by Lexi Blake
“Settled,” Case corrected. “The cases were settled and the records sealed. There’s a big difference and you know it.”
“Not to mention the fact that his assistant has an obsessive interest in him, and I would say she’s got some narcissistic tendencies.” Kai had come to a few of his own conclusions. All it had taken was a single ten-minute conversation with her to realize Lena was a vengeful woman. She’d talked a lot about the people who had done her wrong and how she’d dealt with them. “Everyone’s got issues. If you truly look at any single person’s background, you can make a case for violence. All of us are damaged in some way. Until you have some real proof, I don’t want you focusing in on my brother. For all we know this is coincidence.”
Rush’s eyes rolled. “If you can’t do the job, let me know now.”
Kai took a deep breath. He was getting sick of the whole thing. There was a reason he worked by himself and not in a practice where he would have a boss. He had some authority issues of his own. “My job is to teach my brother about BDSM.”
“Your brother has been in the lifestyle for years. God, you haven’t even figured that out yet?” Rush stood up, his big body stiff with frustration.
“What are you talking about?” Kai asked, Rush’s words not quite making sense.
Case shot the special agent an arctic stare. “I thought my brother asked you not to mention that.”
“Your brother also told me this guy could do the job,” Rush retorted. “So far all he’s done is his secretary.”
“I can do more,” Kai promised, visions of his hands around the asshole’s throat playing through his brain.
Case stood and got between them. “He means that, Rush, and don’t judge him by his looks. He could take you on and he would very likely enjoy hurting you.”
Kai didn’t move. “See, we’ve all got issues. As for my brother, I’ll go with him tonight and I’ll watch everyone carefully. After I tag a woman’s phone.”
If it weren’t for Ian, he would tell everyone to go to hell. Well, likely not because if he wasn’t doing this for Ian, he would be doing it for Sean. Or Case. Or Erin.
He was locked in and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Maybe what his brother had said was right. He’d spent the last few decades of his life trying not to have ties only to find himself bound tightly again. He’d run from one brother only to find an entire family, and he’d slid into it because it seemed like Ian was the only one with real responsibility. But in a family, everyone had responsibility. It was only a matter of time before it reared its head.
The responsibility was chafing. It reminded him of all the reasons he’d walked away in the first place. Sometimes it took him back to that place where he was twelve and his mother was working an overnight shift and Jared had fallen and hit his head. There’d been so much blood and it had been his fault because he wasn’t watching his brother properly. His mother hadn’t yelled, but the point had been made.
“Ferguson, I’m sorry. I’m under a lot of pressure. I don’t like bringing family members in. Not ever.” Rush ran a hand over his hair as he walked toward the door. “Do what you can. I don’t want anyone dying on my watch. Know that we’ll be sticking close tonight.”
Jared was surrounded by vultures and men who wanted to see him in prison. Once again it was up to Kai to save his brother.
The door closed behind Rush and he was left alone with Case.
“I’ll do everything I can to make sure you don’t have to do this. Hell, why don’t I bring along Hutch? I can introduce him as a friend and you can be out of this altogether,” Case offered.
There was a problem with that scenario. “If she’s Collective, then she knows who Hutch is and she’ll likely be vigilant around him. I’m the non-threatening one. I’m the therapist who rarely works for McKay-Taggart and never in the field. If she sees Hutch or Adam or any of the tech guys, she’ll figure out what’s happening and we’ll lose her. This will work because she’ll think you can’t get anything done if you’re out dancing with her. She’ll leave her purse with Kori because she’s Mia’s friend and Mia trusts her, and I’ll very quietly get the job done because we’ll make sure someone distracts Kori. I can get Jared talking and he tends to command the room when he does. We’ll get what we need. I can handle tagging the phone, but Rush is right about one thing. I’m too close to the murder case. I can’t conceive of a world in which my brother is a serial killer.”
“Honestly, having spent some time with him, neither can I. I have to wonder if this isn’t some unfortunate coincidence. I think we should concentrate on the situation with Mia and let the feds do what they need to do. Once you tag this phone, all you need to do is fulfill the contract you have with the studio and you’re out of it. No more spy stuff.”
There was one more matter to settle. “Apparently my brother doesn’t need training. What do you know about that? Is it true? Has Jared been in the lifestyle for a while?”
Case’s jaw tightened as though he didn’t like this line of questioning. “According to the file the feds have on him, he’s been going to clubs for years. He started in his early twenties.”
Had Hannah been the one to introduce him? Wouldn’t that be a kick in the groin? “Thanks for telling me the truth.”
“I think he’s lying because he wants to get close to you and this was a good way to ensure your attention,” Case said. “Look, man, you’ve never been the little brother. I’ve been both. I know what it means to have to look out for your younger brother, even when he was only a few minutes younger than me. Theo was…reckless. I always knew that. In some ways the fact that he was always so reckless made me more careful.”
Kai knew this story. He’d lived it. It had to have been worse for Case since Theo had been his twin. Was his twin. “You had to be his more reasonable half. I was basically Jared’s father figure, so I understand. It doesn’t make it easier to swallow that he’s lying to me again. He made me spend hours going over contracts and talking about different forms of play when he likely knew everything I was saying.”
“Ah, but that’s where I do understand him. Look, maybe I was the oldest growing up, but it’s different now,” Case explained. “I was the leader when Theo and I were young. I was the one who decided to go into the Navy. Theo followed me. I was the one who decided we would join the CIA team. And then I met Big Tag.”
The Taggart brothers hadn’t grown up together. They shared a father, one who had walked out on Ian and Sean when they were young. Papa Taggart had found a new family, fathered Case and Theo, and moved on from them as well. Tennessee Smith had been the one to connect the dots. The brothers had finally met, but it hadn’t been an easy family reunion. “You didn’t like him at first.”
“No. He was a challenge to everything I knew about myself. If it had been up to me, I would have walked away and never looked back. When Ten got burned, I would have stayed with the Agency and I probably would be an operative by now. I would have no family. No future. Nothing but the work. Theo wouldn’t leave. Theo wanted to know Ian and Sean. He was the leader in that. Now there are times I would do anything to get their attention. Ian and Sean’s, that is. I’m not a kid so I don’t act out, but I’ll show up on their doorsteps with the thinnest reasons possible. They never turn me away. Jared thought you would turn him away. I would bet anything he enjoyed going over things he already knew because he would do almost anything to get to spend time with you.”
Case was right. He likely would have turned his brother away. “Jared and I have history you’ve never had with your brothers. It’s not the same.”
Case’s jaw tightened. “No two relationships are ever the same, but you’re brothers. No matter what he did, no matter what you did, you’re never going to get another one. Do you have any idea what I would do to get another chance? To go back and do it again? To get another shot at watching my brother’s back? Anything, man. I know it’s not the same, but it is. Think about it, Kai. That’s all we’re asking.
And thank you for everything you’re doing.”
“I’m doing it so maybe you do get that shot.”
“I don’t know if he’s out there or not. I think Ian might be optimistic.”
“He has his reasons and he won’t be satisfied until he’s made every attempt to find Theo.”
Case slumped down. “I had to tell our mother he died. I had to tell her I didn’t protect my brother.”
Kai’s chest tightened. He didn’t know what he believed about the afterlife, but he wondered sometimes. Was his mother angry with him? She hadn’t asked him to look after his brother, but only if Jared didn’t piss him off. She hadn’t put a clause in her dying wish that released him from the obligation in the case of fiancée stealing.
Had he taken the first chance he had to distance himself? To be free?
Had he really been that selfish?
“You were not responsible for what happened to Theo any more than Erin was. It was an operation that went very wrong.”
Case’s eyes were so weary when he looked up. “I can say that as many times as I like, but my gut will never believe it. I can smile and say the right things and I can pretend like I’m moving forward with my life, but there’s a part of me that died when he did. I felt it. I fucking felt him die.”
Sometimes twins had amazing connections. “Do you feel like he’s alive?”
Case shook his head. “All my life I’ve had this connection to my brother. Not some psychic shit. It’s like a low hum. White noise, maybe. It’s something that’s always there. Now it’s gone and I don’t know what to do about it. There’s this place that’s totally empty. And I can tell myself that I’ll find a way to fill it. I can put my heart and soul into helping Erin raise Theo’s kid. But at the end of the day, I think that place will always be there, a hole inside me. If Ian’s right and Theo’s alive, something’s gone horribly wrong with him because I can’t feel him anymore.” Case took a deep breath and shook his head as though trying to shake off his emotion. “Let me show you how this works.”
He reached down and picked up the small laptop bag he’d shown up with.
“Case, if you need to talk, I’ll move my morning sessions to this afternoon.”
Case shook his head. “I talk too fucking much these days and I’ve got lunch with Mia. Hell, maybe I’ll manage to get her phone this afternoon and you won’t have to.”
Kai doubted it. He leaned in and listened as Case began to explain what needed to be done. He took it all in, but he couldn’t let go of the thought that he’d failed his brother somehow.
* * * *
Kori looked up as the big, hunky dude in the suit stalked out. He’d shown up with Case, so she was betting he was an applicant at McKay-Taggart. Looked like the psych evaluation had gone poorly.
“Are you still there?” Sarah asked over the phone.
“Yep,” Kori replied, looking at the “bouquet” that had been delivered not moments before. “Still here and still looking at my present.”
It was a beautiful array of torture implements surrounded lovingly with well-placed daisies and chrysanthemums.
“He sent you an entire bouquet of sadisticks? Are you kidding me? He’s the most romantic sadist ever,” Sarah said with a happy squeal. “Send me a pic. It will liven up my super-boring day. Believe it or not the ER is actually quiet for once. We’ve got a couple of boring broken bones and a chick who thinks she’s having a heart attack but it’s actually gas. Give me a good trauma any day of the week. Which brings me to why I’m calling.”
Kori stared at the present. The little instruments of torture called to her in a way no bouquet of lilies ever would. She brushed her fingertips across the round pink tips. The carbon rods were flexible and the tips when they hit flesh stung like hell. They would leave a matchstick-shaped mark that she would wear for however long it lasted. She would touch them and let her fingertips play and remember how much fun she’d had. How much her Master knew her.
Kai. How well Kai knew her.
He hadn’t asked about a contract. At first she’d been happy to not deal with it. Now, as the days went by, she wondered why. He was a man who would want a contract. The few times he’d taken on even a training sub, he’d signed a contract and slapped a collar on her.
She got sadisticks.
“Are you even listening to me? Or are you already playing with your toys?” Sarah groused.
“I wouldn’t dare.” Kai had given her one rule. She wasn’t allowed to play unless he was there or he’d vetted her partners. He’d been very clear that by partners he meant he didn’t mind her playing with her friends. Sometimes the girls and Vince got together and played around with a violet wand or spanked each other. It was all in fun and there was nothing at all intimate about it.
She knew damn well she wasn’t allowed to scene with anyone except Kai.
So why did the fact that he hadn’t asked for a contract bother her? It was perverse. She knew she didn’t want one. The threat of having that conversation with him hung over her. She was waiting for the fight, going over it again and again in her head.
“Yes, I’m listening. What’s going on?”
There was a pause on the line before Sarah began. “You’re going out with Jared tonight, right?”
Kori winced. She didn’t particularly want to go, but Kai had asked her to and it was good he was spending time with his brother. Why he had to do it at some dance club, Kori had zero idea. At least Mia was going. If she had to spend all her hang time with Lena, someone was going to get murdered and hard. “Yeah. We’re going to Top for dinner and then out to some club in Deep Ellum. I was told I have to wear heels. I don’t know why.”
“Because the paparazzi is going to be there,” Sarah explained. “Do you think there’s any way you could see if I can go, too?”
Kori had to smile. “Because you like Jared.”
It wasn’t a question. Sarah hadn’t been able to stop talking about him. He’d run his first scene the night before he’d left for Vancouver and he’d chosen Sarah as his sub. He’d spanked her in a way that proved that man was a born Dom. He was a natural. She’d seen them later, Sarah wrapped in his arms in the bar.
“I do. I know it’s insane. I know there’s zero chance of this working long term, but I want to see him again and I don’t have his number.”
“Sure.” Speaking of the devil, Jared walked by the front doors, his bag slung over his shoulder. He was wearing his normal uniform of a V-neck T-shirt, jeans, boots, and a pair of aviators, but she could see how tired he was from the slump to his shoulders. “Actually, I’ll go and talk to him now. I’ll call you back.”
“Thank you! I’ve got the perfect outfit. I’m totally seducing him.” The line went dead.
Kori ran to catch Jared before he walked up the stairs to the residence portion of the building. He’d been sleeping on Kai’s bed since Kai had started spending every night at her place. The door swung closed behind her as she caught up to him.
“Jared!”
He stopped and turned, and that brilliant smile of his was on his face. If she hadn’t seen him when he’d thought no one was looking, she wouldn’t have thought anything was wrong. He was damn good at hiding his emotions. “Hey, Kori. How’s it going?”
She stopped. This was the time to decide if she was ready to drop into the deep end of the pool. She could pretend she hadn’t seen that look on his face, ask her question and move on. Or she could be his brother’s girlfriend and try to figure out what was going on. “What’s wrong?”
Jared frowned as though no one ever asked him that question before. “What do you mean?”
If she let him, Jared would talk his way right back into everything being fine. She got the feeling Jared would do a lot to keep the peace around him. “No bullshit, Jared. I’m not a fan or a reporter or a flunky. You look tired and worried. What’s wrong?”
His lips formed a flat line. “It’s nothing.”
“Nope. It’s not nothing. It can
be something you don’t want to talk about, but it’s not nothing.”
He let his bag drop and sat down on the second step. “You care?”
She moved toward him, dropping down beside him. “Of course I do. You’re Kai’s brother.”
“Yeah, well, he doesn’t care.” For the first time since she’d met him, a hard look came into his eyes. “That’s something you have to understand about Kai.”
He didn’t know Kai now. A lot had happened to both brothers over the time they’d been apart, but she softened her response. Jared didn’t need a lecture. He did need the truth though. “I can care enough for both of us. You have to give Kai some time. You were an asshole.”
“It’s been twelve years.”
“He’s smart in many ways and slow in this one. Trust me. Kai always does the right thing. He’ll come around. Is this about Kai?”
Jared shook his head. “No. It’s about everything. I hate conflict. We all got into a massive fight on the plane and I don’t like it when things get nasty.”
“What was the fight about?”
“Whether or not I sign a new contract with Dart.”
That was one problem she did understand. “Ah, your contract is up but the show is going strong. Your career is going strong, too, and they think you’ll have a million and one offers after this movie hits big.”
“You have forgotten nothing of your time in Hollywood.” He turned to her, giving her a smile that likely could melt the heart of any woman he chose. “I’ve got a little time, but I have to make the decision. I have to give them time to wrap up the show or find a way to transition it away from me.”
“It sounds like you’ve made your decision.”
He shook his head and leaned back, his elbows on the stair behind him. “Not at all. I like the steady work of television. I like playing the same guy. I get to really get into the role. The producers have been cool about letting me work in our off time. Hell, when they found out I was up for this role, they offered to work around me.”