Game of Dust and Ashes (Book Two in the Covert Operations series)

Thirteen

The Roosevelt Hotel, Manhattan, New York. January 29, 2021, 7:47 p.m.

"Helena sent you?" I asked ten minutes later. Lia, Max, and Tasha had vacated the hotel room to give Cedric and I some much needed time alone.

Seated on the edge of a bed, Cedric nodded. He leaned back on his hands. I took a moment to study him. To breathe in the fact that he was here. He was here.

"Yes," he said. "After everything that happened with Carmichael the other day, we thought it would be better if I could be working in the same time zone as you. And I missed you."

He said it so casually that it was hardly a statement.

I had missed him too. Being in the same room with him made it all the more clear. His presence had become a constant in my life. One of the only true constants that I'd come to rely on after years of turmoil. Yet that part of me that relaxed because of his nearness was overshadowed by the fear that I couldn't trust him. The part that I now had to swallow down and hide, just in case, so that I didn't accidentally tip him off.

So I smiled, sending as much warmth into that gaze as I could. "I missed you too."

"I do have to admit though, that it's weird looking at you and knowing that you're not Jessie. Over the phone and video conferences it was somehow easier to distance."

"I'm still sorry that I didn't tell you." I crossed the room and perched beside him on the bed.

"I understand why you didn't. You were – are – in danger. Will probably always be in danger unless we can ever get Scorpion wiped away. Even if they get their hands on your father, they'll never stop hunting you." Cedric placed his hand on top of mine, slowly entangling our fingers together.

All of his words so carefully chosen. They'll never step. Not we'll. Truth? Or some clever wordplay to throw me off?

"You're right," I said. "That's why Melanie Briar had to disappear. And why Jessie Collins got to be resurrected. It was the only way to make sure everyone I loved from that life stayed safe. They had to pretend like I was dead. Just in case anyone ever came calling."

"What about your father? Have you been in contact with him?"

I kept my breathing steady even as alarm bells sounded in my head. "No," I lied. "I haven't spoken to Jack in five years. I have no idea where he is or if he's even still alive. He could be dead in the middle of a jungle or something for all I know."

Cedric looked as if he'd been expecting this. "It's probably for the best that he's kept distance from this. Throwing him into the mix could be what they want."

"Yes." I'd had that thought as well. At the end of the day, his insults against them were greater than mine had ever been. Scorpion would love to get their hands on me but thing that I would always be good for was bait. Because if Jack heard I was in danger, there was no doubt to any of us that he would come running.

No matter that I'd made him swear not to. That if the choice was between me and a broad-scale nuclear war, that he let me die. He'd agreed but unhappily. I think we both knew that it was an empty promise.

Cedric looked at me. Really looked at me. Like he was seeing me for the first time in my entirety. In spite of everything, of my hesitations and horrible theories, I felt my heart quicken from something other than fear.

Slowly, Cedric leaned over and kissed me. It was gentle and sweet, that pressure of his lips on mine. His arms slid around my waist, tugging me closer, and it was almost enough for me to forget about the dark thoughts Carmichael had planted in my head.