“I’m okay, baby,” I soothed him, wiggling until I got my arms free so I could wrap them around his neck.
“We don’t fuck around and place federal agents’ spouses or significant others in the line of fire,” Wes informed Stafford. “You know that. You know better’n that.”
“What the hell’re you talk—”
“Celso Harrington is Deputy US Marshal Eli Kohn’s partner. How did you not know that, Special Agent?” he asked disparagingly.
“What the fuck is going on?” Stafford roared his question that time.
Wes’s bored sigh made Stafford rabid with anger, but all I could do was soothe Eli. He needed reassurance, and I enjoyed being the only one he wanted. I was addicted to him needing me.
Right before I’dstepped foot into Lincoln’s suite in the hotel, which was when Stafford engaged the jammer so no one could call in or out of the building—and I had to wonder how annoyed that made an entire hotel full of people and what the repercussions of that would be—Eli had sent Ian a text that readNo lights. I had no idea what that meant, but Ian certainly did, and when he couldn’t get Eli back, due to the jammer, he checked his last location and sent the cavalry, otherwise known as Wes. The group he commanded was fifty or so guys, but because of the texted words, Wes had come in an SUV, not a tank, and arrived with a small battering ram, ten men, taken the door, and swarmed in. It was perfectly executed, no one was hurt, I was saved, and so other than the DEA not being able to take the door and yell that they were, in fact, the DEA, I didn’t see the issue.
“What doesno lightsmean?” I asked Ian when he got there, arriving to make nice with everyone and smooth all the ruffled feathers. He came to check on me first, which was nice since I was alone. Now, we were standing next to Eli’s car, both of us leaning on it.
“It’s a thing our boss made up.”
“Made up?”
“Implemented. That’s what I meant to say.”
“Yes, but what does it—”
“It means that danger isn’t imminent, but hurry the fuck up because backup is needed.”
“That’s pretty handy.”
“Yeah, and only we know it, the guys who’ve been with him a while, so if anyone else sees it, it looks harmless, right?”
I nodded.
Ian smiled suddenly. “How’re you doin’? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I mean, I’m glad Wes came through the door when he did because I think Vincente was starting to get nervous.”
“We won’t ever know, but the important part is that shit’s never gonna happen again!”
He started off so calm and ended like a sonic boom.
“Ian, I’m all right—”
“A partner, significant other, family member, or spouse of a deputy US marshal is never allowed to purposely place themselves in danger,” he proclaimed, talking over me, “because their actions could inadvertently or directly endanger the life of the marshal they have a relationship with.”
It happened again; his voice went from normal to air siren in seconds. How it was piercing and thunderous at the same time was truly impressive.
“I would never do anything to hurt Eli.”
“But you could have,” he stated firmly. “You need to realize that when Eli tells you no over something that concerns any facet of law enforcement, it’s not a suggestion. No is no.”
“I can’t imagine I’ll ever be in this situation again or—”
“I understand that you didn’t reveal your relationship with Eli to Special Agent Stafford, so that’s not on him to have read either of your minds. He’s not in the wrong here, Eli is.”
“Eli wasn’t—”
“Wait,” Ian said, stopping me from defending the man I loved before I got going. “Eli did tell Stafford when you guys arrived, so that should have put the kibosh on everything right there. So I take that back; Stafford was, in fact, wrong to push forward.”
“That’s how you’re going to frame this when you talk to them about this incident, isn’t it? You’re going to paint them both as wrong.”