Damn it.
“What the hell are you doing here, man?” Tim hissed, glancing over his shoulder. “Get back in your truck before I’m forced to arrest you for interfering with a crime scene.”
He lowered his hands. “Of course. I’m sorry. I don’t know…”
“Go.” He followed Mark to his truck, and watched as he climbed in. The second the door was shut, he leaned on the open window and eyed Mark. “If she sees you here, checking up on her, she’ll be pissed. I suggest you leave before that happens.”
Mark said nothing. There was nothing to say.
Directly behind him was Daisy…
And she looked pissed as hell.
Shit.
Stalking over to him, she rested her hand on the butt of her gun. “I’ve got this, Tim.”
Tim shot him an apologetic look, but immediately left.
“Mark…” She looked impossibly tiny in her bulletproof vest, but every step she took radiated with power. When she reached his truck, she rested a hand on his open window, glanced over her shoulder at the waiting cars, and said, “What are you doing here?”
He couldn’t do this. Couldn’t be this guy.
Couldn’t drag her down.
He had to end this.
“I…” He could lie. Tell her he was heading to lunch and didn’t know about the shooting. But that wasn’t who he was. He’d made a mistake in coming here, in checking up on her like a worried father, and he’d have to own up to it. “I heard about the standoff and got worried, so I came over to see what I could see. I also called you, and texted you a few times, to see if you were okay. Then I heard the gunshot…”
She pressed her lips into a thin line. “I’m fine. I can take care of myself.”
“I see that now. But when I heard cops were shot, and another bullet was fired,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. I just immediately pictured you lying on the ground, dead, and it scared me. It reminded me of—”
“Let me guess.” She made a small, angry sound. “It reminded you why you didn’t want to be with me?”
It hurt to hear it out loud, but it didn’t make it any less true. He never should have chased her, or caught her, and he certainly never should have fallen for her. If the fear coursing through his veins today was a reminder of anything, it was that. The two of them didn’t belong together. They both knew it when they met but chose to ignore it. It was time to stop.
To walk away before someone got hurt…
More.
“Yes,” he admitted. “I’m sorry. We never should have done this.”
She backed off a step. “Are you saying what I think you’re trying to say?”
He took a deep breath, because as much as he didn’t want to, he didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t live in constant fear for another person’s life like this. He couldn’t be the guy who charged on to a crime scene and got his fool ass shot because he was terrified. And he also couldn’t be the guy who begged her to get another job, because he couldn’t handle hers. He couldn’t do that to her…or Ginny.
This had to be the end.
Here and now.
He locked eyes with her, regret making it hard to speak. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m sorry—”
“Don’t apologize. Don’t you dare.” She stepped back, her nostrils flaring. With her hand still resting on her gun, she avoided his eyes as she shrugged. “We said when one of us changed our mind, then it was done. No questions asked, right?”
Damn, she didn’t need to look so okay with it.
He wasn’t okay.