by Lexi Blake
“He hasn’t replaced you. He can’t do that.” Her voice had gone warm and sympathetic. “But he hasn’t forgiven himself, and you can’t make him. I assure you that forgiveness is harder than you think. I should know.”
“What haven’t you forgiven yourself for? The guy who tricked you?” He’d talked to a couple of her coworkers tonight and he’d come to realize so much of her reluctance came from that asshole.
“His name was Roger,” she began slowly. “We were partners for two years before I ever agreed to go out with him. I thought I was being careful. I think he knew how to play me. I wasn’t attracted to him at first. But it’s a lonely job. It’s hard because you can’t talk about it.”
“I can imagine. He was the only one who understood what it is to do what you do. Or what you did. You don’t have the same boundaries with this job, right?”
“No. I can talk about this job for the most part. Not the particular one we’re about to do since we’re technically working with the Agency,” she allowed. “But the day-to-day stuff isn’t confidential. Also, we’re one big team. It’s like a big family, and that has to do with the unique culture of the job.”
He thought he knew what she was talking about. He kept his eyes on the road, but his mind was entirely on her. His brother had talked about The Garden and how different it was from Sanctum. It had been the home to all of the Lost Boys until recently when they’d been able to finally get their lives back. “You all live in the same building, right? And the club you play at is there, too.”
“Most of us live there and yes, the ground floor of the building is the club. It’s truly beautiful. It should be weird to work and live and play in the same place, but Damon’s done an excellent job of making the spaces very separate. I think in the beginning Damon had this huge building and he didn’t want to be all alone in it. When he transitioned from MI6 to working with Tag, it made sense to let some of his employees live in the flats.”
“I know a little about that. When you work on a rig, you sleep, work, eat all in the same spaces for months at a time. It can build a strong team. It can also make you want to murder some of the fuckers.” At first those rigs had given him an odd sense of freedom. He still felt it a bit, though the older he got the more stability he wanted.
“It’s not so bad where we are. There’s more room, I suspect, and the accommodations are more luxurious,” she said with a chuckle. “My flat is far larger than my place in Lyon was. It’s also nice to have someone to eat dinner with. Someone’s always on their own and looking for company. At least they used to be.”
“Things are changing?” He knew how that felt. When everyone else was getting their lives in order and pairing off and starting families, it could make a man feel like he was getting left behind.
“Aren’t they always?” she asked with a wistful air. “Damon and Penny split their time between The Garden and their home in the countryside. They’re about to have another baby. I suspect Penny will start staying out there quite a bit. My friend Hayley and her husband Nick recently had a little girl. They’re looking for a place close to The Garden. Last week Owen and Rebecca announced they’re pregnant, too. There aren’t many singletons left in our group. Certainly not since the lads got their freedom back. Is it odd to be surrounded by these lovely people who treat you like family and still feel so outside? Like they’ve all invited me in, but I can’t quite make it through the door.”
“Why do you think that is? You said you weren’t close to your sister. How about your parents?” He was going to keep her talking. He hated the wistfulness in her tone, like she wanted something so badly but couldn’t reach out and grab it. He understood that, too.
She thought about it for a moment before answering. “My family wasn’t like yours. My dad was pretty distant, and I don’t think my mum ever really understood me. She was closer to my sister, who definitely never understood me.”
“My brother…I thought he did,” he admitted. “And maybe he did, but I didn’t try enough to understand him. I’m fully aware there’s blame in here for me. I thought because I was happy that he was, too. The whole twin psychic connection thing might be true for some, but not me and Mike. Did you only have the one sister?”
She nodded. “Yes. She’s five years younger than I am. It should have made us close, but we never were. We never had that sibling relationship for some reason. I think we were just far enough apart that we didn’t spend much time together.”
“You wouldn’t have been in the same schools. Mike and I were obviously always in the same class.”
“Yes, we just missed each other, though I don’t know if it would have mattered. We’re quite different personality-wise and in what we want out of life,” she said. “It was like we lived in the same house but completely different lives. And then we didn’t live in the same house at all. After university I lived in France for a long time, and it was a demanding job. At least that’s what I told myself. My parents divorced while I was in my teens, and my father got remarried very quickly. His new wife didn’t want to have anything to do with us, so he didn’t. I haven’t seen my father in ten years. When I moved back to London I spent a bit of time with my mum, but I found I couldn’t take the comparisons to my sister’s perfect life.”
“I doubt it’s perfect.”
“It looks that way on social media, and that’s all that matters to my mum and sister.” She was quiet for a moment. “I’m surprised you’re not on social media more often.”
“I can’t stand it. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a page to keep up with people I was friendly with in high school and college, but I almost never post. Half the time I don’t have Internet access. I don’t think anyone wants to see pics of me sweaty and covered in grease. That’s pretty much my existence when I’m on a rig.” He realized he wasn’t even doing the speed limit, which here was seventy-five. He was trying to drag out their time together. It wasn’t fair to her since they had to be up and on a plane in the morning, and she would likely stay up doing her prep work. He forced himself to ramp up the speed.
Nina snorted, an oddly sweet sound. “Sure. The Internet would hate pictures of your sweaty muscles. Everyone would be disgusted. I bet we could make a calendar of you on oil rigs and it would sell like crazy.”
“Then I could give the profits to green causes and make my dad insane.” He wouldn’t mind as long as she was his photographer.
“You really are exploring sustainable energy?”
“Absolutely,” he replied, though he needed to be completely honest with her. He wasn’t some vegan, spare-the-earth type. He had practical reasons for what he was doing. “I’m working with the king of Loa Mali. Don’t think I’m doing it to save the earth or anything, though. I’m doing it because if I don’t someone else will, and they’ll be the ones making money off it. Though a cleaner earth wouldn’t be so bad. I like clean air as much as the next guy. Maybe more since I grew up with so much of it.”
She relaxed back. “I liked your family quite a bit. They’re oddly down to earth for a group of billionaires.”
“That’s my mom and dad. I think it’s because the ranch has always been so important. The ranch is how the Malones originally made our money, so even though it isn’t important to us financially now, it is the bedrock of who we are. And if it means anything, they liked you, too. My mother in particular, and she’s the one who can be hard to convince.” He stared out at the twin lights illuminating the road in front of him. This was a lonely two-lane road that led to the wider highway. He glanced in the rearview out of habit. There wasn’t a moon to illuminate the fields around him, but he would have sworn he could see a shadow behind him, just on the edge of the light from the back of the truck.
Was someone following them? He felt every muscle tense. Something was about to happen. Something wasn’t right.
“What’s going on?” Nina had sat right back up and she was looking his way now, a concerned expression on her face.
“I don�
��t know.” He looked in the rearview mirror, trying to catch that glimpse again. Something lurked right outside his vision. He was almost sure of it. “I’m probably being paranoid.”
He didn’t think so, but he didn’t trust his own instincts when it came to this. He’d spent the whole evening thinking someone was watching him. He’d sat at dinner and talked to people he’d known for years, wondering the whole time if he or she was the one intent on betraying the company.
Nina turned in her seat. “You think someone’s following us?”
He didn’t want to scare her. Damn it. Maybe his brother was right about a few things. She needed to know what he’d seen. Or not seen. “I thought I caught sight of a shadow. I don’t know. It’s really dark, and this kind of darkness can play tricks on a person.”
They were far enough from the ranch that there was zero light that didn’t come from his headlights or the stars above them. The Malones owned all this land and it wasn’t developed. He could remember all the times he and his brother and their friends would camp out and stare up at the stars.
It was a new moon, and now all he could see were shadows.
“I don’t see anything,” Nina said, looking in her passenger-side mirror. “No. There it is. JT, I need you to stay calm.”
That was the moment he felt the whole truck jolt forward as something hit them hard from behind. It took everything he had to go against his instinct, which was to slow down and pull over. He couldn’t do that. This wasn’t some drunk asshole who’d forgotten to turn on his lights.
His heart rate jumped because there was zero way that hit had been an accident. Someone had followed them and was purposefully trying to run them off the road.
Whoever was in that vehicle would likely then make sure he or she finished them off.
Someone was trying to kill him.
He put the pedal to the metal. “We’re not far from the main highway. We won’t be alone there.”
He had to keep them on the road. He hadn’t asked Nina if she was carrying. He wasn’t sure if it would matter at all if he lost control. They could be sitting ducks.
“Can you see a license plate?” Nina’s voice was perfectly calm. She twisted in her seat again, trying to look behind them.
He could barely see the road in front of him. He looked in the rearview, but the shark that was following them had gone underwater again. He knew the predator was there, waiting to take another bite. But he couldn’t see past the darkness. “It’s too dark.”
The truck was hit again, jerking him forward. He was already pushing eighty. The road on either side sloped off here. He had to be very careful or they would roll and end up like a turtle on its back.
He had to be careful or he could kill Nina. Someone was trying to kill him, and they could get Nina instead.
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. Could he outrun the asshole? Or would more speed make things worse? He didn’t see a way to ditch the other truck until they made it to the main highway. There were no side roads to disappear down. There were no handy cops working the night shift who might see them go by and join in the chase.
They were alone, and Nina’s life was in his hands.
“Try to keep things steady,” Nina was saying, and she had something in her hand. “I’m going to see if I can get a picture of the car.”
“What?” He took his eyes off the road for a moment and watched in horror as she unbuckled her belt and lowered the back of her seat so she could twist around fully.
“I want to see if I can get a picture.” She sounded like nothing was wrong at all. “This phone has an excellent camera and it’s got a flash. It’s dark enough out here that the light might surprise the bugger. Get ready. He’s closing in again.”
JT braced as the truck was bumped again. “You need to be in your damn seatbelt.”
If he lost control, she could get thrown out the front windshield, and at these speeds she wouldn’t survive it. His heart threatened to pound out of his chest at the thought of what could happen to her.
“Just a sec.” She cursed under her breath as she was jostled again. Her shoulder hit him hard. “Sorry.”
He managed to stay in his lane. “I think you need to get back in your seat.”
She was still moving, her back now somehow to him. “How far did you say we are from the highway? I bet he’ll break off there. He won’t want to get caught on traffic cameras.”
“Two miles.” The way he was going it wouldn’t take more than a minute or two to get there. “This road flows into that one. It’s a yield. No hard stop.”
“Excellent. Just keep her on the road for me. I don’t know how he’s going to react to this.”
There was a flash of light and then he heard brakes squealing.
“Got him.” Nina was smiling as she popped back into her seat and brought it to its original position.
“Put the belt on,” he managed to bite out.
She did as he asked. “Fine, but I think we’re all right now. Even if he only stops for a moment, we’ll lose him from here. Now we see if I got a face. Or a plate.”
In his rearview, he saw red lights come on and then race away. “He made a U-turn. He’s driving away.”
“Excellent,” she said, looking down at her phone. “Tech might be able to get something off this.”
“That was dangerous as hell,” he said, starting to breathe again.
“It was fine,” she replied, not looking up from her phone. She’d started typing. “I’m in my belt now and the bad guy’s going the other way. You did a great job. You kept us on the road, and I might be able to figure out who that was.”
“We nearly died.”
“But we didn’t and now everything’s fine.” She finally looked up. “Ian’s still awake. He’s going to meet us at the hotel and hopefully he’ll have some news for us.”
Excellent. His night was far from over.
Chapter Eight
“The truck is stolen, but then we really should have expected that especially if we’re dealing with a pro.” Ian Taggart paced the big suite, still dressed in the button-down and slacks he’d worn to the party. “According to the police report, it went missing earlier this evening. I had Derek contact the local police. They believe it was someone who stole it and was driving drunk. It’ll get buried really fast. You two did a good job talking to them. I don’t think they’ll follow up.”
“Adam will see if he can do anything with facial recognition.” Alex had been waiting with Ian when JT had handed off his truck to the valet downstairs, who hadn’t said a thing about the dents and deep gouges to the back. “The police out in Parker County have already found the vehicle. We’ll let you know if they find any prints, but I suspect they won’t.”
Nina had been relieved to have a distraction since the hour-long drive to Dallas had been almost completely silent.
Silent, and not comfortable. She could practically hear the wheels in JT’s head grinding, and they weren’t coming up with anything Nina thought they should. She was afraid she was about to be introduced to the JT who’d lost his closest female friend. She understood, but she couldn’t allow it to derail the mission, and she worried that’s exactly what JT would try to do.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get a better shot of him. My impression from the brief glimpse I got was of a male. Not that it tells us anything. I would assume this person was hired.” She stood by the window where only days ago she’d been with JT, letting the night cradle them, pretending nothing in the world could get to them.
She’d known it was a pretty lie even before she’d realized who her new lover was. She’d known her time with him was probably short.
They’d stolen a few days, but now she wondered if it was coming to an abrupt end. She was surprised at how far she might be willing to go to not allow that to happen.
JT stood across the room from her, still quiet, but she could sense the boiling emotions threatening to bubble over. His tension was etched in t
he hard line of his expression. He might have faced down pirates before and lots of scary situations, but she doubted he’d done it when he was with someone he deeply cared about. It was a different kind of anxiety, and she didn’t think he was handling it well.
“I’m happy you thought to try to get us a picture of the asshole at all. That was quick thinking,” Tag said. “Also it gave me and Alex the rest of the night off. We were pulling into Alex’s driveway to drop them off when we got the call.”
Alex grinned. “I’ve never seen Big Tag move so fast. Apparently the sitter called and told Charlotte that Travis woke up and won’t go back to sleep.”
“Charlie tried to cover it up, but I could hear that kid wailing in the background,” Big Tag acknowledged. “Before you start writing the Am I the Asshole post, I had him all last weekend while Charlie and Chelsea did a sisters thing that I pray was really about massages and mani pedis, because their sister time used to be spent taking over small countries.”
“And I was just making sure Ian doesn’t get in trouble,” Alex added. “It has nothing to do with the fact that we’ll now have to stay over here and make sure no one tries to kill JT again. Nothing to do with the fact that I can sleep in instead of waking up to a dirty diaper in the face because Eve brings the baby into bed with us thinking she’ll be able to sleep a little longer. Vivian never sticks her stinky diaper in her momma’s face. No. It is always mine.”
“Hey, when you and Theo figure out how to breastfeed, that can change for you,” Tag snarked. “But Alex is right. We’re going to bed down here and make sure everything goes smoothly. There’s room service, right? I’m sure this place has killer room service, and I don’t have to fight the girls for pancakes. They’re surprisingly sneaky when it comes to food hoarding. They do not mind licking things.”
Alex had gotten rid of his tie the minute they’d walked upstairs. “And hey, we’ll need to make sure you two make it to the airport. Are you sure they don’t need a bodyguard, because I could use a tan.”