Grayson’s hand slowly fell away from his face. “What?”
My head shook and I set my boundary. “Carrie can’t know.”
“Margo, sweetheart, no offense, but you have a bruise covering nearly half your face. She’s going to notice.”
“I have tattoo cover-up at home. She won’t notice anything.” I took a step forward. “No one at work can know about this, Grayson. Please.”
“She’s your best friend,” he murmured, brow furrowed.
“Yes.”
“She cares about you.”
My eyes began to sting. “I know that.”
He tipped his head to the side, his features softening. “She needs to know.”
I shook my head. “Grayson, she can’t know. Not this. None of this can touch them.”
The temperature dropped a few degrees as something snapped into place in the bounty hunter’s mind. “Is what you’re dealing with going to put them in danger?” he asked, his voice low.
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. I held my tongue. There was no need to tell him about how dangerous and unhinged Gordon was. He would hear that when the rest of his team did because there was no way in hell I was going to repeat this shit twice. “All I know is that Carrie has been through a lot of darkness, and she just found her light again. I don’t need it dimming on account of my own shit.”
His hands fell to his sides as his back snapped straight. “Margo—”
“Gray,” Hayes interjected calmly. “We don’t have time for this. Margo set a boundary. For right now, until she states otherwise, what is said here stays here.”
Grayson focused on his partner, and for a moment, I thought he was going to push back. Instead, he nodded. Relief washed over me as he moved to the desk, plucked the phone off the receiver, and told everyone to meet us in the conference room in ten. Hayes was beside me then, his hand engulfing mine as I felt his lips against my ear. “You with me?”
I nodded.
“You need a break; you say the word. Yeah?” he said gruffly.
I turned my head, finding his lips an inch from mine. “I will,” I promised.
“I assume you aren’t going to tell me what the fuck is going on between you two either.”
We turned our heads. Grayson was gathering his stuff up, shaking his head.
“Margo is under my protection,” Hayes declared.
“No shit,” Grayson clipped, walking to the door. “Come on. The sooner we get the guys caught up, the sooner we can nail this son of bitch.”
Surprisingly, Dominic didn’t have an outburst like Grayson or Ash.
No, instead, he walked in, took one look at my face, and looked at Hayes for a few moments before moving to the corner. Nothing else was said, and the tension in the room was so thick, I could barely breathe. Underneath the table, my knee started bouncing, the pain from my nails digging into my palms not a good enough distraction anymore.
“Hello, Dominic,” I whispered as he got settled in the corner, back against the wall, hands in his pockets, ankles crossed.
His indigo eyes flicked up to mine, but only for a fraction of a second. “Margo,” he greeted, his voice like silk.
Hayes and Grayson were at the head of the table, talking in low voices, and judging by how tight Hayes’ shoulders were, I knew it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. A twinge of guilt settled overme. That last thing I wanted was to be a burden, especially for Red Snake.
“You okay?” Ash asked from his seat next to mine.
I turned to face him. “I hate that I’m causing you guys so much trouble.”
“What the hell are you talking about? This isn’t trouble, sweetheart. It's our duty. Besides, like I said last night, you’re family.”