Unspoken (Shadow Falls: After Dark #3)(112)

He raked a hand over his face.

“She’s just upset,” Kylie told him and touched his arm. She’d turned fae. He could feel her trying to soothe him.

He shook his head and had to swallow not to let his emotion turn to tears. “She wasn’t lying when she said…” Damn, that hurt.

Kylie stepped closer. “Sometimes when the heart breaks, it doesn’t know what it wants and it doesn’t recognize the difference between the truth and a lie. Give her some time.”

“Time.” He turned and walked away.

Holiday came running up. “Is she okay?”

“No,” Chase said. “She’s not. Somebody needs to be with her, but she definitely doesn’t want it to be me.”

Chase stopped off at the office to see Burnett.

“Can I kill her father now?”

Burnett frowned. “Go home and sleep. I’ll call you when and if anyone shows up at the two houses where you think Stone might be. If I don’t call, I’ll pick you up at six.”

Chase hadn’t even remembered he’d left his car somewhere. Hell, he didn’t care. “I feel like I should be doing something.”

“Go rest so you can do something later.”

Chase started out, and Burnett said, “Wait.”

He looked back. “Do you have a way of contacting Eddie?”

“I could call Kirk. Why? You want to arrest Eddie?” Wouldn’t that be the perfect ending to all of this? Chase thought.

Burnett shook his head. “No. I won’t let anything Stone says come back to him. But I would like to talk to him. I’m not going to ask you to give me his number, but could you ask him to call me?”

Chase ran a hand over his face. “I don’t think he’ll do it.”

Burnett sighed. “Look, I can’t blame Eddie for what he did. If it had been me, I would have killed him too. But I’d like to at least know that Eddie doesn’t plan on trying to exact some revenge on the FRU later on.”

“Don’t you think he would’ve already done that if that was his plan?”

“I’d still like to talk to him.”

Chase went to his cabin. He fed and walked Baxter. He drank a glass of blood. Then he went to bed and watched the ceiling fan spin.

You said it was my choice if this bond lasted. I’m choosing, Chase. It’s over. Leave me the hell alone!

Baxter jumped up on the bed and rested his head on Chase’s arm. It was as if the dog knew he was dying inside.

Picking up his phone, he considered calling her, but what for? She’d only tell him to go away.

Then, because he figured he couldn’t hurt any more than he already did, he dialed Kirk’s number and left a message that he needed to speak to Eddie. Hell, for all he knew, Eddie wouldn’t talk to Kirk.

But ten minutes later, his phone rang.

“Hey,” Chase said.

“Son?” the man answered. And it was the voice of the man who had been there for him since the plane crash. The man who had held him when he’d wept over losing his parents.

Chase started to say something, but his voice broke.

“What’s wrong, Chase?” Eddie said.

“Everything,” Chase said, not knowing how to explain any of this. Would Eddie think Chase had sacrificed him to save Della’s father? The man didn’t deserve to be saved.

How could Eddie not feel betrayed by Chase? Especially when he probably already felt betrayed by Kirk.

“What is it? Talk to me.”

After a few minutes, Chase asked, “Did you talk to Kirk?”

“For the first time, right now. Just to tell me you called. He wouldn’t answer my calls and he wasn’t at his lake house. But he said I could call him after we talk. How could a friend do this?” Eddie asked.

Chase pushed his head into the pillow. “I don’t know.”

“What did Kirk ask you to do, Chase?”

“To kill Stone and not hand him over to the FRU. Kirk promised to talk you out of confessing to killing your sister.”

“I don’t understand,” Eddie said.

“He took the files, Eddie. Stone was blackmailing the council not to turn him in.”

“That’s not an excuse. Kirk should have told me. I thought he was my friend.”

Chase swallowed. “Kirk told me about Kirsha. About the agent who planted the bomb.”

There was silence. “He shouldn’t have told you.”

“Look, I can understand why you did it. And I went to Burnett. He’s going to try to fix it.”

He heard the man who had been his father for the last four years let out a low growl. “I don’t need an FRU agent to try to fix it, Chase,” Eddie seethed. “I killed the guy who killed Kirsha and I’d do it again if he showed up today. And again tomorrow.”

“I know. And I don’t blame you. That’s why I told Burnett. He doesn’t hold you responsible either. If I catch Stone, I’m not going to kill him.”

“Kirk should have never asked you to do that,” Eddie said.

“I know.” He inhaled. “Look, Burnett has agreed not to let anything Stone says about you to come forward, but…”

“What?” Eddie asked.

“He wants to talk to you. I’m going text you his number. You should call him.”