“Out for a second.” He pulled on a pair of dress pants.
“Uh, now?”
Next came the shirt off the floor. He slipped it on and started buttoning. “Definitely.”
It was as if the man didn’t know she was a trained assassin. “We didn’t settle this.”
“I understand your position.”
He was really begging for a kick. “Is this some weird male fear-of-commitment thing? If so, I gotta tell you it’s kind of cliché. It also makes me want to punch you.”
His head stayed down but he peeked up at her. “It’s not.”
“Then?”
He nodded to her. “I’ll be back.”
Before she could step in front of the door or shove him back on the bed, he was gone. Good thing the building had a camera system. She planned to watch the weasel. Right now, he was safer anywhere but in the room with her.
• • •
Jarrett’s head still spun from the conversation upstairs. One second he could laugh it off as ridiculous. The next it took hold and he had to fight off the need to run around doing stupid things, like letting her know how much the conversation meant to him.
Right now, all flustered and half out of breath from his race downstairs, he had all the confidence of a sixteen-year-old sneaking his first package of condoms out of the drugstore. Standing across the bar from Wade, seeing the stunned expression on his friend and manager’s face after he asked a simple question, almost sent Jarrett running back to the angry woman upstairs.
He wasn’t one to wallow in confusion. He acted and made practical decisions. Right now he wanted to jump in a car and forget all about the security measures he’d put in place. His mind had turned to mush and he’d be damned if he could figure out how to clean up the mess.
Then he remembered the coldness in Becca’s eyes and the way she scanned the room looking for a weapon right before he left. She had that woman-scorned thing down, and when she thought he was throwing her and their nonexistent child out the door, she went all mama bear on him.
He’d take his chances with Wade.
The friend in question looked two seconds from shedding his own skin. Wade slowly lowered the glass he was cleaning. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me.”
“You want me to get the car?”
“I need to go out.” It was his damn car, after all.
Clearly unimpressed with a request from the boss, Wade’s eyes narrowed. “Is that a great idea? I mean, have you even left the building since Becca got here?”
“The club doesn’t open for hours.” Jarrett sat down on the barstool. Yeah, sitting would be good.
He looked around. The female attendants hadn’t started filing in yet. He could hear the low rumble of voices from the other room and assumed the kitchen staff had begun work on dinner.
“Natalie threatened you, giving you three days before . . . I don’t know, something terrible. She basically insinuated that stepping outside would get you shot or arrested on a new set of trumped-up charges.” Wade rested his palms against the bar’s edge. “Or did I get confused about that part?”
“She won’t see us.”
Wade leaned in closer. “Us?”
“I’m taking Becca.” And why did he sound like a little kid who got caught doing something bad. Jarrett hated that. He owned the place. He was in charge.
But, damn, this was uncomfortable. He wasn’t the type to drag personal matters into the business and that’s all he’d done since meeting Becca.
Wade’s mouth dropped open before he talked again. “I don’t get it.”
That made two of them. The words and plans shot through his brain, and he said them before thinking. “You bring the car around through the garage, we get in. Maybe we have someone here drive a second car as a decoy.”
“Do you hear yourself?”
He was trying not to think or hear or reason. “I want to leave for a few minutes.”
Wade closed his eyes for a second. “So, this is a death wish of some sort.”
“Just a car ride. I’m not looking for death.”
“With the woman who once set you up—both of us—to be arrested.” He smacked his hands against the bar as he said each word. “The same one you’ve kept trapped upstairs.”
“She’s not a prisoner.” If anyone was stuck and unraveling, it was him.
She had him thinking things he shouldn’t think and wanting things he couldn’t have. He’d held back some leverage from the CIA, information people there wanted, to make sure he didn’t become expendable. He purposely hadn’t asked questions of what became of the Spectrum agents or who set him up. He thought he knew and that he’d been the sucker. Now nothing seemed clear except his need to keep Becca close.
“She hasn’t left the condo in, what, ten days? Hasn’t even seen sunlight, as far as I know,” Wade said.
“For her own protection.”
At least that’s the excuse Jarrett ran through his mind. She came to him. He set the terms and she took them, and he would not feel anything but satisfaction about how the last few days rolled out. He was not a man accustomed to guilt and he pushed it away now.
Wade exhaled in the way that signaled an oncoming lecture. He reached under the bar and pulled up a water bottle. Sat it on the edge right next to Jarrett.
“Okay, I give up.” Wade grabbed a second bottle and twisted off the lid. “What am I missing here?”
“She needs to run an errand.”
He nodded before taking a drink. “I’ll do it. Give me a list or whatever.”
“That would be interesting.”
“Meaning?”
That almost made Jarrett laugh. “You can’t really handle this one.”
“Jarrett, for God’s sake. This is the most annoying game of twenty questions ever.”
“She needs to see a doctor.” He yelled the answer, then leaned in and lowered his voice. “Is that okay with you?”
“Did she get hurt?” Wade snapped his fingers. “Trying to climb out the window, right? That was Eli’s prediction. I keep waiting to see her rappel down the side of the building.”
Jarrett ignored that because if he spent two seconds thinking about Wade and Elijah discussing his sex life, they’d be the ones going out the window. “No.”
“Give me a hint.”
Fine, he wanted all the information, then Jarrett would give it to him. Maybe after that his friend would shut the hell up and find the fucking keys. “Birth control.”
“I don’t . . .” Wade shook his head as his eyes narrowed. “What?”
Enough. “This conversation is over. I’m the boss. We’re leaving.”
When Jarrett saw Wade’s mouth drop open a second time he knew he should have led with that. Issue the order then demand it be upheld. This whole trying-to-spare-everyone’s-feelings thing was not his style. At all.
“I have condoms upstairs,” Wade said.
“So do I. That’s not the issue.”
Wade moved his bottle to the side and leaned down on the bar on his elbows. “You lost me again.”
So much for thinking he was in charge. Jarrett made a last grab for patience. “As far as I know, Eli can’t get pregnant.”
Wade shot back up straight. “Becca’s pregnant?”
“Maybe you could not yell that.”
The man’s eyes bugged. Looked ten seconds from popping out of his head. “Is she?”
Jarrett seriously considered messing with Wade until he realized this was a topic he did not find the least bit funny. “No.”
“Then I don’t—”
Jarrett held a hand. “It’s a precaution.”
“Let me get this straight. You can’t take two seconds to put on a condom?”
They’d been talking like friends instead
of boss/employee, but that comment was too much. “You are about to get your ass kicked.”
“If it will knock some sense into you, fine. Let’s go.”
“I’m going stir crazy. She has to be, too.”
“So, she’s bored?”
Jarrett decided to ignore that. “I want her protected and I don’t just mean from gunfire.”
Wade dropped his head between his arms. He stood like that as he mumbled something.
Jarrett couldn’t catch the comment. “I didn’t get that.”
Wade’s head snapped up. “You know we’re headed for disaster here, right?”
There was no reason to lie about this part. “Yeah.”
“I don’t see a way you can protect the business, yourself and her.”
“And Elijah.” The weight of all the people, all the lives, weighed down on Jarrett. It was getting to be a bit much, especially with Natalie sniffing around and giving deadlines.
Elijah meant something to Wade, which meant Wade was invested. They all were. This went beyond birth control and having a place to sleep. Elijah and Becca needed answers. Someone ordered their termination. They needed to know why and who. Without that, they were in the crosshairs and would stay there, especially since Natalie insisted this wasn’t a CIA hit. Not that the woman had any trouble lying.
“Eli is just another layer of complication. Take him out of the equation and you still have a mess.” Wade said in a low voice.
Jarrett focused on the sound of clanking pots not far away. “Remember the good old days when we ran a supper club and collected money and information and everyone was happy?”
“Were you?”
He could count so few times in his adult life where he was happy. Satisfied and determined he’d conquered. Happy, not so much. He wasn’t even convinced that was a necessary component of anything. He’d survived without it when Becca left. He was a mess with her here. That had to mean something.
Instead of laying that all on Wade, Jarrett went with a shrug. “Don’t ask that because I sure as hell don’t know any more.”
“Skipping the birth control conversation, because right now I’d like to get the visual image of you two humping like bunnies out of my head—”
“Thanks.”
“Let’s talk bigger picture.” Wade spread his arms wide. “Like, what’s the long-term goal here? We can’t hide two adults in here forever, and I’m assuming you’d like to go outside at some point for something other than a birth control run.”
Questions ran through Jarrett’s head. Someone was using them all. For a long time he didn’t care, as long as he wasn’t in prison. But now he wanted to know. “I’m working on that.”
“Want to clue me in on how you’re doing it?”
This part Jarrett finally got. “I’m going to figure out a way to save everyone.”
What?”
“It was a surprise to me, too.” It had been building for days and now it was the only answer.
“Not really. It totally sounds like something you’d do.”
The insight stopped Jarrett’s mental planning. “That’s not what most people think.”
“They don’t know you like I do, being one of your early rescues and all.”
As far as compliments went, that was a pretty big one. He let it sink in and wash away some of the darkness. He’d spent a lot of years ripping people apart. Walking away from that, disconnecting, took time and money and more muscle that he ever thought he could throw. But he was out, legitimate.
Jarrett owed part of that to Wade, so he had to engage some payback. “Warning here. Eli isn’t going to like anything that happens from here on out.”
“Nothing new there. He spends a lot of time being pissed.”
Jarrett looked at Wade’s calm demeanor and feared he didn’t get it. “This could push Eli away, and I don’t know how to make that better for you.”
“It’s just sex.”
No way. Jarrett had seen them together. More than once he’d looked away when Wade’s growing interest worried him. “You know that’s the crap I’ve been saying about Becca, right?”
“Meaning?”
“We’re both screwed.”
Wade laughed. “Guess you might really need that birth control then.”
Common sense came rushing back and Jarrett didn’t fight it. “I’ll table that for now.”
“Because?”
“I have bigger issues to handle.”
NINETEEN
Becca spent most of the morning in the conference room, avoiding the cleaning crew that had now left the condo and looking through the information Jarrett gave her. Stacks and stacks of files. All the background on the deaths of her team members. Well, the published fake stories. She knew who they really were and what they did for a living, and no one was an accountant.
The idea made her smile until she spied the newspaper article talking about Felix Hernandez dying in a home invasion robbery. The murder didn’t even make the front page of the metro section. It was buried pages back and pure bullshit. The man was a poisons expert with serious gun skills. He’d slept only a few hours at a time, and even then sitting up and ready to fight if needed.
Yet, someone got him. From the medical report Jarrett somehow possessed, Felix went down in a hail of gunfire. She wanted to know why.
The answer was in all of this paper somewhere. She smoothed her hand over her ponytail. Being back in her cargo pants and tank top gave her confidence. Probably had something to do with feeling less vulnerable. So did the pocketknife she took out of Jarrett’s kitchen drawer.
Just as he used to demand she stay naked in the condo, he insisted she wear clothes when she came downstairs this time. She assumed he didn’t want her parading around in front of Wade, but all the intel on him suggested he wouldn’t really care if she did.
She’d welcome Wade or anyone right now. Maybe another set of eyes would help her see whatever lurked just out of reach. She’d spread everything out on the second-floor conference table from one end to the other. She stared, walked around it, rearranged it. Nothing made the pieces fall together in her head.
The lock clicked and the door swung open. The old fight-or-flight instincts kicked in and she pivoted, ready to fend off any attack. A sidekick, a punch, the knife—whatever it took.
Jarrett didn’t even look up from his phone as he stepped inside. “I need the room.”
He’d been gone all of an hour and morphed right back into the demanding, indifferent guy who wanted her naked every second. She fought this battle at least twice every day. He’d let his guard down, talk to her, then something would have the shield slamming back up again.
She had no idea what raised it this time. “Uh, hello.”
He turned around as if to leave. Actually gave her his back as his fingers moved over the buttons. “Let’s go.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You can go upstairs—”
“No.” And he could go to hell while he was at it. She’d reached the end of her patience on this dual personality bullshit. He gave her clipped orders and a boiling heat moved to her brain. No more.
He turned back around as his hand dropped. His focus switched from the phone to her. “Despite the great sex, I still own the building and I’m in charge.”
Boiling. Rage. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Be a giant douche.”
She thought she saw the corner of his mouth twitch. Normally this was the point where he’d double down and his jerkiness would escalate off the charts. Instead, he sighed. He was not the sighing type.
“Remember how when you got here you didn’t say anything but yes to whatever I asked you to do?”
“Only too well.” She moved some files and made room for her thigh on the corner of the table
. “A momentary lapse brought on by the fear of death, I assure you.”
“The rules haven’t changed.”
“Jarrett, honestly, you’re smarter than that. The rules changed almost immediately. I am not your sex doll or your slave.”
It felt good to finally unload. For days she’d been accepting, waging a war of defiance without saying a word. Those days were over.
She no longer believed he’d kick her out or physically hurt her. Every day, in quiet moments, she saw the warmth in his eyes and felt the want in his touch. He might shout and throw around words like “betrayal,” he might even still hate her a little, but underneath he needed something from her. She was willing to give it to him if he stopped being an ass.
She wrestled with what she felt for him and how to make it extend past the web of guilt and confusion weighing her down. She wanted him, had never stopped loving him, but repairing the shattered trust required more strength than she could muster. Trust had always been her downfall anyway. Add in everything that happened between them, and the task struck her as insurmountable.
Since he hadn’t moved once she yelled, she tried again. This time in a normal tone. “If you need me to go upstairs, don’t be a dick about it. Just ask.”
“Go upstairs.” He held his phone in a strangling grip.
She half thought he’d break the thing in two. “I can see you’re unwilling to cede any ground on this issue.”
“Yes.”
“Fine, I’m patient. We can just sit here until you do.” She swung her foot back and forth. Would have whistled if her mouth hadn’t gone dry. Fighting with him fired her up, but a level of wariness remained.
“I’m trying to believe we’re having a ten-minute conversation about this.”
Since logic and stubbornness didn’t win him over, she tried common sense. “Why would I leave? You said Bast was coming for a second meeting.”
“I know. I set up the damn meeting.”
Seemed none of the tricks in her arsenal were working today. That didn’t mean she’d back down. He wasn’t the only one who could dig in. She crossed her arms over her stomach and watched his gaze dip to her chest. Then she remembered, no bra.
Mercy Page 20