Chapter Twenty-Six
SACRIFICE
Morning light shifted through the gap in the blackout curtains when Whip eased onto his back in the wide hotel bed.
Axel had one leg tossed over his and his head buried beneath the pillow beside him.
Whip smiled and stretched, his body sore from last night. They’d burned up the sheets. Axel had wanted to take things slow and worry over every scratch and bruise, but Whip wasn’t having any of that.
It had been satisfying as all hell to show Axel just how demanding he could be.
Axel shifted beside him.
“You awake?” Whip murmured, running his fingers through Axel’s dark, messy hair.
“Coffee,” Axel croaked.
Whip chuckled. “Shower.”
“Ohhh…okay.” Axel’s head popped up, blue eyes locking onto him, the light in them gleaming.
Whip rolled from the messy sheets before Axel could grab him and sauntered naked into the bathroom. He had just enough time to turn on the shower before Axel crowded in behind him, lips brushing over his shoulder.
Grabbing the toothpaste tube, Whip squeezed some onto his toothbrush, then Axel’s. They brushed quickly, but between kisses, Axel managed to get more toothpaste on Whip’s jaw and neck than his own teeth.
“Stop,” Whip laughed, rubbing at the foam on his jaw as he shoved Axel away and stepped beneath the shower.
“Just wanted to give you something to clean since we showered last night.”
Whip gripped Axel’s arm and yanked him beneath the hot water.
“I’ll give you something to clean,” he said huskily.
Beneath soapy hands, no more words were needed.
An hour later, Whip stepped into the small kitchen barefoot, wearing only a pair of US Marshal joggers and a t-shirt.
Axel yawned and walked to start the coffee.
“Let’s see…there’s eggs and frozen sausage.” Whip looked through the contents of the freezer, stocked courtesy of the hotel.
“Um—”
A knock on the door interrupted Axel.
“I’ll get it,” Knox yelled, coming out of his room.
The door swung wide, and on the entryway stood Alvarez and Cho holding eight boxes of pizzas.
“Oh, hell yeah.” Axel slapped his hands together. “Let me help you with that.”
Whip had to laugh.
It was fucking perfect.
Axel, friends, and pizza for breakfast.
What more could a guy ask for?
The pizza was spread across the low table in front of the couch alongside bottled water. And yeah, he still had his coffee. So sue him.
Knox grabbed a slice of pizza.
“New rule.”
Everyone paused.
Knox pointed his pizza at Whip.
“Don’t get kidnapped.”
“I’ll write that down.” Whip took a sip of coffee and reached for a pepperoni slice.
“Seriously,” Knox said. “You disappear for five minutes, and Axel starts punching architecture.”
Axel frowned. “It was a security guard.”
“Close enough.”
“He was in my way,” Axel grumbled.
Whip laughed.
Cho smiled over her coffee. “That reminds me. Alvarez once put an entire shopping mall into panic mode because he thought I’d been abducted.”
Alvarez pointed at her.
“You vanished.”
“I went to the bathroom.”
“For twenty minutes.”
“There was a line.”
“You didn’t answer your radio.”
“Because I was in the bathroom.”
Knox grinned.
“Who won?”
“Internal Affairs,” Alvarez muttered.
Everyone laughed.
“That’s not the worst thing,” Cho said. “Remember the Lincoln case?”
“What?” Knox sat forward.
Alvarez groaned, took a bite of pizza, then sighed.
“I followed the wrong guy for forty-five minutes.”
Knox paused mid-bite. “How?”
“Same jacket.”
Cho snorted.
“Same haircut,” Alvarez laughed. “From behind.”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t even our suspect,” Cho said.
Axel smiled. “Did he at least commit a crime?”
“He jaywalked.”
Whip nearly spit out his coffee.
Axel took another bite of pizza. “Crime’s a crime.”
The room lost it.
Davis closed the file and leaned back in his chair.
“You’re making a mistake, Cutter.”
Silence filled the small interrogation room inside the downtown Marshals office.
“You’re the only one in this room who can help yourself.”
Whip watched Cutter through the observation glass.
Twenty minutes ago, Cutter had walked into the room wearing the same cocky attitude he’d carried since they were teenagers. He’d always had an answer. Always another excuse. Another lie.
Then Davis told him Charleston had walked away.
Not just escaped.
“He left you behind to buy himself time.” Davis tapped one finger on the file.
Back in high school, Cutter would’ve argued with a stop sign if he thought it would help. Whenever he got caught, he’d deny it, deflect, or find somebody else to blame.
There was nothing to argue with.
Charleston had abandoned him.
Cutter should’ve fought it. Instead, he’d gone quiet.
From there, Davis had changed tactics three times. Pressure. Patience. Silence. None of it mattered.
Cutter stayed mute.
He wasn’t fighting the interview.
He was waiting.
“We are getting nowhere,” Boone said.
Davis exhaled. “Cutter, this is your last chance.”
Cutter finally lifted his head.
“I want Tauber.”
Davis frowned.
“You don’t get to make requests.”
“I want Whip.”
Whip frowned.
“The fuck?” Axel growled from next to him.
Boone glanced toward the observation glass, gave a single nod, and stepped out of the room with Davis.
“You okay with this?” Davis asked Whip.
“I have to be.”
“Go,” Boone said.
Axel scowled at him.
“I know him better than anyone,” Whip said quietly.
“I’m going in there with you.” Axel’s chin jutted.
“Wait for me.” Whip gave the smallest shake of his head.
Axel exhaled through his nose.
As Whip moved toward the door, Axel caught his forearm.
Their eyes met.
“Five minutes,” Axel said.
“Deal.”
Axel let go.
Whip stepped inside and closed the door. The room felt smaller from the inside.
He pulled out the chair opposite Cutter and sat without speaking.
For several seconds, neither man said a word.
Cutter studied him.
“They’ll lie to me.”
Whip met his eyes.
“About what?”
“Whether I’m already dead.”
The words hung between them.
Whip watched Cutter’s hands. No shaking. No fidgeting. Just clasped together on the table so tightly the knuckles had gone white.
“You think Charleston’s coming after you.”
“I know he is.”
Cutter stared at the table, the pause reminding Whip of chess matches where one player stopped looking at the board long before the game was over.
“You won’t bullshit me.” Cutter looked up.
Whip held his gaze.
“You never did.”
The words reminded Whip of high school, when Cutter had spent half his life testing people, looking for the ones he could manipulate and the few he couldn’t.
The guy was smart, really smart. For the first time since this whole thing had started, Cutter looked less like a hunter and more like someone else’s quarry.
“If they can’t protect me…” Cutter swallowed once, “you’ll tell me.”
Whip leaned back slightly. “If I thought they couldn’t protect you, I’d tell you.”
For the first time since he’d entered the room, the man’s shoulders eased a fraction.
Cutter gave the smallest nod, not because the answer offered him much comfort, but because he believed it. Whip studied him for another moment, trying to reconcile the man sitting across from him with the one he’d grown up with.
“Why are you so afraid?”
Cutter let out a humorless laugh.
“You think yesterday was bad?”
Whip waited.
“Charleston only keeps people as long as they’re useful. He would have killed you.”
“Not a chance,” Whip said.
“I believe that.” Cutter’s eyes drifted to the tabletop then back up.
“But me? I just became bait.” He shook his head once. “He’ll make me disappear.”
Outside the glass, nobody in the observation room spoke.
The interrogation had finally begun.
“I’m going to be straight with you, Cutter. What you did to those girls will get you life in prison. If you cooperate with us, you might just stay breathing.”
Whip waited. When Cutter stayed quiet, he leaned forward.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
Five minutes later, Axel walked in exactly as promised.
He folded his arms against the wall.
Whip never took his eyes off Cutter.
“He stays.”
Cutter drew a slow breath.
“Okay.”