“I was there when you were trying to win her back. I know pieces of this story.”
“I didn’t trust you worth a shit back then. You know very little. Obviously not enough since you’re being a fucktard yourself right now. So listen up and listen well, because my story is your story.” He slugs a drink and keeps talking. “I’d been dragged into an off-the-books military operation and my reasons for getting involved were right. Where it led me was not. I became a killer. And as any self-respecting killer would, I made enemies.” He hands me the bottle. “She would have been a target. And fuck, man, I left a surgeon. I would have come back an assassin.”
Now it’s my turn to slug back another drink and damn, I feel the burn this time in more ways than one. He’s trying to give me a reason to stay with Pri and I fucking want it. But that doesn’t make it right. “And now you’re married.”
“After years of being miserable without her. I tried to fuck her out of my system. I took jobs I was certain would get me killed. I liked that idea. I drank too much. I did all the standard miserable loser things I could do. None of it worked. And the fucked-up part? The enemy found her anyway.”
I pause mid-drink and look at him. “I know this part. Someone went after her.”
“Hell yeah, they went after her. And then so did I.”
I’d be irritated that he was telling me what I already know, if he didn’t have a point— he’s trying to make me think and it’s working. Would Waters keep coming for Pri? The answer is yes unless I make him believe she’s my enemy, too. I don’t even want to think about how I’d do that. I down another drink. “Obviously Candace forgave you.”
He snorts and grabs the bottle. “But don’t forget, she was engaged to another man, about to get married. I wanted to kill that bastard. It about destroyed me. And she hated my ass.”
I snort at that, remembering that well. “She really did hate your ass.”
“Yeah, and that could be you with Pri.” I open my mouth to speak and he holds up a hand. “Listen, don’t talk. She was miserable when we were apart and so was I. She was settling for that little dick prick, forcing herself to move on. I did a lot of begging to win her back, and I’m not even afraid to admit it. She helped me crawl out of hell and find a way to be human again.” He shifts his tone and eyes me. “You won’t save Pri by leaving her. In fact, with a man like Waters, she’s safer with you by her side—well, me by her side. You’re a pussy bitch ex-FBI agent. I’ll take care of her for you.”
“Bastard,” I mumbled.
He grins. “And you know you’re starting to love me. I’m so fucking lovable.”
I ignore his self-admiration, already sobering on thoughts of Pri. I grab the bottle and down another swig, the welcome numbing effect starting to kick in. “She barely knows me, Savage.” I hand him the bottle.
“You mean she doesn’t know what happened between you and your brother.”
I scrub a hand through my hair. “Yeah. That.” I sink back in the seat and I’m back in that bathroom with Logan and Pri while Logan screams, “He’s a killer. He killed his brother. And he’ll fuck you to the finish and then kill you, too.”
And that can’t be how this ends. Me getting Pri killed. Or if I go with Savage’s version of this, me leaving her behind to end up dead. Waters should stay in jail, I think. I can’t get to him there because if I see him again, if I get the chance to kill him again, I will.
Chapter Twelve
ADRIAN
Savage doesn’t have an off button. You tell him something that would shut someone else up and he just keeps talking. And apparently, the big badass assassin is in confession mode. “Candace didn’t know a lot of shit I did, either,” he says. “Not when we first reconnected. But eventually, you have to tell Pri if you want the two of you to work.”
He’s not wrong, I think. In or out with Pri, personally, I can’t hide from who I am. “Sooner than later,” I say. “It’s becoming a hot trial issue. Waters’ defense will use it to discredit me.”
“Then sooner it is,” he says. “I didn’t like it. You won’t like spilling that dirt to Pri, man. It won’t feel good. It won’t be fun. But like I said, trial or no trial, if you want to make it work with her, you have to let her in, tell it all—good, bad, and ugly. You have to trust her to see that there’s more to you.”