Left For Dead (The Guarded Secrets Series Book 3) by Sara Schoen Read Free Book Online Page B

forgiven him after our last mission together. To everyone around us it looked like we had grown to hate each other, the once possible relationship shattered by the mission. They weren’t completely wrong; they just didn’t have the full story either. “Night Stripe!” he yelled through the door, clearly annoyed that I wasn’t answering him.
    I forced myself out of bed with a groan. My body ached and I could only thank myself for it. Between running and jumping onto a moving plane I knew I’d be sore, but that didn’t make it any easier to move around. I pulled open the door to meet him, his brown eyes dead set on me as he waited for me to apologize for making him wait. I could feel the anger resonating from him, even if I couldn’t, the rigid posture and angry glare would give it away. He was usually so calm; I guess I just knew how to get under people’s skins really well.
    “I’m here,” I said with a yawn. “Let’s go see Sharp Shooter before he comes looking for us.” My words were fast and curt as I felt the unsettling reminder of our fight surround us. My chest tightened, making it harder to breathe as I thought over what else to say or at least what was safe to say. I should apologize. He technically hadn’t done anything wrong, but at the same time he had betrayed me. He had made the choice that was best for the mission, but that still didn’t make forgiving him any easier. “Look, Renegade, I just want to say that—”
    “I know, you’re mad. Just sit through this meeting with me and then we can go back to sleep.” He walked off, and didn’t bother waiting for me to catch up as he took long strides.
    I stood there momentarily, letting the emotions I so rarely let surface take over. A tear escaped over my eye lashes as I wished I could be the stronger person and apologize, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have it in me to admit I was wrong to be upset because his decision had saved the mission, but hurt me in the process. He didn’t trust me and that’s why the mission went to hell. If he had just been able to trust my judgment then maybe we wouldn’t be here now. Another tear slid down my cheek as I watched him turn down the hallway, furthering the distance between us in more ways than one. I wasn’t sure I could ever fix this, or if he’d even be willing to hear me out on why I was so furious with him, but clearly it wasn’t just going to go away as I hoped. We should have listened to Sharp Shooter when he said he didn’t want agents who were in a relationship to work together.
    “Night Stripe!” he yelled, mostly likely waking up everyone around us. He must have finally noticed I wasn’t there.
    I wiped my tears away before I raced after him. It didn’t take long to catch up, but I could see he noticed I had been crying. The anger that had been etched into his features vanished and morphed into concern as I turned the corner. I hung my head low and let me hair cover my face as I sped past him. If he asked me what was wrong, I wasn’t sure I could hold in the flood gate that would burst. To hear the concern in his voice or feel the comfort of his touch would crumble the last bits of my will power to hold it in.
    “Come on,” I called back as I rounded another corner. “We don’t want to keep him waiting too long.” I didn’t wait for a reply. I turned and sprinted toward Sharp Shooter’s office. I didn’t want to give Renegade the chance to question me why I was crying, if he even cared .
    Everyone around here assumed I was upset because I had been captured, so Sharp Shooter sent me on a mission alone after that. He thought sending me to Florida to assist the FBI with a case was just what I needed. He had tried to make it sound like something other than using my pretty face to seduce someone into letting me into an office to steal some files on weapons deals and explosives. Whoever was behind it was planning to let hell loose in Florida during spring break, and the civilian