Page 118 of Betrayed

Which caused Jack to chuckle and add, “You both are.”

“Will you be able to leave her alone anytime soon?” Doug asked.

“Could you?” My question was the answer. We were a lot alike, not just Doug and I, all of us.

“No. I hovered so much I drove Beth crazy after we found Chase.”

“I was so damn scared of losing Emily that I slept outside her house for a week after the hospital released her,” Jamie laughed as he said it.

“I watched so many rom-coms while Meg was healing; I swear I could write one,” Jack admitted, causing us all to groan. Meg loved all things romance. Turns out, so did Emily, making Jack and Jamie grateful the two of them got along so well.

Jay rolled his eyes and made a whip cracking sound while mimicking the movement.

“Just you wait, Jay. Someday it’ll happen to you,” John said.

His ‘fuck no’ was so ice cold and filled with conviction I’d swear the temperature in the room dropped.

I wasn’t the only one who felt it.

Someone had hurt Jay. Bad.

“I’m taking the trash out.” Jay said, picking up the three bags and marching out of the room.

Maxwell stared at Jay as he walked out, her profiler gears spinning.

“Damn,” Jamie said.

“Yeah,” Jack agreed.

John didn’t have to say anything; his sad expression was enough.

Even I hadn’t had that level of anger or conviction when I swore off relationships.

Funny how one five-foot-two curvy blond with a whole lot of sass had changed everything for me. A stupid grin split my face. I needed to hold her like a fish needed water.

Now.

“I gotta go.” Ignoring their laughter, I raced out of the room and down the stairs.

As soon as I got downstairs, I hugged Blake before asking her to follow me to my office.

I closed the door and sat in one of our guest chairs before pulling her into my lap.

Thinking it’d be easier to tell her she couldn’t go home if she volunteered to stay with me first, I asked, “Blake, would you stay with me tonight?”

Asked? I practically begged. She couldn’t go home, but that didn’t mean she’d want to stay with me.

“I, um, I’m not sure. I should probably go home.”

I was afraid she’d say that.

“Unfortunately, that’s not an option. I’m sorry, but the police haven’t released the house, so you can’t go home yet.”

Her shoulders curled in as she closed her eyes and inhaled a shaky breath.

Rubbing small circles on her back, I offered what little comfort I could. “It’ll be over soon.”

“Will it?” Doubt and disappointment vied for top billing.

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