When we pulled up in front of a nondescript building in the middle of nowhere, I was a little concerned.

Not about Cade. It wasn’t like he planned on killing me. Yet. Although, if I made any jokes about death or killing out loud he would probably try to strangle me. No more treating this lightly. Got it.

It wasn’t that I didn’t care what was happening here, I was just keeping my fears on lockdown. Trying to deal with what was in front of me, instead of getting freaked out and running. Cade was here. Mick seemed competent, despite what Cade said. Maybe a little detached, but he was working. Everything was going to get handled.

Having faith in other people wasn’t my strongest trait, but I trusted Cade and his friends. Hell, they'd managed to handle Liv’s issues, and she’d had a bizarre experience with a psycho ex-boyfriend. Not exactly a serial killer, but from what the girls told me, all the guys had skills to deal with dangerous situations.

The building we pulled up in front of reminded me of an abandoned warehouse. Overgrown weeds in the lot, missing bricks, blacked out windows, and a few graffiti symbols that I couldn’t read in the dark. Just the type of building that a pack of teenagers would dare each other to break into on a Saturday night, since it was in the middle of two corn fields, on a dirt road with absolutely no lighting.

I knew from personal experience that this was the type of stuff that happened in Bakersville. So, pulling up in front of this kind of building was a little strange.

After we parked, we sat there for a moment. Cade hadn’t turned the car off, so I looked over at him to see what the issue was.

“Cade?” I asked.

“I hate to say this, but I’ve been dreading this for months.”

“What? Facing them?”

He sighed, as he peered through the front window. “Asking for forgiveness. It’s something that’s honestly made me nervous. It’s hard for me to admit. As a man, I know it shouldn’t matter one way or the other. Life is life. And knowing that my actions prevented Holden from facing this shit should be easy for me to justify in my fucking head.”

“You don’t want to lose them, that's the main reason I think you're so worried. Just like they didn’t want to lose you. All of you are family basically. The one that you chose. The thing is, they didn’t lose you, and if they can’t forgive you for this, then they’re not worth apologizing to in the first place.”

I slid my hand over his leg, and he immediately grabbed it. With a squeeze, he brought it to his lips and gave me a small kiss.

It made sense now, the loyalty of this man to the men he chose to have around him. He’d transitioned from a life of abuse and degradation to one filled with purpose when he found them. Family didn’t mean the blood that flowed through his veins, but the comradery of men, who like him, had served a purpose beyond what an ordinary person may have felt a compulsion for. His family, the people he felt the most for, sacrificed a life for, meant everything to him. It was humbling.

My troubles seemed like bumps in a long road that continually went in a straight line. One that I’d endured but had never changed out of love for someone else. And it made me wonder if I’d ever really experienced true love.

My dreams over the last few days clutched to the hope that I could change our fate, and yet shied away from the possibility considering my past choices. Was it possible to find a future with this man, if I hadn’t loved myself enough to change the way I connected with men that all seemed to have the same traits? Abusers, cheaters. I deserved more. But even knowing this, I fell into patterns that would never lift my life up.

“This is your family, Cade. I haven’t always been good at seeing the value of mine in the last few years like I did as a child. But I do know that had I chosen to go home after what happened in Lakefield with my ex, my dad would have forgiven me. That’s called love, and I think your friends definitely have that for you.”

He chuckled. “You didn’t die on your family, though. Or fake it.”

I nodded. “True. But I think once they hear what happened and your side of things, they’ll at least understand. You can’t ask them not to be angry, but you can ask them to listen. And if they won’t, then they’re assholes and we’ll leave.”

He met my eyes finally. “Have you forgiven me yet?”

Good question, and one I was still trying to figure out. Everything was happening so fast it was hard to know what I should feel, versus what I did feel. Anger, not really anymore. Maybe a small part of me still wanted to yell at him, but it would have been pointless. What happened was over and there was no way to change it.

But forgiveness? It seemed to me that involved wrongdoing. In this case, he’d done the wrong thing for the right reasons. The problem was trust. One stupidly noble action had bruised, not broken, that for me.

He was studying my face as if my answer was vital. Like so many other questions and answers we'd exchanged. Each seemed to walk on the edge of disaster or relief.

“I’m not sure forgiveness would be the right term. I’m just trying to see how this fits now. Between what I thought was going to happen and now what could happen. There’s a huge difference.”

He smirked. “Good enough. And just for the record, I can wait. But eventually you and I are going to make this happen.”

When we exited the car, he took my hand as we headed to the industrial set of double doors. As soon as Cade pulled one open for me, we were met with the sounds of several men yelling.

“What the fuck?” Cade said.

Entering the building I took note of several things that were happening at once. First, Brock had Mick pushed up against one of the walls, in what looked like an office. The interior was white, with a meeting table in the center of the room. It wasn’t decorated with anything, and had several whiteboards up on the walls, with someone’s scrawled handwriting covering the surface of at least two of the boards.

What lay beyond the office, was a mystery. It seemed too small of a room to take up an entire building. But there were no other entrances, or exits, and no windows. In fact, it looked like an office you might see in a business complex or corporate office. Very normal, but also clearly not the only thing that the building had in it.

Aiden was sitting at the table, hands steepled, with an extremely thoughtful expression on his face. Odd, since his friend was in a fight, five feet from him on his right. Logan was walking toward Mick and Brock, trying to shout over Brock’s furious ranting. Holden was yelling from the other side of the room in anger, while a man that I knew as Jake, was trying to talk to him. Jake was trying to restrain Holden with a hand to his chest but looked like he was going to lose the battle any moment.

When we walked in, shutting the door behind us, all eyes turned in our direction and the volume completely dropped.

There was a frozen moment that was suspended in time before all of them moved at once. Holden shook Jake off, and started for Cade, looking angrier than ever. Logan turned and changed directions toward me. Brock, punched Mick in the face, and Aiden still sat at the table, but leaned forward, giving the man standing behind me a hard look. His jaw clenched, he blinked, then hung his head.

Cade moved me toward Logan, as Holden approached on our other side. Logan reached out and grabbed me, just as I heard something hard collide with something, or someone behind me.

When I turned around, Cade was rubbing his jaw, then gave Holden a nod. He punched Holden in the chest once, but without much force, then grabbed him for a hug. It was such an odd greeting among friends, that I knew I would never forget it. Cade slapped Holden on the back a few times, then they parted, just staring at each other.

“Fuck, man. Missed you,” Holden grunted.

“Same,” Cade replied.

Brock brushed past us, and just went straight for a hug, without all the punching. When he stepped back, he just shook his head.

“Fucker.”

Cade chuckled. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.”

Brock shrugged it off, like the last few months didn’t matter, and turned around to Logan. He gave him an annoyed look, then took a seat at the table in front of a laptop. Holden and Jake sat down beside him, after Cade shook Jake’s hand.

Logan led me to a chair, then turned toward Mick, who was clearly furious, and was staring daggers at Brock.

“You okay?” Logan asked.

“Of course,” Mick replied, and took a seat.

Cade made his way over to Aiden, who was now standing beside the table. They stared at each other for a moment before Aiden gripped Cade’s shoulders and gave him a relieved look.

“Welcome home, brother,” Aiden said. “Don’t ever do that shit again.”

Cade nodded in silent acknowledgement, but I could tell from his eyes, that he was overwhelmed to be reunited with the family he valued. The one he’d sacrificed for, and the one he would've done anything for to keep safe.

After a moment, he joined me at the table after giving Logan a tight hug as well.

Mick cleared his throat. He gave Brock a dark glare, then swept the room with his eyes before turning to Cade. “Okay, now that everyone's been briefed on what happened, does anyone have any questions at this point?”

“Glad you asked,” Brock said, in a deceptively pleasant voice. The look on his face was anything but. “You said, that the main reason we were kept out of the loop, was because of me. Is that out of rivalry, or are you just that big of an asshole?”

“Brock,” Aiden growled.

Mick held up his hand. “Fair question, and now that you’ve decided to use your words rather than throwing a childish fit, I guess we can address that, asshole. First, I don’t want any of you here.”

Holden mumbled under his breath but was too far away for me to hear what he said.

“Cade has taken it upon himself to insert you into a criminal investigation and that's the only reason you're here. One that you’re not qualified to handle. None of you are employed by the Federal Bureau in the behavioral science division. You’ve managed to handle a lot of shit shows over the last couple of years, but you’re not employed by the government anymore.”

Brock opened his mouth and started to speak but Mick cut him off. “I don’t give a fuck who you’re still doing side work for or with. You go talk to your fucking handler and I’ll go talk to the Justice Department. Then we can have a nice sit down with a few marshals, the Attorney General, and your real boss at the CIA.”

My gaze turned toward Brock to see what he would say, but he just rolled his eyes and started typing on his computer. None of the other guys said anything, and none of them acted like this was news.

“Anyone else?” Mick asked, sweeping his eyes across the room.

Aiden cleared his throat. “I’m aware that our presence here may hinder your investigation if we were to interfere. That’s not something we want to do in any way. However, it’s my understanding that if Suzanne is reluctant to help, she does have the right to employ a private security firm for her safety.”

Mick tilted his head. “So, we’re agreed that any interference at this point could jeopardize an ongoing investigation. Not to mention destroy chain of evidence, degrade witness testimony, and make it nearly fucking impossible to put the guy behind bars.”

“It’s still Suzanne’s call,” Cade said.

“If she would like to waive her right to a protective order, that's her call. If she does not want to help in any way, we’re not going to force her. We’re not in the business of strong-arming American citizens to participate—”

“I think we got it,” Holden interrupted.

“The problem we do have in this room, is a breach of contract on a nondisclosure agreement. Not to mention several other violations of secrecy by a person who willingly agreed to adhere to the terms of said contract when they began employment.”

Brock shook his head and sighed. “I can’t imagine how these guys get laid. Walking, talking mini-lawyers.”

Mick slammed his hand down on the table. “Listen up! This is my job. For the most part we leave you alone, and you leave us alone. And frankly I could give a fuck either way unless it interferes with what I’ve been doing for most of my life. We’ve all worked together at one point. So I’m not part of the brotherhood in the room. Who cares! But you will respect the boundaries here and the lawful process.”

“Please enlighten us on what the fallout is,” Logan interrupted. “I’m assuming that’s where you were headed.”

“It is,” Mick said, and leaned back in his chair. He looked down at the table for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts. I almost felt sorry for the man, who seemed so nice in my living room just hours before.

“So, here it is. Plain and simple,” he said in a dull voice. “I’m going to be removed from the case. I should say, I’ve been removed since it’s pretty much a done deal at this point. After reporting that Cade broke protocol, and that a meeting had been set for the occupants of this room, it was done. Cade will likely be taken into custody—”

“No!” I yelled.

“Shh, baby,” Cade said as he leaned toward me and took my hand in his under the table.

I looked up into his calm face and shook my head. “No. I can’t do this. It's too much. Not after you just came back.”

He gently squeezed my hand and gave me a small smile. “But you’ll be safe. And that’s all that matters to me at this point.”

“What if we were never here?” Brock asked.

Mick’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean lie to the FBI on your behalf? So, it’s the devil you know, is better than the devil you don’t, now? Everyone in this room should have thought about the consequences before you came here. Cade should have thought about it before he made the call. It’ll be Agent Wyatt Kennedy taking over after me, and he’s not half as lenient or patient.”

Brock let out a sigh. “Fuck. He’s an asshole.”

Mick gave him a shrug, “Apparently we’re all assholes to you, aren’t we? Regardless, there isn’t much we can do unless Ms. Porter would like to extend a peace offering to Agent Kennedy in the form of cooperation. In addition, Cade could remain on the case citing confusion on Ms. Porter’s part when she made a call to a friend.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment then Cade muttered, “Fuck.”

Mick stood up from the table and smoothed down the front of his shirt. “This building is used locally for a few things. It’s currently on blackout for the next two hours. That was the only concession I was able to procure in hopes that a good faith gesture would be met with a possible solution.”

Aiden nodded. “In other words, we’re not currently monitored until the time is up. Your superiors were willing to do it in order to negotiate a compromise? What is it that they want?”

Mick shrugged. “Brock out of the country would have been too much to ask, but in lieu of that fantasy, cooperation from Suzanne and Cade. And absolutely no involvement from your security firm.”

Aiden glanced at me for a moment then nodded at Mick.

“Well, I’m headed back to my hotel to have a drink and write a very long report. I’m not sure if I’ll be here in the morning. Agent Kennedy said that he was going to be briefing several teams tonight and tomorrow on the latest development.”

“Which hotel?” Aiden asked.

Mick shrugged. “Some local one off the highway. It looks like shit, but it has a bar downstairs. You guys have, at best, twenty-four hours before the shit hits the fan. They may keep me around to consult, but any other conversations with any of you, in any capacity, will not happen on this case.”

Aiden stood up to shake Mick’s hand, while walking him to the door. “Thank you, for letting us know our options.”

Mick nodded, and stared back at Brock, who was tapping on his computer. His cold mask slipped for a moment, to reveal a person with a deep dislike of the man he was glaring at. An annoyed expression passed over his face, then his unemotional mask was back on. He was removed from the case, mainly because of Brock. And Brock, didn’t care enough to look him in the eye either way.

“If you’re looking for a key, you can get it in college,” he said.

Brock’s head jerked up, with a look of surprise on his face, as Mick walked out the door. He stared after him for a moment, then started typing fast on his keyboard.

“Well, well. Not such a douche after all.”

Aiden sighed. “Shut the fuck up.”