Dark Horse

by Jessica Gadziala

  Reese was still single.

  And, well, showed no signs of changing that.

  Maybe that was part-relief to him. Nothing was worse than watching them like guys and get their hearts stomped on when they were younger. But now a grown ass man, he wanted to see her with someone. He wanted her nose out of those books long enough to experience something tangibly. And, yes, he wanted to know she was being looked after by someone who loved the amazing woman she was.

  He listened as she talked to Gina, tone almost clinical, trying to keep calm, even though he knew she was still freaking out. Her hand holding the phone up was visibly shaking.

  "Ree," he said when she hung up, watching as she tucked it away. "Reeee..." he tried again, trying for a lighter tone. But her eyes were ahead as she tried to take a couple deep breaths. "You wanna go get some ice cream?" he offered, trying not to laugh his ass off when her head whipped over, her eyes big, her head nodding.

  Ree and her ice cream.

  At least some things never changed.

  They turned to walk down the street that would lead them to The Creamery, a place that had been around since they were all teens. "Ree," he said after a somewhat tense silence he didn't like.

  "Yeah?"

  "Why didn't someone call me?" he asked, tone almost a little sad. And while he said someone, they both knew he meant you. Even with her head ducked, he could see the guilt on her delicate features. "I get you guys are worried about me, you in particular, Ree, but you can't keep me out of the loop because you think I shouldn't be pulled back into shit like this. Leaving me out makes me start to reconsider if leaving town was a good idea. If you guys don't talk to me, I need to be here to see shit for myself."

  "Kenzi asked me not to tell you, E," she said as he held the door of the ice cream shop open. "Why Paine didn't tell you, well, you have to ask him that. And we didn't know how bad it was until like the last day or so."

  "And that was when I wanted a call, Ree. I get you have a promise to keep to Kenz, but when people close to you are getting hurt, that is a reason to bend that trust, okay?"

  She looked over at him, taking, holding, then releasing a deep breath. Then she nodded slightly. "Okay," she agreed, knowing it was really the only answer. Their family may have been estranged for a while, but loyalty ran marrow fucking deep. They needed to be there for one another, not just for the good times like some bullshit fair-weather-friends, but down in the trenches covered in the mud too. That was the only way it worked.

  "Alright, now that that's over. What will it be? Three scoops?" he asked, knowing her, knowing how it always was. "One vanilla, two salted caramel? What?" he asked, watching her look self-consciously toward the window where she could see herself reflected.

  "Maybe just one salted caramel," she said, looking away from her reflection like it repulsed her.

  The fuck was that shit?

  If there was one thing Gina raised, it was strong and confident children. While Reese might have always been rather shy and reserved, she had always been sure of herself. Confident in her bookish way.

  "What's this?" he asked, waving at her as a whole.

  "Nothing," she rushed to say, shaking her head.

  "Don't lie to me, Ree. Tell me it's none of my fucking business, but don't lie to me."

  "She's convinced all the ice cream is why her - and I don't agree with this next part - is why her ass is getting so big."

  That little tidbit came from Daya, the girl who had been working the counter pretty much since it opened. Some distant relative of hers had opened it, then all but abandoned it, leaving her to her own devices. This meant she helped customers when they were around, paid herself what she felt her time was worth, and spent all the free time she had leftover after stocking and cleaning to write. What she wrote, well, he had no idea, but she was ultra protective of it, always tossing it away when someone walked up on her unexpectedly.

  Daya was exactly the kind of woman he had usually gone for. She was on the tall side and thick. He had always gone for women who were all softness, who had thighs, ass, hips, and tits. Womanly, he figured. That had always been his type. And Daya was definitely that. She had an exotic look thanks to her mix of Puerto Rican, Nicaraguan, black, and white. Her skin was something lighter than his, but still tan. She had dark brown shoulder-length, mostly straight hair, thick lips, and dark brown eyes that she did a perfect winged eye-liner over.

  Fucking gorgeous in a way where she was likely aware of it, but not conceited about it.

  He'd always liked Daya, having seen her literally every week of their youth when he had taken Reese for ice cream.

  It always surprised him a little that the two women had never become close. But he figured they were maybe just too lost in their own fictional words - Reese as a reader, Daya as a writer - to really connect in a real life way.

  "You're fucking serious?" Enzo asked, looking at Reese who wouldn't meet his eyes, then back to Daya for confirmation.

  "So she says," she said with a conspiratory smile. "Word is, she's even talked about a... diet," she said with the false gravity of something much more serious.

  He looked at Reese, head still ducked. "She's gonna have the three scoops. I'll have the same."

  "E..." Reese started to object.

  "You want to get in shape, Ree? Do what you want. It's your body. But I'm not having you going on some fucking crash diet where you can't enjoy ice cream because out of fucking nowhere you think your ass is too big. First, it's not. Second, where the fuck did you even get that idea? Third, I'm not back here all that much anymore. And this is a tradition. Share it without ruining it with stupid ass insecurities."

  "I offered to let her come workout with me," Daya said as she leaned over the counter to scoop, showing off a nice ass of her own. Daya, while as thick as she could get while still being healthy, was known for hitting the gym to blow off steam. She claimed she got too crazy if she didn't have that endorphin release. Plus, you know, I work in an ice cream place... and I love ice cream. So if I don't work out, I would be the size of a house. "They even have little shelves on the treadmills and ellipticals and bikes for books," she added.

  He knew his sister well enough to know that she would rather become the size of a house than be seen in some spandex getup sweating it out at a crowded gym. That wasn't her cuppa tea.

  "And, as I have told her countless times, men like ass. Lots of it. The kind of ass most jeans don't fit over."

  "Got that right," Enzo agreed, passing her cash as they accepted their ice cream. "So," he said as they sat down near the window, a personal preference of Reese's. She liked to people watch. "What else has been going on? Work? Love life? Social life?"

  They both knew there was a fair amount of teasing in those questions, which was why her lips tipped up as she mostly played with her ice cream. "Work is alright. You know, it's a library, so... aside from the elderly coming in to use the computers, it's pretty uneventful. I have recently fallen in love with a viscount," she said with a smirk that he returned. "And this is about as social as I get. You know that."

  It was right about then that his phone buzzed in his pocket.

  He reached for it, knowing it was likely work since he had just been around all his other people.

  Sure enough, it was a text from Xander.

  Family's important. Take the weekend. Espen will keep an eye on the case.

  He felt both relief and trepidation there.

  First, he needed the weekend. He needed to talk to Paine still. He wanted to get an idea of how things were with Kenzi and Tig. Kenz had never had the best of luck with relationships, being so focused on work. But he hoped for her sake that it was serious with Tig. She deserved to be happy. Then he needed to stop in and see Gina, thank her for being the only fucking one in the family to reach out to him, even if it wasn't just about desperation. Finally, he wanted to check back with Barrett and the rest of his team to see if he could lend a hand. If not, just get some updates on lookin
g for Cassie and Santi.

  But on the other hand, he was worried about Espen handling the case alone. Partly, because he knew they were in competition, that she was given a chance to show him up. Also, though, there was a niggling feeling inside that said he was uncomfortable with her working the case alone, being around who-knew that was capable of who-knew-what.

  Was that ridiculous?

  Of course.

  For two reasons.

  One, she was fucking capable. She was some level of blackbelt that he didn't even fully understand. She had grown up with a PI for a father. She could handle herself, even if she was at a disadvantage with her overall smallness.

  Two, he was maybe feeling a tad too fucking protective of her considering she wasn't one of his women. She wasn't a family member. She wasn't a girlfriend. She was, he figured, a coworker. Maybe that was enough. Maybe for guys with as strong a protective streak as his, that was all it took.

  And none of it, fucking none of it, had anything to do with that kiss.

  No fucking way.

  That was, as far as he was concerned, an inevitability. That kiss and more.

  There was really no way around it. There was too much chemistry. And, sure, maybe some of it came from the competitive vibe they had between them. That still didn't change things.

  There was going to be more.

  Maybe, if he could find the self-control, he would wait until one of them officially had the job, so she could never feel like he was using sex against her to get what he wanted. Namely, the job.

  That wasn't his goal in any way shape or form. But he could understand if that was where her head went.

  "Everything okay with work?" Reese asked, her voice a hesitant thing, and he could hear the worry between the words.

  Reese, whether it was clear to any of them involved or not, had always been the one who took Paine and Enzo joining Third Street the hardest. It had been right around then that she had buried deep into fiction, seeming never to surface again. It was the only way she could cope, by not doing it.

  Paine had once told him that he could see Reese's shoulders relax a bit when she realized he was out, that he was never going back, that she could have him back without worry.

  And Enzo knew without a doubt that the tension that was still left in her shoulders was thanks to him. He was out, sure, but she knew it was unwillingly; she knew he was forced out. She didn't know if the pull of the easy money of the streets was enough to draw him back, if he ever would have left on his own in the first place.

  To be perfectly fucking honest, he didn't know if he ever would have left voluntarily either. It had just become so much of his life. He had all but forgotten what a normal life was like. All he remembered of it was the bone-deep exhaustion, having to work his hands to the bone to just barely get by. It wasn't exactly enticing to leave. Even if he did miss his family.

  As for going back, well, he understood why Ree was still tense. While the majority of him was happy to be out, to be rebuilding the bridges he had unfortunately burned, it was still fresh. He still didn't know if he had a steady job. Until he did, he felt the tension on his own shoulders, so he couldn't expect to see it lifted from hers.

  No matter how much that sucked.

  "I got a vandalism case. I'm working with this chick named Espen."

  "Oh, what a cool name. Daya," she called over her shoulder. "Put Espen on your character name list," she demanded.

  There was loud shuffling around in a drawer as Daya actually looked for a notebook to scribble in. "Got it."

  Reese's eyes were dancing as she finally started eating her ice cream, distracted by the possibilities. "How have I not heard this before?"

  Enzo shrugged. "I told Paine about her the day I ran into her. Gina somehow fucking knew. I don't know why it didn't trickle down to you. Maybe you haven't looked up from a book this week."

  "Well, we both know that is entirely possible," she said with a small smile. "So what is she like?"

  Enzo looked out the window, uncomfortable suddenly with the topic. "I dunno. She's a firecracker. Sharp, both because she's smart and because she's prickly. She's trained, a black belt badass."

  "And gorgeous. You left that out," she observed, drawing his attention back, finding her lips twitching. "I mean, to put that moony look in your eyes, she's got to be gorgeous, right?"

  "Moony?" he asked, partly amused, and partly offended. Because, yeah, no red-blooded man wanted to be called fucking moony.

  "Yes, dreamy. You're all dreamy over a girl. I don't think I've ever seen you dreamy about a girl," she kept gushing, so excited that she was practically bouncing. That was the thing about Reese. She seemed shy right at first, but once she was comfortable, she was the warmest girl you could ever meet.

  "Stop," he said, shaking his head at her. "She's a coworker. In fact, she's my competition."

  "Ah, but those make the best love stories!" she insisted.

  "Well, you would know more about that than me, Ree," he said, trying to turn the topic more toward books. If he could pull it off, he could get her on the topic for hours. "Reading anything good today?"

  "Today I've been about ready to throw up since I woke up," she admitted, shaking her head. "This Cassie thing has had us all so up and down. Kenz tries to keep things from me, but I know what's going on."

  "'Course you do, Ree. So her and Tig..."

  "They're good together," she said, smiling. "He softens her a bit."

  "You like him."

  "He's a good man, Enzo. I know you don't like that he didn't talk to you, but this is the twenty-first century here; he doesn't need your permission."

  "I realize that," he agreed, nodding. "But it would have been nice to get a heads up. He's the kind of man to understand something like that."

  "I hope he sticks around," she admitted, scraping up the last of her ice cream. "Mom will really like him too."

  If he wasn't mistaken, and he rarely was about her, there was a certain amount of forlornness in her tone. Like maybe she was envious. Like maybe there was finally a part of her that wanted more than book boyfriends.

  But then she shook it off and gave him a smile. "Okay, so you ready to head back so you can yell at Paine?"

  He was.

  Then he did.

  Then he did what Xander recommended.

  He stayed the weekend.

  He spent some time with his sisters, Tig, Paine, Gina and her sisters. He had Sunday dinner at Gina's, as was pretty much mandatory.

  Then he headed back late Sunday night.

  He thought the crises had been averted.

  He had no fucking idea he was about to walk into another.

  EIGHT

  Espen

  She just wasn't going to think about it.

  That was just... how it had to be.

  She couldn't sit and obsess about it.

  She couldn't toss and turn about it.

  She had to throw that in a triple-walled safe she kept deep inside with five padlocks, nestled safely next to that embarrassing thing that happened when she was twelve, and the time she innocently asked her father what a BJ was because she didn't know it was something inappropriate to ask a parent.

  Yep.

  It would be safe there.

  So that was the plan.

  Of course, she hadn't planned on the memory getting locked in there complete with a lock pick and goddamn sledgehammer. As it turned out, it had more than enough muscle to back it up too.

  She had barely made it out of bed before it all came rushing back, sending a flood of desire like molten lava through her core, making her feel hot and stimulated all by her lonesome even as she went through banal daily tasks like sifting through the mail from the day before, and getting dressed.

  There were the intermittent worries about the situation he was walking into; something that was entirely new for her. Her family aside, she really wasn't of the worrying or fretting sort. And even with her family, it was a detached way because
she knew they were all perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. But, you know, there were always risks, and those made her antsy all day until she knew they were home relatively safe.

  This was different.

  This was something else entirely she wasn't sure she had felt except maybe the one time when she had forced her father to let her tag along on a seemingly cut-and-dry job when she was thirteen that ended up not being very cut-and-dry at all. In fact, she had watched her father take two to the arm, and a third to the top of his ear that night. Even with her background, even knowing details about fatal wounds and non-fatal wounds, she had almost vomited all over the car seeing all the blood saturating his clothes before he finally got the shooter down.

  This was something that seemed to settle in her belly, making it all sloshy and wobbly and made her skip her morning coffee because she was genuinely concerned it might not stay down.

  Why? Well, that was the question of the day, wasn't it?

  Enzo was, well, she wasn't entirely sure. She didn't know much about him, to be honest. But he had a dark past, that was for sure. He was also smart, quick, and a huge, hulking man. He could likely handle himself.

  That being said, there was a possible kidnapping, rape, and murder going on in his life. Even if he was capable, that was some especially dangerous stuff to get involved in.

  Why did it matter to her?

  Yeah, that was the better question.

  So... they kissed.

  She was a grown ass woman; she had kissed plenty in her life. Sometimes it led somewhere else; sometimes that was all there was. There was absolutely no reason to read further into it.

  And she wasn't going to be that cliche chick who tried to blame it on the fact that it was because he was her colleague or some crap like that. She was self-aware enough to know that, strictly professionally speaking, it was actually better for her if he got wrapped up in family issues and didn't return.