Page 37 of Ravaged With You

“No. It’s okay. I’m saying thank you. In a very bad way, but it’s still thank you.”

“In that case, you’re welcome. But you don’t have to thank me. The Great Trifecta, remember? SIC?”

She laughed. “Mel Swift, Jo Irwin, and Charlie Cooper. We might have seemed like an odd group, but we were exactly the way we were supposed to be.”

“We were indeed.” That was why they’d arranged their acronym as they did—because sic was used in writing to show that something quoted that appeared wrong was in fact the actual, correct quotation.

“He was a good man,” Jo said, her eyes welling. “He deserved better than what we had.”

“Sounds like both of you did. And there’s no point beating yourself up now. All you can do is move forward.”

She shifted in her chair, then changed the subject. “Why didn’t you ask Corveau to see the security footage? You just told me we need it.”

“Because you’re supposed to be a bereaved wife looking for answers.”

“I am. I admit I’m angry about the way Mel was acting, and I wanted a divorce for more reasons than that, but I still love him. I always will, and—”

“I mean an answer to a suicide,” he said gently. “Not a murder. And that seemed to be pushing it.”

“But—”

“What if Corveau is part of it?”

“You mean a really good actor who was playing us?”

“It’s possible. We press on something like security footage and that might be showing our hand.”

“Would that be a bad thing?” Jo asked. “The bad guys are the ones who want us to locate this thing, remember?”

“Except they assume we know where it is. So from their perspective, we might be trying to locate them, and not just the MacGuffin.”

“They’re idiots if they think we won’t.”

He chuckled. “Possibly, but it’s not as if we have a choice. Even if we didn’t have to find this thing to protect both of us, I’d still want answers. Wouldn’t you?”

“Hell, yes.” She frowned, then asked, “Do you think he is? Involved, I mean.”

“Honestly, no. But I also didn’t know you and Mel were having problems, so maybe my take isn’t that valid.”

She said nothing, just held his eyes.

“What?”

“You knew we were having problems,” she said. “Of course you did.”

He sighed. “Yes, I did. Though the fact that you’d asked for a divorce really was news.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I ignored all the signs, when instead I should have talked to you both. Tried to help.”

“Why did you ignore them?”

Because I was terrified that if the two of you weren’t together, that I’d want you, but I damn sure couldn’t have you.

He didn’t say that, though. Instead, he said, “Because I’m a shitty friend.”

For a moment, she only sat there looking at him. Then she rose and came to his chair. She bent over and brushed a gentle kiss over his cheek. “No,” she whispered. “You’re not.”

Chapter Eleven

“It’s gonna depend on the system they’ve got,” Mario says when we return to Stark Security after the Corveau meeting. This time, we’re sitting across from him at his desk in the open area.