Page 62 of The Agent
“You don’t get to ask me questions.” He leaned closer and jammed the barrel of the gun into her side.
She stared up at him, shocked by the emptiness she saw in his eyes. How could this be the same man she’d fallen in love with? The last time she’d seen Patrick, he’d been playful and loving as he kissed her goodbye and left for a web-design convention that would last all weekend.
There had never been a convention, only an illegal gathering to distribute drugs.
He looked like a total stranger now. Those empty eyes. The effortless way he gripped the gun, as if holding someone at gunpoint was no biggie to him.
Marley blinked back tears. She pressed her lips together, forcing herself not to plead with him. She was anxious to make sure her dad and Sam were alive, but she didn’t want to push him.
Patrick’s hard gaze connected with hers, and the unrestrained anger on his face made her apprehensive. She suspected he might snap at any second, just go ahead and shoot her, but to her surprise, his features crumpled with anguish. “How could you cheat on me?” he asked.
This was it. Her chance to diffuse the situation.
“You slept with that cop,” Patrick continued, bitterness drenching each word. “You couldn’t wait three damn months?”
She tried to speak, but he cut her off, his expression suddenly wistful. “You know, I came back here for you, Marley.”
She feigned surprise. “You did?”
“Yeah.” A faraway note entered his voice. “I had it all planned. We’d head for South America, buy a little house on the beach, spend the rest of our lives lying on the sand, just the two of us.”
Marley was tempted to point out how delusional that sounded—he was a fugitive, for Pete’s sake—but she stayed quiet. She couldn’t blow this. She’d promised Caleb she could handle this, and antagonizing Patrick was not the way to do it.
“That sounds wonderful,” she said, smiling up at him.
“Then why couldn’t you wait for me?” he spat out. “Instead of having faith that I’d come for you, you went out and screwed the first guy you saw.”
She took a deep breath. “I did it for you.”
Patrick’s entire body stiffened. “What did you say?”
“I said I did it for you,” she whispered.
Patrick didn’t speak, but she could swear the pressure of his gun eased up. His dark eyes searched her face. For what seemed like hours. She grew uncomfortable, scared, panicked, under that intense scrutiny. When she couldn’t stand it anymore, she said, “Why are you looking at me?”
“I’m trying to figure out if you’re telling me the truth.”
Her heart raced. “I am.”
“How?” he asked. “How was that for me, you banging another guy?”
She edged closer to him, flinching when the gun dug into her side again. “I missed you so much,” she confessed. “I was so worried, Patrick. I didn’t know where you were, if you were okay… And then this cop showed up, pretending to be my neighbor. I knew right away what he was up to.”
“You did?”
“Of course. I would never go to bed with another man unless I had a good reason. You know that.”
He looked deep into her eyes, a hesitant smile lifting one corner of his mouth. “You got close to him to get information? To protect me?”
“I got close to him so he wouldn’t get close to findingyou,” she replied. “I had to be sure he wasn’t making headway locating you.”
Patrick hesitated, then released a sigh. “I would have done the same thing, babe.”
“Really?” She gave him a pleading look. “Do you forgive me, Patrick? I was only trying to help.”
He lowered the gun and slid closer to her, stroking her cheek with his cold fingers. “Of course I forgive you. I love you, Marley. I’ve been thinking of nothing but you the last three months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth? You know I would have stood by you, no matter what you did for a living.”
