She tucked all those emotions away to deal with later and started to dial Burnett. But her phone rang first. Burnett’s number lit up her cell screen.
“We’re back. At the fence on the north side,” she said in lieu of hello.
“Is everything okay?” The camp leader’s tone came off short. Tense.
“Fine.”
“Come to the office. Now,” he insisted.
Oh, hell, Della thought. Sounded like some more shit had hit the fan.
“We’ll be right there.”
“No,” Burnett clipped out. “Alone. I just want to see you right now. I’ll contact Chase when I need him.” The camp leader hung up.
Obviously listening, Chase’s brow instantly creased with worry, and she didn’t know who was in trouble. Her or the panty perv.
Chapter Twenty-six
Burnett stood silently on the office porch, waiting for her to arrive. When she landed right in front of the steps, he stood there, nose in the air and head slightly tilted as if checking to make sure they didn’t have company.
When his gaze landed on her and he didn’t scowl in the way he usually did when her butt was in trouble—which happened to be a look she was accustomed to seeing—she suspected the person on the camp leader’s shit list was Chase and not her.
“How did things go?” he finally asked after leading her back into his office and motioning for her to sit down. As she followed his instructions, he dropped into the chair behind his huge mahogany desk. Somehow he still managed to make the desk look small.
She started spilling the details of the night, and he held up his hand. “I know what happened. I had another agent there and they’ve already reported back.”
She frowned. “You didn’t trust—”
Burnett dropped his palms on his desk with a thump. “Don’t even go there. This isn’t about trust. Generally speaking there is always a backup agent working any case with younger unpolished agents.”
She resented the “unpolished” remark, but kept her mouth shut.
“What I need to know is how things went between you and Chase. Do you still mistrust him?”
“I…” She remembered Chase giving the guy hell for calling her a whore. She met Burnett’s gaze. “Why?”
“Just answer me, please.”
She had to stop for another second to know the answer. “Yes. I’m still leery. But probably not as much as before.”
“And you still won’t tell me why you have misgivings for this guy?”
Della chewed on that question for another second. She couldn’t tell Burnett what Jenny had seen, but … “I recognized his scent when I first met him. I don’t know from where. But it almost feels as if it has a negative vibe attached to it.”
“And you chose not to tell me this earlier?” Burnett’s brows pinched.
“I wanted to make sure I was right.” She stood a little squarer, prepared for him to get miffed.
“And have you?”
She hesitated, something Burnett didn’t like.
“Della, do you trust him or not?”
“Not completely, but I can’t actually recall meeting him.”
“Have you confronted him?”
“I have, and he tells me I’m wrong.”
“But you still don’t believe him.” Burnett leaned against his desk, concern continuing to tighten his expression. “Did you not listen—?”
“The heart lies sometimes. Wasn’t it you who told me that?” It suddenly occurred to her that Burnett had to suspect that Chase could lie, or he’d have him in here interrogating him instead of Della. Frankly, she wanted to find out how one went about training to do that, too. It could be quite useful while working for the FRU.
Burnett folded his hands together on the desk. “At any point during this operation did you fear for your safety? Or think Chase would hurt you? Or betray you?”
Della considered it, and all she could recall was how angry he’d gotten when the creep had taken liberties and touched her. “No.”
“But you still don’t trust him.”
“Not wholeheartedly.” She told the truth and then countered. “And neither do you. What’s changed?”
“I didn’t—”
“You trusted him this morning and now … not so much.”
Burnett unfolded his hands. “Right before you called, some of the information he gave me came back … iffy.”
So she and Burnett shared the same concern. “He told me his parents were killed in a plane wreck. He was turned then, at fourteen years old, when a vampire found him.”
“I’ve confirmed his parents died in a plane crash,” Burnett said.
Della couldn’t help but imagine how hard it must have been on a young Chase, losing his family and being turned in the same day. Not that this actually meant she could trust him. Bad things happened to people and sometimes that was what twisted them into being bad.
“Then what’s iffy?” she asked Burnett.
“Where he lived. Basic stuff.”
“He said California,” Della said, and then asked, “What other basic stuff?” She recalled Chase telling her the man who rescued her wasn’t registered. If that was what he was hiding, she sure as hell couldn’t blame him.
“I’m looking into it,” Burnett said, and that was the camp leader’s way of saying back off. Della hesitated to say anything more, but then … “You know there could be reasons he’s keeping things from you. Reasons that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s bad.”
God knew she kept some things to herself. Most of them painful things.
Burnett’s brow pinched tighter. “True, but I need to make sure those secrets aren’t anything that would cause the school or the FRU harm. And unfortunately I’ve also learned that when people hide things, it’s usually not good.” He leaned in. “Do you trust him or not? Why am I getting mixed feelings from you?”
You like me. You just don’t realize it yet. Chase’s words played in her head and she even saw his sexy smile. “I … don’t know. I mean, I don’t trust him like I would someone else from here, Lucas or Derek, or … Steve, but I … don’t think he’s all bad either.” The truth tasted funny on her tongue.
“Fine.” Burnett slapped his hands on the desk. “Meanwhile, let me know if you learn anything new?”