Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
“You were not sweet. You were not gentle. You were not soothing.” Ryan shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I’d say that you were probably more terrifying, aggressive, and way too deadly. Those were not the descriptors that we were going for in that scene.”
Nash watched as three operatives from the CIA shoved Jacob Brown and Lowell Vail into the back of a van.
Those two attackers were about to vanish.
The CIA—in the form of Jez—would grill them.
Jacob and Lowell worked directly with Kurt, and if she could get them to provide evidence to tie Kurt to being Typhon, Jez would do it.
The woman was truly a master when it came to interrogation.
And flipping suspects. In exchange for their lives, she’d get them to roll on their boss.
She had a way of convincing even the most hardened criminals to cooperate. With the right leverage.
Once upon a time, Jezebel had been a ballerina.
She’d grown up in France, the daughter of a South African mother who’d married a French artist. Jezebel had always moved in the highest of social circles.
Subterfuge had been her name and her game long before she’d entered adulthood.
Being a ballerina, she’d been able to travel the world.
She’d wined and dined the upper echelons, and she’d been stealing their secrets with every casual meeting.
She’d once confided to him that Josephine Baker had been her hero while growing up. And if Josephine had been able to work as a spy, well…
Jez had been sure she could get the job done, too. And she had.
Jezebel Jenkins was not her real name. She’d once told him it was the name she’d chosen. He had no clue what her birth name actually was. Jez had changed her identity over and over.
People underestimated Jez because she was physically fragile. Just a dancer. How often had she told him those were the words she’d heard? She’s just a charming dancer.
A dancer who had brought down some of the worst criminals in the world.
“Jez will get intel from them. Hell, you already had that little Jacob jerk spouting off constantly. Even if the other one doesn’t break,” Ryan mused, “that one will.” He turned his head and surveyed the woods around them.
“We’ve got additional agents out there now.
No one will get past them for the rest of the night. ”
They were just supposed to stay in the cabin until dawn. After it had already been compromised.
“You should go in and try comforting Delaney.” Ryan’s voice was mild. “I’m sure she’s quite shaken after tonight’s events.”
“You mean after waking up to find two guys who wanted to abduct her?” Nash’s words were gritted from between clenched teeth.
“Or from watching me beat the shit out of Jacob because he’d terrified her?
Which one of those events do you think left her the most shaken?
Oh, and let’s not forget the fun moment when I threw a man out of her window.
” Ryan had been right. He definitely hadn’t been sweet or soothing or—dammit.
Not charming. So very far from charming.
Instead, he’d been deadly and vicious. And he’d seen the fear in Delaney’s eyes when she looked at him.
“Probably all those events did it,” Ryan drawled. “Waking up to find attackers by her bed had to be frightening. Then seeing you in your deadly glory probably sealed the deal. Not like it had to be an either-or situation.”
Hell. He needed to go inside. “She’s afraid of me.”
“No.” A very long and drawn out nooooo. “I’m sure she’s not.”
Bullshit. Ryan was lying. “She’s terrified. I saw it on her face. In her eyes. If I go in there and try to touch her now, she’ll probably flinch away from me.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to do more than just touch her.” Ryan slapped a hand on his shoulder. “You’re gonna have to marry her. So man up and get in there. Unless, of course, you changed your mind and you want me to take on the role of groom.”
“I’m marrying her.”
“Pretend marrying,” Ryan corrected. “You’re pretend marrying.”
Nash didn’t speak.
“Pretend marrying,” Ryan said again.
And, again, Nash did not speak.
“Unless you want a real marriage?” A careful question from Ryan. “Is that what you are trying to tell your big brother?”
Their birthdays were literally a month apart. But Ryan still liked to toss out that big brother bullshit every now and then. It brought him joy.
“Huh.” From Ryan when the silence just kinda stretched.
Hell, yes, I want to really marry her. It is what I’ve always wanted. But you don’t always get what you want in this world. A painful, bitter truth.
“You usually tell me every secret you have.” Ryan’s voice was low. Considering. “You’re my brother, and there is no truth that I haven’t given to you. No matter how painful it is, I’ve always told you everything about myself.”
Nash’s jaw hurt because his teeth were clenched so tightly.
“You never told me why you walked away from Delaney before.”
He hadn’t been able to tell anyone.
“At first, I thought she’d done something to break your heart. So, yeah, I was an asshole to her back in those days.”
“Delaney never did anything wrong.” Gritted words.
“You just stopped loving her?”
Never.
“Uh, huh. Thought so.” Still low. “I hate that I was an ass to her back then. But my loyalty is always to you, without question.”
Dammit. Ryan was being nice. Such a bad sign. “Give your loyalty to her. Give your protection to her. If this shit goes sideways before we can secure Wellington, do whatever it takes to save Delaney.”
“You save her. You’re the groom. Not me.” He let go of Nash’s shoulder. Stepped back. “Had to be something pretty big. That’s what I figured, anyway. For you to give up the woman you loved? Must have been major. What was it? Did someone threaten you? Threaten her?”
How about threaten everyone in my world? But he held those words back. No point in saying them. The past would not alter.
“Everything about you changed when you separated from her.”
Ryan wasn’t wrong. Nash had changed. Because he’d needed to change. He had to become someone a whole lot stronger and a whole lot tougher in order to protect the people he cared about in this world.
“Hell,” Ryan groused, “I joined the CIA just to keep watch on you. You were the one to start hunting killers first.”
While Nash had been in college and med school, Ryan had been a Marine. Semper Fi had been his life. Always faithful. Yeah, that was his brother. Ryan had always been at his side. Always watching his back. And as for Nash…
I had to protect him. I had to protect my family. I had to protect Delaney.
Sometimes, to protect someone, you had to walk away. Even if it meant cutting out your heart and bleeding the fuck out.
“The CIA operative inside needs to leave with the van,” Ryan muttered. “We can’t keep him waiting any longer.”
The van was about to pull away, and, yes, there was an agent inside. From here on out, Nash was gonna make sure that Delaney had a guard with her. He’d wanted to personally see Jacob and Lowell get their asses loaded into the van.
And now, he was going back to Delaney. Even if she feared him.
She definitely feared him. Oh, baby, just wait until you find out that we are going to have a one-bed situation for the foreseeable future. “Still think I should aim for sweet and soothing with her?” Nash asked.
“Nope. Too late. That ship has sailed.”
Yeah, it had.
“Just try to be less scary, would you?” Ryan advised. “Maybe you could aim for semi-charming?”
Impossible. “You’re the charming one.” He squared his shoulders.
“And which one are you?” Ryan wanted to know.
I’m the one who will kill to protect Delaney.