Fierce Informer (Sierra Pride Book 6)

by Liza Street

  Oh, fuck. Laura was looking from him to Justine, confusion on her face. The only clues that Justine was upset were the rigidity of her posture and the slight redness at the edges of her eyes. Otherwise, she was holding it together remarkably well. She stepped carefully toward the front door, not looking behind her.

  Mateo reached out, but he didn’t know what to say or how to explain.

  As the door slammed behind Justine, Laura said, “Matty, what’s going on?”

  He moved to go inside, to follow Justine, but Laura tugged him to the porch swing. “Please, talk to me. She’s not leaving yet.”

  He sat down next to her, although every part of his body was screaming at him to follow Justine. “Laura, you’re not my girlfriend.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but it pisses you off when I act all clingy and call you Matty. I was just messing with you since you left me for days to run the lodge on my own. Payback’s a bitch, right?”

  He ran a hand through his hair. Fuck fuck fuck. “Why would you introduce yourself as my girlfriend? We broke up.”

  She squinted at him. “You abandoned me over there, to the overflow guests that aren’t coming here. And when are we not breaking up?”

  “Exactly. I think that’s the problem.” He took a deep breath. It was time to end this beyond any doubt—and the sooner he ended it, the sooner he could find Justine and explain everything. “We need to understand that it’s never going to work out with us.”

  Laura’s expression suddenly changed to understanding. “Oh, shit, Mateo! You found someone else…and it was her?”

  He nodded.

  “Oh, double shit! Does she like you, too?”

  That wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. Laura wasn’t even acting jealous. At all. A sure sign that they weren’t meant to be together.

  “Probably not anymore.”

  “She’ll still like you if she’s your mate,” Laura said.

  Mateo hadn’t thought of it that way. Maybe he and Justine were meant to be together. He felt it—in his heart, all throughout his body. Would she see it that way, too?

  Laura stood up. “It’s amazing she didn’t punch my lights out right here on the porch. I mean, I could see there was some kind of vibe, but I didn’t know what it was about. I feel stupid for not picking up on it sooner. I’m sorry. I have to go talk to her.”

  “No, no. I should be the one to talk to her.”

  *

  He knocked on Justine’s door, but she wasn’t answering. He could hear her moving around in there, drawers opening and closing, the rustling of clothes. “Please don’t go, Justine. I’m not with Laura anymore, and I wasn’t with her when you and I got together, and she knows all about you now. This was a huge misunderstanding, and I was an idiot, okay?”

  “I don’t want your groveling,” she said, and her voice was simultaneously heartbroken and sarcastic. “Ever again.”

  He slid down against the wall to sit next to her door. Over an hour later, Justine’s room was silent. He pressed his ear against the key hole and listened for her breathing. Steady and even breaths—she was asleep.

  He skipped dinner, not caring what his mother might think about why he wasn’t down there while Laura, the woman they believed to be his “girlfriend” was dining with them, or what sort of conclusions his mother might draw about him and Justine.

  Dark had long fallen when Laura padded her way down the hall. She bent down and lightly touched Mateo’s shoulder. “Come on,” she said. “Let her be. I made excuses for you at dinner, but since neither of you showed up, your parents are probably making assumptions.”

  Nodding, he allowed her to lead him down the hall and across the lodge to the family apartments. But once she’d gone back to her own room, he left again, this time going outside, where he shifted into a lion and slept beneath Justine’s window until dawn.

  *

  With the daylight came the reminder that he had a job to do—Justine had asked him to look into Gunser’s other clients. The problem was, he didn’t know how to begin. He shifted back to human and grabbed his phone from the pocket of his jeans. He scrolled through the various prides listed in his contacts, and started making calls.

  nine

  Justine woke to the sound of someone using the shower in her bathroom, and she groaned. Of all the rooms in this hall, the Coronas had to put Laura in the room that shared a bathroom with Justine’s? Cruel.

  Now Justine understood why Gloria had said she should give Rafe a chance, and why Gloria hadn’t said anything about Mateo. Because Mateo had a freaking girlfriend. A beautiful girlfriend. Justine had never felt self-conscious about her looks, not even in school. But now, suddenly, she looked at herself in the mirror and found everything lacking. Boring brown hair, thick scowling eyebrows, no sense of fashion.

  It was her mind playing tricks on her. She looked the same as she always had, and she was as fine with her appearance as she’d always been, and dammit she was not going to let some guy’s betrayal make her start doubting herself.

  “I love you,” she said to the mirror, like her Aunt Nan had taught her when she entered middle school. “I love you, I love you.”

  “And I love you, too,” Laura said, sticking her head of shining, dark brown hair into Justine’s room. Without knocking.

  Justine turned away from her. “I’m not really a morning person.”

  “Open your window and look down.”

  “What? Why?” But Justine did as she was told. Curiosity, cats, all that. “There’s nothing here.”

  “Are you a lion like me, or not? Use your sniffer.”

  She did, and inhaled the scent of Mateo. Well, that was fucking cruel, too. She didn’t need an olfactory reminder of how strong her feelings were for him.

  “Let me put it simply,” Laura said, coming the rest of the way into Justine’s room and wearing nothing but a towel, at that. Her pale green eyes were wide with earnestness. “He slept beneath your window last night. He’d never have done that for me. We had sex, yes, and before you rip off my face, I’ll tell you it was just for fun, about as meaningful as masturbating. We were always breaking up and getting back together again, and yeah, we were broken up when he left the valley resort. Technically, we haven’t really been a couple in months.”

  Justine blinked, trying to comprehend everything Laura said.

  “Look, I was being all clingy and girlfriend-y when I showed up because it irritates him when I do that. It always has, and I’ve always enjoyed pissing him off. But then I could see within five minutes of arriving that he felt something for you. Now I feel shitty for interfering like that. It wasn’t fair. He really likes you—I can tell—so maybe you should give him a chance.”

  Justine sighed. As angry as she was, she’d barely slept last night. She’d been mad at Mateo, and hungry from skipping dinner and hoping to avoid Mateo, and then she was mad because she was hungry.

  Beneath all that was a festering sense of regret—leaving here today would be the wrong move; she felt it in her gut.

  “I’ll talk to him,” she finally said.

  “Good.” Laura smiled. “He’s been making lots of phone calls. I wasn’t sure if he was calling in reinforcements to keep you here or what.”

  “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “No, he wouldn’t,” Laura agreed. “But I was wondering why all the calls. Do you know?”

  “Last time I talked to Barrett, something was off with the timeline.”

  Laura folded her arms across her chest and cocked her head. “Something was off?”

  “Yeah.” Justine explained everything. She didn’t actually have to tell Laura, but it felt good to run the ideas by someone else who was sympathetic to the Coronas. She ended with, “And the adoption guy gives me the creeps. So Mateo’s looking into it.”

  “The adoption guy, Al Gunser?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What do you need to know about him? My wolf friend in North Dakota, her wolf friends in Canada adopted
a shifter pup through him. That’s how I knew to recommend him to the Coronas. You want me to get in touch with her, and see if they’ll talk to you?”

  “Sure, couldn’t hurt,” Justine said. “Now get out of my bathroom so I can pee.”

  Laura laughed and went back to her room, leaving Justine alone to get ready and think about Mateo. Could she forgive him for not telling her about Laura? Was he even at fault? Both he and Laura said they hadn’t been a couple when Mateo and Justine had gotten together. Couldn’t Justine get over it?

  The problem was, she’d been so emotional at the news that Mateo had a girlfriend, it had surprised her and hurt like hell. These were strong feelings, and while she loved and felt affectionate with her family, what she felt for Mateo was far stronger, and that made it terrifying.

  ten

  Rafe knocked on Mateo’s bedroom door. “We’re going to Hart’s. Wanna come?”

  Mateo rolled over on his bed, hiding the sci-fi romance he’d been reading. He’d found it in Justine’s storage shelves in the attic, and hadn’t been able to resist taking it to his room.

  He should have resisted her storage shelves entirely, but it had been a few days since Laura had come and gone, and Justine was avoiding him. She seemed almost shy. Although she wasn’t snapping at him or ranting, her timidity was even worse. He’d frightened her, but he missed her. Hence the storage shelves. It was a way to get close to her without completely invading her privacy by going into her room and sniffing her pillow, like he really wanted to do.

  Rafe’s eyes narrowed. “What are you hiding?”

  “Nothing.” Dammit, he shouldn’t have lied. Now he was screwed.

  Gleefully, Rafe ran into the room and jumped on Mateo, using all his weight to work on shoving him off the bed. Mateo pushed back, but Rafe had momentum, and Mateo went over the side. Yelling in victory, Rafe snatched the book.

  “Interstellar Love Connection?” he said, incredulous. “Oh, this is fucking precious.”

  “Dude, don’t. I shouldn’t even be reading it. It’s not mine.”

  “Then I guess you have a good reason to come out with us tonight—blackmail. Come on, Dristan and Fraze are coming, and Laura might meet us out there, too.”

  Laura had gone back to the Corona Valley Lodge, telling Mateo that she’d talked to Justine and expected her to come around soon, but to give her a little space.

  Mateo wasn’t good at giving space. Which was why he was in the middle of Interstellar Love Connection.

  Mateo reached for the book. “Dristan and Frasier irritate me.”

  “Only because you have a self-righteous stick up your ass,” Rafe said, keeping the book out of reach. “Justine’s coming, too.”

  Mateo had to hold his body rigid so he wouldn’t scramble off the floor and rush downstairs, but Rafe laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re still trying to take my girl.”

  “She said she’s not your girl. I asked her.”

  Rafe swore. “Then I guess it’s on, asshole. May the best man win.”

  Mateo had a feeling that who was “best” had been the issue keeping him and his brother apart for so long. Mateo had been older and stronger as they grew up. Now Rafe was fully grown and they were more evenly matched, but Mateo guessed it would take time for Rafe to get over his old feelings of inadequacy. The new situation with Justine, he worried, would make things even harder on Rafe.

  He didn’t have the heart to tell his brother that he’d already made a connection with Justine. Maybe their connection wasn’t interstellar, but it was fucking magical. “May the luckiest man win.”

  Rafe gave him a look, but two loud voices echoed up the staircase. “We’re here, sweethearts!” Frasier shouted.

  “The night isn’t getting any younger, so stop dithering over your outfits,” Dristan added with a cackle.

  Mateo rolled his eyes.

  Barrett met him and Rafe at the stairs. “Can I come?”

  “Sorry, bro,” Rafe said. “Adults only.”

  Barrett looked disappointed, so Mateo said, “Hey, there’s a trout-fishing stream at the back of our territory. You can’t come with us tonight, but maybe we could go fishing tomorrow afternoon.”

  “All three of us?” Barrett asked, looking between Mateo and Rafe.

  Mateo looked at Rafe, not sure if he’d agree to spend even more time with Mateo.

  After a pause, Rafe said, “Yeah, sure.”

  “Okay,” Barrett said. “That’d be good.”

  Justine stepped down the stairs, stopping next to them, and all thoughts of trout fishing flew from Mateo’s brain. She looked hot in her skinny jeans and a black sweater. Her hair was up in a messy bun. Mateo had only seen her in baggy jeans and the resort sweatshirt, and he really liked the dressed-up version of Justine.

  Too bad he was as far away from her as possible in the back of Rafe’s SUV—she’d somehow finagled a window seat, and Dristan sat between them. Mateo was quiet on the drive to Hart’s, thinking only of Justine and how he was going to orchestrate their seating so he could be next to her.

  “You’re awful quiet back there, Mateo,” Rafe said. “Been thinking about your book?”

  “No.” That asshole. If he said the title, Mateo would kill him.

  “Maybe you’re bored. Here, I brought you something to read.” Rafe flicked the paperback over the seat, and it landed on Dristan’s lap.

  “Oops, bad aim,” Rafe said, laughing.

  Dristan picked it up, and his handsome face went slack with surprise. “Interstellar Love Connection? This is what you’re reading?”

  “Shut up,” Mateo said. “It’s a…friend’s.”

  The guys howled with laughter, but Justine gave Mateo a curious look. His face felt hot—not because those dipshits were mocking him, but because Justine knew, now, that he’d looked at her stuff.

  Dristan flipped the book over to read from the back. “Joona Carpence left her planet years ago, choosing hyperspace over the safe love connection she’d had with her childhood sweetheart, Dirk Magnage. When alien lords from Vim vaporized her planet, she thought all was lost. Now Dirk is back—or at least, a man claiming to be Dirk is back—begging for quarter on her spaceship and making new promises all over again. Joona’s in danger of losing her heart to his mysterious and manly charms…Seriously? You’re reading this shit?”

  “Hey, watch it,” Mateo said. This was Justine’s, and he wouldn’t let them insult her reading choices. “It’s not shit. It’s actually okay.”

  Still, he’d never admit in a million years that he was dying to know if the guy claiming to be Dirk was really Joona’s childhood sweetheart.

  Justine caught his eye again. He could tell she was trying not to laugh.

  They reached Hart’s, an old farmhouse that had been turned into a bar. Mateo jumped out of the car and ran to get Justine’s door, but Rafe beat him to it. Fucker.

  All three of the guys were being especially solicitous of her. While he liked the idea of his mate being treated like a princess, he wanted to be the one doing the pampering.

  They found Laura, who’d arrived before them, and joined her at a table where they could watch a group of locals playing pool nearby. He looked on as Justine greeted Laura with genuine warmth in her voice.

  Soon, everyone else was playing a drinking game called “drink every time a human woman checks out Dristan” and Mateo was bored.

  “Why don’t you guys play pool or something?” he suggested. “The table’s free.”

  Rafe, Fraze, Laura, and Dristan played in pairs, and he watched Laura get cozy with Dristan. Good for her, he thought.

  Justine stayed at the table with Mateo. She downed her whiskey as she watched the others play. A drop of whiskey clung to her lip, and he was overcome with the desire to lick it off.

  “Another?” Mateo asked.

  She nodded.

  When he came back, whiskeys for each of them, she offered him a small smile. “I think we need to talk,” she said, “and I think I’ll
need this to do it.”

  He flagged down the server and motioned that they’d like two more. “Just in case,” he told Justine with a grin. “Now that I have the hope of getting you to talk to me, I never want you to stop.”

  She took a drink, and pointed to a woman across the room. “She just looked at Dristan.”

  Mateo rolled his eyes. “Everyone looks at Dristan. Look at him—blond, a little scruffy. He should be in the movies or something. Funny he’s Frasier’s brother, since Fraze has a face that might be passable for radio.”

  She laughed. “He’s not that bad-looking.”

  “High praise,” Frasier said, coming up behind her. Without warning, he planted a big, smacking kiss on her cheek.

  Justine squealed and batted him away, giggling.

  Frasier winked. “There’s more where that came from, sweetheart.”

  Justine winked back and held her hand up in a fist. “Not if you value your lips, sweetheart.”

  After Frasier sauntered away, laughing, Mateo gave Justine a look. “How come he gets to kiss you, but I don’t?”

  “That’s why we should talk, I guess.” She took another gulp of her drink.

  “I can’t say how sorry I am about Laura showing up like that. If I could go back in time, I would have warned you, or talked to her first, but—”

  “But we’d only just done…what we’d done,” Justine finished. “It’s not like we had a long heart-to-heart about our past relationships or our hopes for the future.”

  He couldn’t look away from her. She looked so beautiful, like a jewel he’d unexpectedly found, and her brilliance was mesmerizing. “If you don’t blame me, why won’t you talk to me anymore?”

  “You wanted to send me away.”

  “What? Maybe I did at first, but Justine, my feelings changed almost immediately.”

  She shook her head. “Well, maybe that was all right and I could have easily gotten over it, before everything with Laura showing up. Once she did, though, I realized…I realized how much I care for you.”

  “I guess I don’t see the problem.” Of course he couldn’t see the problem—all he could see was Justine, and how close they sat at the little table.