This is the beginning of part 2 of Flawed, so I hope you have all read all 17 chapters of Part 1! Enjoy this part – this is where the action heats up and I think you will like it!

Brinds

Chapter 18 Trust Your Instincts
SIS and the Drug Squad knew how much undercover experience Nick Buchanan had, and knew he could handle most things that came his way. This meant they decided to leave him much to his own devices in his assignment with Shay Baldwin – practically all they had given the couple was their new names. Nick was hesitant that such a lack of direction and instruction was a good idea, but he knew any pleas for more would fall on deaf ears, so he had made the most of their weeks of briefings and preparation meetings and often fell asleep beside Jennifer each night during those weeks mulling over how to approach their mission. He had worked undercover before, but nothing like this. Each undercover mission he'd ever done had been unique and different and scary all in their own way. One without Jennifer as his sidekick was even more so.
After much deliberation with Shay, Nick, unofficially the mastermind of their undercover actions, had decided when and exactly where they should debut their new life together, and when the night he'd picked arrived, the confidence he'd displayed throughout their preparation dissolved in an instant and he allowed his nerves to take over without him even realising.
Feeling powerless and pathetic, he dressed after dinner solemnly and slowly as Jen sat on the bed and watched him. She too felt similar feelings of ill confidence, hers marked by worry and just a tiny bit of jealousy. But mostly worry. She didn't feel right having her husband tread the boards of undercover work without her.
Nick had always dressed well the entire time Jen had known him, but the first night of his undercover stint, he stepped it up a notch, and she was impressed at the sight of him. An undisclosed amount of cash made available to him had allowed Nick to clad himself in designer threads like Jen had never seen. He wasn't going to society balls, but the clothes were of top quality and the first step towards becoming someone else. Jen encouraged him to think of the smart threads as his superhero costume – when he put them on he could be anyone he wanted, or needed, to be. It was a sentiment Nick appreciated.
As he finished dressing though, inside Jen felt anxious. By 9pm he was ready to go and he farewelled her at their bedroom door with a tight hug and a long and drawn out kiss. "I don't know how long we'll be out tonight," he whispered, feeling guilty already that he was doing this without her.
She nodded, understanding. "Just please be careful," she whispered back, their faces close and eyes locked on each other. "If something doesn't seem right, just get out." She leaned in to kiss him again, savouring the last moments that night that she would have with him. "Trust your instincts."
He nodded solemnly, promising to do so. Reluctantly he pulled out of her embrace and made for the front door. As he stepped out onto the veranda he turned back to look at her where she stood in the hallway, her shoulder against the wall, her eyes downcast, her arms hanging listlessly by her sides, the thumb of her left hand playing with her wedding ring, one more time before he left.
"Jen?"
She looked up.
"I love you."