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“Oron the fact that he’s had months and months to prepare for this and he knows exactly what you’ll do at every turn, like just sitting here and waiting for hier

“Do you think I like sitting around? Do you honestly believe I wouldn’t rather be out looking for this bastard? If I knew you’d be safe, I would But I don’t know if this asshole is nearby, and driving around in thefor so What the fuck else do you want me to do, Jessa?”

“Go back a year ago and change everything Hell, if I could go back, I’d be sh you two I should have known exactly what you were I can see it so clearly now” Her fists were little balls of barely contained e around the cheap carpet

“And just what are we?” Burke challenged “Lay it out, sweetheart Put it all out there”

“You’re liars”

Cole closed his eyes That hurt almost as badly as the idea that they were mercenaries Did she think they lied to everyone or just sweet virgins like her, looking for affection? Did she believe they reallyhuman lives? Probably He’d been called worse, but never by someone he cared about

“We were undercover Did you want us to walk around giving the bad guys business cards?”

“In the end, it didn’t ured out who you are They ay smarter than I was”

“Of course, they figured it out We had to file a ton of paperwork to get the feds to accept the evidence we’d collected We had to put the bad guy away Don’t act like we’re the villains in this scenario We were the ones saving the women, and you know it”

“Well, you didn’t save me, did you?” she said acidly

Cole felt his fucking heart als, this question came out of her mouth with a hint of vulnerability that broke his heart The hurt in her eyes was raw, like it had been scrubbed to bleeding with steel wool Guilt churned in his gut

Burke softened up a bit He reached out for her “Sweetheart, we didn’t know you needed us or were in danger The ht you were, we came for you”

The vulnerable girl was gone in a heartbeat, righteously angry fe about that, you asshole I was talking about the fact that you left ado hadn’t decided I would oat, you would never have come back for me”

“We would have checked” Burke’s hands cah they really wanted to be on her Cole knew his brother Burke thought if he could get his hands on her, he could smooth their way back Cole didn’t think Jessa wanted to be placated She wanted to fight, and they were the only available targets

“Would you? Or would you have just moved on to the next job and the next feh to buy into your routine?”

“It’s not a routine, and ould have checked on you”

She turned those big green eyes on him Cole felt his heart stutter “Would you, Cole? Really? Would you have coht was married?”

“No” He’d died a little the day he’d heard about her e A piece of hione back He wouldn’t have wanted to see her with her husband “We’d already discussed it and decided to leave you in peace”

“Goddamn it, Cole Can you think for two seconds before you say so there? I know you love her Why are you just letting her tear us apart?”

“We can love her all ant, but we’re not together, Burke I can’t tear us apart because she’s not going to let us close to her again”

And it hurt like hell Cole had never felt more alive than when he’d been with Jessa With her, he’d felt like he’d been good at so her

Then he’d fucked up

He watched as Burke spewed angry words her way, and she yelled right back Yes, he’d fucked up Brutally He had told Jessa the truth They wouldn’t have gone back Cole kneould have taken job after job after job until it killed hie, and he’d sed every da her…and believing that she belonged to another man

“Have you thought about the fact that Caleb is our son?” Burke challenged

“He’s probably Cole’s son”

“You think that ive a shit?” Burke shot back “We’ve shared everything since the moment ere conceived In my heart, that is my son, and I’ll be damned if I let you shove me out of his life”

She was toe to toe with Burke, her face more alive than he’d seen in hours She was flushed, her hair sliding out of its ponytail with every shake of her head Little tendrils of red hair escaped to flutter around her face She was so godda at them, Cole was utterly fascinated with her

Could he really let that go—her go—because he orried he was everything she accused hi hiiven birth to their son Cole still fucking loved her She’d cared about him once Maybe…Burke had a point

Cole paused and really watched her He’d been mired in his own er But now he did His eyes narrowed It was as if she wanted to…provoke the else?

“You shouldn’t be in his life at all,” she insisted

“How can you say that, Jessa? He’s our son We’re his fathers”

“You didn’t care enough about me to call and find out that you had a son, but I’ to be dads of the year?”

Burke gritted his teeth, clearly nearing the end of his control “I’ve explained that”

“You gave me an excuse How hard would it have been to pick up the damn phone?” She turned to Cole “There were three months between the time you left and I returned from Scotland with my supposed husband Three months Ninety days in which you could have calledthat you’d abandoned me”

She said it with an angry growl, but there was soue his case Cole frowned, working to shove aside his own guilt and misery, his uncle’s destructive words He watched her She just kept picking at the more frustrated with every one of Burke’s comebacks

“Just adave you two exactly the kink you tanted, then you left with no intention of ever coh And you” She turned to look directly at Cole, her gaze laced with so “You’re sick Perverted”