37. Chapter 37
AHREN
Tierney went ashen, her pale blue eyes dropping to the table. My eyes drilled into her, willing her to look up.
For her part, Connor had gone silent, realizing the slip up. She'd mumbled something about needing to use the bathroom and wandered off, leaving us to talk alone.
"I'm not mad." I said quietly. "They're just flowers."
"I still don't know why you saved mine. I left them as angry taunts; you read them as love notes. How can we make a relationship work when we clearly don't speak the same language?" Her defeated tone twisted something deep inside me.
"This isn't going to work."
She nodded, her eyes still downcast. "I under-"
Pulling her into my lap, I wrapped her in my arms, smothering her protests with a deep, drugging kiss .
"None of it matters, Kitten." I whispered against her lips.
Her eyes slid shut just as the first tear fell, her head shaking softly.
"I wish I knew the right thing to say. Emotions aren't really my thing."
A soft laugh escaped her. "The blonde leading the blind then."
That earned her a smile. "Yeah, something like that."
I lifted her chin until her eyes finally met mine.
“There’s a fundamental difference between the two of us, Tierney.
Your soul might be as black as mine, but that’s from your family running over it with a blowtorch for so many years.
Now, it’s charred, through and through. Me, on the other hand, I was born without a soul, never had one to corrupt or damage. ”
Her fingers traced along my jaw. "There are a lot of things I don't know. Especially when it comes to people. But I know you have a soul. I can feel it as sure as I can feel my own heart beating in my chest—I can feel your soul. And it's beautiful."
"Tierney. I want whatever this is between us. More than I want my next breath. I'm sure as hell not going to let you go over some flowers."
She nodded. My chest swelled as she nestled her head under my chin. This was the first time since my mother died anyone had sought comfort in my arms.
My father was always a mean drunk, but after her death, he got worse. He hated my tears and made it his mission to beat every bit of emotion out of my young body. The night I took his life, I fully embraced the monster he wanted me to be. It's suited me well these past almost thirteen years.
I never minded being the heartless bastard. Until that night in the grove. Something buried deep inside me cracked open when she looked up at me, surrendering her life to me .
"All made up then?" Connor's sarcastic voice called out as she entered the kitchen, thankfully walking steadier than she was earlier.
"Fuck off." I gruffed, pulling my girl in tighter.
She dropped into the chair I had just pulled Tierney from. "Who found me?"
"I forgot you were out of it. Tierney and I found you. I carried you out of the house and-"
She held her hand up, silencing me mid-sentence, her head shaking from side to side.
"No. What I mean is, how did you know where to search? What led you to that exact house?"
I blew out a heavy breath, somehow calmer with her in my arms than any moment in my lifetime, despite the pressure and less than eight hours until the clock ran out.
"Tierney and I noticed some irregularities in the photo she sent us." I jutted my chin toward the counter where the photo still laid. “We made an educated guess about what kind of house you would be in and I sent to Jax and had him cross reference against maps of the area.”
"So, he told you where to look."
I nodded.
Her eyes widened expectantly.
"Fuck!" I growled, rising from my seat and releasing Tierney as I started pacing.
"What did I miss?" she asked, her head snapping between Connor and me like a spectator at a tennis match.
"The clue spelled out MVP." Connor started, still piecing things together, though I had no doubts about her conclusions. "There have been a few little scenarios—"
"Like the ambush at the grove." She supplied.
"Exactly. And the broker. And—the kidnapping." she finished, the slight tremble in her voice almost unnoticeable.
"Who helped me the most? Who was the most valuable to our little team?" I asked.
"Jax." she whispered.
I nodded. "Yeah."
I rattled off a quick text, telling him of our suspicions, warning him to be safe until we could get there to protect him.
"What's the plan?" Tierney asked.
"No fucking clue. Jax has a pistol, but he's a tech guy, not a gun guy."
"So, we strap on as much hardware as we can carry and make the rough outline of a plan on the way over there."
I nodded, the closest thing I could muster to a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "That's the closest I have to a plan."
"I'm going back to bed. I have the pistol you left me last night, and the dogs will alert me."
"Absolutely fucking not." I shook my head. "Not a chance in hell the three of us are splitting up until that bitch is room temperature."
To her credit, Connor didn't argue, simply walked back into the makeshift hospital room and retrieved the weapon from the bedside table.
Tierney and I both rushed up the stairs, splitting off at the top. Me heading for the arsenal in my bedroom; her going to fetch her scout and my Walther.
In less than ten minutes, we met at the base of the stairs.
Once again, she looked like death herself, perfection.
Her hair twisted into her favorite fishtail braid, with daggers sheathed invisibly along her body.
Under other circumstances, I would have gladly spent my afternoon releasing her wild hair and running my hands over her delicious curves until I found every hidden blade.
I wasn't one for games, but that one sounded like it could be a lot of fun.
The hard set of her eyes brought me back to the moment, and I pushed down the indecent thoughts that seemed to frequent my mind when she was around.
"Load up."
"Shotgun!" Connor yelled, calling dibs on the passenger seat.
Tierney laughed. "That's fine. As long as I'm not riding dog, we're fine."
I smiled at their easy interaction, another thing that had fallen into place as everything else seemingly fell apart around us.
Jax didn't live far—maybe twenty minutes.
We came up with a loose plan I hoped to firm up once we saw his security set up.
Connor agreed to stay in the car and shoot anyone who came within sight that wasn't us.
It was a simple plan, but it was all we could do with the limited information we were working with.
I pulled into the winding drive, relief washing over me at the sight of him standing in front of his door, arms folded across his chest and what looked like the Ruger I'd given him, tucked into his waistband.
"The fuck is this about Rossdale?"
"I told you. The crazy bitch that kidnapped my doctor." I fished the camera out of my pocket and passed it to him. Hoping he could give me more info.
"Where'd you find this?" confusion filled his eyes as they met mine.
"I found it where they were holding Connor."
He pushed it back into my hand. "You're being played, man. The range on that thing is shit. Bitch couldn't have been more than maybe three hundred feet away. "
Everything happened, seemingly in the space between heartbeats. Jax's head exploded—blood and brain matter sprayed across both Tierney and me as the shot rang out.
On instinct, we both dropped, my head finding the only rock in the driveway as I fell. Tierney didn't miss a beat. Rolling to straddle my body, her pistol sweeping for signs of a shooter. She fished the pistol out of my waistband, holding one out in each direction as she protected me.
Covered in blood, weapons in hand and fire in her eyes—I'd never seen anything more sexy in my life.
"So fucking beautiful." I whispered reverently.