair growing. Almost…except that he’s losing his hair not growing any.

Then it hits me. “It’s Reggie? He’s the rat?”

Thor nods and grasps the arms of his chair. There’s a shout down the hall and a scuffle of feet just outside the door.

“The men are ready to put him down. On your command, Boss,” Shawn grumbles and repositions his bandana.

“Put him…down? What the fuck are you talking about?” I say, incredulously. “You guys have it wrong. Really fucking wrong. I don’t know what happened, but it’s not Reggie.”

Silence around the table. Clyde shifts in his seat. Thor clears his throat. Shawn stares blankly at the wall.

“There must be some kind of mistake. It can’t be Reggie. He saved my fucking life, remember? He pulled me out of the bay, resuscitated me, and brought me here. To you guys. He introduced me to The Rebellis. Why would he do all of that if he was really working for The Org? Why wouldn’t he have just let me fucking drown that day? That’s what The Org wanted…right?”

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