Chapter Fifteen
“Great. I’ll look over the contract and get back to you tomorrow.” Maggie disconnected the call, a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth as she reviewed her full email inbox. The offers hadn’t stopped. There were contracts waiting for her review, pitches for articles to write. Voice mails from Bodhi begging her to call him back. The excitement hadn’t let up since the moment she’d walked out of the Sangre por Sangre headquarters on her own two feet. Once the major news outlets had gotten hold of the piece she’d emailed, it seemed the entire world had opened up for her. She had her pick of assignments for a multitude of outlets if she wanted.
She was someone important now. A commodity everyone wanted.
The story hadn’t stopped spreading. Senator Hawkes did exactly as she’d expected: run with his tail between his legs. The state police had picked him up just before he’d crossed into Mexico. The last she’d heard, his lawyer was going to earn every single penny of his retainer. Corruption charges waited on the horizon, along with a bunch of little ones the attorney general thought up along the way. Turned out the senator’s constituents and fellow officials didn’t so much agree with his attempt to undermine the Pentagon’s choice in private military contractors or antagonize the cartel’s kingpin by having the man’s son murdered as much as he thought they would.
Maggie cut her attention to the news cycle across the room. And there he was. Being led by police out of a dark SUV and marched, in all his glory, in front of every camera in the state in cuffs. She rubbed at the cuts still stinging around her wrists. The wrinkles around those small pea-like eyes seemed deeper than the last time she’d seen him. Good. This was just a taste of the sleep he was going to lose over the next few months.
She hit the power button on the remote and turned off the TV.
As for the military unit at Hawkes’s command, she hadn’t been able to get much information. From what she understood, charges against Scarlett Beam had been dropped, but anything more than that had been deemed classified. It didn’t really matter. This was one story she was happy to move on from. But the soldiers who’d sacrificed their lives on the senator’s lie were still waiting for identification. Still had families in the dark. It would be a few more weeks before the crime lab in Albuquerque would have DNA results—if any had survived—but now that the truth was out there, she couldn’t help but think this case had slipped to the top of the queue.
The dying plant on the back terrace swung with a gust of wind. Damn. She’d hoped to keep that one alive. Though having been abducted, then navigating the investigation was a good reason to forget to water. Shoving away from her desk, Maggie cut to the kitchen and pulled a small plastic cup from the cupboard. Her leg tingled as feeling returned in small increments every day. Most likely a benefit of slowing down and letting the inflammation in her back calm down instead of running from one threat to the next. She filled the cup with water from the filter in the refrigerator and wrenched the sliding glass door back on its track. Dry heat seared across her skin, and she was grateful for the sensation. Grateful to be feeling anything at all. “You’re looking a little rough, my friend.”
This plant was supposed to be a visual reminder to take care of herself. To not let her obsession to move forward and climb that worldly ladder get the best of her. A symbol of the new life she wanted for herself after the divorce. She pried dead leaves from the base of the plant and replaced them with a healthy serving of water. When she thought about it, humans were basically houseplants. They needed sunlight, water, love. Her heart constricted for a fraction of a second at the thought of leaving Jones down in that hole for his team to recover. She wouldn’t have been able to pull him out herself. Not in her condition. But his plea—his attempt to fix things between them—followed her into her dreams every night since the final showdown. “Sunlight and water we’re good on. But we’re really sucking it up on the love part, aren’t we?”
Because there hadn’t been any contact between her and Socorro since Dr. Piel checked her over after the fight with Senator Hawkes and his gunmen. The laceration cutting across her temple was shallow enough to not need stitches. Just a whole lot of rest, considering how much she’d been knocked around. First by Toledano, the accident, then trying to escape the senator and his men. Seemed becoming Socorro’s primary war correspondent had been taken off the table. She didn’t blame Jones. She didn’t blame any of them, really. But she couldn’t ignore the void in her chest either. The one that hadn’t hurt so much over the past couple weeks. While she’d been with Jones. Gotham, too. There was something about that oversize fuzz ball that’d settled her relentless drive for more.
A knock echoed from the front door.
Hope lodged in her throat as she turned back inside. Maybe she’d spoken too soon. Maggie crossed to the front door, ready for whatever waited on the other side.
Except for the man standing at her doorstep.
“What... What are you doing here?” The words lost their power at the mere sight of her ex, and Maggie couldn’t help but hate the part of herself that feared him.
“Holy hell. It’s true, isn’t it? Everything they’re saying on the news. That you were abducted and tortured by the cartel, that you uncovered that senator’s plan to kill those soldiers. I can’t believe it.” Her ex-husband reached for the bandage at her temple, and she backed away. His hand froze, midair, as though reminded that he had no right to touch her. He retracted his closeness. Like a turtle ducking back into its shell. “Damn, Maggie. When I heard...”
She shook her head. She didn’t need his pity. She didn’t need him at all despite that little knot in her stomach telling her this was a familiar connection, that anything was better than nothing. Fortunately for her, Maggie recognized that healing wasn’t a one-and-done kind of decision. It would take months, if not years, to unlearn those self-sabotaging behaviors. She just had to hold strong. “How did you find me?”
“My brother still works for the power company,” he said.
“You had him look into me.” Right. Not stalkerish at all. “What do you want?”
“I came here... You know what? I don’t really know why I came here.” Her ex shoved both hands into his slacks. The polo shirt straining around his upper body said he still spent way too much time working out rather than on things that actually mattered. “I tried reaching out, but you didn’t return any of my calls. Guess I deserved that.”
And a whole lot more. Maggie crossed her arms over her midsection, barring him from any idea he was invited inside. She could do this. Hell, she’d stood up to Toledano. She’d faced off with a US senator threatening her life. She’d even fought a soldier bent on burying her somewhere she’d never be found. “Well, I’m still recovering from what happened, and I have a lot of work to sort through over the next few days. If you don’t mind, I need to get back to it.”
She moved to close the door.
“Maggie, wait.” His hand snapped against the wood. Too loud in the quiet hallway. The sound jarred her into fight-or-flight mode, and she instantly diverted her attention to the can of Mace attached to her keys on the entryway table. “I just wanted to explain why I said all those terrible things about you to your family. For the arrest. Looking back, I can see where it all went wrong. I got some bad advice from my business partner, to the point all I could see were dollar signs. Everything became about money, and because of that, I treated you like a threat. It won’t happen again. I give you my word. Please, Mags. I want you to come home.”
He was kidding. This had to be a joke.
“Your word. Somehow I don’t believe you, seeing as how you couldn’t even manage to squeeze an actual apology in there. You didn’t come here to apologize. You came to justify what you did, and I deserve better than that. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that sooner in our marriage, but there’s no way I’m coming back to you. Now get your hand off my door.” Her fingers bit into the thin wood, ready to slam it into his nose if needed.
Apologetic husband disappeared from the surface of his expression. Replaced by that oh-so-familiar disappointment she was used to having directed at her. Her ex wedged his foot against the door to keep her from shutting it in his face, and she slowly reached for the Mace a few feet away without tipping him off. “Maggie, I’m trying—”
“I believe the lady told you to get your hand off the door.” That voice. It filtered through the overwhelming chaos of the past few days and buried itself in the bruised parts of her body until she felt as though she could lift a truck with her own two hands.
“Who the hell are you?” Her ex physically took a step back as all six-foot-something of Jones Driscoll stepped into her vision. No Kevlar, no sidearm, but just as prepared to take on another fight of hers if she let him.
“I’m the man who’s going to watch her rip that arm from your body and shove it down your throat if you don’t do what she says.” Piercing gray eyes found her, and the world burst into a variety of color. “You good, Mags?”
“I’m good.” Maggie fisted Jones’s T-shirt and dragged him over the threshold, and he came all too willingly. His body heat swept through her at that mere contact between them. Not missing a beat since they’d last seen each other. She liked that. The little threads of electricity he seemed to charge inside of her. She turned her attention back to her ex. “Thanks for stopping by.”
Then shut the door in his slack-jawed face.
“I’m never going to forget this moment or how good it feels.” Maggie pressed her back against the door, trying to catch her breath. “That man has made me feel like less than the dirt under his feet so many times. It felt good to show him he doesn’t affect me anymore.”
“Glad I could be of assistance.” Jones’s half smile smoothed from his mouth as he closed the distance between them. “Now let’s talk about how you left me to rot in that hole.”
H ER brEATH SHUDDERED through her. Unbalanced but confrontational. Not in the least threatened or intimidated by him. And, damn, it was good to get this close to her again, to see her on her feet and fighting for herself. “To be fair, I thought your team would know they needed to pull you out. It wasn’t until I got to headquarters that I realized they’d taken their time.”
“Six hours, to be precise.” The feigned frustration was starting to slip. Though he’d lost count of how many times he’d had to tase Lieutenant Snow while they’d been stuck in that hole, he hadn’t once let himself put the blame on her. He’d deserved to rot in that compound for backing out of his promise. “Seems Gotham isn’t too good at following orders, either. Instead of bringing Scarlett back, he started wrestling with Hans and Gruber once the action had died down. Forgot all about me.”
She tried to contain her laugh, shooting one hand to her mouth, but failed. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not funny, but at the time, I was still dazed by what’d happened and you’d said all those things about being in love with me. I couldn’t think straight. I just needed to step back, take a few days to get my head on straight. But look, you made it out. Call it even?”
The break in her composure loosened that tightness in his chest that’d formed while not hearing from her over the past few days. Maggie Caddel had finally put herself and her well-being first, and he couldn’t fault her for that. “All right. I guess I can give you that, considering you’re the reason I didn’t get sprayed with a bunch of bullets.”
“See? Compromise. That’s how relationships are supposed to work,” she said.
“Relationships?” The word pricked at the back of his neck. “Is that what this is? A relationship?”
Maggie set her palm against his chest, and an instant shot of ease tendrilled into his hands and under his rib cage. Stepping into him, she added to the hint of warmth churning from merely getting this close. “Did you forget about the part where you said you loved me, and I said I loved you, too?”
“I was in a hole for six hours. I had nothing else to think about. Well, other than arguing with Snow every time he wanted to kill me down there, but that’s beside the point.” His hands found her hips, holding her steady. “Maggie, I failed you. I did the one thing I swore to you I wouldn’t do. I let you take on this battle with Hawkes alone, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life regretting not standing up for you sooner.”
A heaviness pulled at his stomach. “I almost lost you down there. When you didn’t answer me, I thought I had, and the feeling gutted me. I don’t know how else to explain it, except that the thought of not having you in my life hurt more than losing my brother ever did. That’s not to say I didn’t love him or that I don’t miss him. I do. I just love you more, and, after everything you’ve been through, I hated myself for being the one to hurt you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you had to be the brave one and save my ass in the end, and I will do whatever it takes to prove to you that you can rely on me from here on out. Anything you want. I’m here. As long as you’ll have me.”
“You didn’t fail me, Jones.” Maggie pressed her front to his, and something clicked. Like a piece of himself that’d been missing for a damn long time had finally been put back in its place. “And, you’re right. For once I had to be brave, and the weird thing is, even though I could’ve died, I’m grateful. Because I had to realize I’ve let the past control me all this time. I thought I’d left it behind once the divorce papers were signed and I started this new career, but I see now all the hurt, all the pain and the lies still had a grip. They were what drove me to obsess about being better and proving I didn’t need anyone, and I don’t want to live in spite, Jones. It’s exhausting, and it’s giving power to the wrong people. People I don’t even like. And after I saw that soldier take aim at you—ready to kill you—in that corridor, I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t let those things have a space inside me anymore. There just isn’t room now that you’re a part of my life, and I like the change. It makes everything I’ve been through worth it.”
Hell, he loved her so damn much. They might’ve only kissed for the first time a week ago, but he’d fallen in love for what felt like a lot longer than that. “So where does that leave us?”
“I’m not sure.” She shifted her weight between both legs, and the left seemed to support her a lot better than it had a few days ago. She was on the way to healing. In more ways than one, and he couldn’t help but feed into that nodule of pride of her standing up to her ex as she’d done. “I have offers coming in every hour. Some from across the country. They all want to hire me, even the big guys. CNN, FOX, The New York Times . It’s a lot to consider, but I didn’t want to make a decision about any of them until I had a chance to talk to you.”
“Maggie, you don’t need my permission to take a job, even if it is across the country,” he said. “Whatever you choose, I’ll support you.”
“I know, and believe me, for the first time, I wasn’t looking for anyone’s permission but my own. But the past couple of weeks, even though they contain some of the most terrifying moments of my life, were a lot more manageable when you were around.” She fisted her hand into his T-shirt. “I think that’s something worth exploring. I meant what I said in that compound. I love you. I know it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering what we survived together—or maybe it’s because of what we survived together—but it’s true. I’m not the same person you rescued that night. I’m stronger, I’m braver, I’m more willing to stand up for myself. Because of you. I wouldn’t even be considering taking one of these jobs if you hadn’t shown me who I really am and what I deserve for myself. And I think I want to keep you around.”
She smiled then. Really smiled. That smile that only ever seemed to come out with him around. There was a spark she liked to keep buried and refused to show the world, but with him, Maggie lit up his whole damn insides with a mere glimpse of it.
“That is the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.” He notched her chin higher and set his mouth against hers. He kissed her all the way through the kitchen and the living room, nearly ripping her clothes off her body on the way. Jones didn’t get to take much of her bedroom in before he found himself flat on his back against the mattress and Maggie falling into bed with him. Her hair skimmed across his chest once she finished tossing his shirt somewhere out of sight. “I want to keep you around, too.”
Maggie was someone he hadn’t let himself want. Not just because she’d been a client he’d sworn to protect, but because he couldn’t put himself through another loss. But stripped down like this—physically, emotionally—with her, Jones couldn’t see any other way of going on living. As though she should’ve been at his side his entire life. One break in the seam of his lips, and he was utterly devastated. By her. And damn, he’d give anything to keep this feeling.
“I want to stay.” Her words brushed against the underside of his jaw. “Here in New Mexico. Bodhi has offered me my job back. Well, begged really, and I’m going to take it as long as our deal still stands. You being my source and me having exclusive access to Socorro.”
“Ivy’s having the paperwork drawn up as we speak,” he said.
She couldn’t contain her smile. “Then I’m going to stay, but I want to leave the city. I want to live slow and enjoy this new chance I’ve been given instead of trying to survive one incident to the next. With you, Jones. I know you have to stay on-site with Socorro as long as you’re contracted to work for them. So what would you think of me moving to Alpine Valley to be closer to you?”
A buzz of desire thudded hard under his skin as she peeled away to look down at him. He understood what she was asking, what she was willing to give up, but Jones couldn’t make the dots connect. She had everything going for her right now, and she was willing to give it all up. For him. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m sure. I can submit pieces I’m working on to the other outlets on the side or take on freelance jobs as long as I have the room in my schedule. The cost of living is lower in Alpine Valley in case I decide to take a few vacation months here and there. That’s the beauty of working from home. And you won’t have to change anything. You can still go out there and protect the people who still need Socorro. Sangre por Sangre took a beating the past couple weeks, but I feel like something big is coming. And I want to be there. With you.” She kissed him, deep and soft at the same time. “Besides, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be hard to travel back and forth across the country with Gotham.”
His growl drove him to flip her beneath him. The sad truth was the dog would leave with her in a heartbeat. That was the kind of effect she had on the people—and K9s—who cared about her. They were willing to give up their whole lives for the slightest chance she’d make them feel like this. Supported. Loved. Whole. “He’s technically Socorro’s property. You’d have to take up any custody disputes with Ivy.”
“Does the same apply to you?” Trailing her fingers along his jaw, she seemed to memorize every inch of his face as though she’d never seen it before. “Am I going to have to fight for you again? Because I’m telling you, I’m feeling pretty good about my chances now that I’ve got experience.”
“No, Mags. I’m yours.” And he meant it in every way he hadn’t thought possible before. Jones had convinced himself his heart had died in that cave with Kincaide’s mind, unwilling to give up his armor. Only now it seemed the key had been surrendering to Maggie, and there was no going back. Not ever. “Forever.”
“We have a new deal then.” She kissed him again. “Forever.”