After Hours by Marie Rochelle Page B

fed her only to get closer to me?”
    “I know that she will,” Forbes replied, confident. “Jametria is in love with me.”
     
    ****
     
    “Mr. Huntington, you don’t know as much as you think you do,” a soft yet furious voice yelled behind him.
    Forbes quickly spun around and he stumbled back as Jametria’s slap almost knocked him to the ground. “You lying son of bitch.” She lunged at him again, but Zane grabbed her, yanking her arms behind her back.
    “Ms. Collins, you’re under arrest for hitting a federal agent.”
    “I don’t care. Let me go so I can hit him again. He’s a lying bastard. I know that light tap didn’t hurt his sorry ass,” she hissed, twisting her arms as she tried to get free.
    Shaking off the ringing in his ears, Forbes watched Jametria struggle against Zane’s stronger hold. “Let her go. I’m not going to press charges.” He glared at his boss because of the way he was handling Jametria. She was upset, but she wasn’t any danger to him.
    “I can’t do that,” Zane answered, staring at him.
     “I said let her go. I know Jametria isn’t going to hit me again,” Forbes muttered, rubbing his stinging cheek. “I deserved the slap anyway.”
    “I’ll hit you again as soon as this jerk let’s go of my arms,” she threatened.
    “No, you won’t,” Forbes stated, moving to stand in front of her. He saw the brave image she was trying to put on; however, he saw the hurt in her eyes.
    Big brown eyes glistened with unshed tears as Jametria stared back at him before jerking her head away. “I hate you,” she whispered under her breath, but he still heard the soft spoken words and they hurt more than the slap.
    “You no good bastard,” Wayne yelled at him from across the room. “Leave Jametria alone.”
    “Zane, will you take care of Mr. Collins so I can speak to his niece alone?”
    His boss looked at Jametria then Wayne before he let her go of her arms and took her uncle from the room.
    “Jametria let me explain.” The words were out of his mouth as soon as they were alone. The longer he waited to justify his actions the harder it would be to make Jametria to listen to him.
    “Agent Huntington, I don’t want you to clarify anything to me,” she said, turning away from him.
    Forbes wrapped his hand around Jametria’s wrist. “Sweetheart, don’t leave. We need to talk.” He hated the pleading sound of his voice, but he had to make her listen.
    “Please let go of my arm,” she hissed, giving it a hard jerk.
    “No.” Forbes let go of her arm and then eased past Jametria’s body, blocking her only way out. He couldn’t permit her leave until they talked.
    “Are you holding me here to question me about my uncle?”
    “Your uncle isn’t the reason I wanted you to stay and you know it,” Forbes replied. “I want to know how much damage I have caused to our relationship.”
    “Relationship,” Jametria snickered, facing him. “I was a means to an end for you. You only faked a relationship with me to get closer to my uncle. How do I even know if Forbes Huntington is your real name?”
    “It is.”
    “Do you think I’m actually going to believe a word that comes out of your deceitful mouth?”
    This was his worst nightmare come true. The woman he loved was looking at him like she hated the sight of him. “I’m not lying to you, Baby. I’m in love with you.”
    Jametria gave him a watery smile as tears filled her eyes. “No. You don’t love me because if you had you would have told me the truth weeks ago.”
    “I was doing my job. Your Uncle Wayne is a bank robber and he had to be apprehended.”
    He was sick of defending his actions. The only thing that pained him was Jametria got hurt in the process.
    “You’re right. You did what was right for you and now I’m going to do the same thing,” Jametria said. “I’m ending things between us. None of it was real anyway, so the both of us should be able to go back to our old lives without any