Exhale

Copyright © 2023 JS Mercier All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any form in any means without the express, written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations in book reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this work is illegal. To request permissions, email the author at [email protected]. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to any organization, event, or person, living or dead, is purely coincidental or being used fictitiously. Interested in listening along with Morella as you read her story? Check out the Spotify playlist that includes all of the songs listed, plus some bonus tracks that helped inspire me while writing. Check out the playlist HERE Contents Important Note Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Chapter Fifty-One Chapter Fifty-Two Chapter Fifty-Three Chapter Fifty-Four Chapter Fifty-Five Chapter Fifty-Six Chapter Fifty-Seven Chapter Fifty-Eight Chapter Fifty-Nine Chapter Sixty Chapter Sixty-One Chapter Sixty-Two Chapter Sixty-Three Chapter Sixty-Four Chapter Sixty-Five Epilogue Also By JS Mercier Stalk Me Chapter One “Oh, come on, Mo. It’s my last fucking day. Do you really need to do this shit?” It’s all I can do to hold my snort in and school my features before turning around. Filling my eyes and voice with all the doe-like innocence I can muster, I turn them both on Tommy. “What?” “Don’t play that game with me, kid. I know you too well, and you know exactly what you’re doing. Can’t you give me a break today? Or at least the new guy?” I could… but I don’t want to. I’ve had plenty of handlers over the years, most of them stuck up suits with no sense of humor. While I’m happy for Tommy and his retirement, I’m sad for me. I’ve come to rely on him and the relationship that we’ve built. I have to trust someone to have my back while I work, and I’ve never trusted anyone like I do him. It didn’t come immediately. It built slowly over the first year we worked together and was hard won, but once it was there, I had no doubt I could trust him with my life. I also proved to him he could trust me with his. I’m dreading the change. Tommy has continuously assured me the new agent is a good guy, but experience has proven to me that even the best men can be changed by fear. What I do is nothing short of fear inducing. “I can’t let you leave on a boring note, Tommy. Besides, you know how long it took me to break you in. I used to try to ease new handlers into things, but I’m getting too old to play around. If he can’t handle me today, he won’t be able to handle me at all. We’ll move on to the next candidate, and waste less of my time.” “Give yourself some credit, Mo. What you can do is unprecedented, and most people would never imagine it would ever be possible. We get briefed on it in full before meeting you, but can you blame them? This is story book shit, kid. Things feds don’t believe in by default. Hell, I watched you do it half a dozen times before I actually believed it was happening.” I snort a laugh, shaking my head in exasperation. “You literally watched me work and didn’t believe it was real? You saw it happen, Tommy.” “True, but for a while I thought the bureau was fucking with me, or testing me, or… I dunno. Is that punking TV show still a thing?” I roll my eyes and return to the process of unpacking my kit and getting the room prepped. “When is he going to be here? Being late on the first day doesn’t exactly instill confidence, does it? All I need is another prick who thinks their time is more important than mine. I’ll make sure he doesn’t last very long if that’s the kind of attitude he has.” “I’ll keep that in mind,” an incredibly deep voice says behind me, causing me to still in surprise. “Fortunately for me, I arrived on time. I was simply waylaid by the Warden on my way down. He doesn’t seem to be happy with our presence here today.” “Waylaid?” I ask, stiffening my spine before turning to face my newest handler, using snark to cover up my embarrassment. “Fancy word.” “It was on my word of the day toilet paper,” he drawls, looking at my tools spread out on the table behind me instead of my face. Because… God damn. He’s well over six feet tall, and built like a brick shithouse. The angles of his face are sharp, made all the more pronounced by a fresh shave, and his blue eyes are like nothing I’ve ever seen. I didn’t think that it would be possible for deep navy blue to be bright, but they somehow are. Tommy clears his throat, snapping me out of my stupor and drawing our attention to him. Thankfully, he wipes the shit-eating grin from his face before our new addition sees it. “Warden Smythe is a pretentious little fucker, isn’t he?” Tommy asks, extending his hand to shake and trying to smooth things over. “He likes to try to assert dominance whenever he can, just ignore him. How’s it