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“Aaron,” I supplied.
“Yeah, Aaron. He was the only one Jory had feelings for.”
“So, since Jory cared about Aaron, he figures you cared about the doctor.”
“Yeah.”
“But you didn’t because it wasn’t the same.”
“That’s right.”
“Because you weren’t together the way he and Aaron were.”
“Correct,” Sam sighed. “It was never anything real.”
“Does Jory know that?”
“Jory thinks I was as attached to Salcedo, Dwyer—whatever we’re calling him—as he was to Aaron because he thinks we have the same kind of heart. In fact, he thinks everyone’s heart works just like his.”
“They don’t,” I said sadly.
“No, they don’t. But that’s why I’m here—to protect that heart of his.”
It was funny to hear gentle words from such a fierce man.
“I’ve never loved anyone but him, and that’s why I had to get him back. When you’re faced with the truth, you have to act on it.”
It seemed like he was trying to get me to admit something.
“Did you love your professor?” he asked.
He was talking about my ex, Nathan Qells, the only man I had ever been in a real, grown-up relationship with.
“Did you love him the way I love Jory?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
He shrugged before leaning back in his chair. “Sorry, buddy; you’re the one who wanted to go swimming in the deep end.”
I studied him for a minute. He was right. I had been the one to try and pry out secrets. And I knew why. I was all hopped up on drugs. If I weren’t, I would have never had the balls to talk to Sam so openly.
“No.”
“No what?”
I cleared my throat. “No, I wasn’t in love with Nate the same way you love Jory. I chose my job over him. You chose Jory over the job.”
“I actually never had to make that decision,” he said thoughtfully. “I was fortunate. By the time Jory and I were ready for me to say what we were, I had a captain who got it and a new partner who didn’t care who I slept with. Right after that, I joined the Marshals Service.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m pretty much set. I do my job well, and no one screws with me. If they look, they see I have a husband, not a wife, but no one gives a crap, especially my boss.”
“You’re very lucky.”
“I thought you were thinking of becoming a marshal.”
“I was, but I like my job too much. I like catching the bad guy,” I told him. “And really, this is all I know how to do.”
