Page 49 of Tell Me Your Desires

Chapter Twenty-Five

With an unusual feeling sitting in her chest, Jaime approached the club’s exit.

While her time with Lady A was always incredibly hot, something had shifted within Jaime tonight.

She thought the same was true for…Lady A, but then she’d seemed a little distant during their goodbyes.

Jaime supposed it was understandable for her to feel that way.

After all, Jaime had gone into the session tonight with one goal in mind: to put a target on her back.

Unfortunately, that goal had slipped to the back of her mind the moment she saw Lady A.

What the fuck was she thinking, making the session so personal?

You were thinking about dying and never having the opportunity to show Anya—or yourself—what it could truly be like between the two of you.

“Would you like me to escort you to your car?”

Jaime forced herself from her headspace and smiled back at security. “No, thanks.”

He held the door open for Jaime, watching her as she crossed the parking lot.

She glanced back once or twice, feeling wary about him watching her, but it was his job to keep clients safe, and that included Jaime.

She almost shuddered at the term client.

Jaime didn’t feel like a client anymore.

She hadn’t felt like one since the moment she slept with Anya back at her place.

Oh, but you felt like one tonight. Lady A made sure of that! Jaime shook her head. It wasn’t fair to put that on Lady A since Jaime had pressured her into this op and then hijacked the session.

“Whatever you’re feeling is on you,” Jaime muttered to herself as she unlocked her car and slid inside.

She sat there in silence for a few minutes, her head resting back on the headrest as she closed her eyes.

Had she fucked up? Jaime had never felt the way she felt tonight with Anya; that part was genuine.

But did giving in to her deepest desires put Anya in more danger?

Jaime’s phone vibrated, snapping her attention immediately. Max’s ugly mug filled the screen, and Jaime didn’t know whether to laugh or be disappointed that it wasn’t Anya.

“Hey.”

“All done?”

“It would be great if you could make it sound less like some seedy transaction,” she scoffed.

From her periphery, she noticed the security guard still watching her.

What was his deal? Was he making sure she wasn’t stalking Lady A or waiting for an opportunity to strike?

What the fuck was his name, again? Sammy?

No, Sonny. He wasn’t on their shortlist of suspects, but at this point, everyone should be on the shortlist. “But yes, we’re all done. Now we wait, I guess.”

“We wait for you to be targeted. I really don’t like this, Jaime.”

“Too late to back out now. What’s done is done. We just have to hope that the killer was watching.” Jaime did shudder this time. The idea of someone watching her while she and Anya lay naked and exposed wasn’t something she ever wanted to repeat.

Just then, a text came through on Jaime’s phone.

It was from Anya. Whatever Jaime expected to hear from someone with whom she’d just made love, this was not it.

Anya was upset. Shit. Jaime quickly typed a response before reaching across her body to put on her seatbelt.

That was her way of ensuring she didn’t do something stupid like run back inside and beg for forgiveness, essentially fucking up the entire operation.

“Yo, Baros! You still there?”

“Huh?” Jaime read Anya’s response for the tenth time.

We’ll talk tomorrow.

Damn it. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here.” Jaime eyed the security again. “Hey, I’m getting the stink eye from the bouncer dude. Could be that he’s looking out for Anya’s safety and wants me gone. Could be that he wants to cut my tongue out. I wanted to wait for Anya to come out, but…”

“But you can’t. Go ahead. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“Thanks, man. I’m just going down the road a bit.

I’ll pick up her tail once she’s out of the club’s view.

” Jaime started her car. She pretended like she was checking her rearview mirror, giving ol’ Sonny boy another once over.

He moved back inside as soon as Jaime started her car.

That was a point in his favor since it seemed like he was protecting Lady A.

One point didn’t ease Jaime’s suspicions, though.

“Fine. I’ll follow you to Dr. Grant’s to make sure everything is secure there. And listen, my gut is telling me it’s not a good idea for you to go home tonight.”

I may not have a choice. “That’s probably all that junk food you’ve been eating,” Jaime teased as she pulled out of the parking lot. Though she couldn’t see through his tinted windows, she nodded at Max as she drove by his car.

“I’m serious, Jaime. This fucker is smart.

You don’t think he’s done his homework on you?

Hell, you’ve been to the club on more than one occasion.

Maybe he’s been waiting for a reason to kill you, and you’ve just given him one.

The shit he does? That takes a bit of planning, yeah? I wanted our guys ready and…”

“And I rushed this,” Jaime finished for Max.

“I had to, Max. If it wasn’t me in the crosshairs, it was going to be her, you know that.

” Jaime pulled off to the side of the road.

Frustrated, she scrubbed her scalp with her blunt nails.

“I wasn’t planning on going home, but that’s up to Anya.

She’s not too happy with me at the moment.

So maybe don’t follow so close because she’s not happy with you, either. ”

“Can you blame her? She just took part in something that could get you killed, Baros, and we allowed it.”

Jaime rolled her eyes. Did nobody have faith in her? “You really think I’d let some motherfucker end me? Nah. Not in this lifetime, Max.” Not when I’m finally finding happiness again.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get cocky, Baros. When you start to lose sight of the danger, you won’t see it comin’ right at ya. The Doc is coming up on your left.”

Jaime glanced in her side mirror and saw Anya’s Lexus approaching. “I know the dangers, Max, believe me. My fucking eyes are open. They’re not taking her from me this time.”

Anya glanced up at her rearview mirror again.

If Jaime thought she was being stealthy while tailing her, she was sorely mistaken.

Each duplicated turn only irritated Anya even more.

Why couldn’t Jaime respect her wishes and give her the night to process everything that was swimming around in her head?

“And why are you taking this so hard?” Anya asked herself. “See? If Jaime gave you more time to process, you could psychoanalyze yourself.” She rolled her eyes. “And talk this out with Derek instead of yourself.”

Anya pressed the remote for her garage door opener as soon as she was within range, feeling far more than annoyed when Jaime pulled into the driveway behind her.

“Damn it!” Anya parked in the garage, as usual, and then contemplated just closing it and ignoring Jaime.

If Jaime was going to ignore the fact that Anya had asked for time alone, then two could play that game.

But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She could, however, make it perfectly clear that if Jaime insisted on staying over for ‘security purposes,’ she would be spending the night on the sofa.

Jaime had barely stepped out of her car when Anya marched toward her.

She knew this wouldn’t go well, but Jaime needed to speak to her.

She needed her to understand that everything they’d felt tonight was one hundred percent real.

In that moment, Jaime couldn’t have given a single fuck who was watching.

It was the perfect opportunity, in Jaime’s mind, to show Anya what she meant to her. “Anya…”

“I asked for some time, Jaime.”

Please don’t push me away. Jaime pleaded silently. “I know, baby, but…”

“Don’t baby me. Not now. Not until I figure out what the hell happened tonight and why you did it.” Anya stopped when she saw Max’s car at the end of her driveway. “I said I didn’t want a detail, Jaime. Is this how it’s going to be? I tell you what I want, and you do the opposite?”

Jaime winced as she glanced behind her. Way to be covert, Max. “No.” She sighed. “But under the circumstances, I hope you’ll forgive me for being overprotective.” Jaime looked deep into those heavenly eyes and smiled. “I need to talk to you about tonight. I need you to know that it was all—”

Two loud cracks echoed through the air. Although they were familiar, Anya’s confused mind couldn’t register them. One moment, Jaime was talking to her, and the next… she was falling.

“Jaime?” Then, Anya saw the blood. “Jaime!” Her brain and body went into action as she rushed to Jaime, frantically removing her jacket to use it as a compress.

“Jaime!” Max was out of his car and sprinting toward them, gun in his hand.

“Call it in, Max!” Anya ordered as she assessed Jaime’s injuries.

The shots had entered through Jaime’s back: one in her upper shoulder and another in her side.

There was so much blood that Anya was afraid a major artery had been nicked.

“Get an ambo here, now! Then go find who did this!” She looked up at Max, who stood there, tears in his eyes. “Max! Call now!”

“I-I did. As soon as I heard the shots, I called back up and EMS. They’re on their way.”

“Good.” Anya pressed her jacket to one of Jaime’s wounds, but the other was steadily bleeding.

“Give me your jacket!” As Anya looked down at Jaime, her eyes threatened to close.

“Jaime, look at me. Baby, you stay with me, okay?” Again, Jaime struggled to remain awake. “No, open your eyes and look at me.”

Max stripped his blazer off and pushed it to Anya. “What can I do?”

“Go find the fucker who did this,” Anya answered without taking her eyes off Jaime.

“Anya…”

This time, she looked at him. “Go, Max! I have her. The shots came from the east.”

“That’s… where I was. I didn’t see anyone.”

“There’s a trail about one hundred meters from here. If they followed us, they could have turned off there and continued on foot. Find them, Max.”

He nodded, looked at Jaime, and took off in the direction Anya gave him.

“He’s scared,” Anya told Jaime, who was clearly in shock. “So am I.”

“A-Anya…” Jaime felt as though her body was shaking, but she lay unmoving.

“Shh, don’t try to speak.” Her makeshift compresses were soaked through, and nothing she was doing was stemming the flow of blood.

“S-sorry.” If this was it, Jaime had to spend her final moments apologizing to Anya. This had been her fault. Anya had never wanted to do this. And now, she may never get the chance to tell the woman holding her what she meant to her. “Anya, I-I—”

“Don’t.” Anya’s eyes filled with tears. “Don’t you do this to me, Jaime.

You can’t make love to me the way you did tonight and then leave me.

You can’t make me fall for you, then…” Anya swallowed down the emotion lodged in her throat and shook Jaime a little.

“Please, Jaime. Open your eyes. Look at me.” Anya felt Jaime’s body become limp. “Damn it, Jaime, wake up!”

Sirens sounded in the distance, and Anya nearly collapsed with relief. She had been in this situation before. When the call went out that an officer was down, the response was swift. Anya hoped it was quick enough for Jaime.

“They’re almost here, Jaime.” Anya dipped her head to look Jaime in the eyes. Jaime’s were glazed over, and her skin was ashen. Anya was afraid that if she checked Jaime’s pulse, it would be weak. “Hey. Fight for me. Fight, baby. I’m so sorry.”

“N-not your f-fault,” Jaime managed weakly.

Anya scoffed. “We both know that’s not true.” She touched her lips to Jaime’s when Jaime tried to argue. “None of that matters. What matters is that you fight. We just found each other. Give us a little more time. Please?”

“Try.”

Flashing red and blue lights illuminated the area, and Anya’s once-quiet sanctuary was now filled with police and emergency personnel.

“We got her, Miss.”

“Doctor,” Anya corrected automatically. She didn’t understand why she had done that, but it felt important to her in this moment.

“Detective Baros has two gunshot wounds. One to the upper shoulder and one to the left side. I couldn’t stop the bleeding.

She’s conscious and alert but fading fast, most likely from blood loss and shock. ”

The paramedics thanked Anya, and one worked to control the hemorrhaging with hemostatic dressings while the other got the stretcher ready.

“Ready to roll! We’ll get an IV in her in the rig.” They transferred Jaime onto the stretcher and radioed dispatch that they were en route with a ‘major trauma GSW.’ “You comin’?”

“Um.” Anya looked around. She was a witness and technically shouldn’t leave the scene. But she wanted to go with Jaime.

“Go ahead,” Max said. Anya had no idea where the hell he had come from, but he looked disheveled, pissed, and sad. “I’ll take care of things here and meet you at the hospital.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

Anya tossed him her keys. “Make sure everything is locked, please?” Without waiting for a response, she turned and ran to catch up with Jaime and the paramedics.