Chapter 2
Chapter Two
JASON
It was a miracle this apartment building was still standing. Every time I’d even hinted that Cora needed to find a better place, I was met with resistance.
And that was before she saved my life.
You don’t owe me.
Only, I did.
The memory hit much like it always did.
The ambush had come out of nowhere. Men I thought I could trust had turned on me. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a chair, tied up. I’d barely opened my eyes when the beating started. My father was going to make me pay for executing a successful coup, exiling him, and taking over the family.
The last few hours were hazy. I hurt all over. At one point, I remember being hit so hard that the chair toppled over. Everything had gone black.
Cora had thrown herself in harm’s way for me. Prevented him from crushing my windpipe with his foot. If not for her, I’d be dead.
So, yeah, I owed her.
But debt wasn’t why I wanted her somewhere safer, better. This place was a staph infection waiting to happen. Still, every suggestion was met with that stubborn streak I’d come to know well.
Her key jangled in the lock. “Sorry. It’s finicky.”
“Is that code for broken?” It was a snarky comment, but I couldn’t resist.
Thomas Vasil, my best friend and second, laughed.
Cora whipped around, pointing her finger at us. “Neither of you are funny.”
The five or so inches I had on her made it feel more comical than threatening. She was so incredibly cute when she was trying to be bossy, like she was when she tried to tell me that she could handle going to Valle Perdido on her own.
As if that were ever, ever going to happen.
She actually expected me to just send her on her merry way to a border town? Where cartel members and bikers roamed the streets? A woman and a baby in an area well-known for human trafficking? Yeah, no.
At least she’d finally seen reason about letting me come along. Trying to stay in the shadows while keeping her safe would have been a nightmare.
The smile I shot her was deliberate. The one that made her cheeks bloom pink. “I’m a little funny.”
Her gaze darted to Thomas and back to me. I could see it in her eyes. Stop that!
I didn’t. I shot her a different smile, her second favorite, and watched as her cheeks darkened even more.
Cora worked her jaw and faced the door again, muttering under her breath.
I needed to back off. I was about to be thirty thousand feet in the air with her. The last thing I needed was her tossing me off the plane. I wanted to lighten things up, not make them worse.
She huffed and this time when she jiggled it, the knob twisted, and we were in.
“I’ll just be a minute.”
We followed her inside, and the second she was out of sight, Thomas looked at me.
While the outside was an OSHA violation away from being condemned, I had to admit, she’d made the inside warm and inviting.
If I’d been shown a picture, I would have bet money that we were in an entirely different building.
Thomas grinned. “I guess when we get married, this won’t be so bad.”
I rolled my eyes. He’d been teasing her for months now. I knew why. He’d wanted to ease the awkwardness that seemed ever present when Cora was around.
After what felt like seconds, she appeared in the doorway of her bedroom. “Ready.”
My gaze dropped to the small carry-on she had in her hand. My eyebrows rose to my hairline. I knew the woman was practical, but that tiny amount of luggage seemed absurd even for her.
“That’s it?”
“It’s all I have. Besides, I really don’t think I’ll have to be there long. My sister gave me her baby. I’m the only living relative. Where else is the baby going to go? No judge in their right mind is going to give him to Colter Briggs.”
I didn’t want to put a cloud on her optimism, but this thing could go south really quickly. If it did, there was no telling how long she would be in Texas.
“But what if it isn’t?”
She shrugged. “I’ll deal with it then. Right now, I just want to get there, meet Elias, and get him away from his disgusting father.”
I wanted to argue with her, but one thing I’d learned about her was her fierce independence. The fact that I was even helping this much was a giant feat. Not that I wouldn’t have accompanied her anyway. When I said there was no way she was going alone, I had meant it. “All right.”
Thomas stepped forward and held out his hand, motioning for her to give him the bag.
Her grip tightened on the handle. “I’ve got it.”
“Until you give it to me.”
She rolled her eyes. “I can carry my own luggage.”
“Do you hate my mother? Do you want her rolling over in her grave?”
Cora leveled her eyes at him. “Your mother is alive and well. I sent her flowers last Tuesday.”
“So, an even better reason to hand it over. If she catches wind that I didn’t carry your luggage, she’ll kill me.” He chuckled. “She loved them by the way. I even got a promise that she’d make her grape leaves when I visited next time.”
“Really, I’ve got it.”
Thomas didn’t budge.
“Don’t we have a flight to catch?” I asked.
Another huff, and she handed it over. “Fine, but just know I can carry it myself.”
My best friend gave her a wide grin. “Duly noted.”
As we reached the threshold to leave, Cora paused, glanced over her shoulder, and exhaled, mumbling something I couldn’t quite hear. Then she closed and locked her door.
Part of me wondered if she had the same feeling I did, and she just didn’t want to voice it.
The drive to the private terminal was quiet. Cora stared out the window while Thomas handled the logistics with the crew. An hour later, we were settled in our seats and climbing toward cruising altitude, the Chicago skyline disappearing below us.
Thomas was sitting off by himself with his face buried in his tablet, learning everything he could about Colter Briggs.
I’d taken my usual spot mid-cabin, window. Cora had curled up in a seat across from me.
“When I was in the hospital, you said that you helped raise Maya, right?”
Cora looked at me and smiled, nodding. “Yeah, our mother died giving birth to her. I mean, my dad was amazing, but trying to raise girls wasn’t easy for him.
He was heartbroken and still managed to stay strong for us.
He died right before her high school graduation, and she spiraled. Drinking, smoking, drugs, all of it.”
“How did she find Valle Perdido?” It wasn’t exactly a tourist destination.
She grunted a laugh. “My sister was attending a concert in San Antonio… she got on the Colter rollercoaster and never left.”
I nodded. “Ah. Gotcha. You said he was abusive?”
“I’ve never met a man who made my skin crawl before.” Her gaze found mine. “Jason, there is a darkness in him that I cannot adequately explain. Something sinister.”
“And you wanted me to stay in Chicago and face this guy alone?”
She sagged in her seat. “I just don’t… I don’t want you to feel as though you owe me. You don’t. Do you have any idea how badly I needed a job when you hired me?”
Actually, she didn’t know it, but I’d overheard her on a phone call before her interview.
She was begging someone, presumably her landlord, not to evict her.
I hadn’t been planning on hiring anyone that day, but she’d impressed me.
She was incredibly attractive, yes, but more than that, she seemed genuine.
She had a sharp mind, stayed focused throughout our conversation, and made me laugh without even trying.
Unlike every other woman who’d walked through my office, behaving like they were trying to score a date…
she never once even so much as flirted with me.
By the end of the interview, I was offering an immediate unplanned signing bonus. Enough that she could keep her apartment. She had flung herself at me and hugged me. The cute awkwardness after made her even more endearing.
“You were the best candidate.”
“I was about to lose my apartment. You rescued me.” Her lips curved up. “Besides, if you’d died, I would have had to find another job.”
I chuckled. “You were at the hospital every day I was there.”
“Because Anna asked me to be.”
She hadn’t. I knew because I’d asked my sister after Cora said it the first time. That was one of countless times she tried to convince me that Cora was in love with me. That a woman didn’t step in front of a maniac to save someone they just liked.
“You cooked me homemade meals.”
“You think I was going to eat cafeteria food? Even the rats gave that stuff the stink eye.” Cora yawned and slid down in the seat. “The sun isn’t even going down, and I feel like it’s midnight.”
She was always deflecting, always arguing with me, but I knew better. I’d heard the tremor in her voice that first day I was fully conscious after surgery. The raw fear, the relief.
It wasn’t that I didn’t have feelings for her.
But after failing to protect her from my father’s violence, I didn’t feel worthy of her.
She’d been terrified, and I’d been powerless to stop it.
Whatever attraction she might have felt before was probably gone now, replaced by pity for the man who couldn’t even protect the people he cared about.
I stood and leaned down, bracing my good arm on the armrest of her seat while reaching for the recline button.
Her eyes widened as I grew closer.
I’d avoided getting anywhere near her the last few months because resisting the temptation to kiss her had become painful. Anna called me a chicken, but the truth was, I wasn’t sure what I wanted.
One minute I swore I could never have a relationship with her, the next I’d ache all over at the thought of her finding someone else.
And I didn’t want to be that guy. The one who started something and decided he didn’t have the courage to finish it. Cora deserved better than that.
Better than me, and I knew it.
She’d sat with me at the hospital the entire time I was there. Going home to shower and then returning. Anytime we got even close to sharing personal details, we both ran.
At the time, I’d put a wall up because I’d put her through something traumatic. Since then, I’d build it as tall and as thick as I could because I never wanted her to get hurt ever again because of me.
But I was so drawn to her.
The hum of the engine faded, and it was just the two of us.
She stretched her hand out, hesitated, and then combed her fingers through my hair before resting her hand on my jaw. “Thank you, Jason. For… for everything.”
A second later, her lips were touching my cheek, lingering there for a brief moment before leaning back.
Innocent and sweet. Everything about her undid me.
Our eyes met, and I was the tide being pulled by the moon. I wanted nothing more than to touch my lips to hers.
But as always, it wasn’t the right time. I cleared my throat and smiled while her seat reclined.
“Get some sleep, okay?”
She nodded as I took my seat again.
It took a while, but eventually her breathing evened out.
Not long after, Thomas parked next to me. “This guy, Colter Briggs, makes Gabriele Moretti look like a choir boy. I’ve got a dozen of my guys that will be in Valle Perdido before we get there. Just to make sure we’ve got backup in case we need it.”
Knowing what that guy was into, it said a lot that Colter was worse.
“Good to know.” I crossed my arms over my chest, flinched, and dropped them to my lap. I let out a soft groan of frustration as I rubbed my still sore arm. “I hate this.”
“The doctor said it would take time. The muscle was torn. Have you been doing the exercises the physical therapist gave you?”
“Yes… sorta.”
“Don’t make me tell Cora.”
I shook my head. “What did you find out about Colter?”
“Fine.” He tapped the screen on his tablet. “He was dishonorably discharged from the Marines about nine years ago. Mostly stayed in Thailand for the next four and a half years. Looks like that was an abrupt departure. Seems the government wanted to talk to him, and the feeling wasn’t mutual.”
“Likely drugs.”
“I think he was doing the same thing the next few years in Korea. Looks like the local police also suspected he was dealing in weapons.”
“Okay.”
“He returned to the US about two years ago when his best friend, Kane Black, was hurt in an artillery explosion in Iraq. A little less than a year later, Colter was crowning himself king of the Grave Sons. There’s not much I could find about where or what they were doing during that year before arriving in Valle Perdido. ”
“And the Grave Sons?”
“They’ve dabbled in gunrunning, drug smuggling, and providing escorts of merchandise across the border. They’ve increasingly dabbled in human trafficking, protection rackets, and violent intimidation. There are fractures within the club because of it.”
My lip curled. “What does ‘dabbled’ mean?”
Thomas touched the screen. “Colter has negotiated a few deals… worked with traffickers, but not large scale.”
Perhaps there’d be some carnage before I left. Would the world really care if there was one less trafficker? “Was it a dabble or testing the waters?”
“I can find out.”
Cora moaned in her sleep, rolled over, and shivered.
I stood, grabbed a blanket from a nearby seat, and spread it over her before taking my seat again.
Of course, Thomas watched the entire time, and when I looked at him, he had a wide grin on his face.
“Stop. She was cold. That’s all.”
“Jason,” he said, shifting in his seat to look me dead on. “You’re my best friend. You’ve been in love with her since the moment you saw her. I know that, you know that, and anyone with eyes knows that. Just tell her already.”
I scoffed. “What are you talking about?”
His eyebrows knitted together. “Really? I remember the day you hired her. You wouldn’t shut up about her.”
“Keep your voice down,” I said in a harsh whisper.
“I’m not wrong.”
“I’d been swamped and looking for a secretary for weeks.”
“Even if we set aside that fact, it doesn’t change how you feel now.” He rubbed the spot where he’d been shot. “Life is short, man. You almost died. Tell the woman you love her and live your life.”
“Thomas, it’s not that simple.”
It wasn’t even close. I wouldn’t just be stepping into a relationship. I’d be stepping into fatherhood, and I wasn’t confident I’d ever be fit for that role. What if I did more harm than good?
Of course, Cora would have all the support she needed. She definitely couldn’t stay in that matchbox apartment. It wasn’t safe. And she’d need an excellent daycare if she wanted to continue working. Or she could decide she wanted to stay home with him. I’d help her do that as well.
I’d give her and the baby anything they needed.
I just wasn’t convinced they needed me. Failing once was bad enough, and I couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t happen again.
They needed better than that.
Better than me.