Chapter 7
7
KEELY
K eely awoke to the sound of Jesse’s voice, low and lethal, just outside the bedroom door.
She blinked at the morning light filtering through the sheer curtains, her mind catching up to reality. The heat from last night still lingered in her skin, in the memory of Jesse’s hands, his mouth, the feel of his body pressing her against the wall.
But she wasn’t thinking about that now. Because Jesse didn’t sound pissed. He sounded deadly.
She slid out of bed, padding silently toward the door. When she pushed it open, she found Jesse standing by the front entrance, still shirtless, wearing only a pair of low-slung jeans that clung to his hips.
Gavin, Hawke, Reed, and Dawson were all standing nearby, their energy coiled tight, radiating danger. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
Jesse’s voice came out cold and sharp as steel. “How the hell did he find us?”
Her stomach clenched. The intruder?
Keely stepped forward. “What happened?”
Jesse didn’t turn, but the other men did.
Hawke raked a hand through his dark hair. “We found a message at the end of the driveway.”
Dawson held out a photograph. “You need to see this.”
Keely stepped forward, snatching the photo from Dawson’s outstretched hand. Then her breath caught. The image was dark and grainy—taken just before dawn—but the message was clear. They had staked a wooden post into the ground just outside Jesse’s land and nailed a butchered rattlesnake to it, its blood still fresh and dripping into the dirt.
Five words were sloppily painted in red beneath it.
I ALWAYS COLLECT MY DEBTS.
Keely’s stomach flipped, but she forced her breathing to stay even. Jesse’s voice was pure gravel. “Do we know who he is?”
“I downloaded pictures from the security cameras, and we ran him through facial recognition. His name is Nico Alvarez, and we’re already digging into who he is,” said Dawson.
“He knows who you are, Keely,” said Jesse. “He knows where we are. This isn’t a warning.” He pointed at the picture. “That isn’t a threat, it’s a goddamn promise.”
Keely sat on the edge of the farmhouse kitchen table, arms crossed as the team pulled up every last piece of intel they had on Nico Alvarez.
Gavin stood at the head of the group, scrolling through a tablet, his mouth set in a firm line. “Alvarez isn’t just a dealer. He’s deep into conflict diamond smuggling, running a direct pipeline from West Africa into Europe and the U.S.”
Keely swallowed hard, but she wasn’t about to let fear seep in.
“So, what?” she asked, tilting her head. “I just happened to grab the one suitcase filled with his blood diamonds?”
Jesse’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “That wasn’t an accident.”
Dawson shook his head. “We think it was a drop. Someone was supposed to pick it up after you left the show.”
Hawke added, “And now that you’ve seen what was inside, you’re a liability.”
Keely forced herself to breathe. This was just another problem to solve. She’d handled high-stakes before.
But it seemed Jesse had other ideas.
“This ends now,” he growled.
Keely lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah? How, exactly?”
Jesse turned toward her, his body too close, too intense, radiating command in every muscle. “You’re done. No more running, no more pretending you’ve got this under control. You don’t.”
Keely straightened. “Excuse me?”
Jesse caught her upper arm and turned her to face him, leaning in, his voice deadly calm. “You’re under my protection, Keely. And that means you listen when I tell you something. You don’t argue. You don’t push back. You just do what the hell you’re told.”
The air went thick between them, and not just with anger. Something else simmered there—something unspoken, something dangerous.
Keely’s pulse spiked, but she refused to back down. “You don’t get to decide that for me, Jesse.”
His jaw flexed. “I just did.”
Her body lit up with challenge, with something hotter, something reckless.
Keely lifted her chin, refusing to look away. “What are you going to do? Tie me to the bed?”
The danger in Jesse’s expression shifted. Something darker flickered in his gaze, something unreadable. He leaned in closer, so close she could feel the heat of his breath on her lips.
“Don’t tempt me, darlin’,” he murmured, voice rough as sin.
Keely’s breath hitched. Her whole body reacted, her blood pounding, her skin tight and hot and restless. She should have pushed back harder. Should have fought him on principle alone. But instead, she trembled, wanting to know what would happen if she kept pushing.
Jesse watched her for a long moment, then breathed deeply, reining himself back in. He stepped away, putting just enough distance between them.
“For now, you’re staying put,” he said, voice firm but softer than before. “We’ll figure out our next move. We’ve got patrols roving the property, and someone will be watching the security feed twenty-four hours a day.”
Keely let out a breath, still flushed from the moment before, from the heat rolling off him in waves. “Fine. I will do what you tell me,” she muttered, mostly just to see what he’d do.
Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “That didn’t sound convincing.”
She lifted a shoulder, teasing now, because God help her, she liked the way he reacted to her defiance. He muttered something under his breath, something unintelligible but definitely a curse, before turning away and joining the others at the island. Keely watched him go, her pulse still a little too quick, her skin still tingling.
Nico Alvarez might have sent a warning, but she was certain Silver Spur Security could handle him. But Jesse Bryant was a whole different kind of threat, and she had no idea how to handle him.
The debate had gone on for too long, voices overlapping, strategies tossed back and forth, none of them feeling solid enough to Keely. Jesse stood near the kitchen counter, arms crossed, his broad shoulders looking even bigger in the dim light. He had said little in the last ten minutes, just watched as Gavin, Reed, Hawke, and Dawson tossed out ideas about what to do next.
Keely had tried to take part, but every time she opened her mouth, someone cut her off, like she wasn’t the one with her name on a goddamn hit list.
She leaned back against the couch, crossing her arms. “If you all could stop acting like I’m not in the damn room, that’d be really great.”
Reed pinched the bridge of his nose. “Keely...”
“No,” she snapped. “I’m serious. You’re all sitting here debating my future like I don’t get a damn say in it.”
“You don’t,” Jesse said, his deep voice cutting clean through the noise.
Everything stilled.
Keely’s head whipped toward him, heat prickling at the back of her neck. “What did you say?”
Jesse pushed off the counter, his boots heavy on the hardwood as he walked toward her. “You heard me, I said, you don’t.”
She lifted her chin. “You don’t get to make that call.”
“I already did.”
Something unreadable darkened Jesse’s eyes, and his jaw was clenched. Final. Immovable.
Gavin let out a breath. “Jesse...”
Jesse didn’t look at him. “We’re leaving.”
Reed’s expression hardened. “Leaving? Going where?”
Jesse still didn’t look away from her. “My family’s place in the hill country. It’s in the name of an offshore holding company. I did that in case something happened to me. There’s no reason to tie it to me.”
Keely’s stomach dropped. He wasn’t talking about this house. He was talking about the other one—the one she’d heard Reed mention once, in passing, when they were at the club. A place so far off the grid it didn’t even exist on paper.
Jesse turned, daring anyone to challenge him. “You all can keep digging into Alvarez, track his movements, whatever you need to do. But I’m taking Keely out of play. She’s safer away from the city.”
Reed took a step forward, his voice deadly quiet. “You don’t get to take my sister somewhere without running it by me first.”
Jesse’s expression didn’t change. “She’s not safe at her house. He knows she’s here. I need to get her somewhere safe.”
Reed’s hands clenched at his sides. “You sure this is about her safety? Or is this about something else?”
A silent storm passed between them, something that had nothing to do with the diamonds or Alvarez and everything to do with Keely.
Jesse didn’t blink. “It’s about keeping her alive.”
And just like that, the conversation was over.
Keely should have argued. Should have told Jesse to go to hell, that she wasn’t about to be dragged into the wilderness by some caveman. But she didn’t. Because deep down, she knew—if she was going anywhere; it was going to be with Jesse.
The truck bounced over the dirt road, kicking up dust and heat as Jesse drove deeper into nowhere.
Keely had stayed quiet for most of the drive, watching the landscape shift from highways to rolling pastures to vast, empty land that stretched for miles. This differed from his place just outside of town. This was untouched land, the kind that felt as if outsiders had never set foot on it—no neighbors, no distractions, no exits.
He pulled up in front of the house—a small single-story house with a wraparound porch, its rust-colored tin roof blending into the landscape. The sun was setting behind the hills, casting golden light across the land, making it look almost… serene.
But Keely felt anything but. She turned in her seat, her voice sharp. “So, this is your grand plan? Drag me out to the middle of nowhere and keep me locked up?”
Jesse killed the engine, resting his hands on the steering wheel for a beat before turning to face her. “It’s not a prison, Keely.”
She let out a short laugh. “Feels like one.”
Jesse breathed out, his fingers drumming once against the wheel before he opened the door and stepped out. “You can either sit here and sulk, or you can come inside. Your call.”
He grabbed their bags from the back, not waiting for her to follow.
Keely muttered a curse under her breath before climbing out, slamming the door harder than necessary. The air smelled like wildflowers and cedar, the wind soft against her skin as she took in the complete silence. No cars. No voices. Just her and Jesse and miles of nowhere. Maybe things were looking up.
Jesse was already on the porch, unlocking the door, his body all rough lines and unshakable control. He pushed it open, stepping inside, and after a long beat, Keely followed.
The inside was warm and rustic, all wood and exposed beams, and like his other house, featured a kind of great room that combined kitchen, dining and living space all in one room. It smelled like the outdoors and leather, like him.
Jesse set the bags down by the staircase, then turned to face her. “It’s safe here.”
Keely crossed her arms. “Isn’t that what you said about the last place?” He growled, and she held up her hands in mock surrender. “Sorry. So, tell me, when does this little exile end?”
Jesse’s eyes stayed on hers, steady, unyielding. “When I say so.”
A fire lit in her chest, an equal mix of frustration and something else she wasn’t ready to name.
“Of course,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “You’re just loving this, aren’t you?”
Jesse took a slow step forward, closing too much distance, making her stomach dip.
“You think I enjoy keeping you here?” His voice was low, edged with something dangerous. “You think I enjoy knowing there’s a man out there who wants you dead?”
Keely inhaled sharply, but he wasn’t finished.
“You think this is fun for me, Keely?” Another step, his heat searing into her, his presence too much, too overwhelming. “Because I can promise you, darlin’, I’d rather be anywhere else than spend the next few days fighting every damn instinct I have to keep my hands off you.”
Her pulse slammed into overdrive. She should say something—something to remind him she wasn’t his to protect, wasn’t his to control. But instead, she just stood there, body humming with something she couldn’t ignore. Jesse’s gaze dropped to her mouth, just for a second, then he let out a rough breath and turned away.
“Get some sleep, Keely.”
She watched as he disappeared outside, leaving her standing there, breathless, restless, furious.
This wasn’t just isolation. This was something else, and she had a feeling she would not come out of it unscathed.