Page 116 of Dominion
Cody didn’t mind her bitterness toward Jeremy, but what bothered him was how much emotion the fuck-up elicited from her. Why was that? Did she still care about him, despite it all?
“And you haven’t heard from Jeremy since yesterday? When did you see him last?”
“When I left for work in the morning.”
“Did he go to work that day?”
“I don’t know.” She brushed a strand of her auburn hair from her face. The haunted dullness in her eyes made him want to wring her bastard ex-boyfriend’s neck.
“And you’ve tried to contact him?”
“Yes, I texted him and warned him not to come home. He never responded.”
“Well, I’d like to get my hands on him before Rabago does. We could offer him protection in exchange for testimony against the kingpin. Barring that, Ben has offered to pay Rabago whatever it is Jeremy owes him in order to get you free and clear of the threat. That’s my second choice, though. I’d rather get this asshole off the streets.”
Melissa’s head wobbled as she nodded. “I don’t want Ben to have to pay off Jeremy’s debt, either.”
“So what happens if Rabago finds Jeremy first?” Cody asked. Personally, he preferred the second option. The sooner Melissa was out of the line of fire, the better. Then he could be done with all this mess. Except that didn’t feel right, either. He wasn’t done exploring this physical attraction he had for her.
Yeah, he just needed to fuck her and get it out of his system.
“Then Jeremy’s probably a dead man. But they’ll want the money back before they kill him, so keeping Melissa safely off the grid would be even more important. If they catch Jeremy, they’re going to torture him and they definitely would dangle the threat of Melissa’s death over his head to get him to sing.”
Melissa had gone pale. “You need to find Jeremy before he does, then.” She stared at her hands, and some itchy instinct told him she might know where to find the guy.
“Right,” Mark agreed.
“If Ben paid Rabago off, who would broker that deal?” he asked.
Mark’s lips tightened to a thin line. “I don’t know. It can’t be me or anyone on my team. Ben would kill me if I let Melissa do it, although she’s the most likely candidate.”
“I’d kill you first,” Cody muttered, drawing a raised brow from Melissa. “I could do it.”
Mark tapped the tips of his fingers together, his elbows resting on his knees. “You’re willing?”
“Yeah.”
“You’d be my first choice, too. Mainly because I’d want it to be a wolf and I know you could handle yourself if something went wrong. Like I say, I’d rather we not go that route, though.”
“Any idea where the stolen money might be?” Cody asked Melissa.
She shook her head. “None. We were hardly speaking the last few months and we never were that close.”
His lip curled, but he bit back any questions about why she was living with some asshole she never liked. He’d save those for another time.
“You’re okay keeping her here?” Mark asked. “If not, I can take her up to Denver and provide protection.”
He bristled, even though his brain said he was way better off having her off his hands. “She’ll stay here,” he snapped.
Melissa frowned.
“I can provide adequate protection.”
Mark turned a curious gaze on him. “I wasn’t questioning your ability to provide protection,” the agent said mildly.
“Right.” He knew he sounded surly, but couldn’t help himself. Everything seemed to piss him off when it came to Melissa.
“Well, locals are on the lookout for Jeremy. I’ll send them over to Melissa’s place to see if they can pick up Rabago or his guys for breaking and entering. That doesn’t mean it’s safe to return home, though,” Mark warned Melissa.