“Good night, Mom.”
She leaned up and kissed his cheek. Head down, she started to walk away, but he reached out, took her hand, and gave it a squeeze. Her gaze swung up to him and they exchanged a look that said, “Let’s forget the whole thing.” For now anyway. The seesaw of their relationship evened out. Sometimes, like tonight, it tipped up and down but they never really got anywhere but on the same ride.
With things between him and his mom back in balance, he locked the door behind her and headed back to his room and Alina. He hoped she hadn’t heard that whole mess. She’d gotten a good dose of family drama in the short exchange she had with his mom.
Would, or could, the two ever be friends? Maybe if his mother didn’t see her past every time she looked at Alina.
This is why I don’t bring women home.
Probably why he never kept any of them either. He feared his parents’ doomed relationship would become his reality. Stupid. He wasn’t his father. He knew when to set work aside and focus on his personal life.
Liar. When’s the last time you did that?
That little voice of reason needed a beat-down.
Okay, maybe he needed to be better at balancing his life.
He had more important things to do than analyze the whys behind what he did or didn’t do. Right now, Alina needed him. And damn if he didn’t need her, too.
Work would always need him, but he needed something for himself.
And she was here with him, and he would do everything he could for as long as he could hold on to her.
He spotted Alina in Adam’s room, standing by the bed, staring at him. She leaned down and kissed his forehead and softly brushed his hair. The bruises along her cheek and under her eye stood out even darker against her too pale skin. She stood and turned to Jay, her eyes sad to match the slight frown.
“You heard all that,” he whispered as she walked out of Adam’s room and past him. He pulled Adam’s door closed and followed Alina to his room.
“I’m sorry my presence stirred up old wounds for you and your mother.”
“We like to stir up the ghosts and let them out of the closet every once in a while. Our relationship is usually good, but occasionally she looks at me and sees my dad. She can’t help it really, I look just like him.”
“I saw the pictures in the hallway. You were a cute kid. I love the one with you dressed like a cop for Halloween standing beside your father decked out in his uniform.”
“Law enforcement is in the blood. His father was a cop. Great Grandpa was military police.”
“Wow. So, you always wanted to be a cop?”
“Mostly. When I was five I swore I was going to be a firefighter. At eight it was a fighter pilot. Then in high school, six friends thought it’d be cool to smoke some dope. They didn’t know it was laced with PCP. One of the girls had an undiagnosed heart condition. She went into respiratory failure and stopped breathing. A few of the others were out of their minds, hallucinating. One of the guys freaked out, pushed everyone into his car along with the girl who wasn’t breathing, and tried to drive to the hospital from the school football field. About two miles total. At night with little traffic, he might have made it, except he was high, speeding, and ran a stoplight he said looked like dancing devils with pitchforks. He T-boned another car. The mother of two died on impact. No one in my friend’s car wore their seat belt. He and the front seat passenger went through the windshield. The driver lived for two days. The other guy died at the scene. The girl who stopped breathing never took another breath. The three in the backseat with her on their laps sustained minor injuries. One of them ended up in the psych ward for twenty days because of the drugs and what happened. One became an alcoholic. One, my best friend, someone I considered a brother, and would have been with me at the movies that fateful night if I hadn’t come down with the flu, committed suicide on the anniversary of the accident.”
“Jesus, Jay.”
The guilt still punched him in the gut when he allowed himself to remember. “I knew them all and watched their destruction from one stupid mistake that led to another and more and I knew what I wanted to be: the guy who keeps that shit out of the hands of stupid teenagers who think getting high is no big deal. What could happen, right?”
“I’m so sorry, Jay. That must have been a very terrible time in your life.”
“Yeah, and it happened when my mom and dad split up for good.”
“Not many people can come back from cheating. Once the trust is broken . . .” Alina shook her head.
“Exactly. Mom expected Dad to forgive her and vow his undying love and change who and what he was. Instead, he divorced her, found someone else, and had another family.”
“Let me guess, a younger woman.”
“Yeah. She adored my dad every day until he dropped dead of a heart attack, leaving two grieving women and sons behind.”
“You have a brother?”
“Kevin Jr. He’s a sophomore in high school. Plays baseball. Straight-A student.”
“Are you close?”
“I go to all his games. We have a standing bros weekend every third weekend of the month.”
“That’s sweet.”
“Dad died when he was just a baby. He never got to know him the way I did. If he can’t have his dad, at least he has a big brother who cares. Plus, when Kevin was younger, that one weekend a month gave his mom the break she needed, being a single parent and all. She remarried when Kevin was in sixth grade. He likes his stepdad, but he tends to talk to me more.”
“Well, you’re the cool big brother with a gun and a badge.”
Jay laughed under his breath. “I guess. I’m not his mom or dad. I give him things straight.”
“You’re a good guy, Jay.”
“Sometimes.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck and tight muscles. “Now you know why she said what she said to you. In her mind, Dad left her for a younger woman and a new family. Things were more complicated than that. For me, none of the how or whys mattered. My dad died too young, but he was happy in the end.”
“That’s all we can hope for, right? That we die happy and loved.”
“Yeah.” Jay went to his dresser and pulled out a clean tee. “Bathroom’s through there if you want to wash up. You can wear this and crawl in bed.”
Alina hesitated, then touched the sling. “I could use some help. Everything hurts when I move.”
Jay went to her and untied the back of the paper shirt. He pulled one side down her good arm, then held her arm in the sling still, pulled the sling free and off her along with the stiff shirt. “Damn, sweetheart.” He stared at the bruises blooming down her shoulder and across her chest from the seat belt locking against her. Instinct made him lean in and kiss her soft skin above the bruises at her shoulder. She went still at his touch. He followed the line of bruises down her bare chest, then went back to her tempting lips and kissed her softly. He held the press of his lips to hers for a long moment. He cupped her face and stared down into her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
Tears welled in her eyes.
“Don’t cry. It kills me to see tears in your eyes.”
He didn’t know what to do about the tears, but he could take care of her before she dropped from exhaustion. Getting the T-shirt on made her gasp with every tiny movement. His gut tied in knots with every pained sound but he got the job done, including sliding the skirt down her legs and putting the sling back on her arm. He helped her lie down in his bed. The second her head hit the pillow, her eyes closed. He leaned down and kissed her again, then pressed up on his hands and stared down at her.
“You look good in my shirt and my bed.”
Her eyes opened to half-mast. “Thanks for letting me crash here tonight.”
“Let’s not talk about crashing anymore. Every time I think about what could have happened . . .” He pressed his lips to her forehead and tried to erase the nightmares from his mind.
“Stay with me.�
�� The plea in her voice made his heart ache.
“I gotta do one thing, then I’ll be back.”
She grabbed hold of his arm and held tight. “Telling my brothers can wait for the morning. I can’t wait for you to hold me. Please,” she added on a ragged breath. “Just until I fall asleep.”
“As long as you want, sweetheart.” He quickly removed his clothes down to his boxer briefs, turned off the light, and crawled under the covers. With her neck in the brace, he didn’t want to move her too much, so he slid close to her side, draped his arm over her hips, his other up and over her head, and brushed his fingers lightly through her hair as he laid his head on his bicep and nuzzled his nose into her hair. “How’s this?”
“Perfect,” she whispered and settled into complete relaxation.
His mind went back to what he’d said to her and what it meant. Yes, he’d hold her as long as she wanted tonight, but deep inside he knew he wanted to hold on to her a lot longer.
Maybe forever.
And that thought led to a lot of possibilities and complications better left to think about later, because right now he wanted to lose himself in this sweet moment with her lying in his arms in his bed before he had to call her brothers, tell them what happened, and potentially let them know how involved he was with Alina.
I’m in deep.
Chapter Twelve
Alina wished for more sleep, but the sliver of light coming through the slit in the drapes blinded her and the ache in her whole body throbbed in time to her heart. She didn’t dare move. Her stiff neck felt locked in place. The flare of pain in her chest every time she breathed promised the splatter of bruises from the seat belt would be a vivid reminder of the car accident for days to come.
The pills were on the nightstand. All she had to do was roll to her side and grab them, but that seemed like a recipe for more pain, so she remained still and focused on the room and the empty spot beside her. Her hazy mind conjured a memory of Jay leaning over her in the early morning hours, softly kissing her and telling her to go back to sleep. His presence in the night kept the nightmares at bay, but the terror she faced last night when that car hit her and she realized the driver meant to harm her trembled through her again.
She hoped the police found the person responsible. She wanted to dismiss it as some random drunk driver, but with the work her brothers did, she had to face the fact that this could be some kind of retaliation.
Why come after her? Why not go after them?
Jay walked in the bedroom door with the phone to his ear. She met his steady, worried gaze.
Being with him makes me a target.
Maybe not this time, but if they stayed together, in the future. She didn’t delude herself into thinking that his life wouldn’t impact hers. She’d seen it with Caden and Beck. Both of them had cartel members coming after them for retribution, and their wives had gotten caught in the mess.
“She’s up. Hold on.” Jay came to her, held the phone away, leaned down and kissed her, then stared into her eyes. “You need some pain meds.”
“And coffee.”
He held the phone out to her. “This is for you. I told them what happened. We’re working on it.”
Alina rolled her eyes because smacking him for calling her brothers wasn’t an option until she had those pain meds. She took the phone, stuck her tongue out at Jay, childish though it may be, and said, “I’m fine.”
“What the hell, Alina?” “Why didn’t you call us?” her brothers said over each other. Of course Jay got them both on the line at once.
She rolled her eyes, just about the only thing that didn’t hurt. “Did I mention, I’m fine?”
“Jay filled us in on the crash and what the cops put in the accident report. We’ll go over it and start digging,” Beck promised.
“You know you’re DEA, right? Not the cops. It was just an accident.” She really, really wanted it to be just an accident.
“Someone hits you once, it’s an accident. Twice is a threat.” Leave it to Caden to spell it out in blunt terms and shatter the lies she told herself and wanted to believe because they were easier than the truth.
She took a breath and held tight to the phone, hoping to erase the tremble in her hand. Jay stood over her, watching her every move, noting all the little signs she couldn’t hide that the fear hadn’t dissipated.
“Who would want to hurt me?” If she knew who, she’d know how to protect herself, who to watch out for and why.
“Neither Caden or I have had any recent death threats or run-ins that would warrant this kind of retaliation. It could be an older case and someone is out of jail and out to get their pound of flesh.”
“Beck, if that was the case, why come after me?”
“We’re out of town with our wives, so you’re the only target there to go after,” Caden suggested, though he didn’t sound convinced.
“It doesn’t feel right. If this was cartel related, why the car accident? Why not a drive-by shooting? Why not get out of the car and put a bullet in my head to be sure I was dead and you got the message?”
Jay’s face paled. He sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed his hand across his jaw. He pulled her hand toward him and put the phone on speaker. “She’s got a point. Though this could have been a warning.”
“For what? Caden and I both backed off our cases or closed them before we left. Nothing we had going triggers even a possibility of something like this happening.” Beck paused for a beat, then asked, “What about you, Jay? Could someone have seen you with Alina and thought to get back at you by going after her? She’s not with you, but they wouldn’t know that.”
Jay stared at her, his eyes filled with trepidation. He opened his mouth to say something, but she shook her head, warning him not to tell Beck and Caden they were together. Sort of. Maybe.
His eyes narrowed. “I picked Adam up at her place yesterday. Someone could have seen us together, but I didn’t spot a tail or see anything unusual at her place, except that security sucks.”
“Yeah, we need to do something about that,” Caden agreed.
“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much.”
“Your car was totaled last night and you could have died. Granted, not your fault, but we need more information and to assess the situation and see if there is an ongoing threat.” Beck was right, but she didn’t need to tell him that. He’d only issue more orders or lock her in a room until they solved this. Not going to happen.
“You should stay at Jay’s place until we sort this out,” Caden suggested.
“I won’t let her out of my sight,” Jay assured them before she protested.
“And what about Adam? If I’m the target, shouldn’t we leave Adam in DEA protective custody?” She glared at Jay. “We don’t want whoever came after me, if that is what this is, to discover Adam is here.”
“They’d have seen Adam yesterday,” Jay pointed out.
“You’re the target. Most people, even the cartel, wouldn’t go after a kid.” Caden didn’t inspire her to believe this had just been an isolated incident. “If this person is going after a woman, they’re serious.”
“I can’t stay here.”
Jay cocked up one eyebrow.
“I have to go to work. I’ve got a business to run. Jay has his work. Adam is supposed to be at day camp.”
“Alina.” She hated when Beck used that tone with her. “Your safety is more important. Caden and I can be home by tomorrow.”
“Hell, no. You are not cutting your honeymoons short. I will not have my sisters-in-law hating me for spoiling your vacations. Lord knows, the way you two work, you won’t take another for the next ten years.”
“Alina.” This time Caden took that tone, saying so much with just her name.
“I said no. I’ll stay with Jay and take today off work.”
“You’ll take tomorrow off, too. This is your weekend off anyway, right?” Of course Beck remembered her schedule since she had
agreed to watch Adam. “We’ll be back Saturday night.”
The order to take tomorrow off work grated. Even more when Jay nodded for her to agree. “Fine. But if nothing comes of this and the police and Jay have no evidence that I was targeted, then I’m going back to work on Monday.”
“Jay, make sure she has a shadow at all times,” Beck ordered.
“Already in the works.”
“Thanks, man.” Relief infused Caden’s gratitude. “Call us if anything else happens. Text any updates on the case.”
“Will do, but I’ve got this,” Jay assured them. “Enjoy the rest of your vacations.”
“Good luck keeping Alina locked down.” Beck finished that smart-ass comment with, “Feel better, sis.”
Jay ended the call and stared down at her. “I had to tell them.”
“It could have waited until they came home.”
He shook his head. “Not if someone is after you because of them.”
“Or you,” she pointed out.
“I really don’t get this. We put our heads together. No one has threatened us. Lately.” The qualifier illustrated the danger they faced and how the balance between the good guys and bad shifted. Sometimes in a moment. “Running you off the road feels random, yet targeted.”
“I want to say it was an accident, but I believe they followed me and waited for the right moment to hit me. But they didn’t finish the job, so it doesn’t feel like a drug hit.”
His frown deepened. “I hate that you’re thinking this way.”
“It’s not like I don’t know your world, Jay.”
“I don’t want it to touch you.” He brushed his fingers over the brace around her neck, his eyes softening with regret and apology. “If this happened because of me . . .”
She took his hand and held it tight, waiting for his gaze to meet hers. “This is not your fault. It’s not my brothers’ fault. If someone targeted me, it’s because you guys are a threat to them and that means you’re close to taking them down. That’s necessary and important. Worth a good scare and a few bruises.”
Tempted by Love Page 9