is this? Some kind of balancing the scales bit? Life doesn’t work that way.”
“No, it doesn’t. But you can’t let one horrific thing destroy you. That’s not how life works, either. If that were the case…” Her hand pulled away. She turned her back on him. “I would have been destroyed years ago.” Her steps weren’t as fast now. But they were just as certain. “Splitting up is fine. Especially if you feel the urge to get…space, I believe you said…from me. I can handle myself for the rest of the night. You go your way. I’ll go mine.”
He stood there with his hands fisted at his sides, and he felt like an absolute asshole. Why? Because he was pretty sure he’d hurt her feelings. She’d pushed him into doing the one thing he’d dreaded most…
Blood on my fingers. Skin sliced open…
But…
But I did it. He’d sewn up the guy and hadn’t lost his mind. Hadn’t gotten trapped in a terrible flashback or blacked out or even hurt the vic like he’d feared. Like a shrink had once told him would happen.
I did it.
Chloe was slipping underneath some heavy tree that hung over the edge of the thick, wrought iron fence that surrounded this portion of Jackson Square. Joel sucked in a deep breath. One that did nothing to calm him as he watched her. Did she seriously think he was just going to leave her alone?
No. I would never leave her unprotected.
Joel bounded forward, ducking under the broad limbs of that tree—and found her…
Scaling the fence?
In her high heels?
She was a shadowy form clinging to the limb of a tree and half-hauling herself over the top of the fence.
Some of the tension that had filled him since the knife attack eased. “I expected you to be a secret acrobat. Figured you’d just do some fancy roll over the fence.” He crossed his arms over his chest and studied her. His vision had adjusted a bit more to the darkness there and he was pretty sure he was on eye level with her ass.
“I could use a boost. If you don’t mind.” Her voice was ever so prim and proper.
“And where should I put my hands for that boost? Not a lot of options are available at the moment, and it seems like I have to—”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Joel. Just put your hand on my ass and push me over!”
A half-grin slid across his mouth. “Yes, ma’am.” He put his hand on the rounded curve of her ass and gave her a quick push.
She seemed to shoot over the fence.
Too hard.
“Chloe!” He grabbed the branch and his foot shoved against the wall. In the next breath, his feet were slamming into the ground on the opposite side of the fence. “Chloe, are you—”
She was brushing off her dress. “I’m perfectly fine.” The moon shone down on them. “You didn’t have to follow me. I thought we were splitting up.”
“Changed my mind.” He moved closer to her. “Is this a safe place?”
“Safe is a relative term.”
“Why the hell did we need to run from the Serpent?”
“Because the cops are going to be swarming the club any moment.”
As if on cue, he heard the shriek of sirens. “Why are cops going there?”
“Because someone called them.”
“It’s like pulling teeth. Very slowly and painfully.” Joel sawed a hand over his face and the stubble that covered his jaw. “Who called the cops?”
“Can I trust you?”
“I’m your partner! If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?”
“Kingston.”
His hand slammed down to his side. “You think you can trust that jerk? He’s the one who battered Eli’s face to hell and back.”
“No.”
He waited. She didn’t speak. “More, Chloe,” he ordered, demanded, pleaded—almost all the same thing with her.
“No, Kingston is not the one who hit Eli. There weren’t any marks on Kingston’s knuckles. If he’d been the one to punch Eli so hard, then his knuckles would have been bruised and scraped.”
“Fine. So he got one of his flunkies to do the job.”
“That’s entirely possible.”
“And you still trust him? What kind of relationship do the two of you have?”
She turned away. Began walking slowly through the Square. Now that they were inside the walls, she didn’t seem as worried about rushing through the night. “We don’t have a personal relationship. We have a business arrangement. He comes to me when he needs certain insights, and I go to him when I want to experience a better understanding of the criminal world.”
“How many times has he