I gave him my best glare. “Hey buddy, it’s a big truck.”
He chuckled. “Baby, we both know the truck didn’t give you two left feet.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I laughed as he grinned back at me, his expression so warm it stopped me in my tracks. “You can tease me,” I murmured, as though this was some sort of epiphany.
For me it was.
He looked confused.
I blathered on, trying to explain myself. “I know it might sound stupid or trivial, but I never felt safe when someone teased me. You—you make me feel safe. Safe enough to open myself up to whatever you have to give because I know it comes from someone who loves me.”
His eyes burned with intensity as he reached over and hauled me back into the truck and into his lap. “Sweetheart.” He swallowed thickly, looking like he wanted to say more but couldn’t.
I ran my finger across his full lower lip, watching the path that my lips hungered to follow. “You were right about my parents. I hadn’t ever thought about it much before. They put us aside. They didn’t nurture us or pay much mind to us. I really wanted their attention, to feel loved by them. It scarred me, I guess. Made me close off to people the way I’d learned to do with them to avoid rejection. But you healed those scars, Sid. First by being a friend I could rely on, and then by being a man I could love and be loved by.”
His fingers tangled into my hair. “That last part—you should put that in a song.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s all for you.”
He pressed his forehead to mine, his breathing labored as his expression darkened with a heat that lit my inner fire. “Get your shit so I can take you home.”
I nodded eagerly, and with a quick kiss slid out of the truck just as ungracefully as last time. This time when he smiled at me, that glimmer of teasing in his eye—it meant so much more.
It meant everything.
When I stepped into the office, most of the lights were off. I was still riding high from my conversation with Sid, so the nagging sensation at the base of my neck that said something was off took longer to register. I told myself it was just because I wasn’t used to seeing it so dark, and soldiered through to the training area where I’d left my phone.
What I saw there stopped my heart cold as I gasped in shock.
Agent Richards had my brother on his knees with a gun to his head. Richards spun to face me, his eyes narrowed with rage. “Fuck.”
“Get out of here, Sam!” Travis barked, his hands clasped behind his head.
“Can’t have that.” Richards shook his head. “Come here,” he ordered.
I moved to him on shaking legs, kneeling in front of my big brother. “What’s going on?” I demanded.
“Agent Richards seems to have a taste for jewels,” Travis bit out with disgust.
“Now maybe you’ll tell me where it is,” Richards growled, gripping my hair and pointing his gun at my temple.
“You’re who Osip was waiting for,” I murmured, all the pieces clicking together.
He chuckled darkly. “Give the girl a prize.” He released me for a moment, pacing the space. “I told Ivanov I could get it for him if he took you. I figured it’d draw your brother and his team out—so I could search here. And maybe if I was lucky, those bastards would just kill each other off. But those assholes Trent and Marcus were here and this place was locked up too fucking tight.”
“But you were never going to give it to him anyway, were you?” I surmised. I figured keeping him talking was our best bet. Right now, it was really the only option.
Travis gave me a nearly indiscernible nod of approval.
He snorted. “No. I have a very interested buyer in the Mexican cartel.”
This guy was seriously cracked. The chances that we’d get out of this alive seemed horrifyingly slim.
He grabbed my hair again, his eyes narrowed on Travis. “Let’s try this again, McAllister. Where is my fucking diamond?”
I detected the slightest movement to my right but instinct had me keeping my gaze straight ahead. I knew I’d been in here long enough for Sid to get worried.
“I told you. I gave it to your superior two days ago,” Travis growled with impatience. “You think I’d lie about that shit when you have a gun pressed to my sister’s head?”
“I’m the agent on this case,” Richards barked, seemingly incensed Travis hadn’t gone through him directly.
“Yeah, well, obviously my instinct not to go through you wasn’t far off base,” Travis muttered as Sid crept along the far wall, his gun pointed at Richards’s back. “What the fuck are you thinking anyway, man? You’d have to be seriously fucked to think you can steal from the Russians to pay the cartel.” He shook his head, looking as baffled as I felt.
“Ivanov’s locked up,” Richards shot back.
“He has a long reach,” Travis replied resolutely. “It was a shit plan but fortunately not one that’ll happen, since I don’t have what you want.”
The silence stretched, growing thick with tension as the inevitable conclusion to Richards’s plan became clear. He wasn’t going to get what he came for. Something told me he wasn’t going to pick up and leave.
My heart hammered in my ears as my frightened gaze volleyed between the two men waiting for a conclusion I knew with a sinking feeling could mean the end of me or my brother.
Richards shrugged before his gaze turned toward me. “I hadn’t planned on you. I regret that,” he admitted, his eyes expressionless as he lifted his gun.
In a movement so swift I barely saw it, Travis’s hands shot out toward Richards, forcing his gun downward as a shot rang through the air with a deafening boom.
A burst of red appeared on Richards’s chest as he looked at me with wide-eyed shock. I realized I didn’t even know the man’s first name, and yet I was watching him die. He reached out to me as though I’d break his fall. I leaned back, watching with shock as he crumpled to the ground.
Travis kicked his gun away as the agent lay motionless on the ground. Sid raced toward us, gathering me up in his arms. “Christ, baby.” He panted with adrenaline and anguish. He pulled back when I didn’t respond, stooping low to look me in the eye. “Sam?” his voice was muffled through the ringing in my ears.
I looked back at him and through barely moving lips said the words that despite the terror still percolating in my veins would set us free.
“Now. Now it’s over.”
CHAPTER 23
In the chaotic aftermath that followed when law enforcement swarmed into Talon armed to the teeth, Sid didn’t leave my side. Even when the feds forced him into handcuffs—as a precaution, they said—he kneeled by my side with a growled, “I’m not leaving her.”
Theo and Declan had flanked us protectively, demanding repeatedly for the feds to check the Talon security footage. That’s all they needed to see to get the story straight, they’d lamented.
Finally, someone listened.
The moment he was released, Sid jumped to his feet, wrapping a muscular arm around me. Tension radiated from his body as he glared out at the chaos surrounding us.
Government-issued sedans and SUVs filled the Talon lot as suit-clad officials swarmed around us like angry bees.
“We’ll need your gun, Masters,” one of the agents ordered.
Sid glared at him. “Figured that. I left it on my desk,” he answered brusquely as his grip tightened around me. “We’ve been here an hour already. I want to know when I can take her home,” he demanded, his head cocked toward me. “My girl just had a fucking gun pointed at her head by one of your fucking agents. Not to mention the fact that you cuffed me. Wouldn’t have pissed me off much except it forced me to let go of her.” He seethed as he continued to glare at the man in silent challenge.
I’d never seen him so angry.
The agent swallowed hard against his wrath as Travis stalked over with a scowl on his face.
“Get your man under control, McAllister,” the agent tried to order my brot
her, though it came out more as a request.
Travis scoffed. “She’s his woman. She’s also my fucking sister.” He pointed a finger at me. The agent swallowed visibly again, an obvious tell that he was uncomfortable. Travis looked like he had a hell of a lot more to say, but another agent walked over.
“McAllister, Masters.” The man nodded toward Travis and Sid. He was older than the majority of the other agents, with gray hair cropped close to his head and a gaze that held years of experience. His dark eyes roved over me briefly before returning to Travis. He emanated a sense of authority and none of the nerves the agent we’d been speaking to betrayed. “Agent Peters is just doing his job. If you have a complaint, take it up with me.”
Travis’s expression hardened to stone. “A complaint?” he growled incredulously. “Yeah, Adams, I have a fucking complaint. I’ve been telling you for months that something wasn’t right with Richards. He was under your command. All my guys felt it—that he was off. You chose to ignore that and it nearly got my sister killed.”
I noticed he didn’t mention how his own life had been on the line.
“My team has provided you with valuable intel and backup over the years. Until you can convince me you don’t have any more rats in your organization, that ends as of now. You’re also done questioning my men. Especially Masters. He’s got my sister to look after.”
Something passed between Travis and Sid then. I knew Travis had already given his blessing, but saying in so many words that I was Sid’s to care for when for so many years that was something Travis had done—well it meant a hell of a lot. That fact wasn’t lost on Sid as he offered my brother a chin lift, his eyes glittering with emotion.
Adams eyed Travis speculatively and I thought I saw respect glimmering in his dark eyes. I doubted the man was used to being stood up to. “All right, McAllister. I got you.” He nodded before his eyes turned to Sid and me. “I apologize on behalf of the Bureau. I can guarantee this will never happen again. Get her on home,” he told Sid, his eyes momentarily softening as he took in my exhausted posture as I sagged almost entirely into Sid.
Sid barely took a moment to nod before he was taking me by the arm and gently leading me toward his truck. “Come on, babe,” he coaxed.
I looked back over my shoulder at Travis, desperate to meet his gaze. He looked up at me, his familiar brown eyes meeting mine. He gave me a half smile and a wink that nearly broke me. It was the same look he’d given me when he’d been deployed the first time. When I was terrified of never seeing him again.
I’d thought him a hero then, as I had every day since.
Sid lifted me into his truck, buckling my seatbelt and pausing to run a hand over my hair.
Did I imagine the way his hand shook?
He climbed into the driver seat before the V8 engine roared to life as he tore out of the parking lot, his anger evident as he pressed the gas pedal toward the floor.
We drove in silence, barreling up the canyon and pulling into Brad’s driveway. I’d scarcely noticed the drive, trapped as I was inside my own head trying to make sense of the evening’s events.
Trixie ran circles around us when we walked hand in hand into the foyer. We’d been gone a lot longer than expected, and Sid left me only long enough to briefly let her out. I was still standing where he’d left me when he returned.
He moved in close, raking his large hands gently through my hair. He stooped low, pressing his forehead to mine. “Baby, I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you said something. Anything,” he pleaded hoarsely.
Had I not spoken? I wasn’t even aware of it.
“I….” My voice was hoarse in my ears. “I....” I tried again. He pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around me, enveloping me in a cocoon of safety. I pressed my cheek to his firm chest, breathing him in. “I thought Travis was going to die,” I stuttered, realizing why this particular event felt more horrifying than those in the recent past. “I felt so helpless.”
“But you weren’t helpless, Sam.” His deep voice rumbled from his chest like an oncoming storm. “You still tried to stall that fuck. You did what you could and ultimately, you saved him just as much as my bullet did.”
I looked up at him in surprise.
He took my mouth and I could feel his big body tremble as my lips met his. “Christ, tonight took years off my life,” he breathed against my lips.
“I hope not. I want all the years I can get with you.” I sighed.
“Well then, how does forever sound?” he murmured.
****
“What the hell is this?” Theo chortled, holding up the romper that Sid had tried to convince me to get rid of just days before.
It was two days later and we were moving in to our new house.
“Remind me why we didn’t just hire movers?” I grumbled to no one in particular as I snatched my clothing out of Theo’s grasp. “I’ll give you the same fashion lesson I promised Sid,” I told Theo.
“Is that a threat?” he replied, his gaze snapping over to Declan as he carried a box inside. “That sounded like a threat.”
“Don’t be such a b-a-a-by,” Sarah sang from our master bedroom. She’d volunteered to hang some of my clothes instead of lifting anything heavy. She was a good friend, but as she’d put it, manual labor was out of her jurisdiction.
“I’m all man, sweetheart,” Theo hollered back.
I rolled my eyes at their banter before I looked around our home. Between the two of us, we didn’t have much furniture, but it didn’t matter. We’d fill the bare walls with photos soon enough. Our new dining set would be center stage for dinners with our extended family of friends. We’d christen our new bed before making love in every room. We’d fill the house with so many memories, it’d be bursting.
I couldn’t wait.
Strong arms wrapped around me from behind as Sid’s lips met my neck. My whole body gave a little shimmy in response. I turned in his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Okay, babe?” he asked. He’d barely left my side since the event with Richards.
I nodded with a grin. “I’m moving into the house of my dreams with the man of my dreams. I’m great.”
He grinned, bending to take my mouth in a soft kiss.
Caden groaned as he and Travis came in carrying Sid’s giant TV. “We didn’t help you guys move so that you could stand there and make out all day.”
Sid shot him a crooked grin. “Hey, man, you offered.”
“Momentary insanity.” Caden shook his head.
Danny cocked a brow at him as she came in carrying Trixie. “Only momentary?”
Caden paused, making Travis grumble with frustration as he shifted the TV’s weight. Caden leaned over so he could kiss her briefly. “Insane over you.”
“Christ, bunch of fucking pansies,” Travis complained.
“Just you wait, bud,” Sid replied, slapping him on the shoulder. “I’ll try not to say I told you so when it happens to you.”
“Right,” Travis replied sarcastically.
I knew that despite his reservations, when my brother fell, he’d fall hard.
It was after dark by the time the last box had been brought in. We all sat outside enjoying the backyard and devouring the pizza I’d ordered.
“Ma called,” Travis told me when he came to sit by my side as Sid sat on the other.
“Oh?” I replied tonelessly. “Did she spare a breath to ask anything about you?”
He shrugged, taking a swig from his beer bottle. “Not really.”
I looked over at him, waiting for him to say more, despite knowing he wouldn’t.
“It took me a while to realize they were the reason I had a hard time getting close to people,” I shared. Sid’s hand slid over my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze. I didn’t even realize he’d been listening as I continued. “You ever think it might be the same for you?”
Travis looked out at the darkened backyard, seeming to consider my question. “I think we all process things in different ways
. For me—well, I had you to focus on. To take care of. I don’t think their apathy affected me the same way. It may have made me harder, more reserved, but that got me where I am today. No sense looking back.”
I placed my hand over Sid’s. “I couldn’t agree more.”
****
Sid and I sat side by side on the back deck long after our friends had departed. Trixie was still busy sniffing around, marking her territory as though she could somehow defend it if push came to shove.
“The only home I’ve ever known has been with you,” I marveled out of nowhere as the thought sprang into my mind. “I thought at first it was just our place in Silverlake with Piper and Cade, and now this, but even Brad’s felt like home to some extent.” I turned to look at him, taking in his handsome face in the muted light. “I think I’d feel at home anywhere with you.”
He pulled me deeper into his side, kissing my temple.
I groaned. “You wanted me to share more and now I’ve become so sappy, it’s nauseating.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” he stage whispered with a grin. “I like you sappy. It’s cute as hell. So is your snarky side and your clumsy forgetful side. And that voice. Damn, when you sing….” He trailed off reverently.
I nudged him with my knee. “Now who’s sappy?”
He shrugged. “I’ll be a sap for you. I’ll wear that shit like a badge of honor after everything we’ve been through.”
I nodded in agreement. “I could live without another gun pointed at me ever again.”
He turned to me, his blue eyes serious. “I’ll die before it happens again.”
I snuggled into his side. I looked out at our new backyard, imagining the future we’d build in the confines of the walls behind us and underneath the sky above. “No talk of dying. Forever, remember?”
“Forever,” he agreed with a smile.
EPILOGUE
One Month Later
I paced our living room for the hundredth time as Trixie sat on the couch watching me with her large dark eyes. She’d paced with me for the first fifty laps, but had gotten tired at some point.
Sid had been gone for three weeks; he’d accepted a contract just a week after we’d moved into our house.
Crave (Talon Security #1) Page 16