by Stacey Wilk
She staggered as if he’d hit her, and he instantly regretted his choice of words.
“Chase, let me explain – ”
“You’re running from your husband.” He suspected the man with the long hair and top-bun was connected to Garcia, and not actually a seasoned camper.
“He’s not my husband anymore.”
“Are you telling me Mateo Garcia allowed his wife to divorce him?” Was there a shred of truth in what she just said? And even if she wasn’t married any longer, Garcia wouldn’t like his wife, ex-wife, disappearing into thin air.
“What do you know about him?”
“I know he’s an integral part of the Sin Piedad drug cartel. The second largest cartel in Mexico.”
“Is it your hobby to research drug cartels in your spare time?”
“I asked you several times to tell me what you were running from and each time you looked me in the eye and said nothing. Then you tangled your web around me, and now I’ll be on the list of people he wants to kill.” He’d allowed that web to cover him. He wanted her, knew he should’ve stayed away from her, and didn’t. He didn’t trust his gut again and now he was falling in love with Mateo Garcia’s ex-wife.
“Who are you?” She stuck her chin up. “You haven’t been completely honest either, and I didn’t push you. I figured you had your story and you’d tell it if you wanted to. Is your name even Chase Shepherd?”
“It is, lady. It is. I never lied.”
“No, you withheld the whole story. That’s splitting hairs.”
He cleared the space between them wanting to draw her into his arms and kiss her senseless. He gripped her shoulders. Her gaze never left his. “You don’t want to know my story. And I wish I didn’t know yours.” He released her and stepped back needing air and space and time to figure out what to do.
She did need his help, and if she was running from Garcia she needed more than just his assistance. She couldn’t go to any protection program. They’d never be able to keep her safe forever. He had the skills, and the resources to find Garcia and put an end to him. Those resources were inside his house at that very moment and all he’d have to do is tell them the woman he loved was in trouble. They would ask no questions, but he couldn’t allow Deke or Max to get hurt for him. No one else would die because of him.
And did that oath apply to Raine and Landon now?
“Tell me your story.” She didn’t come near him. Didn’t touch him, and he wanted her to.
God, he wanted to hold her and tell her she’d be all right. “Now isn’t the time.”
“Really? When is? Do you think after today we’ll ever speak again? If you won’t help me, I’ll have to pack up and go tonight. I can’t take the chance that Matt or his men show up while we’re all sleeping.”
He could stay up all night and watch. He’d done it before. He could keep her safe as long as she stayed in Silent Water. “Let’s go to your place. I’m freezing my balls off standing out here waiting for more snow.”
****
“Hey, pal.” Chase ruffled Landon’s soft hair as he passed by into the kitchen. The kid smelled like powder and salty butter.
Landon jumped onto his knees from his spot on the couch almost knocking the bowl of popcorn over. “Chase, did you come to watch the movie with us? I can restart it if you want.”
“Thanks, but your mom and I have to talk. Maybe another time, okay?” There wouldn’t be another time. He’d allowed himself to feel something for this kid, and that had been a mistake too. Christ, the mistakes piled up around him like manure.
He took the seat opposite of Raine. She never let her stare waver. Her determination screwed up his heart. “I can keep you safe, but I can’t get you a gun.”
“Why not? I don’t have the time to hunt down a local gang and buy it off the street.”
He let out a deep breath. “You can’t get a gun legally, and I won’t break the law, but I have the skills to keep you safe, and I have the resources.”
“What kind of resources? You’re going to hit them with your spatula?”
He smirked. “You weren’t far off when you asked if I was a police officer. I’m a former special ops team leader for an agency called The Omega Team. We take on all kinds of cases, even dangerous ones like your husband’s cartel.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re like that character Liam Neeson played in that movie where they take his daughter?”
This time he laughed. “Yeah, something like that.”
“But you said ‘former.’ What happened?”
He traced a scratch on the kitchen table unable to look at her. “I killed an undercover detective during an operation last year. I couldn’t work after that.”
The warmth of her hand covered his stopping his fingers from running up and down that stupid groove in the table. “Chase, look at me.”
He lifted his gaze to hers. Her blue eyes darkened with a tenderness that might undo him. He didn’t deserve kindness for what he did. He’d screwed up, killed a man, and had to rebuild his life or suffocate in the anger and anguish.
“In the little time we’ve known each other, I know you didn’t kill anyone on purpose. I’ve seen glimpses of your big, warm heart when you forget to put up that guard of yours. Whatever happened wasn’t your fault.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Six months ago, we were on assignment as undercover drug dealers. We’d arrived at the drop location. This was going to be big for us. Another undercover team from another organization showed up not knowing Omega Team was there. We didn’t know they were undercover either. We figured they were the guys ready to sell and we had them. We were going to use them to get guys higher up. A fight broke out. Everyone drew their guns. I tried to talk everyone down, but their guy was a rookie and hot headed and he kept trying to get in my face. He shoved his gun right against Deke’s head. Max and I surrounded him, but he wouldn’t stand down. I couldn’t let Deke die. I didn’t have a choice.”
The words burned his throat. He hadn’t told that story since he had to recap the incident for Grey Holden. He swore he’d never talk about it again. He just wanted it behind him, and here he was telling a woman on the run from a drug cartel.
She pushed up out of the chair and came around to him placing her cool hand against his hot face. “You were brave and you saved your friend. You didn’t know that man was an agent too. If you had, you would never have hurt him.”
“Doesn’t change the fact I see his dying eyes every night.”
“Thank you for sharing that with me. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you about who I really am and I’m sorry I asked you for the gun. Landon and I will leave tonight. It’s safer that way. I don’t want anything to happen to you.” She brushed her soft lips against his stirring the desire to take her into the bedroom and show her how much he cared for her.
He stood and took her soft hands in his. “Don’t go. I can protect you. Deke and Max will help me. We’ll wait for Garcia and his men and take them when they get here.”
“How can you do what no one else has ever been able to?”
“What makes you think I can’t?” He wanted to erase the doubt in her eyes.
“You’re answering my question with a question again.” She gave him that sweet smile of hers.
“I don’t want you to go. A few weeks ago, all I wanted was for you to turn that piece of crap car you drive back around and get off my property. Now I want you in my arms where I can keep you safe. You and Landon opened up something in me I thought I nailed closed.”
“You’re putting yourself at risk for us. I didn’t want you to do that. That’s why I wanted the gun. I’ll wait for whoever comes and I’ll kill them. Even then, I’m not sure we’ll be able to stay here. If I kill one of Matt’s men, he’ll keep coming after me. But if I kill him, then I’ll be left alone. What I have in my favor is Matt didn’t tell anyone we ran away. He would want to save face and make up a story. I counted on that and have to assume he did. If he goes mi
ssing, it won’t be me they question. They’ll think their enemies got him. Landon and I will be free.”
“You’re right about Garcia. The word is out you went to Florida to live with your parents.”
“My parents are gone.”
“It’s his cover, babe. Say you won’t go. Let me protect you.” And what if he couldn’t? Would she be better off if she ran? But how far and for how long? He had a chance to give her a life, and that would mean pointing a gun at another man. Could he do it this time?
Chapter Fourteen
The wind shoved the snow as it dropped from the sky in wet, white sheets. Raine turned her back not to get hit in the face as she ran from her small house to Chase’s. Landon couldn’t find Walter, and he wouldn’t go to sleep unless he had it. Walter managed to get himself wedged between Landon’s bed and the wall. Kids.
Chase didn’t waste any time moving their stuff into his place. As soon as she said yes standing in her kitchen he jumped into action getting them packed up and barking orders at his friends who never questioned him. Just did as he asked.
She had agreed to stay because honestly, she didn’t want to leave the man. He was strong, and solid, and decent to the core. The special ops thing was kind of sexy too, but the pain in his eyes and in his voice when he told her about the man he shot made her heart squeeze for him. She wanted to take his pain away, and knew in that second, her world would never be the same without Chase Shepherd in it. Most importantly though, he could help them, and whether she liked it or not, she needed the help against Matt. Landon was her first priority no matter what she felt for Chase.
“You found him.” Landon snagged his stuffed monkey out of her arms and smashed the poor thing against his chest.
“How about you get some sleep, it’s late?” She led him to the guest room Chase had set up for them. The room held two twin size beds and was right next door to his room. If she decided to sneak out in the middle of the night for an adults’ only visit, she could slip back in without much notice.
“I like sleeping at Chase’s.” Landon snuggled under the blanket. “It’s like we’re having a big party.”
Deke and Max had made a big fuss over Landon when they met. He was an instant fan of the two men. “Chase has a generator if the power goes out. We’ll be warmer here than next door.”
She kissed his head and Walter’s too, turned out the light and closed the door with a click. Chase waited in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. His lips pulled up in a smile, and her low belly gave a tug.
“I want to show you something,” he said.
He climbed the steps to an open loft. On one wall built-ins flanked an oversized window. It was dark and snowing, but on a clear day the lake would be visible from that window. A desk was attached to the built-ins on the left and ran under the window. Three computers sat on the desk. Each monitor had a different screen saver. The loft also had a nook with two wing-back chairs in it. She’d like to curl up in one of those chairs with a good book and watch Chase while he worked on some secret mission.
“This is a nice space.”
“Thanks. Come here.” He waved her over to one of the computers. “I want to show you how to use the security cameras.”
He gave her a lesson in which keys to push to pull up which cameras, how to make the angle of the lens move, and how to record footage if she wanted to. “The most important one is the camera that watches the driveway. The lake is frozen enough that no one will be coming in from the lakeside, and even if they did you’d hear the motor. I doubt anyone will try to come through the trees. That’s almost seven acres they’d have to pass through. This weather won’t make that easy. My guess is we won’t see anyone until the storm passes, if we see anyone at all.”
A darkness passed across his eyes.
“What? Do you know something?”
“There’s been a stranger in town. Probably nothing, but I’m not sure. He was at the General the other day and told me he was hiking the Dark Mountains. I checked with Bob Masone. No one is registered for the month of January except Jim and Cindy Marshall.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “What did he look like?”
“Regular guy except for a weird man-bun thing on the back of his head.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She told Chase about the man at the gas station. “He was the same guy at the school.”
“The storm should hold off whatever he has planned. You’ll be fine while we’re gone, but I want to show you this too.” He opened the top drawer to a metal filing cabinet, and pulled out a gray, also metal, box.
“Is that –”
“It’s my twenty-two. I keep bigger guns in my bedroom. Locked. This piece is just something I can grab in a hurry if I’m on this side of the house and the only one not under lock and key. It works the same way as the one you fired at the range. It’s not loaded. The bullets are in the bottom drawer. The magazine holds fifteen shots before you have to reload. Don’t forget.”
“You could’ve given me this gun, told me to go, and saved yourself a lot of trouble.”
“First up, lady, allowing someone to possess a gun without a license is against the law.” He returned the gun to the cabinet.
“And you don’t break the law.” That tugging in her low belly was moving south.
“Right. Second, I can’t let you fight this fight alone.”
“Thank you. And thank you for not throwing me out when you found out who I was married to.” He was such a decent man.
“I wanted to, but I also understand why you kept your secrets. I have my own so I was in no place to judge.”
She placed a hand on his jaw relishing the scruffy texture of his beard under her touch and leaned up to kiss him. He met her half-way running his fingers through her hair and holding her closer as his lips parted with hers, and his tongue slid in and out of her mouth making the ache between her legs deepen.
She had never felt safe in the arms of a man before because she’d been with Matt for so long, but with Chase she would be able to take a deep breath and relax just a little. He was honest, and kind and could kick ass if he needed to.
“Whoa. Sorry. Didn’t realize. I’ll…I’ll, shit.” Deke’s voice broke apart the kiss, but Chase didn’t let her go.
Heat climbed up her neck and face. She buried her face in his chest.
“You two together, that’s cool. I mean it. Raine, you’re putting a smile on my man’s face here, and I haven’t seen that in a long, long, time.”
“Deke, shut the fuck up and tell me what’s up.”
“Yeah, okay. Max walked the perimeter. There’s nothing out there except snow and ice. I’ve got eyes on all the access points. I’m going to take the first shift because dumb ass downstairs is cold from his long walk and he wants to sip coffee and have me cover him in blankets. No one is going anywhere for the next twelve hours. The storm is a bitch. Garcia won’t hit tonight. He’ll never be able to get out of town fast enough.”
Deke spoke as if Matt would succeed with his plan if it wasn’t for the weather. The icy cold hand of fear ran over her back. “What if he does? He’s always prepared. He thinks of every detail. What if he comes?”
Chase took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “If he gets on the property, we’ll know right away. The motion sensors set off alarms on all the computers, and one of us will be watching at all times. If they can get past us on some slim chance, every single point of entry in this house is also hooked up to an alarm. The whole town will hear it go off blowing their cover.”
“What if they cut the alarm?”
“Chase buried all the lines and those that have to be exposed above ground were covered with three-inch-thick metal boxes soldered to the house. He’s the best, Raine. Even here in this backwards town.”
“Hey, you like this town.” Chase pointed a finger at him.
“Whatever. You two get some sleep. I’ll stay up here with the computers. Max can take second shift.”
> “Thanks.”
“Yes. Thank you for putting yourself out for us. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“I’d do anything for this dumb lug.” Deke patted Chase on the back.
Chase walked her to the door of her room. “Here’s where I leave you. I’m going back up to the loft with Deke. I won’t be able to sleep. If you need anything, come get me or yell. I’ll come right back down.”
“How long do we wait for him?” Would they have to live their lives out like this? How was she going to explain it all to Landon once he started asking questions, which he would?
“However long it takes. He knows where you are. He won’t wait. If it wasn’t for the storm, I’d say we’d already see him. Try to sleep.”
How was she going to get any sleep knowing Matt might be right outside trying to grab their son or put a bullet in her head? “I wish the windows were bullet proof.”
“Maybe I’ll convince Badger to invest.” He gave her a warm smile and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her against him.
She snuggled closer. “Having your arms around me is the only place I want to be.”
“Sounds good to me. And when this all over, there will be plenty of that, okay?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why were you ready to take on Matt after all this time away? You came here to get away. I don’t understand.” Maybe she did, but she wanted to hear him say it.
He rested his forehead against hers, and whispered, “you.”
Her heart beat in rhythm with his.
“Now, I’m going to let you go before I lose all control and take you to bed.” He kissed the top of her head and released her.
She missed his nearness instantly. “Good night.”
“Night.” He waited until she closed the door.
Sleep would elude her all night. No way was she going to climb into bed and wait like a sitting duck. She turned out the light and checked the window. All she could see was the sideways slant of the snow as it piled up below. There had to be a foot by now.
She went through her workout routine until she was drenched in sweat, but calmer than when she started. If she could get her hands around Matt’s neck, she was certain she could break it.