me he loved me and I would be malleable and sweet. Instead I lied right back to him and set about really fucking up his plans. Served him right for underestimating me.
“I know what Conner is going to want to do to me if he gets his hands on me, so that’s why I came to you.”
I looked at him from under my long eyelashes and saw his mouth tighten when our eyes locked.
“You are going to keep me alive long enough to testify, Detective King.” He was going to keep me alive long enough that I could take Conner out before he took me, only Titus didn’t need to know that part of the plan.
“What makes you so sure of that, Reeve?”
I sighed heavily and pushed off the door. I walked over to him so that I had to tilt my head back and he had to look down slightly so that we could continue to meet each other’s gaze. He really was a brute of a man but it worked for him . . . and for me.
“Conner is going to know I’m the one who sold him out. I’m the reason he can’t operate out in the open anymore pretending to be good. He’s going to want me to suffer for that, but he’s not stupid and he knows all your fancy policeman tricks. This isn’t some uneducated thug dealing dime bags on the corner. He’s you, Titus, just the evil version.” I crossed my arms over my chest to mirror his pose and a small thrill raced through me when he couldn’t hide the way his gaze dipped to watch how my shirt pulled across my chest. He might not like me, but there was an attraction there he couldn’t always control. There was an inner part of him that pushed against his rough façade when we were within touching distance. That was the part I wanted to snuggle up with and curl around.
“You want Conner; then you’re going to need me to draw him out. He’s going to come for me regardless of what or who he has to get through to get to me, so you need to put me out there and then grab him when he comes for me.”
He was silent for a long, tense moment and I saw his Adam’s apple dip as he swallowed hard.
“Are you asking me to use you as bait? You want to me to throw you out there in an ocean of sharks when the water is already full of blood?”
I lifted my hands and pushed some of my hair off my face and let my head fall so that I was looking at the gross carpet between our feet. The toes of both of our boots were almost touching and everything inside of me longed to take that little, tiny step closer so that we would be in each other’s space.
“If I don’t testify against the rest of Novak’s guys, then my deal with the state goes away, and I’m looking at spending the rest of my life in jail. I’ve done some really awful things and I can’t let Conner pull apart what’s left of this place for no reason. I need you to keep me alive long enough to do what I promised to do, and you’re going to have to use to me draw Conner out. It’s the only way. If he went into hiding you’re going to have to give him a viable reason to show himself. He’s going to know that not only are you looking for him but so are the feds.”
Titus fell back a step and then started pacing again. I could have sworn the white spot in his hair spread a little wider after my declaration. Since I had spent the night in the filthy bed, I was less squeamish than he had been about sitting on it. I flopped down and watched him as he prowled back and forth in front of me.
“Oh, he has a reason for what he’s doing, I just don’t know what it is yet.” His eyes cut to me sharply. “What about going back into WITSEC under the supervision of another marshal?”
I shook my head and leaned back on my hands so that I was staring at the ceiling. There was an unidentifiable stain I hadn’t noticed the day before. Ugh. I needed to get out of this place before I caught something.
“No. If I go back into hiding then you’ll