Chapter 15 #3
She picked up Priss’s carrier from beside the couch. Priss, who had objected to the packing process with operatic intensity, peered out through the mesh panel with narrowed eyes. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re coming too.”
Priss gave one indignant chirp.
Jasper swallowed around the ache in his throat. “She’ll hate the plane ride.”
“She hates most things.”
“She likes me.”
“She tolerates you because you bribe her with chicken.”
Jasper mustered a smile. “That’s affection.”
“You keep telling yourself that.”
Katherine lifted the carrier with her good hand, but Jasper took it before she could strain her wrist.
“I can carry my cat.”
“I know.”
She looked up at him, and something in her expression softened painfully. “Premium package?”
“Lifetime coverage.” The words slipped out before he could decide whether they were too much.
Her eyes filled again.
They walked through the compound together.
The halls were quieter than usual, as if everyone had decided not to intrude on the goodbye and then stationed themselves nearby anyway.
Mack leaned in the kitchen doorway with his arms crossed.
CB stood slightly behind him, jaw tight, expression unusually sober.
Sebastian and Reid were near the front entrance.
Garrett waited by the main doors, his face unreadable.
Vivi stood outside beside the federal SUVs, talking to one of the agents, but she turned when Katherine stepped into the daylight.
For all the things Jasper hated about the moment, he was grateful Katherine didn’t have to leave alone.
The SPS team followed her out. Vivi hugged her carefully.
Garrett shook her hand and told her to call if anyone so much as looked at her wrong.
Mack made a joke about Priss being an honorary tactical asset.
CB promised to send chicken if Virginia failed to meet the cat’s standards.
Sebastian gave Katherine a small nod that somehow carried more respect than most speeches.
Then there was nothing left to do.
Jasper set Priss’s carrier in the back seat of the federal SUV, making sure it was secure. He checked the tires, the driver, the rear vehicle, the agents, the plates, the road beyond the gate. He knew he was being obvious. He didn’t care.
Katherine stood beside the open rear door, watching him. “Jasper.”
He looked at her.
“If you keep checking the SUV, Porter may arrest you for being annoying.”
“She can try.”
A real smile touched her mouth then, small and beautiful and gone too soon.
He moved close enough that the agents tactfully looked elsewhere.
“Call me from the airport,” he said.
“I will.”
“When you get to wherever they’re housing you. I need to make sure it meets my security standards”
“Of course.”
“And before your first debrief. I can have Reid make up a list of things not to say.”
“Jasper.”
He hated that tone. “If anything feels wrong—”
“I’ll call.”
“If anyone pressures you—”
“I’ll call.”
“If Porter—”
“Jasper.” She placed her good hand against his cheek. “I’ll call.”
He turned his face into her palm and closed his eyes for one second. He wanted one more kiss. He wanted a thousand more. He wanted to put himself between her and every threat in the world, and for once, the threat was time, distance, duty, the life she had before she walked into his.
He kissed her palm. “Go,” he said, because if he didn’t say it, he might beg.
Katherine’s breath shuddered. Then she got into the SUV. Porter closed the door.
Jasper stepped back as the convoy rolled toward the gate. The first SUV passed through, then Katherine’s, then the rear vehicle. He watched as Katherine turned in her seat, her face pale behind the glass, one hand lifted against the window.
He lifted his.
Garrett opened the gate. The convoy drove through. The gate closed.
Jasper stood in the driveway long after the taillights disappeared between the pines. Behind him, the compound waited. His team waited around him, quiet and respectful.
His life waited, every piece of it exactly where it had been before Katherine arrived with a stack of old papers and a cat who judged everyone.
Everything was where it belonged.
Nothing felt right.
Vivi came to stand beside him. “You okay?”
“Not in the least.”
She nodded. “Stupid question. You want me to tell you not to go after her?”
He looked down the empty road. Every instinct in him said move. Get in the truck. Follow the convoy. Stay close. Keep eyes on her until the danger is gone, even if the danger had no face to shoot.
But Katherine had asked him not to make fear the reason he left his home. He hated that she was so damn smart.
“No,” he said.
Vivi slid her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “Good. I wasn’t going to.”
Jasper looked at her.
She smiled faintly. “I was going to tell you to wait until you know it’s not about protecting her but about being sure she’s the one.”
His chest tightened. Katherine was gone.
And for the first time since she’d walked into Shadow Point Security, Jasper had no target, no feed, no locked gate, no camera angle, no weapon, and no way to put himself between her and what came next.
He stood there until the sky began to darken, hollowed out by the space she’d left behind.