Page 84 of Operation K-9 Brothers
Was whatever his attorney planned to tell him something that would show him a door out of his personal hell?Too afraid to hope, he went for his run.
“Wow,” Jack said, after listening to the recording of Gregory admitting to who’d actually put him in the hospital.He lifted his gaze to his attorney.“Does that mean the charges against me have been dropped?”
She smiled.“Not yet, but they will be.I’ll make sure of that.”
He closed his eyes and blew out a huge breath.“Okay.Okay then.”He hadn’t dared to hope that was her good news, and the profound relief made him feel...giddy.Yeah, that was a good word for the happiness bubbling inside him.
Except...“That was Mark Masters’s voice.Did you put him up to that?”He didn’t at all like the idea of Mark being anywhere near the man, even if it was to prove Jack’s innocence.
“No, I wasn’t aware of this until after the fact, when Mark brought me the thumb drive.”
In that case, Jack saw Nichole’s hand in this.As much as he wanted his innocence proven, it wasn’t at the cost of putting Nichole or Mark in danger of Gregory’s retribution when he found out what they’d done.
There was only one thing to do about that, and that was to protect them from whatever revenge the man cooked up.That meant inserting himself back in their lives, meaning he had a lot of groveling to do.
“Where do we go from here?”he asked.
“I’ve made a copy of the recording, and it’s being delivered to Detective Margolis as we speak.He can’t ignore Mr.Gregory’s confession, and I believe the charges against you will be dropped in the next day or two.”
“Great and thank you.”
Ms.Boyd smiled.“I didn’t do much.It’s Mark Masters who you really need to thank.”
Oh, he would, and then right after, he’d have a few words for Nichole’s brother for putting himself on Gregory’s bad side.
He’d woken up this morning believing life as he knew it was over, and then as fast as all the shit had been dumped on him, it was disappearing just as quickly.What a day!After leaving his attorney’s office, he headed to Nichole’s, and assuming she would be at the River Arts District, he hoped to catch Mark alone.He had not only let Nichole down, but Mark as well, and he needed to make things right with both.
As for his future, he now had possibilities, ones he couldn’t wait to make happen.The one fear left was that Nichole wouldn’t forgive him.After the way he’d treated her, he couldn’t blame her if she didn’t, but he let himself hope that she eventually would.Sitting in that jail cell, thinking he’d lost her, he’d accepted that he loved her.He’d known before then that he was falling for her, but he’d raced past falling without even realizing it.
At Nichole’s house, Jack rang the doorbell.Mark’s car was in the driveway, so he hoped that meant her brother was home.He was.
“Hey, can we talk?”he said when Mark opened the door.
“A little late for that, don’t you think?”Mark said before disappearing back inside the house.
He’d left the door open, though, so Jack took that to mean he could come in.He followed Mark to the kitchen, where the kid resumed eating his half-finished lunch while ignoring Jack.
If he were Nichole’s brother, he’d probably do worse than ignore the man who’d hurt her, so he didn’t take offense.He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he leaned back against the kitchen counter.
“I messed up,” he said.An understatement, that.“First, I need to apologize to you.”Mark kept on eating, ignoring him.Since he deserved the silent treatment and more, he continued on.“I’m sorry, Mark.I have no excuse for treating you or Nichole the way I did.”
Mark finally looked at him.“I don’t care about me.You hurt her.She tried to hide it, but she cried.”
Guilt settled heavy in his chest.“I was an asshole, and I’m sorry for that.”There wasn’t anything else he could say to undo the way he’d acted.
“It’s not me you need to be apologizing to.Look, I get that it sucks you won’t be able to keep on being a SEAL...”Mark frowned.“That’s what it was all about, right?”
“Yeah.I didn’t take the news well, and it was stupid to think getting drunk was the answer.Believe me, I will apologize to Nichole twenty-nine ways to Sunday, but I also wanted to set things right with you.”
“I don’t know if she’ll forgive you.”
“That’s a possibility, but I’m hoping that she will.”Hoping with every beat of his heart.
“Do you love her?”
“Yes.”Although he would have preferred to tell Nichole that first, he wasn’t going to deny it.
“Okay, we’re cool, you and me.”Mark narrowed his eyes.“This time.You do anything like that again, especially to my sister, and all bets are off.”
