by Diana Gardin
I shake my head. “We aren’t really close enough to him. He doesn’t trust us, not like that. We’re lucky we know what’s going down tomorrow night. He definitely keeps a wall up, even with Indy.”
There’s a pause, and I don’t miss Jacob’s quick glance between the two of us when I use the nickname. Behind me, I can practically feel the questions and comments coming off my teammates, and Russ’s sharp gaze flicks to Indigo and stays there.
She clears her throat. “So, yeah. We can go, tomorrow. To the docks. Be there when the exchange goes down.”
Russ practically growls. “There’s no way you’ll be there tomorrow. Eli can’t see you there. You two have done your job. It’s over. The team will swoop in tomorrow with reinforcements, take Eli Ward and his crew down. Getting the buyer is the icing on top.”
Jacob grunts his agreement. “You two have done a damn good job on this. You got what we needed in a month. That’s impressive.”
When I look at Indigo, she’s smiling. A real, genuine smile that tells me she’s allowing the praise to sink in. Something she doesn’t do very often.
“Thank you.” Her voice is soft, the husky sweetness of it doing shit to my body I don’t even want to control.
I gaze at her, and the fact that our official partnership ends tomorrow doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. I don’t feel an ounce of sadness, because there’s no way I’m going to let her go. When she came into my life, this woman changed something inside me. Something elemental, something that won’t shift back no matter how hard I try.
I want her with me, and I don’t give a damn whether or not we’re working together.
From this point on, we are together.
The only thing standing in my way is convincing Indigo, and I have a plan in mind of where to begin. Starting with the slow, deliberate removal of her clothes the second I have her to myself again. And when she’s relaxed in my arms, lying in the dark with me, I’ll explain exactly why I need her to stay in my life.
I run over half a dozen different scenarios in my head, possible ways to start the conversation I know I need to have with Indigo. I watched her out of the corner of my eye the entire drive back to our apartment. She’s been quiet, more reserved than she’s been in the weeks that I’ve gotten to know her so well. That I’ve more than gotten to know her, that I’ve started to care about her, in spite of all the odds stacked against us.
There are so many different ways she could react, so many possible responses to the words I want to say. To her, all of this could have been a distraction while we worked our way through this assignment. For me, our time in bed together had forged the kind of bond I want to keep. But for her, it could have just been sex. Meaningless. No big deal.
The thought cuts me deep through the gut, making me lose my breath and clench my fists.
No. I know she’s scared to death to commit to someone, but I looked in her eyes, saw the tenderness there when she looked at me. Felt the way she met every stroke with her own, knew the way she pulled me closer and whispered against my ear that we weren’t meaningless.
They meant everything.
They still do.
And that doesn’t end when this assignment does. She has to see that, the same way I do. And if she doesn’t?
I can be patient.
When we reach the landing outside our apartment door and she still hasn’t spoken, my heartbeat pounds so loudly in my chest I know she’s got to hear it. I can’t stand another second of not knowing, not hearing the thoughts swimming around inside her head, so I grip her wrist and pull her around to face me.
“Indigo.”
I close my mouth as those big eyes meet mine, then open it again to let the words pour out.
The door beside ours swings open and Frannie stands there, dressed to go out in tight skinny jeans and a tight black top. She peers at us, her eyes widening just before her smile lights up her expression.
“Hey, you two!” she gushes. Locking her door behind her, she turns back to face Indigo.
“GoGo, I’m so glad I ran into you. Do you maybe want to go have a drink with me?” Shadows cross her eyes, darkening her usually sunny expression. “I just got—” She glances at me and then drops her gaze.
Indigo stiffens beside me just before she steps forward. Her hand drops from my grasp and I watch as nothing but empathy blazes in her eyes. “Got what?”
“I got a call. From back home.” She lifts her eyes to Indigo, and there’s pain there. So much real pain that I’m floored. I knew this girl had secrets, but I’m not expecting to see her like this. I take a step toward our front door, despite wanting to just grab Indigo and throw her over my shoulder so I can carry her into our apartment and talk to her.
She glances at me. “I need to…”
I nod, waving a hand. “Take my car.” I unlock our front door and then toss her the keys. “Call me in a little while to check in, okay?”
“You guys are seriously so freaking cute.” Frannie’s voice quivers on the words, and Indigo holds my gaze only a second before she’s completely focused on the other woman.
“I’m all yours, Frannie. Let’s go.”
I watch as the woman I might be in love with walks away from me, her attention focused on her new friend.
As I let myself in the front door and close it behind me, something inside my chest sinks with uneasy heaviness. I lean against the door and survey the empty apartment. A couple of hours, tops.
Then she’ll be home. And I can tell her that she’s everything I want.
A couple of hours.
23
INDIGO
“Where do you want to go?”
Once I have Frannie settled in the passenger seat of Lawson’s Acura, I start the car and pull out of our parking lot. When I glance over at her, worry spreads fast and fierce through my veins. I haven’t known this woman long, and have only spent a miniscule amount of time with her. But somehow she’s wormed her way into my heart, and a sense of protection rears its head when I think she might be hurting.
And after taking one look at her on the landing, I knew she was hurting. She’s gotten dolled up tonight, looking much different than she has each time I’ve seen her in the past, right down to the red lipstick painted across her mouth.
Her sexy outfit and heels, combined with the makeup, aren’t her usual look, but I recognize them anyway.
Armor. It’s what I use to block out the rest of the world and keep them from coming at me. I make myself look a certain way and I back it up with attitude and training not only to keep myself safe, but also to make anyone think twice before approaching me.
Beside me, Frannie takes a deep breath, like she’s stirring from beneath something heavy. “I don’t know…I never go out. Where should we go?”
Her voice is far away. She’s locked herself away somewhere deep inside and that’s something I know well too.
“I’ve got you. We’ll head to Black Horse. I know the owner there, and we can grab a booth and be left alone while the drinks keep coming.”
Once we arrive at the quiet, out-of-the-way bar I like to frequent when I’m not working, I nod a greeting at the bartender, a rough-looking dude in his late twenties who’s actually a total teddy bear despite his grizzly beard, inked sleeves, and half-inch ear gauges.
He lifts his chin in greeting, his eyes flicking questioningly over Frannie before mouthing, “Usual?”
I give him a tiny smile and a pointed wink and guide my friend toward my booth. Trust won’t blow my cover, because he’s the kind of guy who minds his own business. He also knows what I do for a living. We’re settling in when he brings my beer himself, setting the bottle on the table with a grin that threatens to transform to sweet in an instant.
“Thanks, Trust. This is a friend of mine. Frannie, this is my boy Trust. We go way back.”
Back to the same rough neighborhood where we grew up. Trust was older than me, but looked out for me just the same. Like a big brother, he made sur
e I didn’t have to worry about kids from school, because he knew I had plenty of shit to deal with at home.
Frannie pulls herself free of her inner cave long enough to offer Trust a fraction of her usual wattage, and he cocks his head toward her.
“Nice to meet you, Frannie. What are you drinking?”
She glances at my beer, then shudders. “I’ll have a glass of sauvignon blanc.”
He grins like it’s exactly what he expected her to drink, and I don’t have any doubts that he had her pegged as soon as we came through the door. “Sure, sweetheart. Be right back.”
Her blue eyes, muddier than usual, blink at me. “He’s nice.”
“He is,” I agree. “But don’t let on that you know it.”
Her lips quirk when I toss her a wink, and I wait until Trust has brought her a glass of her wine and she has a few sips in her before I lean forward on my elbows. “Talk to me, Frannie. What happened?”
She swirls her wine in her glass, the same way she did when she was contemplating old memories the other night in her apartment. When she finally looks up at me, there’s a hopelessness in her eyes that makes something clench in my gut.
“You can tell me.” My voice is unyielding. “You can trust me, Frannie.”
She nods, like she’s known this all along. “I didn’t just leave Oklahoma for a change of pace. I ran.”
I don’t even blink. Her words don’t land with an ounce of surprise. “Go on.”
She downs the rest of her wine in one long swallow, then clutches the stem of the glass in her hands. “I ran because my ex-husband beat me so badly I lost our baby. And my parents, the people who were supposed to love me and protect me, didn’t do a damn thing to help. I haven’t spoken to any of them in the past year, but I’m always keeping an ear to the ground back there, trying to see if he’s tracked me down.”
I know the answer to my next question even as the queasiness in my stomach threatens to overtake me. “And you feel like your ex…is looking for you? He’d come after you?”
Her eyes settle on mine, and there’s no shred of doubt in her expression. “Yes.”
I blow out a breath, closing my eyes. My voice escapes in a whisper as one hand rakes through my long, thick hair. “Shit.”
Frannie’s tone strengthens. “And I might run for the rest of my life, but I will never, ever allow myself to be hurt by him again. Ever.”
“Why here, Frannie? Why’d you come to Wilmington?”
Her top teeth scrape against her bottom lip. “I have a childhood friend who lives about an hour away. I called her…didn’t know who else to turn to. She told me about this nonprofit, a group who helps women who have been abused or who are trying to escape violent situations. I came here and got the help I needed to hide from him.”
My eyes fly open and I reach a hand across the table to take hers. “You aren’t going to run anymore, Frannie. And there no way in hell I’d ever let him get to you.”
A trace of a smile graces her lips, and I squeeze her hand. Tears fill her eyes, and she swipes at one while she slides out of the booth.
“I’ll be right back. Gonna just go freshen up my face.”
She needs a minute. That much is clear. So I just nod and watch as she disappears around the corner.
But Frannie’s story keeps running and running through my head, one thought chasing the next. From her crazy husband to her horrible parents who just stood by while their daughter was hurt. She might have grown up in a family with two parents and a white picket fence, but I wouldn’t trade her. I’ve never met anyone like Frannie before, and she surprises me more each time I see her.
After about ten minutes alone, I check my phone. Frowning, I slide out of the booth. I walk down the hallway toward the bathroom and push the door open.
No Frannie at the sink. Walking through the small space, I note that each stall is empty. My stomach clenches with that gut instinct that something isn’t right.
“Frannie?” I call to the empty room.
Pushing back through the bathroom door, I walk out to the bar area and freeze when I see a familiar figure exiting the front door. Breaking into a run, I rush through the door and stop, looking both ways.
“Brandon!”
Hawke freezes just before climbing into the passenger side of a sedan I don’t recognize. The car’s dark tinted windows keep me from seeing anything inside.
“Hawke?” I ask, my voice louder. “What are you doing?”
In the light shining down on the sidewalk beside the curb, I see his expression change from one of panic to regret. He shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, GoGo. I couldn’t stop him.” With that, he climbs into the car and the sedan jets away from the curb. Squinting, my heart pounds as I memorize the license plate. Then I sprint toward my own car.
Once I’m behind the wheel, I grab my cell phone and call Russ. I start talking as soon as I have him on the line. “Russ, I need your help. I was sitting at a bar with a friend when she disappeared. I think she’s been kidnapped, and I’m pretty sure Brandon Hawke has something to do with it. Do me a favor and run this plate number and try to locate the vehicle. Call me back on this number.” I recite the plate number.
He shouts at me to wait before I hang up, but I end the call and press Lawson’s name in my contacts.
“What’s up, Indy?”
“Lawson.” My voice breaks, which drives me insane because I’m stronger than this.
But it’s Frannie, and she has a psycho ex-husband out there, and this can’t be a coincidence.
“Indy.” The urgency in Lawson’s voices comes clearly across the line. “What’s wrong, baby?”
I take a deep breath and try to explain. “I was at the bar with Frannie, and she went to the bathroom. She’d just gotten done telling me about how she’s in North Carolina because she’s running from her ex-husband who was abusive.”
Lawson’s muttered curse doesn’t make me pause.
“She’s gone, Lawson. I caught Hawke getting into a car outside the bar, and I think she was in that car.” I swallow hard, watching the dark road in front of me as I fly through the streets.
“Where are you right now?” Lawson’s tone sounds demanding. “Come home, Indy. We can get the team on it. But I need you here with me.”
I shake my head, frantic. “I can’t just come home. I need to try to find that car. I have Russ on it. I’m hoping he’ll call me back any second.”
I can almost see the lines forming in the middle of Lawson’s forehead, the tic in his jaw. “If you’re thinking about going after them on your own, stop fucking thinking it right now. I’ll come to you after I call the Delta Squad. Just pull over. Or come home.”
“Lawson…” My voice is a ragged whisper.
“I love you.”
Silence across the line as shock filters through my senses. “What did you just say?”
“I said I love you. Dammit, I love you and I need you to come home to me. Right now, baby.”
Stopping at a red light, I drum my fingers on the wheel. And then, straight ahead through the intersection, I zero in on a black sedan making a right turn. Adrenaline pours into my veins. Ignoring the red light, I gun through the intersection, thankful for the late hour and light traffic.
My tires screech.
“Indy? What the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, tears stinging the back of my throat. “I can’t. I just spotted the car and I’m following them. You can stay on the line with me and I’ll tell you my exact location.”
A slew of curse words exit Lawson’s mouth and I cringe, gripping the steering wheel as I pull into position two cars behind the black sedan.
“Listen to me, Indy. I have to hang up for a minute so I can call Wolf and the rest of the boys. I’ll call you right back. I don’t care if that sedan stops and you see them dragging Frannie out by her hair. You stay put until you have backup. Do you hear me?”
I nod, knowing damn well if I
see them dragging Frannie out by her hair I won’t be able to sit and do nothing. “I hear you.”
“Goddammit, woman. Promise me.”
Instead, I hang up.
Because I won’t make him a promise I can’t keep.
The docks. The direction we’re head in is the docks, and that can’t be a coincidence either. I don’t know yet what the hell is going on, but it has something to do with that shipment of cars and it has to do with Frannie. I’m waiting for Lawson to call me back so I can tell him when the sedan pulls into the storage area toward the back of the harbor. I can’t follow without them seeing me, so I pull my car to a stop beside the curb and step out. Thankful that I’m wearing all black, I walk forward, keeping to the shadows of the tall containers around me.
You can do this. You can find Frannie and help her out of this. And then you can get you both the hell out of here.
Drawing the gun from its holster at my side, I continue to creep forward until I lay eyes on the black sedan. My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it as I see Brandon and another man carrying an unconscious Frannie between them. My heartbeats chase one another in my chest and my steps quicken without my permission.
I could stop them here, tell them to freeze and arrest them without backup, but that would contaminate the entire undercover operation we’ve been running. If they’re here a day early to make the luxury car shipment, this could all be over tonight once Lawson and Russ have my location.
Pulling out my phone, I keep my eyes on Frannie and press send in order to redial Lawson’s number.
“There you are, pretty.”
At the sound of Eli’s voice behind me, I turn slowly, lowering the phone but raising my gun.
Eli smirks, the two men flanking his sides aiming their own weapons at me. “You weren’t invited to this party. But you can join in if you want to.”
I shake my head, offering him a chilly smile. “I’m good, thanks.”
But I know there’s nothing I can do. Lowering my weapon, I watch with fury as the two men make their way toward me. When one jabs something sharp into my neck, the last thought I have before everything fades away is Lawson, and how I should have waited for him.