Dangerous Attraction: Part Two (Aegis Group)

by Sidney Bristol

  “The FBI called them and let them know you were safe. They’ve all been moved to secure locations until the FBI can be sure Daniel isn’t monitoring them.”

  “He was watching them?” She stared at Travis’ profile. She wasn’t hungry anymore.

  Travis turned his head toward her. For a moment she didn’t think he would answer. “He had your whole family under surveillance. Once Wendy was no longer available to him, he latched onto you. I’m sorry, Bliss.”

  She sat in silence, staring at the seat back ahead of her.

  Daniel Campbell had cameras in her home. He watched her most private moments. All to what end? To stalk her sister?

  Travis’ arm around her tightened, pulling her closer.

  “We’re here,” Mason announced.

  He pulled the SUV up to a large, two-story log cabin that was probably half the size of Wendy’s home. As such, it qualified as a mini-mansion in her eyes. Several other black vehicles and cop cars sat in the circle drive, and a group of uniformed men hung around the front door.

  “Any requests?” Mason turned around and smiled.

  “Hot chocolate and more chocolate,” she said.

  “Can do.”

  She scooted out of the truck with Travis at her back. A couple people turned toward them, and she felt the weight of their gaze.

  “Inside,” Travis said for her ears alone.

  He didn’t take his hand off her until they crossed through the doors of the cabin. There was more activity here. A lot more. Several groups were going over maps and paper taped to the wall while another group leafed through boxes of...she didn’t want to know.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “The FBI must have gotten back from the scene. I’m guessing they’re coordinating the search for Daniel from here. Come on, let’s find you a room upstairs away from all this. Brooks might want to ask you some questions later.” He propelled her to the wide staircase leading to the second floor.

  Travis poked his head in several rooms before whisking a door open and gesturing for her to enter.

  She peered into the rustic room. The wooden walls were rough, while the floors and furniture were modern and smooth. There was a flat screen TV and even a small bathroom with a shower stall.

  “This good?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Thank you.”

  “There will be five agents, Mason, and me staying here. You’re surrounded and completely safe.” He set her bag down on the bed. “Need anything? Clothes?”

  “How’s your friend?”

  “Ethan?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He’ll be fine. Bullet nicked a ligament. They want to do surgery to patch it up. He’ll be back up in no time.”

  “Oh. Good.” It didn’t sound that minor, but what did she know? “What about...the other guy?”

  “Don England.” Travis blew out a breath. “They took him into surgery. Last I heard they’re still going. Sounded like he was stable, and they thought he’d pull through.”

  She sat down on the edge of the bed. At least Don would survive.

  “What next?” she asked.

  “We’ll eat whatever the kid brings back and get some sleep.”

  “What about Daniel?”

  “The FBI are tracking him.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “If it weren’t for me you’d have caught him already. You’d be looking for him.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. I’d have already been on a plane home. Without you, he’d have gone on killing people.” He opened his mouth and closed it. “I’m sorry this happened, Bliss. I should have stopped him. I should have known—”

  “You couldn’t have known.” She wrapped her arms around herself.

  “I should have. I’d never want this for you, Bliss.” His phone rang, breaking the moment. “I need to take this,” he said after glancing at the screen.

  “Go on.” She waved him out of the room.

  He looked at her for another moment. Her new skill to see the shadows on a person’s soul didn’t help her to decipher what he wasn’t telling her. He strode out of her room, pulling the door closed behind her.

  Bliss sucked in a breath and hugged herself. She was safe, wasn’t she?

  7.

  Travis stared at the map without seeing it. Every fiber of his body was acutely tuned in to the woman on the sofa.

  It was almost midnight. The local law enforcement were either out manning roadblocks or at home with their families, leaving the FBI, Travis, and Mason to keep watch over Bliss and formulate a plan for what came next.

  Some of them were keeping a little too close to her.

  Connor Mullins barked out a laugh at something Bliss said. Travis couldn’t hear them. Not that he hadn’t tried.

  She should be in bed, getting rest, instead of down here with the rest of them. Evidence and case details were everywhere. Why the hell were they subjecting her to this?

  Because she was now their best lead.

  Knowing the answer didn’t placate him in the least.

  He wanted to bundle her up, lock her away, and keep her safe. But wasn’t his involvement what got her here in the first place? If he’d made her stay put and gone in for Wendy on his own, Daniel would have fixated on him. Or split completely.

  It was his fault. All of it. Bliss would live the rest of her life with memories she couldn’t scrub away and a darkness no light would ever defeat.

  “What is it with these white dudes doing all the really fucked up shit?” Benjamin tossed his notepad onto a table.

  “Sure debunks the racial stereotypes, huh? We don’t see a lot of Hispanic or black killers. What do you think the ratio is?” Dmitri asked.

  Travis tilted his head, curious about the line of reasoning. He’d never thought of it that way, but the two agents would have a different perspective.

  “Ask Jade, she could crunch the numbers in her head. I’m too tired.”

  “Okay everyone, get some sleep,” Ryan Brooks announced. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover in the morning.”

  “Don’t have to tell me twice.” Benjamin slapped the folder he’d been poring over down onto the kitchen table and strode after Ryan. The unit chief and communications liaison chatted on their way up the stairs.

  “Come on, lass, time to get some shut eye.” Connor pulled Bliss to her feet and pushed her toward the stairs.

  Travis wanted to deck the guy.

  Didn’t Connor realize the trauma she’d just lived through?

  Bliss chuckled and smiled, something he didn’t think she’d have mastery of yet. It just went to show how strong she was.

  One by one the agents and Mason trickled up the stairs until it was just Travis and the red-headed woman. Jade. Such a strange name for a woman with red hair.

  “You can go up, I’ll turn everything off,” he said over his shoulder.

  He wouldn’t sleep much tonight. Not under the same roof with Bliss. He’d intentionally picked the room across from hers. If he couldn’t touch her, hold her, he’d at least be the closest one if something happened.

  Jade glanced up from her tablet, one brow arched. Her eyes were those who had seen too much. Things beyond their years. It was a little unsettling, but only because it stirred up old memories.

  “Trying to get rid of me?” she asked.

  “Just offering.” He shrugged.

  “You’ve been staring at the same spot for fifteen minutes. Why don’t you go to bed?”

  His neck burned. With all the activity, he’d hoped to fade into the background.

  “How’s your sister?” Jade asked.

  “Emma?” He turned, taken aback by the question. Why would the agent care about that? “Good, last I talked to her.”

  “Is she still seeing that detective?” There was a nonchalant way about her that was too careful, too casual.

  “What do you want to know?” He narrowed his gaze, studying her. She was younger than the re
st, late twenties if he had to guess, yet she dressed in clothes that could have been taken out of Connor’s suitcase instead of her own.

  Jade sighed and set the tablet on the arm rest.

  “Curiosity. They were under surveillance for a while because there was a remote, very tiny chance they were the copycat. Or one of them was. Before Lali pulled the plug monitoring them, Jacob made a conspicuous purchase.”

  “What did he buy?” He curled his hands into fists. Emma was still his sister; if that cop did anything wrong, he’d have to answer to Travis first.

  “He bought an engagement ring. Or at least that’s our guess.”

  Travis stared at her. Emma, getting engaged?

  “I’ll be damned.” He crossed to the sofa where Bliss and Connor had recently been seated and sank down onto the cushions.

  “It’s none of my business, I know. I just...I can empathize with what it’s like to grow up with a certain heritage. Seeing Emma and Jacob together it was...I mean...” She shrugged.

  “It doesn’t happen to all of us, you mean?”

  Jade nodded.

  Travis stared at her. Jade was bookish, shy, introverted, and extremely intelligent. He could tell that much just from looking at her. It was in the way she held herself apart from the others, how her focus went past people to the problem at hand. And yet, she was cute. Pretty. But she didn’t interest him like Bliss.

  “What’s your story?” Travis asked.

  “My parents were a serial killer team. They used me as bait to lure people away from groups, grabbed them, and killed them after inflicting sexual and physical torture.”

  “Jesus Christ. Please tell me they’re dead?”

  “They’re in prison.” She said it all so matter-of-factly, as if it didn’t touch her. As if it were just a list of details to be recited. “Travis?”

  “Yeah?” His head was still reeling from the list of wrongs in a few short sentences.

  “Bliss.”

  His spine straightened and everything else ceased to matter.

  “What about her?” he asked.

  “She’s like us now. You seem to have built a connection with her. She’s going to need someone who understands her.”

  “Connor seemed to be handling her pretty well.”

  “Connor has a gift for making people like him. Talk to him. But she never answered any of his questions. She avoided them.”

  “Wait, he was trying to make her talk?”

  “Yes. I thought it was obvious. He was doing the talking, I was supposed to take notes on anything she said. We got nothing. She’s completely closed off.”

  “Her brother-in-law’ll get her a doctor or something.” Travis would make sure of that. Wendy wasn’t the only one who needed care. The man had enough money to help Bliss out, that was for sure. He pushed to his feet. “I’m headed for bed.”

  “Don’t discount yourself, Travis. Not all of us are beyond redemption.”

  “Lady, you don’t know the things I’ve done.”

  “I probably have a list somewhere.”

  Jade didn’t know him. He wasn’t Emma. There wasn’t hope for more than what he had now. And Bliss was better off without him. The sooner the better.

  He turned and stalked toward the stairs. Jade didn’t say anything else, just let him go. His feet thumped on the wooden boards. He wasn’t tired yet, but neither should he be allowed to mingle with the others. A couple hours cooling his heels and clearing his head could be the trick.

  The light under Bliss’ door was off, and the hall was dark. He considered checking on her, but if she was already asleep the last thing he wanted to do was disturb her. Besides, Connor had probably tucked her in.

  He pushed the door open to his room and stepped inside.

  “What are you doing here?” he said before he could reconsider his words.

  Bliss sat on his bed, her knees drawn up to her chest and the bedside lamp on. He closed the door behind him, more to keep the others from waking up.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

  “Did you try?”

  “Yes.”

  “You know you’re safe here? There’s two patrol cars outside, and you’ve got a whole team of people that will protect you.” Not to mention Travis would die before he let anything bad happen to her again.

  “That’s...nice.” And yet everything about her posture, the way she wouldn’t look directly at him, and the cant of her shoulders telegraphed unease.

  “What’s keeping you up?”

  She shrugged.

  “Nightmares?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  Damn, but he had a few of those.

  He toed off his boots and circled the bed to sit next to her, his back against the headboard.

  “I still have nightmares,” he said.

  “About what?”

  “My dad’s stories. My dad. Being over in the sandbox. Jobs going sideways.” Her.

  “Do they ever go away?”

  “Some of them do. Mostly you just start realizing it’s a dream, and it’s not as bad anymore.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “I’ll tell you when it happens.”

  She chuckled, and an invisible fist squeezed his heart.

  “I was hoping for a better answer,” she said.

  “I’ve never been good for good news.”

  “Good news, talking, sex, what else are you self-proclaimed to be bad at?”

  “Hey, I never said I was bad at sex.” As he recalled, it had been quite good. Hadn’t it? “You seemed to like it.”

  “I did.” She stared straight ahead.

  He reached over and took her hand in his. Touching her calmed the anxious voice in his head that said this was all a dream. That she was still out there somewhere, waiting on him to save her.

  She should be in her own room, not here with him. And yet, he couldn’t make himself say those words. It was selfish, but he wanted to be near her, to assure himself that she was safe. He didn’t have any right to her. In fact, she should hate him. But he still wanted her.

  “You’ve got to get some rest.” He drew little circles on the back of her hand.

  “I can’t be alone,” she said, so quietly he didn’t think he’d heard her right.

  He hadn’t protected her the first time, but here she was, trusting him again.

  “Do you want me to stay with you? Or would you rather I go get Jade?” The two women could bunk together with little to no issue. Besides, Jade might get through to Bliss where Connor had failed.

  “Would you mind?” she asked.

  Travis swallowed. It was temptation straight from hell, but for her he’d do just about anything.

  “No.” He stood and held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go back to your room.”

  “Why?” She let him pull her to her feet.

  “No windows. One point of entry. It’s the safest place for you.” He grabbed his bag from the dresser, his boots, and turned the light off.

  “Oh.”

  He guided her out of his room and across the hall to hers. All the lights from downstairs were off. He wished Jade a peaceful sleep.

  “Get in bed.” He gently pushed Bliss toward the big king bed. The pillows and blankets were rumpled, as if she had attempted sleep to no success. “I’m going to use your bathroom.”

  That, and give her a moment of privacy.

  He took his time in the bathroom while keeping one ear tuned to Bliss’ movements. He brushed his teeth, flossed, and stared at his reflection for several minutes. When he ran out of things to do, he opened the door.

  Bliss wore the same thermal shirt from earlier, but her jeans and boots were discarded at the foot of the bed. She stared at the ceiling, her brow lined with worry.

  There was no real way for this to go well. It wasn’t like he slept in much besides his boxers. Plus, he had the memory of what it was like to hold her, be inside of her, stuck on repeat. She didn’t need a trip to horny town, she
needed a safety blanket.

  “Can we leave the bathroom light on?” she asked.

  “Course.” He flipped the light back on and closed the door until just a crack of light slashed through the darkness.

  Travis shed his jeans and shirt before sliding into the bed.

  This was about her needs, not his. He rolled to his side and stretched an arm out over her, trapping her against the mattress. Every muscle in her body was tense, ready for something to happen, and none of it good.

  He wished he could take this burden from her. Clear her mind. Let her be free to not be like him.

  Eventually she blew out a breath and her hands slid up to grasp his forearm. She turned, drawing him closer until he spooned her from behind. He did his best to stay relaxed, even when she wiggled her ass against his groin in a move to get comfortable. Minute by minute the tension eased, until her breathing relaxed and he knew she’d passed out. Only then did Travis allow himself to drift off to a dreamland where a beautiful, curvy woman waited for him with mischief in her eye.

  8.

  Bliss’ nose itched, but she didn’t dare move. It had to be early morning sometime. Already she could hear sounds below and the occasional door open or close on their floor. Any moment Travis would wake up, and they would have to face whatever today held in store for her.

  She hadn’t slept as much as dozed off and on until her body just decided it was time to be awake. Though her dreams were uneasy, they hadn’t terrorized her like before. A difference she attributed to Travis’ presence.

  It was Christmas Day.

  Usually she would pack up her car and head to her parents’ house for a busy morning of presents and baking. It didn’t feel like the holidays anymore, though Travis had given her a present. Her freedom.

  Guilt gnawed at her. Out there, she hadn’t believed he would save her, and he had. Then last night, she’d doubted him again when she allowed fear to cloud her judgment. It wasn’t his fault Daniel was crazier than they thought. She’d allowed herself to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  There was no anticipating psycho.

  Travis’ eyes opened and he looked straight at her. There was no groggy, half-asleep period, just full alert aimed at her.

  “Morning.” His sleep-roughened voice was a comforting sound.

  She smiled and scratched her nose.