Page 134 of Allegiance

He was dead in the water when it came to a certain woman.

Yep.

He’d fucked up.

When he accessed Chartres street, going in the front door, the team was waiting for him.

They were in the living room, and sitting there.

He was too bummed out to realize that was odd in itself. Had he not been so riled up, sad, and sick to his stomach, he would have seen the looks on their faces.

Something had gone down, and he was oblivious.

AGAIN.

As he came in, he put the tools down and sat.

“Uh-oh,” Maura said, trying not to laugh. What the man didn’t know was that Eve had beaten him back here, and she was tucked away in the kitchen.

He looked up.

“Did it not go well?” she asked.

He laughed sardonically.

“You could say that. Let’s just say that Eve is not happy I’m around, and I think I’ve lost my one chance at any relationship with her. I’m a fucking idiot.”

Boone took a bracelet out of his pocket and tossed it to him.

“What’s this?”

“It’s for calm and patience. You’re going to need it,” he said, trying not to laugh.

Oh, it was so difficult.

The man put it on.

“I know. It’s going to take forever for her to forgive me,” he added.

Gene laughed.

That wasn’t what Boone meant, but the man would soon find out.

“Well, there are other women out there,” he said, setting Dakota up.

It was clear that he wasn’t having it.

“I’m not like Jagger. I don’t fuck anything with a vagina until the woman I want finds me,” he said.

Jagger laughed.

“Hey now. Don’t bring me into this mess. You do you, and I did me. I still got the lady,” he said, pointing at his wife.

Dakota didn’t care.

“The bottom line is no, there aren’t other women out there for me. I found her and lost her. God! Why is my life so complicated?”

Zayn opened his mouth, and Maura pointed at him.