Out of the Shadows (Renegades)

by Ana Stone

  It was a lie. He preferred to think of it as a strategic maneuver. Stella had told him about her conversation with Roxy and Roxy’s comment to her had woken him to a truth that had been staring him in the face all along. He was an operator. Time to start thinking like one.

  An operator did whatever it took to accomplish the mission and Zeke had a mission. He’d see Reese in prison or dead because come hell or high water, he was taking control of the MC.

  *****

  It was going to be an epic hang-over. Roxy knew that before she opened her eyes. Her head pounded, her stomach boiled and her throat felt raw from retching.

  She cracked open one eye. West was lying on his side, facing her. Watching.

  “Morning, sunshine,” he said with a smile.

  A groan was all she could manage at the moment. What the hell had she done? She closed her eyes and rolled over on her back, trying to ignore the fact that she was naked under the sheet and lying just inches from an obviously naked West Franklin.

  “Breakfast?” He asked in a congenial tone.

  The thought of food make her guts clench. “Coffee,” she croaked and cleared her throat. “Please.”

  She felt his weight shift on the bed and opened her eyes. He had rolled over to pick up the receiver of the house phone on the nightstand. He lay on his back, his eyes turned to her as he spoke.

  “Could I get a large carafe of coffee, four ham and egg biscuits, a large side of grits and a large orange juice? Thanks.”

  He replaced the receiver on the phone then picked up his cell phone and diddled with something on his screen as he spoke.. “It’ll take them about twenty minutes. You want to grab a shower or…” He put the phone down and moved quicker than she anticipated. He’d stripped the sheet away from her before she could react.

  “West,” she protested as he moved down the bed and spread her legs.

  “West please?” he asked with that damn sexy smile just before he lowered his mouth to her.

  Sex was the last thing on Roxy’s mind, but her body apparently was not in agreement. God but the man was talented with his tongue. Within seconds she had her heels dug into the mattress on either side of him, pressing against his mouth

  He took her three times to the edge of release and pulled her back. It was delicious torture that had her writhing in need, breathing hard and fast.

  The fourth time he urged her toward the edge, she felt something more than impending orgasm take control. She was catapulted into another place.

  A split second of disorientation later she fell over the edge into an orgasm that had her body quaking. He sat back on his heels, his eyes travelling up her body to meet hers. That’s when she realized that the room she was in was no longer the same.

  Was this another manifestation or reality shift? It was West who looked at her, wearing that sly smile that had the power to make her heart quicken.

  “Where are we?” She asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  “I…I don’t know,” she sat to face him. “This isn’t like the other time.” She looked around. “I know we’re supposed to be in bed but we’re not in the suite. What is this place?”

  “Don’t you remember?”

  That question had her eyes returning to his. “Remember what?”

  “Afghanistan.”

  Nothing could have prepared Roxy for the level of pain that exploded in her mind. She didn’t know if she was still sitting, if there was light or dark around her or even if her physical body was still intact. The pain was almost overwhelming, pulsing like an enormous heart, accompanied with bursts of images and sounds.

  It didn’t make sense what flashed before her and through her. Maybe she was dying, she thought. The pain was enough that falling into nothingness was appealing. But the images, the faces and short bursts like clips from films being run in fast forward – those pulled at her, demanding that she pay attention.

  She struggled against the pain, tried to make sense of it. Then she saw them. Zeke and West. Zeke in the front and West behind, both armed. Bursts of light from the mussels of their guns lit the darkness around them. It lasted several seconds then abruptly stopped. Zeke turned to look at West and West nodded.

  They fell into step and suddenly she was there, with them, watching them approach. Emotion swelled inside her, draining her strength. How was it possible that she could love two men at once, that she could not choose between them? One owned her heart in a way that no one else could. Despite the heartache he could bring, she knew she would seek him time after time. The other would hurt her as well, but in a different way. He wanted her to the point of obsession and knew the secrets of her body, the desires she hid even from herself. His was a love that consumed; one she feared and yet could not resist.

  Roxy felt fear grow and wash away the vision, mix with the pain to raise its intensity. Pain was preferable. It destroyed the memories, washed her mind clean. She didn’t want to remember. Didn’t want to know.

  So she surrendered, summoning the darkness to take her.

  And it did.

  West was aware of her pain. Hell, he’d caused it. He’d activated an app on his phone that only he could access. That had activated something planted deep inside Roxy’s brain.

  He wasn’t sure of all the technical aspects but understood the general gist of it. Her mind would be flooded with memories. It would be equivalent to having millions of terabytes of data suddenly dumped into a system. Chances were there would be an overload. How severe it would be could only be theorized. It might kill her. It might overload her brain and leave her mindless. Or it might work and the information released would integrate with her conscious mind.

  How long that might take was a question no one could answer. She was one of two test subjects, recruited without their consent.

  He had chosen to activate her first. That was not the original plan, but he wasn’t above altering a plan to further his own goals. And Roxy was definitely one of his goals. He meant to have her, and not against her will. He wanted her to choose him and no matter what she might remember, as long as the second subject was not activated, he stood a good chance of convincing her that it was him she wanted because he was the one who would do anything to win her.

  He watched as her body writhed and twitched on the bed, her eyes rolled back in her head. When her body went completely rigid and her pants ceased, he felt a moment of fear. Make it. Come on, Roxy, you can do it. She had to be strong enough. He had not come this far to lose her.

  Her body went limp and he watched in tense expectation. Breathe. He willed her, moving beside her to check her pulse.

  Real fear propelled him into action when he could not detect a pulse. He began CPR. Three cycles into the process her body arched and she gasped in air greedily. He checked her pulse. Fast and strong.

  She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He waited for her to speak. One minute passed and then two. Still she continued to search his eyes, the look reminiscent of an animal caught in a trap, panic rendering it immobile.

  A knock at the door had him tearing his eyes away and pulling the sheet up over her. She never moved when he got off the bed, slid on his pants and went to answer the door.

  “Room service,” the attendant held a laden tray.

  “Thanks,” West replied, pulled a wad of cash from the pocket of his jeans and peeled off a twenty to hand to the woman. “I’ll take that. Thanks.”

  “Thank you,” the woman replied gratefully.

  “Sure hon,” he gave her a quick smile and closed the door in her face.

  He carried the tray to the coffee table, set it down then returned to the bedroom.

  Roxy was sitting up, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms encircling her legs. West went to the bed and sat down. She looked at him and again they were locked into a long silence.

  It was making him uneasy. Was she brain damaged?”

  “Roxy, honey?” He reached out and put his hand on her arm.

  S
he opened her mouth then closed it and her eyes. After a moment she shook her head and opened her eyes.

  “Do I love you?” she asked in a whisper.

  Relief flooded through him. “Yes,” he replied. “You do.”

  She nodded and was quiet for along long pause before asking. “And Zeke?”

  West hesitated for a brief beat. He could not chance telling her a lie that memory would refute should it fully return. But he could bend the truth to his advantage.

  “You did. Once.”

  “And now?” she asked.

  “Now he can’t be trusted. He’s turned his back on us, hon. His allegiance is now to the MC.”

  She nodded and lowered her head to rest it on her knees. West caressed her arm then placed his hand on her head, smoothing her hair. “I know it’s a lot to take in, and everything is confused in your mind right now, but I’m here and I’ll help you. You just have to trust me.”

  She looked up and he saw the tears that tracked her face. “I don’t even know you.”

  “Yes, you do. You just don’t remember yet.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s going on, West. Maybe I’m losing my mind. Maybe I already have. Hell, maybe I’m dying from that head wound in Afghanistan or the gunshot at that hotel and my mind is just playing tricks on me. I don’t know. I can’t be sure of anything right now and until I can, I can’t trust anyone. Not even myself.”

  With that, she got off the bed, gathered up her clothes and went into the bathroom.

  West watched her close the door and stood looking at it for a moment. Had he screwed up activating her? Maybe, but it had to be done. That part of the plan he could not screw with. He needed both subjects to achieve the objective.

  He turned, went into the sitting room, poured two cups of coffee and sat down on the sofa with his, contemplating his next move.

  Before his cup was half gone, she walked into the room. “I’m on night shift starting today so I won’t beat the station until eleven.”

  “You don’t have to go.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  She didn’t say goodbye and didn’t look back when she reached the door. West watched her leave then got up to retrieve his cell phone from the bedroom. Time to check in with his team, and his superiors. It was time to turn up the heat in Harmony.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Roxy had showered, changed into a pair of old soft denim shorts and a soft tank top and was in the kitchen putting on a pot of coffee when she heard a knock at the kitchen door.

  She stopped at the door and hesitated when she saw Zeke through the glass. “We need to talk.” He said.

  Talking was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment. She had a shit-storm whirling in her mind, random thoughts and images were tumbling around like a tornado.

  She opened the door and returned to the coffee pot that was gurgling. Zeke came in and closed the door behind him.

  “I saw you with West.” His voice was tight and his words clipped.

  She cut a look at him over her shoulder. “The Harmony police department works with him.”

  “At the hotel? I saw you pulling into the back-lot last night.

  “So?”

  “You didn’t come home.”

  She turned her attention to the coffee pot. There was enough brewed to pour a cup, which she did. She took a sip and turned with cup in hand, leaned back against the counter and regarded him.

  “Where were you?”

  She didn’t answer. Instead she took another sip of coffee.

  “Your car was still at the hotel this morning.”

  “So?” she asked.

  He started toward her and she pushed away from the counter and skirted around him, circling the bar.

  “Were you with him?” He continued to pursue her.

  She made the loop around the bar, stopping in front of the coffee pot. She put her cup on the counter and faced him as he stalked up to her.

  “What business is that of yours?”

  “Jesus, Roxy.” He reached up to run his hand through his hair. “You don’t know him. He’s in the business of manipulating people and he won’t think twice about deceiving you.”

  “Whereas you, on the other hand, are so upfront and honest?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “How’s Amy?”

  His gaze flicked briefly away and she knew West had been telling the truth. There was a woman in Zeke’s life.

  “What does she have to do with anything?”

  “Well, I’d think she’d have a lot to do with everything since she’s your fiancé.”

  “Was.” He corrected.

  “Not the way I hear it.”

  “Then you hear it wrong.”

  “Do I?”

  He moved closer, reaching for her. She pushed him back and hurried from the room. She headed out onto the lanai. He followed, coming up behind her as she walked over to the edge of the pool. “I was engaged to her once – for about five minutes.”

  “The way I hear it she’s sporting an engagement ring and planning a wedding for next month.”

  “Not to me.”

  Roxy could almost swear he was telling the truth. But she couldn’t trust words. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway, does it? You said it. Whatever this –thing is between us, it isn’t healthy and it can’t happen. We don’t have a future so what difference can it possibly make who I’m with?”

  “Did you sleep with him?”

  “None of your business.”

  She didn’t expect him to move so quickly, or grab her so forcefully. One moment he was two feet away and the next he had one hand fisted in the back of her hair and the other holding her face in place while his tongue plundered her mouth.

  There were a number of defensive maneuvers she could have used to free herself. She was strong and skilled and had faced men in a one-on-one situation more than once. But she had no defense against his kiss. As brutal and demanding as it was, she welcomed it.

  Damn it all to hell. She wanted him, heart and body. But she couldn’t put herself through it again, opening up to pain that was sure to follow when he walked away as he always did.

  She pushed against him until he ended the kiss. “You can’t keep doing this to me, Zeke.”

  “I know,” his voice was gentle now. “I don’t want to. I know it’s not fair. I know we can’t be together and I have no right to make demands, but you can’t be with him Roxy. He’ll destroy you.”

  She laughed and pushed free of him. “No, you will. Hell, maybe you already have. You need to go, Zeke. I can’t do this dance anymore. Don’t want to. Just go and don’t come back. If you really do care at all, just leave me alone.”

  “Roxy—“

  “No!” She sidestepped as he moved toward her. She knew her own strengths and her weaknesses and no matter how hard it was to accept, he was the biggest weakness she’d ever had and the first step toward overcoming it was making damn sure he never touched her again. “Don’t touch me again.”

  “Fine,” he let his hands drop. “Just hear me out and I swear if you want me to leave, I will. I’ll go and I’ll never bother you again.”

  She walked to one of the chaise lounges and took a seat, her back ramrod straight. He followed and took the seat across from her.

  “What do you know about West?”

  “What do I need to know?”

  She knew her tone and posture were antagonistic so wasn’t surprised at the flash of annoyance on his face. To his credit, he let it pass.

  “West grew up here, you know. He was born here, went to school here. Played ball and chased girls and worked on a fishing boat in the summers.

  “His dad was a fisherman. A pretty bad one. He drank up most of what he earned and was pretty miserable to West’s mom. West spent more time with me than he did his own family. We were best friends since we were five.

  “He enlisted with me. Joined Delta at the same time I did and served with me. He was recrui
ted by the CIA and left Delta. When he did he became someone else. Someone I didn’t know and don’t trust. He’s a player and his life revolves around deception. He’ll hurt you and not think twice about it.”

  “You really think very little of me.” She replied. “I’m not a child, Zeke. I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing that most of my life. I don’t need protection.”

  “Roxy, you don’t understand.”

  “No, I don’t. You say he will hurt me and fail to admit to your own behavior. I’ve known you less than two months and you’ve done nothing but hurt me. You don’t want me to be with him because he only wants to use me. That’s sure as hell a case of the pot calling the kettle black. You want inside me but that’s about it. I don’t know of a worse way to be used than that, Zeke. So tell me, how is he any different than you because for the life of me the only difference I can see is that he’s not constantly reeling me in then leaving me bleeding on the floor.”

  “Roxy, I—“

  “No, don’t you dare, Zeke. Don’t say it. I don’t want to hear it again. You know there’s an old saying about actions speaking louder than words. Well your actions speak volumes and what they’re saying is that I can trust you about as far as I can throw you.”

  “What can I do to prove to you that I care?”

  “Walk away from the MC. Leave it today. Walk outside and get in my car with me and leave Harmony. We’ll go and never come back. We’ll disappear. We can do it. You know we can.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t.”

  She stood. “Well, there you go. Get out and don’t come back. We’re done.”

  She forced herself to walk at a normal pace back inside the house. She made sure the door was locked behind her and went straight to the kitchen to lock that door. Then she went into the bedroom, climbed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

  If she was smart, she’d do what she’d asked of Zeke. She’d get in her car and get as far from him as possible.

  Why then could she not make herself do it?