Chapter Three #3
“It was. He encouraged me to follow them. On more than one occasion he discussed the fact that I was never going to play pro baseball, so why didn’t I take some business classes and learn how to run parts of the foundation for him.
He and Deanna would be the brilliant doctors, and I would handle the business. ”
“You would be the staff,” she corrected.
“I didn’t view it that way at the time, but now I wonder.
I wouldn’t give up my place, and I remember Manny staring at me and saying so be it.
I didn’t know what he meant at the time.
I liked being away from home, being on my own.
Deanna and I talked a couple of times a week, and things seemed to be going well.
I kept up with Manny, too. He came up to see me and we would have a good time. And then I got the call.”
“Was it during your freshman year?”
He shook his head. “It was the start of junior year.”
“You stayed with her for two years?”
“I did, although we didn’t spend much time together.
A couple of weekends here and there, a month during the summers, but the last time she’d avoided going home.
She spent the summer at Manny’s. I thought they were hooking up, and honestly, I was okay with it.
Her father had passed by that point. Suicide, although now I wonder. ”
“So she had some tragedy happen every time you were pulling away? It sounds like a Huisman thing to do. Play on your empathy.” She frowned his way.
“You’re surprised I believe you? Babe, I’ve seen what the man can do.
It doesn’t surprise me at all. I wonder why he didn’t go after your parents, though. ”
“He saved that for later.” Ben didn’t like to think about his parents.
“It was after Deanna died and I declared war that he tried to hurt my parents. You should know they blame me. They were forced into hiding, but not before my father told me I wasn’t his son anymore.
I don’t know why I told you that. I was talking about Deanna. ”
“I’m willing to listen if you want to tell about them,” Maggie offered in a soft tone.
He shook his head. “No. Not now. Where was I?”
“She called you?” Maggie prompted.
He didn’t like to think about the day. “She begged me to come see her. I didn’t want to go but she cried and told me I owed her.
So I went, but I was planning on ending things.
She told me she’d been seeing Manny but it was all a huge mistake and she was scared of him now.
She said she’d always loved me but Manny had manipulated her into a relationship. ”
She took a long breath. “I’m so sorry that happened to her.”
“I didn’t know what to believe. I confronted Manny, who told me she was trying to cover up the fact that they’d been having an affair and he’d broken it off. He gave me evidence, and for a moment I was confused. He showed me text messages and pictures of them. I was angry.”
“Of course you were. He was running a psy-op on you. You get that, right?”
“I do now, but at the time it felt like betrayal. I got in my car. Which had been sitting in Manny’s garage for a day. I was leaving, and she got in before I could keep her out and my brakes failed.”
“Manny tried to kill you.” It didn’t seem like a question.
“I think he would have been happy if I’d been injured and he could step in and help.
I’ve come to realize it was all to put me in a corner so I couldn’t leave him.
But Deanna paid the price. She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt when we went over the side of the road.
She died on the operating table. I still wonder if Manny didn’t have something to do with that, too. ”
“It was not your fault.”
“I didn’t love her. I know Manny didn’t love her.
She got in the middle of this fucked-up rivalry and she died.
” He needed to say the words, needed for her to acknowledge the danger even though she’d already had a visceral example of how Manny could treat a woman. Especially a woman connected to Ben.
“I’m not Deanna. I’m trained and I have a team.”
It hadn’t helped. “And yet you almost died. He still got you on that table and experimented on you.”
“That wasn’t your fault either.” She shifted so she could look him in the eyes.
“Ben, there’s a lot I need to tell you, but the most important thing is I’m not afraid of Emmanuel Huisman.
That doesn’t mean I don’t take the threat seriously, but I’m not going to hide.
I’m not going to let him ruin my life. I’m going to catch him. I hope you’ll work with me on that.”
Such a brat. “Uh, I think you’ll be working with me.”
“We’ll see about that,” she vowed and leaned over, brushing her lips against his.
There was a rustling sound, and he realized they were no longer alone.
A man in a chef’s jacket walked in with two servers.
The man looked to be in his mid-twenties, and he probably got all the ladies he wanted.
Or all the guys. The man could likely get whoever he wanted in bed, and Ben felt a well of jealousy.
“Good evening, special guests,” the chef said with a knowing smirk. “I’ve got an amuse-bouche before your first course. Are you enjoying the Scotch? Ke… Ms. Trent told me to send you nothing but the best.”
Maggie slid off his lap and resettled herself. “Tell your dad I’ll pay him back.” She looked his way. “This is Luke. He’s my cousin. I live here in Dallas, and we should talk about my name.”
Her name? A cousin? He knew Dallas was her base and that her team was different from other Agency teams, but other than that he’d been able to find nothing. Was she about to tell him the truth?
Luke’s eyes went wide. “Wait? We’re doing this here? Because if we are, I should make some calls.”
“This is not a spectator sport, Luke,” Maggie replied, rolling her eyes.
“Oh, but there are so many bets on this,” Luke shot back, and now it was easy to see how comfortable they were with each other. Like they’d grown up together. Actually, he could see some resemblance between them. Right in the eyes and the shape of the jaw.
How different was her team?
“Nope,” Maggie said, waving her cousin off. “No bets. If all goes well, you can tell everyone that we’ll be at The Hideout later tonight.”
The club. Fuck. The idea of getting her in that club made his cock twitch. She’d taken him through once and they’d watched scenes, and ever since he’d been studying. Because he’d known he wanted to be more than her boyfriend. He wanted to be her Dom.
The server placed a small dish in front of him.
“Caviar vol au vents,” Luke explained, going back into professional mode. “You’ll find my cousin here has some expensive tastes and is picky when it comes to both caviar and vodka.”
Two tall shot glasses of chilly vodka were placed next to the small, caviar-covered pastries.
Maggie downed hers with the grace of a pro. “I simply like what I like.” She smiled Ben’s way. “And I like you.”
She was going to kill him. When was the last time he had a good relationship with a woman? A normal relationship where they dated and talked and enjoyed each other’s company without him worried she was a plant from Manny.
The doors to the private dining room opened again and Tasha and Dare were there.
For a moment he thought Tash and his former friend were there to save Maggie from him.
“Hey, Kara,” Tash began. “I’m afraid I need to talk to you. I’m sorry to interrupt, but we have a situation.”
Ben stood. Situation?
Maggie joined Tash, while Dare moved into Maggie’s now empty seat.
“Hey, it’s work. It’s nothing to worry about, but Kara needs to deal with it. I thought we should talk since it looks like we’re going to be something like family.” Dare sat back. “We were friends, right? I know I’ve pushed you away, but I need…either some closure or to forgive you.”
Ben felt his heart clench. What he’d done to Dare… Well, he regretted it deeply. “We were friends.”
“I’m sorry, but I need to go,” Maggie said.
“You okay?” He wouldn’t make a big deal. He understood what it meant to work in intelligence.
“Something’s come up with Zach,” she replied.
Ah, Zach Reed. He’d gotten some intel on the man. Zach had walked away from his team during the same mission in Toronto that had caused Maggie so much pain. “Go. We’ll talk later. I’m in town for a couple of days.”
She gave him a smile. “Have fun with Dare.”
She walked away, but Ben was feeling lighter than before.
* * * *
She was going to have a seriously long talk with her sister.
Kenzie followed Tasha out of the private dining room.
“Is Kala at The Hideout? I know Mom and Dad are worried, but she’ll be there.
She’s hiding from Cooper and probably pissed at me since Ben showed up and she had to handle him.
Did you know she cupped his ass? Next time I see Coop, I’m planting my hand right on his butt. ”
See how she handled that.
Of course, Kala had made a major sacrifice for her today. She’d allowed Ben to kiss her and that had likely set her twin off on a desperate attempt to get rid of the cooties. Hopefully someone had found the bottle of vodka they left in the bar. It was a good antiseptic.
It was like her mother said.
Vodka reshayet vse problemy.
Then she remembered how worried he’d been. Because the kiss hadn’t been good. He’d known. Deep down, his soul had known the woman he was kissing wasn’t his.
His mate. They were like fated mates in a werewolf story. Ben would be such a hot werewolf. He would look amazingly sexy with his clothes ripped off and his pure predator form unleashed. And he would know his mate.
Tash turned, her face paler than before. “I was lying about Zach. I had to get you out of there because I couldn’t tell you that Kala’s been taken. The shrink the Agency sent was working for Huisman. He’s got Kala and Devi.”
Well, that made all thoughts of Ben Parker as a hot werewolf flee. “What the hell? She was at The Hideout and Devi has a bodyguard. Fuck. Tell me Landon’s okay. Is he dead? Does Dad know?”
Tasha took her hand. “Landon’s fine. Devi got away from him. She intentionally snuck away, and Dr. Gallagher caught her and used her to get Kala to give herself up. She shot Aunt Eve.”
Tears filled Kenzie’s eyes, but she felt resolve harden inside her.
It was time. Time to take down Huisman and finish this, and then she could go after her man.
She followed her sister, ready for battle.