Of course her name is fucking Wendy.
It took a lot to keep my face composed. It went without saying she was Midwestern adorable. Probably a damn blonde. I didn’t say anything and he continued.
“It was a whirlwind thing that dragged me along. She was fascinated with the FBI, always introduced me as her ‘secret agent man.’ Before I knew it, we were married and living in Dallas. She was on my case every day about going back to Quantico. Always going on and on about how I needed to live up to my talents and see to our future. It was like the rotten summer before Corey was born. Let’s just say the honeymoon was very short.”
Got what you paid for, didn’t you?
I gestured for him to keep going. Better to rip the bandage off all at once.
“What did I know? My folks have been together for forty-five years. You got married and you were stuck with it. I spent as much time as I could at the office and in the field. I volunteered for every bullshit buy-and-bust. Well, my last assignment ended about four weeks ago. When I made it home, she dropped the bomb on me. She was pregnant. Just a couple of months, but it was confirmed.”
Pregnant.
Afraid of what I’d say, I jumped up and repeated Ethan’s circuit around the room and out the front door. I couldn’t decide if I was angry, jealous, or just disgusted with myself for the feelings I’d allowed to develop for this man. I felt his hands crawling over me from the night at my apartment and wanted another bath.
A neglected wife he’s fighting with and a kid on the way. You sure know how to pick them.
I’d made it two blocks before it came to me that it was full dark in a part of Austin you didn’t walk in unless you had business there. I also realized I had no place to go. I was four hours from home, if a rattletrap camper counted as home, and had made a deal with the devil. If I broke it, Dad was screwed and so was I. There was no choice, I had to go back, share a motel room and pretend I was hooked up with a guy ready to cheat on his pregnant wife.
A long blat from a car horn also reminded me I was out in the red-light district in flip flops and silk boxer shorts.
This is beyond stupid.
I was ready to return to the motel and deal with this mess when a van pulled across the alley in front of me.
“Hey sweetheart, are you looking for a date?” The voice from inside the dark cab was silky and nasty, like a glistening slug trail.
The door latch clicked and I backed up, ready to run in the stupidest shoes ever invented when an arm clamped around my shoulders.
“The lady is busy.”
Ethan.
“You might want to back away. I saw her first.” The van door opened three inches.
Ethan’s right hand disappeared behind his back. The menace in Ethan’s stance and the sight of his well-used pistol made the driver rethink his choice of companionship. The door slammed and in a second only his taillights were visible.
Ethan said nothing, but his grip on my upper arm made it clear I was coming with him whether I liked it or not. He half-walked, half-dragged me back to our room. After he’d locked the door with his free hand, he spun me around to face him.
“Juliana, what in the hell was that all about?”
“Oh please. By the way, thank you, but you can stop snarling and peeing on me. There’s nobody here but us.”
“So much for your vaunted legal ability to listen. You asked. I was telling and suddenly you run out into the street half-dressed. That douchebag probably thought you were a twenty-buck whore on a meth jones.”
He turned me toward the mirror. With my frizzy lumpy braid, XXXL football jersey, and baggy shorts riding up my tattooed legs, I looked like the “before” photo on a makeover show. Who was I kidding? I looked more like a Sunday morning mugshot. The flip flops were the icing on the trailer-trash cake. I screamed “low-rent tail.”
“I’m sorry. But . . .” I couldn’t finish. The knowledge burned me.
“I know and I’m the one that’s sorry about all of this. When you ran out, I thought you were going out to the car or the soda machine. I know this is a lot to swallow. When you didn’t come right back, I went out and you were gone.”
The sincerity in his voice moved me, but I was still furious. “Okay, you’re right. But that doesn’t change the fact that in about four hours, I have to pass off a married guy with a baby in the on-deck circle as my lover and partner. You either needed to tell me earlier or bury your damn personal problems a lot deeper before I set this up.”
Ethan put his hands on my shoulders. I couldn’t suppress the flinch. He felt it and looked away. “You’re right. But, there’s one more part to the story. Do you want to hear it?”
“Ethan, if we’re both so damn right, then why does this hurt so bad? And, yes, tell me. What is it now? Do you have problems with your dog and white-picket fence?”
He tightened his grip and looked straight at me.
“Not hardly. To recap, I got back from an assignment one month ago. It was a gun-running deal down on the border. No trips home. Wendy tells me she is two months’ pregnant.”
I didn’t have a clue and it must have showed in my expression because Ethan smiled and shook me slightly.
“Jewel, I was gone for four months.”
CHAPTER 54
Since this case had started, my belief that I could not be surprised by anything had been repeatedly challenged and found lacking. Ethan released me and stepped back.
“That’s pretty much what my reaction was. But wait, it gets better.”
“Ethan, I don’t know what to say.”
“Let me finish. You asked and I’m answering. Last Christmas, Wendy and I went to my folks’ place for a week. First time I’d been home in years. Along with the assorted aunts, uncles, and cousins, I also introduced her to my older brother Kevin.”
“No way.”
“Apparently accountants don’t only know how to add and subtract, they can also multiply.”
“And divide.” I put my hand over my mouth. I couldn’t believe I just said that.
Ethan’s eyes widened and he laughed. The real thing, not the self-deprecating smirk I’d heard earlier.
“Martin, you nailed it again. In my heart I knew Wendy and I weren’t going to make it, but, damn. Just damn.”
He turned away, but not before embarrassment crossed his face.
Even though my mind was churning with questions, I didn’t force it. Instead, I pulled the leftovers out of the fridge and spread them out.
“Ethan, grab a couple of fresh sodas, will you?”
He seemed glad to have something to do. In a flash, two cans were on the table. I waited for him to fix me a plate.
I hated to push, but I had one more question. As outrageous a puzzle as this was, there were a couple of pieces missing.
“Ethan, what are all the texts about? It sounds like she’s as ready to be done with you as are you are with her.”
He finished his bite before answering.
“Can I ask you some legal questions?”
We were on familiar ground now. “Sure, although I don’t do family law.”
“Yes, she told me she wanted a divorce. I told her to go for it. And, you’re right as usual: I dropped my ring in the sewer grate on my way out of our building. It seemed simple enough. But, about a year ago my grandpa died. He left me the farm and Kevin the town property. Wendy is saying I’m required to sell it and give her half, along with half of everything else. Otherwise she’s going to hang me with another twenty years’ worth of child support. Some of the texts are from her. Some are from her lawyer. With a few thrown in from Anne for good measure.”
“Anne, as in your high school girlfriend, Anne?”
“Small town. Seems she and Wendy have become besties as well. Child support was probably her idea.”
I scraped a container clean as I choked back the sarcasm. When it came to this kind of law, Ethan was a civilian.
“She gets knocked up by your brother and expects you to pay for it. Pr
ice, what you need is a lawyer.”
“I know, but I can’t afford it. Anne makes sure of that.”
“Ethan, I have a friend who specializes in this stuff. Katie Peterson is a stone shark in pastel linen and spectator pumps. Let me call her for you. And the kid is almost twenty, so why are you still paying support?”
“I especially can’t afford a lawyer that you run with. The reason is the court gave Anne a judgment and rewound the monthly clock back to before Corey was born, despite me handing over every penny that I brought home from the mill. No receipts. No credit. The interest has killed me for years.”
“Seriously, Ethan, Katie owes me a huge favor and would leap at this. First thing, I don’t like people who do that kind of shit. Second, despite my recent urge to kill you, I do like you. Third, that bitch ruined my bubble bath.”
It was good to see a smile spread across Ethan’s face. I can’t fix most things in my life right now, but I can fix this.
“I’ll think about it. How much time do we have?”
“We meet Mikey at one. It’s only a few blocks from here.”
Ethan checked his watch. “Still almost three hours out. I’m going to take a shower. Wash this crap off and get my head together.”
As if on cue, his phone chirped a new text message. Before I could say anything, he read it and laughed.
“Now she’s appealing to what we used to have. Fuck me running, this is insanity.”
I flipped open my phone and typed in a text message. “Ethan, I just texted Katie and told her I wanted to redeem that favor and that you would be calling. And”—I pushed a few more buttons—”I sent her number to the phone I gave you. Do this thing.”
The hand through his hair. I knew now that was his way to buy time and I gave it to him. He flipped through the texts again before powering down his phone and tucking it into a cargo pocket on his bag. Fishing around, he pulled out a shaving kit and some clothes. Before the bathroom door closed he said, “Thank you.”
I made another flip through the channels while I listened to him splashing in the shower. I couldn’t believe the last hour. I was still furious, but had to be honest with myself. His private life wasn’t my business and he had no duty to disclose his dirty laundry to me. As for everything else, I wasn’t sure what I felt. Something was still there. We’d be able to pull this off tonight. After that, I wasn’t as sure as I’d been this afternoon. Exhausted by the emotion and drama, I tilted my head back and dozed until the door squeaked open.
Ethan came out, shirtless, in a pair of sweats. With his flushed skin and tousled hair, he seemed younger and happier than I’d ever seen him. I couldn’t help checking him out. He looked every bit as good as he’d felt: smooth, tanned, and muscled, with low-grade tattoos on his biceps.
“I know. My art isn’t even in the same zip code as yours. They’re Air Force souvenirs. I’ll plead youth and inebriation.”
“A lot of pain went into this gain, but I was stone-cold sober when I went under the needle. Afterwards? Not so much.”
“Well, Martin, if my opinion matters, I think it’s beautiful.” There was warmth in his voice, but no heat. That fire was banked for the moment.
“What are you watching?” I’d tossed everything onto the other bed so he started rearranging the messy pile to make a place to sit down.
“Not a damn thing.”
“I’ve seen that. It’s the longest-running series on television.”
I made a decision and patted the bed next to me. He looked a question and I nodded. The next thing I knew, he’d grabbed his pillows and piled them by mine. After he settled in, I handed him the remote.
“Be all manly, would you, and find something? I’m not getting anywhere.”
After a couple of turns around the dial, we settled on a sci-fi flick. It’d already started, but we’d both seen it a half-dozen times. I fussed with my back pillows, trying to fluff them up. On the third punch, Ethan reached out, put his arm around my waist, and pulled me to him. With my head on his shoulder, I snuggled close and we watched the movie. The game had changed again and not for the better.
But, for right now, this was all I needed.
CHAPTER 55
“Come on, Price, you spend more time in the bathroom than my mother.”
I knocked on the door again. When he didn’t answer, I concentrated on lacing my desert tan tactical boots. Ethan and I had talked about it and decided to dress the part of an outlaw couple on the run. When my footwear was squared away, I tugged at my tank top, smoothing the form-fitting fabric and tucking it into my shorts. I’d opted for gear I’d wear for hiking and riding. It was comfortable, a sport bra instead of that silly lace harness I’d worn to distract Richie, but I knew it was still sexy as hell. The khaki shorts hugged my ass and set off the flowered vine scrolling down my right thigh. I was gathering my hair into a messy ponytail when the bathroom door finally opened.
“Damn.”
“Damn.”
That was all we had to say to each other.
Standing in front of me was not the guy I’d snuggled through a movie with or the jokester who’d pulled up in front of Gerald’s office in the Challenger. The cool cop from my doorstep was gone and so was the man who’d bared his personal secrets to me. This Ethan was in a word—bad.
An olive drab t-shirt, washed almost transparent, stretched across his chest and tucked into tight jeans that snugged over old motorcycle boots. The P226 rested in a well-worn leather holster and he had a soft khaki shirt slung over his shoulder. But the most striking change was his face and demeanor. He’d sculpted his scruffy two-day stubble into a goatee and trimmed his dark shaggy hair so it laid flat under a pair of wrap-around ballistic shades. A gold ring glinted in one ear.
“Ethan, if I’d met you at a Gatos kegger or a ranch party I would have pegged you as a gun dealer or major drug player. That or maybe a pirate. Let me guess, you’ve done this before.”
“Glad you like it. I call it my disgruntled ex-military wannabe-expat riff.”
“Totally works. So, do I pass?” I twirled on my booted toes.
“You look like a prepper porn star. I have a feeling I’m going to be glad I’m armed.”
“You do know how to sweet-talk a girl.”
“Just one thing.” He walked over and pulled the band out of my hair, releasing it over my nearly bare shoulders.
“Much better. Hair like that should never be bound. And I lied, there were two things.”
In less than a breath, I was in his arms and his lips were warm and firm on mine. Not slobbering or lusty, the kiss was long and relaxed, but he was in complete control. I couldn’t have pulled away if I’d wanted to. Despite everything I’d heard tonight, I didn’t want to.
I only had a second after he lifted his lips before he tilted my head back and traced a hot lazy line down my throat. I tried to speak, but he muffled me with another kiss. This time he ran his hands gently over my shoulders and down my back, gave my butt a quick squeeze, and brought them back up over my breasts before cupping my face in his fingertips. After what felt like forever, he stepped back, leaving me burning and shaky.
I was still trying to form words when he spoke. “Jewel, if we’re going to get past this and make them believe that you’re my woman, I can’t have you jumping if I touch you.”
“Oh, so that was a training exercise? Glad I could help.” I don’t know why, but his cool words made me flare bitchy.
He put his arms around my waist, brushed his lips across my cheek, and whispered in my ear, “We both know that’s bullshit. I’ve wanted to do that since about five minutes after you opened the door the very first time.”
He stepped back and I rubbed my arms. I wasn’t used to being swept away like that. Damn, that was just two kisses. This is insane.
Ethan glanced at his watch. I noticed he’d swapped out his plain digital one for a cooler model. “Baby, it’s time to get this freak show on the road.”
Shrugging off the di
straction, I grabbed the bag with the Kalashnikov. When I pulled even with him I stopped. I wanted to see if I could recover some ground and momentum.
“Price, two things.”
One corner of his mouth twisted up and I laid a quick kiss on it.
“First, why five minutes?”
“It took me that long to get my breath back.”
“Second, if I startle you again, are you going to punch me?”
“Yes.” He paused. “Several times, in fact.”
Hot blood rose in my cheeks. Dammit, he made me feel about sixteen.
“Am I ever going to get one up on you?”
A kiss on the tip of my nose.
“Any time you want.”
CHAPTER 56
The bar was a short drive from our roost. I went over the plan, trying to think of anything I’d missed.
“The guy we’re going to meet is named Mike. I call him Mikey to piss him off because he calls me Julie, which pisses me off. I’m cool with that, so there’s no need to intervene. Finally, do not let his appearance fool you. I’ve seen him shred the ten-ring at five hundred yards. “
“Got it.”
At the entrance, Ethan said, “I promise I’ll back up whatever you say. I need you to do the same. Promise me.”
The Challenger bumped across the broken pavement into the parking lot. Ethan parked in a dark corner, with the nose pointed toward the exit. He came around and opened my door.
I slung the duffel over my shoulder. “I promise.”
Ethan’s serious mood broke when he saw the blinking neon over the front door. The Outhouse sign featured, what else, an outhouse with a flapping door. When it flashed open, a neon hillbilly sat in full glory.
“Baby, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”
“Price, you have no idea.”
My nose always rebelled when I entered Mike’s place. Despite legal indoor smoking being mostly a thing of the past, the club was so soaked in it that only demolition would get rid of the stench. After a moment, my eyes adjusted to the gloom and I saw that other than a new beer sign or two, not a thing had changed since I’d been here last. But then, nothing could improve the faded grunge of a half-century-old Texas roadhouse.
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