“Oh Jared, I’m so sorry.”
“How did you know?”
Her smile, just as broken and scarred as his own, twisted sideways. “Nobody pays attention to the whores’ kids. I was invisible. I was sitting out back, making mud pies underneath Miss Kay’s porch, when I heard her and Carl talking.” Sparrow paused, her eyes welling with sadness. “That’s when I heard about you and Hoyt. They wanted to kill you both for the land.”
“So you risked your life to save mine?” Jared felt an odd tightness form in his chest. He’d gone so long on autopilot, not caring about anything, that he couldn’t even process his own reaction to what Sparrow had done for them.
Sparrow nodded, “I’d always thought my life was so bad, you know, living with a druggie prostitute mama, but at least she loved me in her own way. She never beat me. Never hurt me.”
“What if Miss Kay had caught you? Do you know what she would have done?” Jared’s heart stopped, the tension in his chest growing.
Her broken smile stayed in place as she caressed his cheek, and Jared felt himself leaning in to her touch. “Remember what I said? I was invisible. They never even suspected me. And since Miss Kay had kept it such a big secret that they were hiding you, she couldn’t question anyone. Not long after you disappeared, they started spreading the word that y’all had drowned down in Blue Hole Lake.”
The story was almost too crazy to be true. Almost. But in the most twisted fucked up way he could imagine, it made sense.
“I haven’t heard about your brother being held here, but I don’t think Miss Kay knows. I think Jimbo and Bob have him.” Sparrow’s words brought him back to the present. My reason for being here in the first place. Even if Miss Kay wasn’t involved, Hoyt was being held against his will. Jared swallowed the huge lump of guilt. Hoyt had tried to tell him his thirst for revenge would result in regret and Jared had made Hoyt come here. He was responsible for Hoyt’s capture.
“I need your help,” Jared said. “I don’t remember much outside the closet. Where would they keep him?” Jared could barely remember his own parents’ faces. All his memories seemed to start in that closet.
Sparrow bit her lip and fell silent. Then she nearly jumped off his lap, her feet slapping the floor. “The only place strong enough to hold a grown man would be the old shack in the woods. Nobody goes out there anymore. If they kept him in camp, people would be talking.”
“Can you take me there?” Jared’s feet hit the floor with urgency. He buttoned his black pants and searched for his shirt. Sparrow pulled it out of the rumpled sheets on the bed and handed it to him.
It was still dark outside. If he could get Hoyt out before the sun rose, then he could summon his team for extraction before Kay figured out she had both Crowe brothers in her clutches. Jared winced inwardly; he and Hoyt had pretty much gone AWOL. They’d informed their commander they were taking leave for a week, but that had been two weeks ago. He could only imagine how pissed off the rest of the team would be. But no matter how pissed, they would come. Task Force Scorpion wouldn’t leave their men to die.
“Absolutely.” Sparrow snatched the knife from the nightstand and strapped it around her waist.
Jared paused, unable to look away from the sight she presented. That skimpy white top which showed off her stomach, cut offs that could give Daisy Duke a run for her money, and fucking sexy legs with a huge bowie knife strapped to her hip. Damned if she wasn’t the sexiest creature he’d ever laid eyes on. “You know how to handle that thing?”
“I learned how to skin a deer when I was just a kid. What do you think?”
He didn’t doubt her abilities with that knife. Anyone who could survive up here for this long would have to be able to take care of herself. Speaking of, his gun and supplies were hidden in the woods near where Sparrow had originally found him. “I need a gun.”
“Follow me. I’ve got some choices. You want a handgun or a shot gun?” Sparrow headed to the living room, Jared hot on her heels. She stopped before a chest that sat directly beneath the wall of animal heads.
“Do you mount all the ones you kill?” Jared asked.
Sparrow paused in what she was doing and looked up at the wall. “Nah, just the ones with a story behind them. The rest I usually sell the skins and keep the meat. I don’t waste anything if possible.”
The deer with the rearranged face drew his attention again. “And that one, what’s his story?”
She cringed. “My first kill. Squirrel forgot to tell me where to aim the gun.” Then she bent over the wooden chest and Jared forgot all about the deer. Her shorts showed off her ass to a spectacular degree, stealing his breath. When they got out of here and his brother was free and clear, Jared had every intention of finishing what she’d started. Only this time, he wouldn’t be the one tied to the bed.
“Will this work?” Sparrow thrust a surprisingly nice nine-millimeter pistol and KA-BAR knife in his direction.
Jared raised a brow, even though he knew he shouldn’t be surprised at the collection. He’d have to remember Sparrow wasn’t like the primped and prissy girls he’d dated in the past. He hadn’t figured out all of the intricacies of what she was like yet, but he wanted to. “Perfect, what else you got in there?”
She passed him a couple of extra clips of bullets. Jared tucked the pistol and knife into his waistband, and the extra ammo went into his cargo pocket. Sparrow proceeded to pull out a rifle and a rolled leather bag about the size of his arm.
“What’s in the bag?”
Sparrow didn’t pause, “My throwing knives. Never go anywhere without them.”
“You weren’t kidding about being good with a knife, were you?”
Sparrow’s gaze turned confident, her smile saucy. “Honey, there ain’t no one on this mountain better with a knife than I am.”
He could only imagine. “What else you got in that chest?”
“A couple of hand grenades, a few more pistols and shot guns, and some extra ammo. You know, the regular stuff.” She shrugged and closed the lid. “But this should get us out of here just fine.”
“Do I want to know why you have grenades?”
“Nope. Better off if you don’t. Now, are you ready to head out? Night time is burning and we gotta move.” Sparrow headed toward the back door, slinging her rifle over her shoulder as she went.
He’d left something important behind the last time he ran from this mountain, and he had no intention of repeating that mistake. “Pack your bag. I’m not leaving you behind the second time.”
Sparrow stopped in her journey to the door. “I…I don’t think I can leave, Jared. This is my home.”
Jared crossed the room to her and took her arms in his hands. His stomach tensed just thinking about leaving her here to rot in this place. And when Kay found out he’d escaped…. “What do you think Kay will do when she discovers that you let me go?”
She paled and he felt a small tremor run through her. “Miss Kay is the only mother I’ve known, she won’t hurt me.”
Jared leaned in close, holding her gaze. “Then why are you trembling?”
Sparrow ripped away from him and paced the confines of the small kitchen/living room area. “You are asking me to walk away from my life.” But the words were delivered in a shaking voice, as if she already realized that the life she was talking about was no kind of life.
“Yes. I am. And I’m asking you to start a new one with me.” Jared stopped breathing the moment the words were out of his mouth. He’d never come this close to declaring any sort of intentions toward a woman, but Sparrow was as different from the other women he knew as lava was from ice. Something about her drew him in, made him lose control and like it. He wanted her.
She stopped pacing. What was she thinking? He really didn’t want to have to drag her out of here, though he would if she continued to resist. Still, for some reason, he wanted her to want to come with him.
“What about my family?” Her words were whisper thin and Jared found hi
mself drawn to her again.
“Kaitlyn Crowe is no one’s family. She might have given you the means to support yourself, but what else has she done? Did she put you to bed at night? Cook your meals? Did she take care of you when you were hurt?” From the look on her face, Jared already knew the answer.
“I know what she did to you and your brother wasn’t right, but she gave me a home. Me, a whore’s kid. She gave me a chance when no one else cared.”
“She took you in because she owed your momma. Do you really think she won’t punish you for this?” He wanted to shake some sense into her. Get the stubbornness out of the girl.
“I don’t know.” But the way she said it told him she did know.
“I think we both know it won’t be pretty. I won’t leave you behind, Sparrow. Not again.”
Sparrow didn’t answer. Instead she studied him with those huge golden eyes, as if searching for something. It seemed like an hour before she answered. “Give me five minutes. You better get your boots out of the bedroom.”
Sparrow disappeared into a different bedroom this time. Jared retrieved his boots and do rag from the bedroom floor, and quickly put them on. By the time he sat down on the living room couch to wait, Sparrow marched into the room, knee-high snake boots strapped up her legs. A small bag, one that couldn’t hold more than a couple sets of clothes, was slung over her back.
“I mean it Sparrow, we’re never coming back here. You need to take anything that you want. I can even carry something.” He had the feeling he would be carrying his brother out of these woods, but a bag of clothes wouldn’t add much to his load.
“Got everything I need right here, sugar. I travel light.” Her tone was so matter of fact, he had no doubt she meant it. Her lifetime of belongings amounted to less than what most women would bring for an overnight stay at a hotel.
Sparrow carried more weapons than she did clothes.
Heck, she’d only been back in his life for a day, and she was already challenging his understanding of women.
“I gotta make a quick stop on the way out. Squirrel’s cabin isn’t too far out of the way.”
Jared grabbed her arm. “We don’t have time. Plus I can’t risk him alerting anybody.”
Sparrow yanked her arm free and lifted her chin. “I ain’t leaving without telling him goodbye. Out of this whole place, he’s the only one who ever really cared about me. He was willing to kill you and hide you from Miss Kay just for me. Believe me, he won’t tell a soul.”
“I’m putting my foot down. My answer is no.” Frustration welled inside him. Grown men followed his commands. This little scrap of a girl would have to do the same.
“Well, good luck finding your brother when you don’t know shit about this place.” Sparrow crossed her arms over her chest, the movement pushing her full breasts up, mounding over the top of the low-cut shirt.
“Shit. Fine. Lead the way. But I’m telling you right now, if I even suspect Squirrel’s going to alert anyone, I’ll silence him.” Damn stubborn woman.
“Good thing you won’t have to worry about that. Now follow me. Keep quiet and keep low.” He followed Sparrow to the back door. Rather than just swing it open, she cracked it, listened for a spell, and peeked out. Then, apparently satisfied that no one was watching, she opened and stepped down.
Jared’s breaths puffed in the cold air. The night would provide plenty of camouflage for their movements; the moons spare light filtered through the trees in a kaleidoscope of dark and light. Jared quietly closed the door and turned just in time to see Sparrow all but disappear into the woods.
She was silent, and would’ve been completely invisible if not for her white shirt. Jared felt a small twinge of guilt for asking her to leave her home. She moved like she belonged here, like she was part of these woods.
The pine trees grew thick and their needles carpeted the ground, masking the sound of their footsteps. Jared stayed close to Sparrow, but he continued to cover their exit. The cabins behind them were dark and silent, most of their inhabitants passed out drunk or high. Still, Jared didn’t relax even after the camp disappeared from sight. His instincts were pulling tight inside him, warning him to stay alert.
A few minutes later, they arrived at what Sparrow had referred to as Squirrel’s cabin. To Jared, it looked a sight more like a shack barely held up by rotting wood. She held up her hand for them to stop just inside the tree line. “Keep watch out here. I don’t want you to scare him.”
Jared grabbed her arm. “Don’t be long.”
Sparrow nodded and he let her go, watching her disappear into the shack before he turned to scan the surrounding area. He tried to imagine what it must’ve been like growing up here in poverty, forced to work in the mines or deal drugs to survive.
For the first time Jared counted himself lucky to have come back. He’d escaped once, and he would do it again. Only this time he had Sparrow, and for some reason, she made him think about the future instead of the past.
10
Squirrel slept on a narrow cot against the far wall of his cabin. He probably wouldn’t know how to sleep on a real bed even if it was all he had. She took the moment to study him. Memorize his features. The long scraggly gray beard. The deep weathered lines carved into his tanned face. His old gnarled hands that had always been gentle with her.
Her heart ached, but she knew deep in her soul that her time on the mountain was over. Just like she knew that Squirrel was an old man, set in his ways, and would never survive anywhere but at his home. She shook him, but he only snorted and then resumed snoring. Sparrow shook him harder until he finally cracked open one eye. “You done lost your mind, girl?”
His gravelly voice made Sparrow smile through the tears pricking her eyes. “No, Squirrel. I got to talk to you, though. I need you to wake up.”
She half expected him to tell her to go away and come back in the morning, but he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, moving a sight slower than he once did. “I figured out who he was,” she said. “He’s Jared Crowe. He’s the heir to Crowe Mountain.”
Any traces of sleep disappeared from Squirrel’s eyes completely and he slapped a hand on his bony knee. “I knew it. Knew I’d seen that boy before.”
“We think Miss Kay has his brother hidden away somewhere. I’m going to help Jared find him.”
Squirrel stood up and grabbed his shotgun from beside the bed “I’m coming with you.”
Sparrow placed a hand on his shoulder, urging him to sit back down. “No, you’re going to stay right here. You’re gonna go back to sleep. Because…because I’m leaving with them.”
Squirrel’s weathered face looked sad, but there was understanding in his eyes. “I knew you weren’t for this life, girl.” He grabbed her hand, his rough calluses soothing instead of scratching her skin. “I’m sure gonna miss you.”
Sparrow swallowed back tears. She’d known he would understand. He always did. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight, his bony shoulders pressing into hers. “I’m gonna come back for you as soon as I can. I’m not leaving you in this place.”
Squirrel sighed and she felt it all the way down to her toes. For the first time in a long time, his weathered face reflected his age. “I can’t leave this place. Don’t know nothing else but these woods. Don’t you worry, old Squirrel was surviving long before you was born, I’ll continue to after you’re gone.”
Tears pricked her eyes, burning like the acid they were. “I’ll miss you. You’re the only person I ever loved.”
“Don’t be going all sentimental.” Squirrel pulled away, but she saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. Her heart squeezed and the pain spread out over her ribs.
He lifted his leather necklace with the bear claw hanging from the center over his head and handed it to her. Squirrel called it his good luck talisman, and she’d never seen him take it off. That claw was from the first bear he’d ever killed.
“You take this,” he said. “You take this and remember old Squirrel
.”
Sparrow reverently placed the leather thong around her own head, not bothering to try and hold in the tears any longer. The bear claw hung down between her breasts, over her heart.
“I’ll never take it off,” she vowed.
Squirrel nodded, “And don’t you forget the things I taught you. Just cause you ain’t living in the mountains no more don’t mean you ain’t gonna have to fight to survive.”
Sparrow pulled him to her for one last hug, knowing it would probably be last time she’d ever see him. “I’ll never forget you. I love you.”
“You better go on. Daylight’s coming, and if you’re gonna get out of here, you’re gonna have to move it.”
“You take my trailer, move out of this old cabin as soon as the shit settles, okay?” Sparrow pulled away, her chest aching with grief, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“You bet. Been waiting for my big break.” He winked at her and all the lines on his forehead disappeared for the moment. She could see the spirit still strong in his eyes. She wrapped her hand around the bear claw and left, leaving a giant chunk of her heart behind in that cabin.
Jared stood waiting for her at the edge of the clearing, his back to her. “Let’s go.” She knew her voice was raw with tears, but she didn’t care. She would force herself to look to the future, but she would never forget where she came from.
She would never forget her past.
*
Sparrow had been crying. He could see the sorrow on her face plain as the moonlight spotting the ground. But he kept his mouth shut. He would comfort her later, when they were safe. Right now he had to focus on finding Hoyt and getting them all off Crowe Mountain alive. Before the sun rose. “Which way?”
Sparrow pointed east. “Follow me, it’s not far.”
She took off at a brisk jog and Jared followed, trusting her sense of direction. She ducked and dodged and swerved between trees, and he followed in her footsteps, thankful for her fast pace. Now that he finally had an idea of where his brother was, he couldn’t stand to wait another minute. He wanted to full out run, but knew he’d more than likely injure himself if he tried to make his way through the dark forest like that.
Reckless River: Men of Mercy, Book 3 Page 8