10 Austin

Austin

Agent Priestley shot off the couch and was out the front door before I even registered what was going on.

I knew a freak out when I saw one.

“We might have a problem,” I said, picking up the phone and clicking the speaker off before I pressed it to my ear.

“Can I leave so I can start working on this?” Milo asked, seeming unaffected by finding out the name of the man who kidnapped him. I knew he had trouble showing his emotions, so I didn’t open my mouth to give him crap about it. Plus, he sounded ready to dive in and track this asshole down, which I was all for. The sooner we found him, the sooner we could end him, and the sooner Agent Priestley could get back to his life. And more importantly, the sooner we could shut down The Sons of the Holy Fire for good.

“Yeah. Let me know what you find,” Reed said. “If Ford has anything else to offer, I’ll pass it on.”

My eyes were glued to the front door, glaring as if I could see through it.

“Yep,” Milo clipped out right before he exited the call.

“He’s not handling it well?” Reed asked me, but it sounded like he already knew the answer.

“Nope. Not well at all.” The man just ran out into the snow wearing house shoes. “Let me see if I can get a handle on him.”

“You have him, Austin?”

“Yeah,” I said. The hesitation was there only because I didn’t know what that meant. I had him, but I was clueless about what to do with him. Maybe I was starting to thaw when it came to the agent, but I didn’t know how to help him in this situation. Had not one idea how to… comfort him. “I got him. Touch base later.”

I waited to hear Reed’s reply so I’d know he heard me, then I hung up.

I rushed to the mud room, tossing on some boots and snagging two coats before heading out the side door. Slipping my arms through one of the coats, I made my way around to the front of the house.

There he stood, just feet outside the front door. The motion sensor lights positioned on each corner of the house had kicked on and he was backlit by the harsh yellow light. I couldn’t see his face, but the way his body heaved and the thick puffs of hot air wisped in front of his face until they faded to nothing before he took in another breath told me he might be on the verge of a panic attack.

I suppose I couldn’t blame him. If I found out Reed— or even Jameson or Cade— happened to be lying to me the whole time and had been working for the enemy, betraying everything my team stood for, yeah, I’d be freaking the fuck out too.

I already knew what it was like to be betrayed by someone you trusted deeply. Someone close to you. Someone who was supposed to be the embodiment of good. I knew what it was like to find out it was all a lie, and then how it felt to deal with the crumbling castle after.

“Hey,” I said calmly. “Here. The last thing I need is you freezing to death on my property.”

I held the coat so he could slip his arms in. His face was still shaded in shadows, but the snort he let loose told me he might be okay.

“Thanks,” he said as he let me dress him in the weather-appropriate garment. “I don’t have the words...” He let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “But now that I think about it, it feels like every move he helped me make has been more important than I originally thought.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, sticking to his side so that the lights wouldn’t blind me.

“Pulling me into certain cases when I was on the bottom. Urging me to take on more responsibility. Moving me into the Deputy Director role when I had… this feeling about the whole thing.”

“You didn’t want it?” I asked, surprised. I was learning more about him, and most of it I hadn’t expected.

“No,” he said with a sad shake of his head. “I didn’t want the disconnect from being involved in cases and doing the work. All that pressure and no time to actually work on cases. That was never my goal.”

Not what I thought he’d say. It was almost as if I was seeing him in a new light, and maybe… I didn’t hate it as much. Though, I certainly didn’t have a fucking clue what to do with it.

“I wanted more of a simple life, I guess.” He gave a halfhearted shrug. “Go to work and take down bad guys, then go home and unwind. I didn’t think it was too much to ask for. But before I knew it…”

“You were caught up in something that turned out to be way bigger than you,” I finished for him.

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Uh,” I cleared my throat, shaking away whatever weirdness was swirling around us. “We should get inside, Agent Priestley. The snow has probably already seeped through those house shoes. I don’t know how you’re still standing there.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, blinking down at his feet as if he had just now realized he was standing in two feet of snow. At least they had rubber soles. “Please… call me Ford.”

His eyes pleaded with me in a way that I couldn’t ignore.

I swallowed thickly, and dipped my head in a nod before practically choking out, “Ford.”

Why was that so hard?

“Thank you,” he said softly before turning and heading into the house.

I stood there for a long moment, letting the cold air cool down my insides, which suddenly seemed to be taken over by an inferno. If I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn I had a fever. But there was no way I was sick. It had to be the crash. We’d been going like mad and the adrenaline had been coming in waves. It had to be everything catching up with me.

I needed more sleep. Might have helped if I slept in an actual bed instead of passing out on the couch that was older than I was, like I had earlier today. I’d been way too tired to make it up the stairs once I got the fire going. I hadn’t so much walk to the couch but crawled.

Yes, sleep. A whole night’s worth of it, that was what I needed.

Once I’d cooled down enough, I headed back inside, slipping my boots off and leaving them on the rubber mat just inside the door, right next to where Ford had left the pair of house shoes I gave to him.

The very ones I had gotten for my brother as a Christmas gift last year.

The ones I never had a chance to give to him since he never showed. I’d waited for three days here, hoping he would surprise me and spend the holiday with me, all the while, knowing he wouldn’t. Just like every other year.

Our relationship was strained, to say the least.

Just as it was with the rest of my family.

That was a mess I didn’t want to think about.

Anyway, I liked that Ford had those house shoes to use. I was glad that someone was getting some use out of them.

Clearly, I wasn’t thinking straight if I was glad about Ford wearing the house shoes.

Sleep.

Yeah.

That was what I needed. A good night’s sleep.