“We’ll talk later,” he grunted, pulling her back into him.
“Please, Stone,” she pleaded. “This is important.”
His head tilted back and he moved his hands to her hips. He didn’t look happy about stopping. “Okay. So talk.”
“Tell me about your job,” she inquired, even toned.
He started to laugh. “Babe, I’m a bounty hunter, I do private investigations, you know that. Now come here.” He tried to pull her in but she resisted.
“No, I know, but tell me, what do you do exactly, as a bounty hunter? I want to know.” She placed her hands on his hands that rested on her hips.
He drew back and released a heavy sigh.
“Ethan sets up a bail bond to post bail for the client so they can await their court date out of jail. The client shows up, Ethan gets the money back. If the client doesn’t show up, we find him, bring him back to jail and get our money back that way,” he said, matter of fact and a bit guarded.
“People have to be arrested for you to find them?” Sadie asked, gauging his reaction. She watched his eyes for a sign of deception.
“Yeah,” he said suspiciously.
“So, what did that guy Cavanaugh do then? Why was he arrested?” Sadie watched his eyes grow intense. This was not the intense she had seen before. This was not lustful intense. It was intense fury.
“Why?”
Sadie flinched slightly at his tone and shrugged.
“All you need to know is that is my business and you need to stay out of my fucking business, you got me?” He growled as he pushed her off his lap and onto the couch. He got up and walked to the kitchen.
“I just want to know what he did. It’s public knowledge when someone gets arrested, what’s the big deal?” Sadie was pushing him, she knew it. He was getting angrier by the second.
He ran his hand through his hair to his neck where it stayed. His back was to her. She could feel the tension radiate through the room. They remained in silence while she tried to figure out why he had gotten so mad and what he was hiding. Sadie knew something wasn’t right about this situation but she didn’t think it would start a fight.
“Why are you getting so upset?” she asked evenly. She didn’t want to make him angrier.
“Because it’s none of your Goddamn business!” he roared from across the room.
Sadie jumped back at his tone. His words were like a slap to her face, filled with rage. Watching his tense body tremor, she knew he was hiding something. Sadie walked slowly over to him. She didn’t want this to come between them but they couldn’t base their relationship on lies. Whatever this was, they could work through it. She was willing to work through it if it meant being with Stone. She was two feet away when she halted at his words.
“Shit! I won’t lie to you, Sadie.” He sounded defeated. He looked down, his hands on his hips.
“Stone, I…”
“I fucking knew this wouldn’t work. I knew better. Fuck!”
Sadie took another step forward.
“This isn’t going to work. I can’t…” His defeat turned to wrath. “Fuck! We’re done. This is over!” He straightened to full height with his back to her.
“What?”
“This is over, I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this.” He was calm but she could almost hear the regret. She knew she could. He turned to the door and stepped forward.
“Wait! You’re leaving? Just like that? Stone, talk to me, just talk.” This couldn’t be it. One argument and it was over?
He stayed silent and turned to her. His eyes were filled with sadness. She knew what was coming. She held back her tears waiting for him to speak.
“It’s over, Sadie! You and me, it’s not going to work for me,” he said, and walked out the door.
The tears fell.
He was gone.
****
He slammed the door behind him and stopped. All he could hear was Sadie crying. Her sobs grew louder. He turned and gripped the door handle to go back in. The sound of her gasping for breath between sobs was ripping his heart out. He couldn’t this, not to her, not to him. Not to them. He would just explain it all, come clean about his job and about Cavanaugh and Shaw. He would put it all out there. His breaths were deeper and his body shuddered. You can do this, he chanted to himself. His forehead came down to rest on the front door. He could still hear her crying. He caused those tears. But he couldn’t be the cause of anymore.
He had to leave her. He cared for her that much, he had to walk away. After the shit that went down last night. Shaw. He knew she would keep digging until she found out the truth. All of it. If he didn’t tell her, she would eventually find out. He couldn’t let her know everything, see everything. This job, what he did was his choice. He wasn’t going to take Sadie into his world, he couldn’t. She deserved better than what he saw. His Sadie deserved sweet, and the only way he could give her that was to walk away.
Stone released the handle and rushed down the deck stairs to his truck. He jumped in and started the truck. He threw the car in reverse and took one last look at the trailer.
Bye, baby…
Chapter Seventeen
Stone had called T on the way back from Sadie’s. They were all to meet in his apartment in fifteen minutes. When Stone arrived, they were all there. He walked in and found Bogs, T, and Roxanne on the couch and Ethan in the kitchen on a call.
“Hey, what’s up?” Roxanne asked.
“We need to head home tonight, the earlier the better. I’ll cover everyone’s cost of changing the flights.” He looked at their stunned faces. Even T looked a bit confused.
“Wait, what? Why?”
Stone turned to Roxanne. “I need to get back to Houston.”
“And you
