Page 47 of The Agent
“Marley, please,” he burst out.
She turned around and paused in the doorway, slowly meeting his eyes. “I will never forgive you for this,” she murmured.
Then she marched out of the room.
“Well.” AJ’s dry voice sounded from the bathroom he’d ducked into when they’d spotted Marley’s brisk walk next door on the monitors. “That was unpleasant.”
Ignoring his partner, Caleb stared at the doorway for a second, then tore out of it. He heard the front door slam as he hurried down the stairs, but he kept going. He couldn’t let it end like this. Every word he’d uttered up in the bedroom had been true. Hedidcare about her. He’d told her things about himself that he’d never told another soul. His life in foster care, his mother’s overdose, how hard it was to talk about his feelings. He couldn’t lose her now, not when he’d finally found someone he actually wanted in his life.
He caught up to her on the front lawn at the same time a blue pickup truck came to a stop in her driveway. He bit back a groan when he saw Marley’s brother slide out of the driver’s side, pulling a tool belt from the passenger seat.
“Marley!” Caleb called after her.
She quickly ascended the porch steps. Sam must have noticed the anger radiating off his sister’s body, because he darted toward them, reaching the porch just as Caleb did.
“What’s going on here?” Sam asked, looking wary.
“Nothing,” Marley answered. She avoided Caleb’s face and glanced at her brother. “Come in, let’s work on that closet.”
“Marley, please,” Caleb said. “Just let me explain.”
“You’ve done all the explaining you need to.”
“We can’t leave things like this.”
“Oh, yes, we can.”
Sam’s eyes moved back and forth between the two of them. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Marley raised her hand and gestured for him to come inside. “Agent Ford was just leaving.”
Sam wrinkled his forehead, then walked up the steps and followed his sister into the house. “Agent Ford?” Caleb heard Sam say, and then the door shut behind them.
Caleb stood there feeling frustrated. He wanted to knock on the door, or hell, kick it open and try to make Marley understand, but he knew she wasn’t in the frame of mind to listen right now. He’d blown it. She would never forgive him for this, and at the moment, he didn’t particularly blame her.
His shoulders slumped. Slowly, he walked back next door and headed upstairs. When he entered the bedroom, AJ was at the desk, looking a little shell-shocked.
It killed him to do it, but Caleb turned to the monitors. He saw Marley lead her brother into the kitchen, where they sat down at the table. Sam leaned forward. Marley’s eyes flashed as she filled her brother in on what had just happened. Sam’s face hardened, and he tried to get up, but Marley forced him to sit back down.
He’s not worth it,he could almost hear her say.
He hoped that one day he’d be able to convince her otherwise.
He tore his gaze from the screen, noticing that AJ was tentatively holding out a green folder to him. “What’s that?” Caleb muttered.
“Hernandez’s file. Lukas from headquarters faxed it over.” AJ paused. “Read it. It might take your mind off…you know.”
Caleb took the folder, but rather than reading it, he set it on the desk and walked over to the bed. He dropped onto the mattress, feeling beaten and battered. Ravaged. The way he’d felt the night of the warehouse raid, as he held his dying best friend in his arms.
But this time, there was nobody to direct all that grief and anger at. Grier had killed Russ, but Caleb was the one responsible for bringing the anguish into Marley’s eyes.
“Caleb…look, you were just doing your job,” AJ said.
Caleb stared at his friend. “No, I wasn’t. My job didn’t require me to befriend her. Or to sleep with her.”
“She’ll forgive you.”
“No, she won’t.”
Why would she? He’d screwed up big-time. Taken Marley’s trust and whipped it out the window, along with his own code of honor.
