After Hours by Marie Rochelle Page A

of them had gotten hurt. She tried to rush past a man wearing a dark blue suit blocking her open front door, but he grabbed her by the arm.
     “Ma’am, where do you think you’re going?” he demanded loudly in her face.
    “Let go of me,” she hissed, jerking her arm away. “This is my house and I have a right to know what’s going on here. Has something happened to my Uncle Wayne or Forbes?”
    “You’re Jametria Collins,” the man wearing the suit said, looking her up and down. “You look younger in person than in your pictures,” he muttered so low that she almost didn’t hear him.
    “What pictures are you talking about? Let me inside my house,” she demanded, shoving past him and hurrying inside before he could stop her. He’d better not touch her again, or he wasn’t going to like the outcome.
     “Forbes, Uncle Wayne where are you?” Jametria yelled, hurrying through the house with the man at her heels. Not seeing them downstairs, she cut through the living room and raced upstairs.
    “Ms. Collins, stop right there,” the man yelled after her. “You can’t go up there. Come back here!”
    Ignoring the man behind her, she kept moving in the direction that she heard the voices coming from. She could make out the sound of Forbes and her Uncle Wayne yelling at each other. What in the hell was going on inside of her house? Why were all of these people here?
     
    ****
     
    Standing across the room with his back resting against a table, Forbes stared at the handcuffed man sitting in a chair a few feet in front of him. He couldn’t believe after almost twenty years on the run. Wayne Collins had finally been caught.
    It felt good to be a part of this bust. Zane had been right about Jametria being the link to finally capturing Wayne Collins. He had tried to sneak into Dallas to see his niece before leaving the country, but it hadn’t worked. They had him and he would be spending his time in a jail cell instead of relaxing on a sunny beach.
    “Stop staring at me you son of a bitch,” Wayne yelled at him. “I swear if I wasn’t handcuffed. I would show you who’s boss. Hell, does my niece, Jametria, even know who you really are?” Wayne Collins questioned. “What do you think she’s going to do when she finds out you used her to get to me?”
     “Mr. Collins, you need to keep your mouth shut,” Forbes snapped. “You’re a criminal and deserve to get brought to justice. You have been robbing banks for years, it’s past time your ass got arrested.”
     “Was part of your cover to make my sweet and innocent niece fall in love with you?” Wayne demanded. “I hope you know she’ll hate you for this. Jametria will never say another word to you when she finds out the truth.”
    “Shut up!” he hollered. “Jametria will understand that I was only doing my job. I know she loves me and I love her. We’ll get through this, but I don’t have to discuss my relationship with her to you.”
    “I would have to disagree, Agent Huntington, because you’re here in my face. I can say anything I want to you and you have to take it. I do have a question for you. How did you get Jametria to leave so you could arrest me?”
    Forbes hated that he was allowing Wayne to get under his skin but it couldn’t be helped. Jametria’s uncle knew all the right buttons to push and it was pissing him off. However, he wasn’t going to allow Wayne Collins to ruin what he knew Jametria felt for him.
    “I sent her to the store after something,” he answered. “I loved her enough that I didn’t want her to be here when this all went down. By the time she eventually gets back home, thankfully, all of my men will be cleared out and then I can tell her what happened. Plus, you won’t be around to fill her head with lies about me. I know that she loves you, but she loves me more and will understand.”
    A smug look suddenly came over Wayne’s face. “You think so? You really believe Jametria will overlook the lies you