Forget About Midnight (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #9)(46)

No trace of a lie on him. Feds could be trained to be adept liars. However, my sister was M.I.A. so I needed to trust him this time.

“And how are we supposed to do that?”

“Jail break.” He made it sound so simple with just those two words, but they were loaded with so much uncertainty and danger.

“Are you joking? How will that help her? Won’t they just hunt her down?” I had to question the logic of his plan. This sounded like a great way to take things from bad to worse.

“Sure, but they’re at the head office down east. I’m in charge of this district. I just need to divert attention from her to something else. I bet you can help with that too.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw, covered in the faintest stubble. “Unless you want to give yourself up in her place. That would be the easiest way. She might even get to keep her job.”

He didn’t have to say it again. He believed that I should be locked up anyway. He wasn’t wrong. I deserved it.

Juliet didn’t.

Breaking Juliet out had never really been his plan. He’d thrown that out there to make turning myself in seem like the logical choice. Playing head games with me wouldn’t work. I was too far out of my mind for that but not so far that I didn’t know what I had to do.

“I’ll give myself up to free Juliet if you can arrange a jail break for me. I’m not going to be your prisoner, and I sure as shit won’t be your lab rat. But if you lie or try to f*ck me over in any way, I’ll destroy you, Briggs. You’re not exactly the most trustworthy person either, you know.”

He stared thoughtfully at me over the beer bottle as he took another drink. I hadn’t guessed he’d be a stress drinker. He seemed so clean cut.

“You do know that you deserve to be locked up, right?” He pointed at me with the bottle. “Or killed. You’ve taken the monster game to a whole new level.”

I thought about the frat house and the demon who had cleaned up my mess for his own gain. “You don’t know the half of it. But I’m not what you think I am, regardless of how it looks. I have a job to do that involves helping those who can’t help themselves. If I walk into your facility again, I am walking back out on my own free will. Got it?”

Stress crinkled his brow, and he swore softly. “I never thought I’d be a dirty Fed. Making deals with the monsters has never been my style.”

I didn’t feel bad for him. If anything, I wanted to kick him under the table. “You know what your problem is, Briggs? You think you know who the monsters are. But you don’t. Because the real monsters all wear the same face: human. I had a youth worker come to me this week and ask for help because the system you speak so highly of won’t do a damn thing to help underage kids being bought and sold like cattle on the streets. So get the f*ck off your high horse and open your eyes, man. I may be a killer, but I’ve never hurt a child. So f*ck you and your holier than thou opinion.”

I got up to storm out, knowing that if my temper continued to rise I might do something ugly before Jenner could stop it. Briggs rose too and grabbed my arm to stop me. We both froze. My gaze dropped to where his hand clutched my arm. Slowly he released me, one finger at a time.

A familiar vibe resonated within me as I sensed Jenner. He was close. A scan of the crowd revealed nothing. Wherever he was, he was doing a good job of staying out of sight.

“If you walk out on me, then my hands are tied, and Juliet pays the price for your crimes. Is that what you want?” He sat back down, gesturing for me to do the same.

“What I want is for you to stop judging me. You don’t know the first thing about what it’s like to be me.” I did sit down then, albeit with some reluctance. Leaning across the table, I bared my vampire fangs in a warning. “Would you like to? Maybe instead of killing you, I should just bring you over to the dark side. I’m willing to bet that your tune will change pretty fast once you have to walk in my shoes.”

Briggs chuckled. It quickly grew into a full out laugh that my frown only seemed to encourage. “Christ, O’Brien, you sound just like your darker half. He threatened me with the same damn thing. That’s where this came from.” He pointed to the wound on his neck and chuckled some more.

I sat there with a sour expression, unable to find the humor in uttering the same threat as Arys. “Fine. I’ll just kill you then. Fuck it.”

His laugh fest didn’t last long. As quickly as it came on, it disappeared. Briggs resumed his stiff upper lip. “Let’s make a deal. You turn yourself in. I break you out quietly, and I find a way to keep you off our radar and leave you alone for a while. In return, you make yourself available for that favor you owe me when I call it in. And stop with the public kills already.”

My initial reaction was to tell him to f*ck his favor, but he was right. I did owe him one for helping me track Jez when she was missing in Vegas. After his attempt to kill me, I’d decided not to honor that favor. However, owing him one measly favor would be worth it to get the FPA off my case and to do right by my sister.

“Fine,” I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket. “But I want to record this deal. Let’s just call it my safety net so if you try to back out on me or leave me in lock up, I can show your superiors that you’re not quite who they think you are.”

Briggs furrowed his brow, and I could see that he wanted to protest. His gaze dropped to the sheath nestled against my leg. “Are you carrying a weapon in public?”