Page 42 of Heart Stopping
"Excuse me." Cass' face had turned a shade of green. He flew up out of the chair, rushed past us and disappeared into the restroom. The sound of him throwing up the contents of his stomach was audible.
My stomach threatened to do the same, forcing me to swallow hard. I could deal with killing and dismembering a man, but this stuff was a whole different story. If the day came when I didn't feel sick or flinch at the sight of it, that was the day I'd know I lost my humanity. When I lost that, I wouldn't be able to trust my own judgement. What I'd do then, I didn't know, so I clung to my sanity as hard as I could. Focusing on monsters who deserved our kind of justice served to them. Reminding myself why I was doing this in the first place. For the innocent of the world. So they wouldn't end up on someone's hard drive. So they could live their lives and grow up the way they were supposed to.
"Can relate." Boner reached over and closed the laptop, his face dark with fury. "This is the guy."
"One of them," I agreed. "I think we can agree Archer's information on him is good."
"Yes," Boner said softly, barely containing his rage. If Fairfield was in front of him right now, he'd rip his balls off with his bare hands and make him eat them.
Honestly, I wouldn't try to stop him. I'd hold Fairfield down and let him do it. Perhaps while driving a blunt nail into his eyes, one at a time. Deep enough to hurt like a bitch, but not enough to kill him.
"We need to get together with Archer and deal with him," I said softly. "The sooner the better."
"Right. We'll need to look into his security and figure out where he's vulnerable. Then hit him there hard." He seemed to be thinking it over, making plans in his head.
"Who are you hitting?" I didn't know Cass returned until he was standing right behind us, staring at us like we were a pair of ghosts. "What's going on?" He looked deathly pale. "We should tell the cops."
"The cops can't touch people like Granger Fairfield," I said.
Cass frowned at me, his thoughts almost visibly turning around in his mind.
"That's why you wanted me to look into his computer, isn't it? Because you plan to touch him yourselves." He looked to the closed computer and back to us, clearly trying to work out who was the enemy here. Granger Fairfield or us.
"Touch is gentle compared to what he's got coming to him," Boner said unapologetically. "Him and people like him. That right there." He gestured to the laptop, "That's what people like him do. And people like us, Harlow and me, we don't let them get away with it."
I winced, hoping like hell he wasn't saying too much to someone who might run right to the police and tell them everything. I was acutely aware that we couldn't let Cass do that. Too much was at stake. I also, desperately didn't want him tobecomesteak. None of this was his fault.
I should have kept him out of it.
Cass rubbed his forehead with his fingertips before adjusting his glasses with his thumb. "What do you want me to do?"
CHAPTER 16
BONER
"You shouldn't—" Harlow started.
"He's already involved," I said, anticipating what she was going to say. Should I have run my mouth off when Cass asked what was going on? To be honest, I knew what I was doing. The moment he saw those photos, he was in it up to his eyeballs. He had two choices, join us ortryto walk away.
Yeah, we couldn't have risked him walking away. Even now, whether or not I trusted him, his involvement was still a big question mark.
He was clearly smitten with Harlow, but now that he knew what she was really like? That could disappear down the toilet faster than you can say flush.
Hell, knowing the real her changed everything for me. That first night with her was incredible, but seeing her on the fire escape outside Carl's apartment? Knowing why she was there? It made her a million times hotter than she already was.
Yeah, I was also smitten. Sue me.
"Maybe we should sit down." Harlow pushed the laptop to the side and sat on the desk.
Cass, who was still looking like a stunned sardine, needed a shove from me to flop into one of the chairs. That gave me roomto close the door and lean against it. Barely. The office was the size of a closet.
"You knew what he was doing?" Cass asked carefully. Evidently reality was starting to seep back in. "That was why you wanted me here."
"We suspected," Harlow agreed. "We had to be sure. We knew there was a chance you'd see what you saw." She ran a hand over the back of her hair and tugged at her ponytail.
"We set you up," I said bluntly. There was no point apologizing for it. This whole thing was bigger than any of us.
"Iset you up," Harlow said softly.
