Lethal Waters by JP McLean

Author:JP McLean
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WindStorm Press

Chapter Sixteen

SOMETHING JAMES HAD said was bothering me. I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling listening to the shower run. He hadn’t exactly put me in the same pit as the Tribunal Ghosts who’d threatened his family, but it felt as though he had me on the edge of it, ready to shove me in. Did he not remember that I’d advocated for his family’s freedom? When he crawled into bed, he turned away from me. I curled against his back and he pulled my arm around his torso without saying a word.

Eventually, his breathing slowed and he dropped off to sleep. I stayed awake for what seemed like hours, feeling the rhythmic expansion of his chest. He wasn’t angry, I knew that much. Angry James wouldn’t be sleeping, but the distance between us was uncomfortable. It felt as if he were pulling away. For the first time, it occurred to me that he might be the one to leave and if he did, he’d never come back. It made my heart ache.

Morning crept up, waking me gently. James wasn’t in bed. I sat up and caught sight of his leather satchel parked inside the bedroom door, and slumped with relief. He always left his bag ready to grab and go, but he hadn’t gone yet.

I threw on my housecoat and padded to the kitchen then followed the grunts to the guest room gym where James was punishing himself on the circuit trainer. He was seated, working out his shoulder, and he’d been here for a while if the sweat on his singlet was any indication.

“Hey,” I said, when he noticed me standing there.

“Did I wake you?”

“No. You been up a while?”

“Couple hours.”

“You want to talk?”

He hesitated before he said, “No.”

The word felt like a slap. My phone sang out from the bedroom. I turned from James before he saw the hurt in my eyes and ran down the hall to answer it.

“Hi, Sam,” I said, winded. Last night, on the drive back to the condo, I had updated him on what James and I had learned.

“Just had a call from Becker’s surveillance team. Clayton Cooper and Jeremy Mohan are alone in the shop. How quickly can you get down there?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Don’t forget the sunglasses,” he reminded me before we hung up.

I jumped in the shower. There would be a conversation with James, it was inevitable, but it would have to wait.

He was in the bedroom when I got out of the shower. The space between us had opened to a cold chasm. It was my doing. Isolating myself was an old habit that was hard to break. The walls were pre-fab and already in place.

“I’m going to the boatyard,” I said, as I pulled on a pair of jeans. “Don’t know how long I’ll be.” I picked up my phone and started for the door.

James jumped off the bed and grabbed my arm. He spun me around and kissed me. It was a desperate kiss that left me bruised.

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