She was an entirely new person. She only wished she felt like one. But the old Grier was still here—impatient. Law abiding. Wanting to always do the right thing.
God, she annoyed herself.
She heard a knock on the door, staying out of sight until she heard Reid accept the room service and then click the door closed again. She’d forgotten to bring clothes in there with her and so she walked out holding the towel to search in the bag. She found jeans and a shirt, underwear and bra too, and she dressed quickly and went into the other room, unable to resist the smell of food.
She hadn’t even checked her watch, but judging by the food, it was well past morning. She glanced at the window and saw it was dark again. “Guess I really slept.”
He nodded, passed her a plate along the table, where they sat across from each other in relative silence. He didn’t mention her hair at all.
He’d gotten her steak and potatoes, with a salad and rolls and dessert and it all looked really good.
She dug in, because she needed the sustenance. Eventually, one of them would break the ice.
It turned out to be him, but it made the ice completely crack beneath her feet when he said, “I hear you’re retiring.”
* * *
Reid kept his tone neutral—more neutral than he felt—and the only tell Grier had was the tightening of her grip on her knife. Not a good sign, but he’d take the knife over the fork. He knew from experience getting stabbed with one hurt way more than the blade of the dull hotel knife.
Maybe he would’ve told her that, joked with her about it at one time, when things between them seemed to be growing so easily. He should’ve known that nothing came easily. Nothing good, anyway.
“I don’t see how that’s relevant. Or why you’re breaking into my private files.”
“No, of course you wouldn’t understand either.” He gave a short laugh and stood, his appetite gone. If she’d admitted it, if she’d smiled, acted like he was some kind of idiot spy, this would’ve gone much better. “You love your job. You told me that yourself.”
“I told you a lot of things.”
“Were any of them true?”
“Yes. All of them.” She dropped the flatware onto her plate and pushed it away. Bit her lip before continuing. “Reid, I honestly haven’t been thinking about how all of this ties to me. I thought I was just the unlucky marshal watching Benji. If Jack had first watch—”
“They wouldn’t have taken him,” Reid interrupted. “You’re the perfect target.”
“Because I put in my papers?”
“That and the deposit you made on the day Benji was transferred to your care.” He pulled up the bank statement Dylan e-mailed him on the iPad and showed it to her. Her eyes widened and she shook her head.
“This isn’t my money. This is a mistake.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Shit.”
“They included Jack in their plan anyway. There’s money in his account as well.”
“Is he all right?”
“He will be. Dylan’s going to help him. But until we figure this out, you’re both going to need to rely on us for help. Jack doesn’t seem to mind. You, on the other hand . . .” He shook his head. “Why are you retiring?”
“A lot of reasons. I didn’t even tell Jack yet, so I’d appreciate being the one to tell him.”
“Of course. Imagine, letting you control the situation. That’s different.” Reid’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
“You controlled everything on the last job.”
“Obviously not.” He shared everything, including his deepest, darkest secret about his past. About not being able to save his mother, his entire family from a fire. And then Grier had gone and had herself fake killed, right in front of him.
He still hadn’t fully recovered from that.
“I owe you,” she started.
“I don’t want a relationship based on favors.”
“I didn’t know you’d wanted a relationship at all.”
“You didn’t bother asking before taking me out of your life, did you?”
“Reid, the job you have . . .”
“Makes it impossible? I’ll have to tell that to all my happily attached friends. I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to do, in terms of a relationship with me. But I’ve already saved your ass several times—after putting in all that work, I’m not letting you die now. Got it?”
“I want to turn myself in.”
“They’ll put you in jail.”
“I can clear my name.”
“This guilt isn’t a good look on you,” Reid told her. “And I’m really tired of it, because it means you’re labeling me the bad guy. Like I’m the goddamned criminal.”
“You break the law—”
“And so did you, Grier.”
“That’s a shitty thing to say.”
“You’re clinging to the law because you think you’re not honoring your sister’s memory and that you won’t be any better than the person who shot her.”
“The law’s important.”
“So’s helping people, no matter how many laws you have to break to do it. And I’ll keep you safe—I will—but I won’t be made to feel guilty for what I do. And whatever happened between us won’t happen again. That should make everything easier on both of us.”
Chapter Ten
Grier couldn’t tell if Reid was serious or not, but she’d pushed him away enough, so why should she be surprised when he took several steps back?
And he was right about her needing protection. WITSEC wouldn’t take her, not with the active investigation and so much proof against her. They might want to try to turn her against the men she was supposedly in cahoots with, but she’d put herself in the line of fire of the men again.
They’d effectively put her in the crosshairs and the trigger was cocked and ready.
All of that, and she couldn’t even save her witness.
She hadn’t realized she’d said that last part out loud, only did when Reid told her, “Benji didn’t want saving. You can’t help people who don’t want it.”
“I can try.”
“You did.” His eyes snapped with anger, his accent thickened. “You can’t look at every failure
