Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
NIALL
“I don’t think they’re supposed to look like that?”
Jade leans against my arm, resting her head on my shoulder. Laughter laces her tone as she asks, “I think they’re supposed to be… fluffier?”
I loop my arm around her and press a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Are you saying these don’t look like the ones online?”
“Well.” She tilts her head to look up at me with sparkling eyes. “Not quite.” Her lips twitch. “But I’m sure they taste delicious.”
Eyeballing the sad-looking attempts at crepes in the frying pan, I grimace. Somehow I’ve managed to make them soggy and charred at the same time, and they look about as appealing as wet cardboard. “I’m not so sure about that.”
“It’s okay.” Holding onto my arm for balance, Jade stretches up to kiss my cheek. “We’ll just cover them with lots of whipped cream. And fruit. They’ll taste fine.”
“Ah, no, hun.” A chuckle rumbles in my chest. “I’m not letting you eat these terrible things. You’ll get sick.” I turn off the burner and set the pan to the side. “I’ll make pancakes. Or I can run into town to get donuts, if you want.”
Her brow furrows as she inspects the failed crepes. “I thought it would be like making pancakes. But it’s a lot harder.” After a beat, she laughs. “Oh well. Now we know.”
It was my idea to try making crepes for breakfast. I thought it would be nice to surprise Jade with something different; I had this image in my head of making a fancy meal with cut fruit and crepes and freshly-squeezed orange juice. I’d set the table with flowers and it would be like eating at a restaurant instead of just sitting at the kitchen island like we do every other day.
I’ve been thinking about that a lot the last few days—how to make things special for Jade. If things were normal, we’d go on dates and I could treat her the way she deserves. We’d visit her favorite restaurants and explore Seguin, which is the closest town to us, looking for hidden gems to make our own. We’d take weekend trips when I’m not on a job and make plans to visit Shea and my friends back in New York.
Is it too soon to be making such ambitious plans given that we haven’t been dating for long? Especially when Jade has so much other stuff she’s dealing with?
Maybe. But my gut tells me this is it.
Jade’s held a piece of my heart for over a decade. She’s special. I’ve never found another woman who even came close to her. And now that I have a taste of life with Jade, I can’t see myself with anyone else.
So I’m letting myself think about a future with her, and I’ll wait as long as it takes for her to be ready.
“Why don’t we make eggs?” Jade suggests. “Something quick, since I know you have work to do.”
I take the cooling pan off the stove and dump the crepes in the trash. “Are you sure you don’t want pancakes? I don’t mind making them.”
“It’s fine.” She goes to the fridge and pulls out the carton of eggs. “You like eggs better, anyway. And you must be sick of pancakes by now.”
“No—” At the skeptical raise of her eyebrows, I amend, “They’re growing on me.”
Not really. But Jade’s still not eating as much as I’d like, so I’m trying to prepare all the things she likes best. Grilled cheese, pancakes, pasta with butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese, and cottage cheese topped with fruit. Plus pickles wrapped with ham, which I think tastes revolting, but apparently it was a snack she used to share with her favorite nanny and still brings back good memories for her.
“Niall.” Jade’s tone is lightly scolding. “You can cook the things you like, you know.” As she talks, she pulls out a bowl from the cabinet and starts cracking eggs into it. “You don’t have to just make things I like.”
For a moment, the scene in front of me steals my breath. It reminds me so closely of mornings when I was a kid, coming into the kitchen to see my parents cooking breakfast together. Even after years of marriage, their love was still a visible thing—hugs and kisses and laughing banter and there was this way they looked at each other.
I never thought about finding that kind of love for myself. There was always something else to focus on—trainings and missions, and then later, Shea and starting a new chapter of my life after the Army. I didn’t allow myself to consider Jade as a possibility.
Now? Watching her crack eggs while examining them with the intensity of a brain surgeon, looking both sexy and cute in her workout shorts and my oversized Army T-shirt? Seeing her smile at me, her face all lit up with happiness, and knowing I’m partly responsible for helping her feel that way?
Emotion thickens my throat. Moving to Jade’s side, I cup her jaw and capture her mouth with mine. As she opens for me, letting the kiss go deeper, I’m amazed all over again by how delicate her features are, how soft her skin is, and how her curves feel against me.
Even if we do nothing but kiss for months, I’d still be happy. How could I not be when it feels like this?
When we finally pull apart, I trail my fingers down the line of her neck, feeling the rapid flutter of her pulse. Her cheeks and lips are flushed, and her blue eyes are sparkling. Like I have dozens of times over the past couple of weeks, I wonder to myself, how could I have waited so long?
“I like making your favorites. It makes me happy.” What I don’t say is it’s such a small thing to do considering everything she’s facing. Living in limbo, unable to go back to the job she loves, still hiding out at Blade and Arrow. Her cold and unpleasant parents. Dealing with nightmares and flashbacks from her days of captivity, knowing the people behind it are still out there, despite our best efforts to find them.
We have to find them. We will. Failure isn’t an option; not normally, and definitely not when it comes to Jade.
Jade gives me a soft look, filled with affection. “How can I argue when you say something like that?”
Grinning, I reply, “You can’t.”
Just like the other day when Jade’s father called, the phone brought unfortunate news as we were finishing breakfast.
But this time, it was my phone chiming with our signature Blade and Arrow ringtone, and it was Dante calling with some unwelcome news.
“Another woman is missing,” he said grimly. “And this time there’s a connection to Jade.”
My first instinct was to shield Jade from it. To refuse to get her involved when Dante said he wanted to talk to her. I wanted to keep that relaxed smile on her face a little longer.
I didn’t want to watch her shrink back into herself; shoulders hunching, foot jittering, her hands twisting nervously in her lap.
I wanted to protect her from this.
But then Dante told me the part I knew we couldn’t ignore. “The woman worked with Jade. I think she’d want to know. And Jade might have information that can tie her abduction and this missing woman together.”
So I had to tell her.
And now we’re waiting for Dante and Matt to arrive, and Jade’s reacting just as I thought she would, although she’s trying desperately to hide it.
We’re on the couch, our legs flush against each other—no separate cushions, not since the night of our first kiss. Her chilled hand trembles in mine, and her entire body is tense with worry and anxiety. With my free hand, I massage her shoulders, working at the knots that keep stubbornly reappearing no matter how much I try to rub them away.
“It’s going to be fine.” Giving her hand a little squeeze, I draw her attention to me. “Hopefully, this will give us some more clues. And we’re making progress already. It’s only a matter of time before we find the people responsible for this.”
“But what about the women? The ones being sold. What if we’re too late to save them?”
“We won’t be. There have to be records. Once we get a hold of them, we’ll track down every woman who was taken, and we’ll rescue them.”
Jade stares at me as emotion tightens her features. “Thank you.”
“Ah, sweetheart. You don’t need to?—”
I’m interrupted by the knock of doom.
Not really; I can see from the video feed on my phone that it’s just Dante and Matt standing outside my apartment. But the heavy rap on my door bears a sense of foreboding. No matter how I spin this, no matter how it could ultimately help, Jade’s going to be upset, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Hang on,” I tell her. “It’s Dante and Matt. I’m just going to let them in.” Once I stand up, I lean down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Are you going to be okay?”
A faint smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. “Well. Since I can see the front door from here… probably.”
Right. The protectiveness I feel toward Jade has clearly stolen some of my rationality.
“Right,” I reply, smiling back at her. “Of course you are. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
I’m nearly to the door when she says, “I like it. That you worry about me.”
Oh . It’s more than a punch to the chest. It’s a sledgehammer crashing into it.
As I open the door to Dante, he inspects my face before giving me a quick chin lift. In a low tone, he asks, “How’s she doing?”
“Not great.” I nod at Dante and Matt in greeting. “Can you blame her?”
“Not at all.” Matt’s expression is somber. “I just hope we can get some information that helps. I’ve been running into dead ends all over the place.”
Once everyone is seated, Jade sets her shoulders and cuts right to the chase. She looks at Dante and asks with only a hint of a quiver, “Who is it?”
“Olivia Richmond.” At her shocked inhale, he continues in a gentle tone, “She was reported missing by her roommate yesterday. The last time she saw Olivia was three days ago.”
Jade leans forward. “What about work?”
“Nothing. No notice, no sick days, she just didn’t show up. So that’s different from what happened to you. Still…”
Matt jumps in. “It could be unrelated.” He glances at his tablet for a second before looking back up. “But there are a lot of similarities. You’re both around the same age. From the same area. Olivia is an attractive woman. Intelligent. And you worked together…”
Jade looks stricken. She clutches my hand. “Olivia? Missing? Could it be a mistake?” Then she shakes her head. “Of course not. Olivia is just like all the women I saw. But I just can’t believe…”
“Do you think there’s a connection at the doctor’s office?” I direct this to Matt, who I’m sure started looking into it the second he heard about Olivia.
“There could be, although nothing has turned up yet. We looked into all the doctors in the practice, and while they’re all well-off, they all look clean. No connections to shady business dealings, no charges against them. Investments seem solid. I’m still investigating, though.”
“What else do you know about Olivia?” Dante asks Jade. “Can you think of anything else that might connect you two?”
There’s a pause as she thinks. “We go to the same gym. She convinced me to take some classes with her. And we’ve gone to some conferences together. Sometimes we go out to Finley’s Diner after work. Maybe once a week or so? We went to a party together a couple of months ago. It was her roommate’s birthday. I didn’t want to go, but Shea was giving me a hard time about never going out—” Jade stops, and her eyes fill with tears. “I can’t believe it. Olivia is… She can’t…”
Her chin wobbles, and one tear escapes. “She wouldn’t just leave. I know it.” Jade turns to me, desperation in her gaze, and I can tell she’s close to breaking down.
“Sweetheart, it’s okay.” Hugging her to me, I stroke my hand down the length of her hair. “That’s really good information. We can use it.”
“Absolutely,” agrees Matt. “The party and the diner; those are new. I can start looking into them right away.”
Jade lifts her head from my chest. “What if I’d thought of those earlier? What if it’s my fault?—”
“No.” I’m firm. Definitive. “You’re only human, Jade. You can’t think of everything. Every store you visited? Gas station? Park? The only reason we know to look into that diner is because of the connection between you and Olivia.”
“But…”
“We’ll figure this out.” Matt looks at his tablet again, his gaze quickly scanning the screen. “We have this information, and I’ve found some possible clients to look into. A judge in Austin who was accused of sexual harassment, but the charges were suddenly dropped. A politician in San Antonio with an old charge of solicitation and a string of very young girlfriends.”
“I wish this could move faster,” Dante adds apologetically. He leans forward in his chair, resting his forearms on his legs. “Unfortunately, the people behind this are very careful. It doesn’t mean we won’t solve it. We will. It’s just going to take some more time.”
“But you’ll be safe here.” Touching Jade’s chin, I tilt her head up to look at me. “Nothing will happen to you. I promise.”
“But what about the women?” Her face collapses. “Niall. I left them there. I saw those women, and I just kept going. And now they’re being sold, touched, maybe hurt?—”
“Jade, no?—”
“I can’t ignore them again.” Jaw lifting, chin jutting out, Jade swallows hard and says, “I could help you find them.”
What?
“I could. If they still want me…” A little hitch of her breath. “I could go back to my apartment. Let them… take me. And you could track me.” Her gaze sweeps toward Matt and Dante. “Niall said you have trackers. You could follow me and find this place. Close it down.”
Fuck! Why did I tell her about the damn trackers?
I wanted her to feel safe. That’s why. But I didn’t think Jade would get the idea to offer herself up as bait.
“No. Absolutely not.” Fear balloons in my chest. “It’s not safe. I won’t let you put yourself at risk.”
“Niall.” She captures my hand between hers. “I know what you guys do. I’ve heard the stories about how Blade and Arrow has rescued people after they’ve been abducted. And those weren’t planned, like this would be. Do you think I’d even bring this up if I didn’t believe you’d keep me safe?”
Turning back to Matt, she asks, “Could you track me the entire time? Use cameras to make sure… they’re not doing anything to me?”
Fuck .
“We could.” Matt flashes a worried glance at me. “We have a subcutaneous tracker we could use. And the cameras?—”
“No.” I’m dangerously close to losing it. All I can think about is Jade; drugged, touched by those men, restrained, terrified, and I’m not there…
“Niall…” Shit. Now Jade’s crying and I feel even worse.
Dante stands up. “This doesn’t need to be decided now. We can talk about this again later.”
Matt follows suit with an added, “I’ll get back on the computer. Look into the new leads.”
Then they make a hasty exit, with Dante throwing me a sympathetic glance on his way out the door.
Once the door shuts, I pull a still-crying Jade into my arms. Fear clutches at me, cold terror making it hard to breathe. My heart wrenches at the sight of her tears.
Pressing my lips against her hair, I murmur, “Jade, please. Don’t cry.”
“I keep seeing them.” It’s an agonized whisper. “I feel so guilty. I just left them.”
“Ah, sweetheart. No. You couldn’t have done anything. You did the right thing.” As I rub her back in slow circles, I continue, “You got out and went for help. That was the best thing to do. You have nothing to feel guilty about.”
She lifts her head from my shoulder, leaving a damp spot behind. “I’m terrified to do it. But I think… it might work. And if there’s a chance, how can I not?”
“We’ll figure it out,” I reply quickly. “You don’t have to—” My lungs clutch with fear again. “Jade. I can’t… I swore I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you. I can’t just watch…”
Gaze steady on mine, bright blue and shiny with tears, Jade says quietly, “If not for you, I wouldn’t even consider it. I know you won’t let anyone hurt me.”
Ah, shit.
My heart. It’s never felt like this before.
Am I falling for her? Is that what this desperate feeling is? Like if anything happened to Jade, I’d be beyond devastated. I’d be broken.
“I can’t lose you.” My voice is rough with emotion. “Not now.”
“I know.” Jade climbs into my lap and strokes my cheek. Even though she looks scared, there’s a determination in her gaze. “You won’t. After waiting so long, there’s no way I’m losing you now.”