I bit my lip. “I couldn’t tell you. You understand why now, don’t you?”
“I didn’t understand then and I still fuckin’ don’t.”
“There’s a chain of command at the FBI and the project I’m working on is classified.”
“You could have told me that, Sierra. You could have sat me down and told me that you’d been recruited to work with the FBI on a case, and that you’d be gone, but you would be back.”
“Sitting you down to talk isn’t as easy as you pretend. Not to mention the fact, you would have followed me to Virginia.”
“You’re probably right, but I would have liked to have been given the choice of how to respond. Instead, you and Sundance iced me out. So, yeah, I think conspired was the right choice of words.”
I swallowed nervously. “It sounds like it’s not just Sundance who you don’t trust.”
“Call me crazy, but I have a hard time trusting people who don’t trust me.”
“Not telling you about the FBI had nothing to do with trust. I promise you.”
“Then why did the two of you keep me in the dark?”
“To help keep me safe, for one thing. The more people who know about what I’m doing, the higher the risk of the bad guys finding out.”
“They could torture me ’til there was nothing left but hamburger meat and I wouldn’t give you up.”
“I believe you, but I’d never want anyone I cared about to be in that position. Taxi is trying to protect his team and Sundance is trying to protect his club.”
“AndI’mtrying to protectyou,” he growled. “ButI can’t do that if you keep secrets from me. How can I trust you knowing you could just walk out at any time without warning?”
I took Wrath’s hand in mine. “I promise I’ll never leave you again without talking to you first.”
“And I need to know more about what it is you do with the FBI.”
I nodded. “I’ll tell you everything I can without breaking protocol, but I’ll have to brief Taxi about everything I tell you.”
“Fair enough.”
I sighed. “Make peace with Sundance, Booth. He was protecting you and me the best he could. And I think, had the roles been reversed, you would have made the same call.”
Wrath grunted.
“I’ll take that as a, ‘Yeah, Moonbeam, you’re right. I’ve seen the error of my ways and I will make it right with Sundance.’ Now, wasn’t there talk of a hot bath?”
“You gonna stay put?”
“I can’t say that definitively because I do actually work for Taxi, but I promise I won’t go anywhere without telling you about it first.”
“You know I’m gonna fuck you in that tub.”
“I’m countin’ on it.”
He smirked. “Your ass is also gonna be red by the time I’m done with you.”
I licked my lips. “My pussy’s already wet.”
“You start the tub, I’ll get the food.”
“And the wine.”
“And the wine,” he promised.