Submerged(Bound Together Book 1)(71)

 

After thirty minutes, I still have no clue what is going on or what to do. Blake is surely sleeping by now, and I don’t want to be that needy female that calls at all hours of the night. Yet something pulls me from deep down. I yearn to hear his voice just to know that he’s okay.

 

Settling back into bed, I reach for my phone. I touch those words a few more times before typing out a quick reply. I won’t give in to my urge to call him, but I pray that saying what’s on my mind will ease the tightness in my chest. When I set the phone back down on my nightstand, I try to settle in to a comfortable position. It takes me longer than I would have liked, but eventually, I drift off into a fitful sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Twenty-Four – Confessions

 

Blake

 

I’ve lost track of how many shitty cups of coffee I’ve consumed in the last handful of hours. Hell, I’d lost track of what hour it really was until the sun started to peek through the windows, allowing the first light of Thursday to shine through.

 

My phone chimed around five o’clock, just as I as was stepping into the Deputy Director’s office to start the debriefing process. I glanced at it quickly, but took the time to read the message when I saw it was from Carly.

 

Carly: Miss you too. I wish you were here.

 

If she only knew how damn bad I want to be with her, too. I didn’t even have time to reply as Luke signaled for me to enter the office.

 

When I was led into the back of one of the prisoner vans at the facility, it took everything I had to keep my cover intact. Rage churned in my gut like a wildfire knowing that Styx had gotten away. I didn’t trust that guy when we worked together, and I damn sure didn’t trust him now. The fact that I was still undercover had me at wits’ end. I’d had enough of Blake Crisp. I was ready to have my life back. But, this was one of the final steps before I could eradicate Blake Crisp from my existence.

 

So, I sat in the back of that van with my head down while we were driven towards city jail. When the vans arrived, we were all lead to different rooms where everyone else was searched, processed, and eventually booked. I was lead to a small office where I sat until my brother came to rescue me. When it was time, I walked out that door and straight into the back of a waiting SUV.

 

Now, Luke and I wait in the large conference room to finish up the paperwork. “Any word yet?” I ask for the tenth time since we arrived at the agency building.

 

“You know you’ll be the first person to know when the call comes in,” he reiterates with a hard look. Yeah, I know I’ve been asking him the same thing for hours, but the fact still remains that Styx is on the lam, and it leaves an uneasy feeling in the pit of my empty stomach.

 

“I know. It just pisses me off that he slipped through our fingers,” I tell my brother as I sign the last document before me.

 

“Me too, Blake. They’re searching for him. The APB is statewide. He’s going to show up somewhere, and when he does, we’ll get him,” he says. I don’t give a response. There’s nothing more I can say. Police everywhere are on the lookout for Styx combing through every relative, friend, and alias he has. They’ll get him. Hopefully.

 

After my paperwork is done, the next step is to sit down for the formal interviews. That’ll wait until tomorrow though. The Deputy Director agreed to conduct the interviews on Friday so that I had a day to catch up on my sleep. Yet, sleep is the farthest thing from my mind right now. Right now, I want to hold Carly in my arms for a few moments before her world comes crashing down around her.

 

And I’ll be the one holding the sledgehammer.

 

“You ready to head home?” Luke asks from across the table.

 

“I’m not going home.”

 

“You need sleep, Blake. You’ve been up all night.”

 

“So have you,” I defend.

 

“Yeah, but I slept before coming in last night.”

 

“I need to see Roman,” I tell Luke as I slide the mountain of papers across the table.

 

“You can’t. Why don’t you go home and catch some sleep.” Luke meets me at the closed door.

 

“No. It’s not about the case, Luke,” I tell him firmly. Luke stares at me for several heartbeats before nodding. We’ve always been able to carry conversations with our eyes. Maybe it’s because we grew up so close and we’ve always known exactly what the other was thinking. Whatever it is, Luke also knows I’m not going to let it slide without making the stop.

 

I follow him straight through the glass security doors and towards the SUV. It’s early–damn early–but I need to do this. It doesn’t take us long before we’re back at the jail. After using my real identification for the first time in two years, Luke and I are ushered through multiple security checkpoints. I’m told that eyes will be watching before I’m finally sent to a small interrogation room. When I step inside, Roman is already sitting at the table looking a bit tired and like he aged ten years overnight. To say that he’s shocked to see me walk in, sans handcuffs, is an understatement.