“Fine,” he muttered. “Thanks for dinner.”
Did Sheridan roll his eyes? It was hard to say.
“I’m just going to go talk to the guy at the bar for a moment,” Ava murmured. “Make sure he thinks twice before taking another punch at his girlfriend. Don’t bother waiting for me—”
“I’ll wait.”
“It’s okay—”
He planted his feet. “Unless you’re planning to stay here to party or maybe take one of these guys home, I’ll wait.”
Ava reared back in shock. Was that what he thought of her? She put her hands on her waist and raised her brows. “Fine. Knock yourself out. I’ll be five minutes.”
*
Dominic sat in the booth and finished his water. Why the hell had he said that? People literally lived and died depending on his ability to keep a cool head under pressure, but an evening with Ava Kanas and he was reduced to some dictatorial bone head who couldn’t keep his fat mouth shut.
The fact she wouldn’t accept his support, refused to acknowledge that the FBI worked best as a team, drove him insane. She always had to go it alone. Ava Kanas against the world. No wonder Van had taken her under his wing. Kanas was her own worst enemy and, unless she learned to trust the agents she worked with, she wouldn’t survive in the Bureau.
It was his duty to stay here and back her up in case something went sideways at the bar. But would she accept his help graciously? Hell no. It pissed him off, and he’d lashed out and said something inappropriate that had hurt her feelings, which meant they both had something to learn.
True to her word, less than five minutes later, she turned away from the guy with the bloody nose whom she’d been lecturing at the bar. Dominic almost felt sorry for the man—except for the whole potential domestic abuse thing.
Together they headed through the heavy front doors into the fresh air and he walked her to her vehicle—a Nissan Micra he wasn’t sure he could physically fit into.
She heaved a sigh. “I can take care of myself you know.”
“You’re welcome.” He gave her his sunniest smile, determined to make things right.
“Yeah. Thanks.” The words left her mouth reluctantly.
“I shouldn’t have said that back there. That was out of line.” He’d sounded like a jealous fool. He’d sounded like his goddamn father.
She gave him a smile with serrated edges. “For future reference I generally only hook up with strangers in bars on the weekends and holidays.”
He wasn’t rising to her bait. “That’s great. Drive safe, Ava. I’ll talk to Aldrich about tracking down the surveillance footage of the bar first thing in the morning. See if we can get an image of Van here with someone.”
She glanced around the street. “There’s an ATM machine over there. Ask him to pull that video too.”
“Good idea.” He hesitated.
“I know what you’re going to say.” She held up her hand to stop him from speaking.
Why that amused him so much he had no idea. “What?”
“Not to get my hopes up, that Van might have gone home alone, and even if he didn’t, it didn’t mean he was murdered.”
He pressed his lips together and held the car door for her.
“I’m not stupid.” She climbed into her tin can of a car and started the engine.
“I don’t think you’re stupid, Ava.”
She held his gaze for a long time, eyes shadowed, uncertainty worrying her mouth. After a few long moments he closed the door and watched her drive away. He wandered back to his car, feeling so tired he could barely drag one foot after the other.
Ranger licked his ear when he climbed into the Lexus. He patted the front seat and the dog jumped over from the back. He attached the specially designed dog seatbelt and gave the mutt a quick scratch on his ribcage, thinking about Ava Kanas and the effect she had on him. Despite her lack of teamwork skills, she was a good agent. Sure, she had trouble with authority, was overzealous, blunt, and a little conspiracy prone, but she had integrity, and grit, and a work ethic to rival his own. He could see why Van had liked her so much.
And that wasn’t even considering the pretty face and incredible body.
“Not thinking about those,” he muttered to himself.
His eyes felt heavy, and his sinus felt clogged as if he was suddenly coming down with a cold. Home was twenty minutes away, and his bed was a siren call for the weary.
Out on the highway the road was clear. He put his foot down, wanting to hurry before he fell asleep at the wheel. He hadn’t slept much over this past week and even before that, work was always full on. Savage was gonna be pissed if he got sick. All he needed was a good night’s sleep and…
Lights flashed at him and a horn blared. He jammed his eyes open and jerked the wheel back into his own lane as a truck whizzed by.
Holy shit! He’d almost nodded off while driving. Things were worse than he thought.
He rolled down the window. Sucked in the cool night air and stretched his eyes as wide as possible. Ranger whined.
“S’okay, boy.” He was slurring words like a drunk. Shit. He squinted at the signpost. Almost home. Just a couple more miles.
The flashing, blue strobe lights in his rear-view told him he was in deep shit.
He concentrated intensely and pulled over onto the shoulder. Except he was going way too fast and couldn’t find the brakes as his feet had quit working. He tried to jerk the wheel, but a telephone pole came out of nowhere. He swore and grabbed onto Ranger’s scruff and closed his eyes.
The detonation of the airbags snapped his head back like a punch. The impact jarred every bone in his body. His shoulder felt as if it was being ripped out of the socket. The terrible scream of steel crashing against wood penetrated his brain. Pain stabbed at his torso, across his face and down his legs. Blackness numbed the edges of the agony, then consumed him whole.
Chapter Eight