When He's Dirty (Walker Security Adrian’s Trilogy #1) - Lisa Renee Jones Page 0,66

when there’s no monster waiting on me. I follow the same process in the bathroom and closet. When all is clear, I change into jeans, a T-shirt, and boots before filling a small bag. I don’t end up with much and I don’t even care. Suddenly, the reality of what we did today hits me like a ten-ton truck and I sink onto my vanity chair, hands on my face, willing my mind to calm.

There’s a shift in the air and I swear I feel Adrian even before he appears, and then he’s on his knee in front of me. “You okay?”

I drop my hands and cover his with mine. “I am. I just—I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I want to do good, but this is insanity. The level of corruption, the politics, the danger.”

“Waters is a once in a lifetime kind of case, Pri.”

“But he lets me see the layers of corruption. He lets me see that people aren’t always what they seem. I think I thought that working for the prosecution insulated me from such things.” I study him a moment, this complicated man, I’ve only just met, but who I believe understands me more than people I’ve known most of my life. “I know I want to make a difference in the world,” I say, “but I don’t know if this is how I want to do it. I mean, look at you. You left the Feds after Waters. You had to have felt the same kind of internal conflict.”

It’s a statement but also a question.

“I think you already know that’s a long and complicated story but yes, I left. I was done after Waters.”

“I think I might be, too.”

“Don’t make that decision now. Decide after you put him in jail and if you leave, leave on your terms.”

“Not over a fence in the dark?” I joke, giving a choked laugh.

“Not unless you have pizza in your belly.” He winks and stands, taking me with him, caressing my hair behind my ear, his touch sending a shiver over my skin. “A few more hours and we’ll be out of here, safe, and by the time we wake up tomorrow, at least part of this story is over.”

And yet, my gut tells me the nightmare has just begun.

Chapter Thirty-Five

ADRIAN

Pri’s on edge and I understand why. Being under fire in the courtroom is her thing. Being under fire outside the courtroom is mine.

Once the pizza arrives and she’s with me, Savage, and Jacob at the island, eating, she seems to relax, at least a small amount, laughing as Savage and I banter. Unfortunately, the escape from reality that laughter represents is short-lived. Savage’s phone buzzes and he answers the call, listens, and says, “We’re moving.” He disconnects and focuses on me. “A storm is rolling in. Lucifer thinks you need to move now before it hits and makes it harder to make the change.”

“Will a storm stop Deleon from attacking?” Pri asks.

“The opposite,” I say, standing up. “A muddy, wet house hides evidence.”

“Right,” she says. “I, of all people, know that.”

I stand and motion to her phone where it rests on the table. “Leave it. We can’t let them use it to track us. We’ll get you set-up with a new one soon.”

She hesitates but nods her approval.

Five minutes later, I’m helping Pri over a fence, thunder rumbling above, the scent of rain in the air, the humidity downright suffocating. Once we’re on the ground in the yard next door, we do the same two more times, and exit to another neighborhood street. A quick scan of the area reads safe and I spy the white Ford F150 pickup I’m looking for—a truck our team chose for the simple fact that it’s a Texas favorite, in every other driveway, thus it doesn’t stand out.

“That’s us,” I say, motioning to the truck and then helping her inside the passenger side. “Lock it,” I order, scanning the area one last time, as I round the truck bed and quickly find my way to the driver’s door. About the time I climb behind the wheel, joining Pri and locking up, the first drop of rain hits the window.

“We’re in for a wet ride,” I say, cranking the engine and wasting no time setting us in motion.

“Where are we going?” she asks. “I don’t think you ever told me.”

“A cabin out by the lake my father left me for just such an occasion. It’s deeded under a fake name and meant