Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
She was supposed to spend another night with Jake.
Wren curled up on the couch. She’d gotten new clothes—currently she wore jeans and a black top. She’d needed clothes—and not just the borrowed scrubs—for her very long visit at the sheriff’s station. A visit that had come immediately after she’d left the hospital. Luckily, Honey had gotten a deputy to bring Wren’s travel bag over from Milo’s place.
The crime scene.
The deputy had brought the bag to the sheriff’s station. There had been tons of questions to answer about the attack. Forms to sign. So many statements to give.
Her phone had been located.
It had been tossed in one of the garbage cans outside of the hospital. Jake said the caller had done that act deliberately, to let them know just how close he had been the whole time.
Her friends had been terrified when they saw Wren. Jennifer had been crying loudly, and Makayla hadn’t been able to stop shaking.
She hadn’t mentioned anything about her father to them.
So far, Jake was the only person—besides Honey and Uncle Milo—who knew her secret. Years ago, Uncle Milo had insisted that she talk with a few shrinks. But those psychiatrists had never learned the full story from her teenage self.
And Jake, well…
He’d just strode into the den. He had his phone to his ear. “Yeah, dammit, Eb, you heard what I said.” Tension practically poured from him. “One dead attacker and another in the wind. I don’t know if they are lackeys just following orders or if the one in the wind is the jerk pulling the strings.” His intense gaze landed right on her. “The sonofabitch said we’d lose her. Hell, no, it’s not happening. I don’t need to be told that shit by you. I know it won’t go down.”
Fear curled tightly within her stomach.
He marched toward her. “I get that it’s someone we’ve both pissed off. Only there is a long line of those assholes. This person dug into our lives. They found out that she is our weakness.”
Wren shook her head. She wasn’t a weakness for the twins. Just a blip on their radar.
“That means this creep is close. Came back to our home base kind of close. I’ll be using my resources, and you use yours—and, hell, yes, we’re gonna get Marley to call in the Ice Breakers. Why not? They excel at digging, and this is Wren’s life we are talking about. But not just the Ice Breakers. I want Declan Flynn on the job. That guy can follow any breadcrumb that he finds online. Declan and his buddy Hunter. Hunter is shady as hell, one of the things I quite enjoy about the guy. He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty.”
She curled her legs beneath her as she perched on the couch. Her gaze fell to her hands. All of the blood was gone. It had been long gone. So why did she keep checking her hands so much to make sure they were clean?
I stabbed a man today. Twice. I would have killed him. To get away, she would have taken his life and never hesitated. Hadn’t her father told her that would be the case? That if the choice came down to survival or death, people would do whatever was necessary?
He hadn’t just been some wild maniac. Once upon a time, he’d been a respected psychology professor. He’d worked in an ivory tower for years. Then he’d fallen in love with a student.
Her mother.
The story she’d told Jake and Eb about her father traveling in Madrid and falling for her mother? That had been part of the cover Uncle Milo created for her.
Wren’s mother had been from Madrid. She’d come to the US in order to get her degree. She’d been a student who’d gotten swept away in a romance with a handsome, young professor. For a time, the relationship had been great. Wren had some happy memories. But then, her mother had fallen for someone else. She’d left and…
And all of the cracks in her father’s perfect surface had begun to appear.
“The guy is ballsy. To be at the hospital? He must have swiped her phone from the scene at Milo’s.”
She didn’t even remember dropping her phone. Maybe it had fallen during the struggle? Had the phone been with her when she’d run out onto the balcony and tried to get help?
“He was right there. No, there isn’t a camera that can show us his face from the hospital. The SOB knew exactly where to go so there would be no footage.”
She looked up. Only to get caught by his blazing eyes.
“Is there anything else you need to know?” Jake’s jaw hardened. Wren realized he’d repeated a question his brother had asked. Jake paused, as if mulling over what his response would be.
She held her breath.
“Yes. You need to know that Wren and I are lovers.”
She felt her eyes widening.
“That’s the story we’re telling everyone. That’s why she’s staying with me. Why I won’t let her go anywhere without me being by her side. So when you get to town, be prepared for the news. Deal with it.”
Her breath shuddered out.
“Start making that list of names,” Jake ordered. “Every enemy we’ve got. People who could find out about Wren. The caller was very specific. Said we would lose her. And that’s not ever going to happen.” A pause. Then, “Good. Glad you escaped the hail of gunfire. Now get your ass on the next plane.” He hung up and tossed the phone aside.
The moments ticked by. She should say something. So how about… “Just what kind of cases have you and Eb worked that would make someone mad enough to kill?”
He sat on the couch. Right beside her. The heat of his body stretched out and curled around her. “You think you’re the only one carrying around secrets?”
“I figure everyone carries them.” True. “Some are just a whole lot bigger than others.”
His head tilted as he studied her.
Wren had always thought her secret was particularly big. Hello, twisted serial killer father. “I told you my secret. Don’t you think you should tell me all of yours?”
“You told me one secret. Granted, it was a major one. Definitely caught me by surprise. But you’ve hardly revealed all.” His hand reached out. Caught a lock of her hair. “I don’t want you to be scared of me.” He fiddled with the lock of hair, seemingly unaware of his movements.
Meanwhile, she was far too aware of everything he did. “Story of my life,” she muttered.
He frowned.
“Uh, thinking people would be scared if they learned the truth about me,” Wren hurried to add. “My…father…” She hated calling him that. “He murdered people in front of me like it was one of his behavioral experiments.” Because that was all it had been. Worse, she had just been an experiment. She knew that. “Trust me, there isn’t anything you could say that would make me scared of you.” But how did Jake feel about her? Deep down?
He leaned in closer. “Don’t be so sure.”
“Jake, you killed to protect me today.” If he hadn’t come barreling inside, that knife would have plunged into her. “I would never be afraid of you.”
“I killed .” Grim. “And now you’re pulling away from me.”
Uh, no, she wasn’t. She was right there. Maybe even leaning toward him because she couldn’t help herself.
“In the hospital, you retreated from me. You’re scared of me now. If you learn more about me and Eb, the truth will just terrify you even more.”
Really? That was what he thought? She moved quickly, shoving toward him in a fast burst of energy. Wren caught his shirt in her hands. Fisted the material. She’d risen onto her knees as she twisted toward him. “Does this look like a retreat?”
Then she kissed him. Not with a whole lot of tact or seduction. More like too wildly. Definitely a bit clumsily. With all the emotions and fears that bubbled inside of her.
He growled and his hands rose to clamp around her shoulders. The heat of his body tempted her to get even closer. She opened her mouth because she wanted to?—
He pushed her away. Gently. Firmly.
Her breath sawed in and out. In and out. His eyes glittered at her, and her stomach twisted once more. The bad, sad kind of twist. “Now who is retreating?” Maybe he didn’t want her anymore. Now that he knew the truth about her past and just how twisted she really was, he didn’t feel the same desire any longer.
At least we had one night together.
In the next breath, Jake hauled her back against him. His mouth locked onto hers. His tongue thrust into her mouth as he kissed her with a ferocious need. A stark possessiveness that drove straight to her core. This wasn’t a seduction type of kiss. It also wasn’t clumsy or a bit awkward like hers had been. This…this was claiming. Owning.
Consuming.
His head lifted. “Understand this, I will never retreat from you.” Guttural.
Her breath did the sawing-in-and-out routine again as her heart raced.
But he pushed her back. Once more, back. His stare seemed to singe her as he said, “I am trying to not fuck you here and now. Because when we fuck, I tend to lose my mind. I have questions that need answering. First and foremost…why me?”
“Why you…what?”
“Why did you pick me to be your first lover? Was it because you were trying to escape the grief of knowing your father was dead? Did you turn to me out of desperation?”
Had he just called her desperate? Insult much? One thing at a time. She sucked in a breath. “First, I did not grieve for him.” A hard, negative shake of her head. “I got the news, and I was free. For the first time, truly free. Uncle Milo would never have told me that my fa—the killer was dead if it wasn’t true.” He was gone. “I don’t have to worry any longer that he will come back for me. That I will wake up and be part of his experiments again. After Uncle Milo told me the news, I could finally take what I wanted without fear. So…I took it.” I took you, Jake.
A muscle jerked along his jaw. “You wanted me.”
“I pretty much have for years. Only every time I tried to get close to you, you’d step away from me.”
“Because I thought you were fucking my brother.”
Her teeth snapped together. “Can we get past that? I never did. Never will.”
“Damn straight, you won’t.”
“I love Eb and?—”
“Yeah, got it. He loves you, too. Bastard says it all the time.” And he was off the couch. Towering over her. “So you can get why a guy might wrongly assume you two were an item?”
“Sorry. Guess I just don’t go for the fun and outgoing twin. My heart belongs to the broody bastard who kills for me.” Mocking words. Mocking just so that he wouldn’t see how very true the statement was.
My heart has always belonged to you, Jake.
Even when he’d shattered it by walking away so many times.
But Jake’s face changed as he stared down at her. It hardened, even more than normal. His jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed. Brightened. His nostrils flared.
The silence stretched to an uncomfortable level.
Slowly, she rose from the couch. Time to recover some ground and guard her heart better. “That is the story you want us to spread, right? That we’re lovers now? That you’re the one I’ve always wanted?” Before he could respond, she shook her head. “Let’s just focus on the problem in front of us. The jerk who tried to kill me and his partner who got away. If this is about the past, something they blamed you and your brother for, then why come after me? I don’t mean to seem cold, but if they are pissed at you, why not just kill you? Why not come after you and Eb directly?”
“Because we’re tough bastards to kill.”
“I could be tough to kill,” she muttered.
“And because, sometimes, it’s not just about death. It’s about pain.”
Unease slithered through her. Her father had been all about pain.
“It’s about torturing your enemy. Taking what he wants most in this world and ripping it away from him.”
She licked her lips. “I’m not what you want most.”
He didn’t speak.
“I-I…I’m just some random woman in your life. In Eb’s life.”
“Bullshit. You said you loved him. He loves you. Like I said, Eb spouts that shit all the time.” A little line appeared between his eyebrows. “Maybe the wrong person heard him say it.”
“He loves your sister.” Fear burst inside of her even as she made that fierce declaration. “Marley! If someone wants to hurt you and Eb, the number one way to do that would be to go after Marley.” The beloved sister , not me. Wren lunged forward because she had to get a phone and call Marley and why hadn’t they already done that very thing from the first moment?
He caught her before she could make it toward his phone. His, because hers was in the sheriff’s possession. His arms locked around her stomach, and Jake hauled her back against him. “I notified Marley about the mess the minute I got on the plane out of South America. I made sure that billionaire psycho husband of hers had a full brigade of protection around her. Getting to Marley would be harder than getting into Fort Knox. The minute she wed Declan Flynn, she became off-limits to basically everyone in the world.”
His hold burned through her.
“Marley is safe,” he said. “My priority is you.”
She tugged against his hold. He just tightened his grip. Wren felt her heart thudding far too hard. Could he feel the frantic beat, too? “You can…you can let go.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Then you shouldn’t have stopped kissing me on the couch.” She turned in his arms. Was so very, very close to him. Her head tipped back.
“Maybe I stopped because I don’t want you making a mistake you’ll regret. Maybe I don’t want to be your mistake.”
“I don’t think of you as a mistake.” Soft. Right then, she thought of him as the man who’d saved her life.
“The first time we fucked, you’d been attacked on the beach. You’d just found out your father was dead. Your emotions had to be out of control and the adrenaline you must have been feeling probably seemed to be ripping you apart.”
“Are you explaining how I felt… to me ?” She glowered. “Thanks. Thanks so much for that. I was super confused.”
“I’m trying to—fuck it. I’m trying to help. ” He cleared his throat. “I understand adrenaline. You think I’m not riding an insane wave of it right now? You were on the floor of Milo’s beach house. The prick was above you with a knife. If I’d been slower, if I hadn’t kicked open that door and rushed inside right then, you’d be dead.”
She swallowed. “Your emotions are out of control because you had to kill for me.” They were both too on edge. Check.
“I’d kill for you over and over, no hesitation. You will not be hurt. You will not be threatened. And I will not let my past destroy you in any way.” He dropped his hold. Stepped back. “Just as I won’t destroy you.”
“Didn’t realize you were in danger of doing that.” She missed his touch.
“Adrenaline,” he bit off like the word was a curse. “Adrenaline, fear, fury, and a lifetime of longing lead to control that will shatter. I stopped kissing you because I am trying to not take everything I want from you. I barely held onto my control with you last night.”
That had been controlled? What would uncontrolled sex be like with him?
“I’m far from a gentleman. Always have been. But I’m also trying not to be a monster with you, though, so there’s that. No knight in shining armor. Just not the dragon, either.”
“You aren’t a monster.” Definite. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’ve seen monsters.” Up close.
“My past is the reason you’re in danger.”
“Just what terrible crime is it that you committed? Because I don’t exactly see you as the cold-blooded killer type.”
“Everyone always thinks I’m cold.”
True enough. They did say that about him. Ice in his veins. “In school, people just thought you were…less emotional than Eb.”
He laughed. A sharp bark of laughter.
She’d always enjoyed his laughs. Though he hadn’t laughed much with her. His laughs had been reserved for Eb and Marley.
“Sunshine…”
Her shoulders tensed.
His stare sharpened. “Wren,” he murmured. “Everyone thought—still thinks—that Eb is fun and charming, and I am a cold-blooded bastard. Those individuals are not wrong.”
“I happen to think they are. I find you quite charming. And fun.”
“Really?” His arms crossed over his chest. “When do you find me to be fun?”
“When you’re making me come three times in the middle of hot, sweaty sex.”
He surged forward. Reached out for her.
But stopped before actually making contact. Jake fisted his hands.
She smiled at him. A sweet smile. Dare she call it…sunshiny?
A muscle flexed along his wonderfully square jaw. “The first time I killed, I was twenty-two years old.”
Her smile instantly wiped away.
“Not quite so fun and charming, am I?”
Goosebumps rose on her arms. “You killed to protect me today.”
“I’d kill to protect you any day of the week.”
And I would do the same for you. The knowledge was just there. Strong and clear in her mind and in her heart. She’d never, ever thought she’d be the type to kill. Mostly because she’d never wanted to be like her father. But today, when her life had been on the line, the brutal instinct to survive had kicked in and she’d fought back with all her being.
And, if Jake was in danger, if someone had been lunging at him with a knife, Wren knew she would have done anything necessary to save him. No hesitation.
“Wren?”
She blinked. Schooled her expression and wondered what she might have already given away. “My Uncle Milo respects you. You and your brother. No way would he do that if you two were bad guys. I’m guessing you worked for the government. I mean, I know Eb still does work for the Agency.” The Agency—also known as the CIA.
“That CIA business of his is supposed to be confidential.”
Yes. But it wasn’t. “Eb shares things with me. I also figure things out because Uncle Milo has been telling me confidential stuff for years. Goes along with the whole me already being in witness protection bit and being basically adopted by the federal agent who was working to bring down my biological father.” A roll of one shoulder as she ignored her goosebumps. “There are lots of shades of gray in my world with Uncle Milo. But if he had thought you were bad news, he never would have let me be around you or your brother. Instead, he invites you to every family dinner we have.”
“The man does a mean crawfish boil.”
Yes, Uncle Milo did. He’d been born and raised in New Orleans, and the man was a crawfish king. “Are you CIA, too? Like Eb?” Only better at keeping that info secret?
“I’m freelance. Hostage rescue, you know that.”
“But were you CIA?”
His arms were back at his sides. His fingers loose. “Let’s just say that it was very convenient for a certain government agency to have two operatives who shared the exact same face. Made things easy. And…complicated. For enemies, that is. We could literally be in two places at once. We could be, and we were.”
So, yes, she took that to mean he’d been CIA. Or—or something else way off the books.
“We eliminated threats. We’d both done time in the military, and when we came out, we had jobs waiting for us. Our specialized skill set was needed. We both got the missions done because we understood what was on the line.”
Only Eb had kept working for the government. Jake hadn’t. “Why did you get out?”
“Because I’m not big on rules.”
She snorted at that understatement.
His face never softened. “Because…the work was dark, and it was just making my own darkness worse.” A long exhale. “So instead of hunting down predators and the MVPs on the Most Wanted List, I shifted to hostage rescue. Sometimes it’s good when you get to bring people home alive, and you aren’t just burying bodies.”
“Jacob Jones…are you saying you wanted to help someone? Because if so, that sounds like hero material to me.”
“No. You shouldn’t ever call me that. The pay is better in my current gig. The adrenaline high is just as strong. And I make the rules. All things that appeal to the arrogant asshole that I am. I don’t do the shit to be a hero. I do it for the cold, hard cash.”
“I think you’re protesting a bit too much.” She wanted to touch him. Okay, fine, she always wanted to do that. “You saved my life today. For zero payment. I think I know a hero when I see one.” Just so they were both very, very clear. “Jake, you’re a hero to me.”
“Fuck.”
She smiled at him. “You don’t take a compliment well.”
“You don’t need to give me compliments.”
“No, I don’t suppose you need them, do you? I’m sure women toss their bodies at your feet all the time as they tell you how dead sexy you are.”
A blink. “Wren?”
“No? They don’t do that?” She deliberately crept closer to him. Not dropping at his feet, but definitely blocking his path. “Then let me assure you, you’re dead sexy.”
“ Wren …” A warning note had entered his voice.
She just wasn’t particularly in the mood for the warning. He was right. Her emotions were raw. Adrenaline had savaged her. And she needed Jake. “I don’t feel like I have to be careful with you. You know all the ugly and twisted parts of me, and you are still here.”
“There is nothing ugly or twisted about you. You’re fucking perfect.”
She laughed. “No. I’m fake. I pretend and I lie and I act like I’m this really good person, but deep inside…” Her hand rose and pressed to his chest. “I feel the darkness and I worry that one day it will take me over, the same way it did my f-father. You call me sunshine, but I’m not. I’m the exact opposite.”
“You flinch every time I call you that.”
“Because I’m not bright. I’m not happy. I’m not some light.” The smile that had been on her lips faded away. “I know what I am and what I’ll always be. And you are the only one I can tell that truth to.”
“You can tell me anything.”
Could she? Could she reveal another big, bad secret to him? Could she stare right up at him and confess…
Jacob Jones, I love you.