He wanted to get Cam on the Edward angle right away. Rafe’s brain raced as he moved toward the parking lot. Laura and Edward had some sort of beef Rafe hadn’t known anything about. Brad was acting like an ass. He’d been around the Bureau for a long time before he joined the BAU. And Joe. God, was he actually wondering if his mentor was a serial killer?
He wouldn’t let it stop him. He would investigate every single one of them until he figured it out. This was what he should have done five years before.
Rafe slammed out of the double doors, practically running to keep up. He stopped in his tracks at what he saw. Standing right there in front of his SUV—crap, it was really the Bureau’s SUV—stood Jana Evans, microphone at the ready. Cam had put Laura on her feet, and they both faced the tiny ball of spite.
“Would you like to tell our viewers about your experience with the Marquis de Sade?” Jana asked in a brisk, professional voice. She wore what had to be a thousand dollar suit and killer stilettos, but there was a gauntness to her frame that utterly turned Rafe off. “We would all love to know just how you managed to escape a killer who never makes a mistake.”
Cam got in front of Laura, his big body a barrier between her and the world. “You get the hell out of here. Move that van out of the way.”
“Not until I get my story, I won’t.” Jana shoved her microphone toward Laura’s face. “This is the one that puts me over the edge. I’ll get on at one of the cable giants after this.”
“Are you live?” Laura asked.
“No. The time difference wouldn’t work, but if you want to do a live shot, I can be back here for the eleven o’clock news at nine o’clock. We would have to broadcast then.” Jana practically vibrated with energy. “I would need to meet you a little earlier to get you ready.”
Rafe was just about to forbid it when Laura nodded at Jana.
“Come out to the town hall. We can do it there.” She walked around the news van toward the SUV Rafe had driven out here. Rafe stopped in front of the reporter. “She’s not doing this.” Jana gave him a tight-lipped smiled that came nowhere close to her eyes. Her icy blonde hair was in a tight, professional bun. It was so different from Laura’s natural honey color. “Laura always does what she wants to, Rafe. You should know that. She won’t listen to you now. See you tonight. Don’t think you’re getting on camera. I already have an FBI source.”
Rafe just bet she did.
Rafe hopped into the SUV just as Cam took off. Laura had taken the passenger seat, leaving him in the back. He leaned forward, trying to force his way into her space. “What was that about? You can’t go on television.”
Her stony face stared back at him. “Sure I can. It’s what they want. It puts a huge target on me.”
“You already have a target on your back,” Cam pointed out, his voice tight with tension.
“It will be a beacon when I’m done with that interview,” Laura replied.
Rafe could just guess what she was going to do. She was going to get on TV and taunt the Marquis de Sade. She would know exactly what to say to get his rage going. By the time she was done, there would be no question about him coming after her. It was everything those fuckers would want. “I forbid it.”
“You can’t forbid anything, Rafe.”
He chose to ignore her. “How fast can we be in Vegas, Cam?” Laura turned, her face marred by a nasty frown. “We are not going to Vegas.”
“If I break speed limits, I can get us there in ten hours,” Cam said.
He paused at the street as though trying to make the decision.
Laura stared at Cam. “If you want me to run again, this is the way to do it.”
Cam turned toward her cabin. Pussy. As if he could hear Rafe’s thoughts, his eyes pleaded through the rearview mirror. “What am I supposed to do? We can’t make her marry us.” Rafe didn’t see why not. “I can think of several ways.”
“It’s not happening, Rafe,” Laura said, a stubborn set to her chin.
“You’re going to drop me off at my place, and then you can leave.
Both of you.”
Cam turned to her. “I’m not going anywhere, I told you that. I told you that you couldn’t get rid of me. For god’s sake, Laura, we made love not an hour ago.”
“We had sex,” she shot back.
“You told me you loved me.”
Rafe sat, wishing he’d had the chance to pull her in back with him. He could see plainly what she was doing. He dearly wished he’d done more than ruined Brad Conrad’s face. By showing her those photos and playing on her guilt, Brad had undone all the progress he and Cam had made with Laura. Brad had shoved her back into that place where she was alone and helpless.
Rafe wasn’t about to let her stay there. “Can I finish this conversation for you, bella? I know precisely how it is going to go.
Now you’re going to tell Cam that you didn’t mean it. You’re going to tell him that making love in the Sheriff’s Office meant nothing.
You were just telling him what he wanted to hear because he was being unreasonable. Cam is going to get hurt and sit there in sullen silence while you turn to me and tell me the same thing. You’re going to lay down the law. You’re going to push us both out by telling us you never really loved us and you like your life here without us.
You’re going to tell us to go home and forget about you. Am I close?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I was going to curse more.”
Yes, she probably would have. Rafe shook his head. “You’re being a self-sacrificing idiot.”
“Is this about the case?” Cam asked, clearly confused.
“No,” Rafe replied. “It’s far more than the case.” He couldn’t forget the haunted look on Laura’s face as she’d told him they didn’t need to use a condom. “She’s feeling guilty about a lot of things.
She’s feeling the weight of those women’s deaths. She’s also feeling unworthy. She loves us. She just doesn’t know how to be with us.”
“That is such bullshit,” Laura shot back. “I think I know how to be with you, Rafe. I just have to let you pin me to the nearest flat surface.
That’s all you require.”
She wasn’t going to get to him that easily. “I don’t require a surface at all, bella. When I want you, I’ll simply lift that skirt, pick you up, and impale you on my cock.”
Cam shook his head. “Yeah, baby, I can totally do it standing up.” Rafe couldn’t miss the way her fists clenched in her lap as Laura replied. “There’s more to a relationship than just sex.”
He wanted to hold her, to touch her, but he held off. “Yes, there’s far more. There’s also more to a marriage than giving birth to children.”
She flushed, her delicate skin turning pink in a heartbeat.
Cam stopped the car in the middle of the road. “She thinks we don’t want her because she can’t have kids?”
“I believe Laura is seeing herself as the noose that’s going to take us both down.”
Cam turned back to the road and started driving again. “You’re right—she’s being an idiot.”
“You’ve both quit your jobs for me,” Laura said, though a little of the sass had left her voice.