Jack of Hart- Wild Card

by Violeta Bagia

  ‘You’re up.’ He said with a smile.

  ‘I am. Where are we?’

  ‘My place.’

  My eyes darted around again.

  ‘Not the apartment you came to.’ He clarified, ‘This is my house, just on the outskirts of DC.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Illarion brought some stuff for you.’ He said.

  So, Illarion was here. And then he left. My heart sunk.

  ‘They’re back at the bureau now?’

  ‘Yeah. He and Matt had to do some damage control. Aurel left a few hours ago too.’

  He was staring ahead, completely avoiding my face at all costs. Great.

  ‘What got out?’ I asked keeping the conversation neutral.

  ‘Well you know people love social media, a lot of it was pulled down by tech, some by me, but some pictures got out.’

  ‘Why am I important enough for people to care?’

  ‘Because you’re an FBI agent. The public love a scandal.’

  ‘Oh great, what are the rumors this time?’

  His brows raised in curiosity.

  ‘Last time there was a scandal I was in hospital for plastic surgery.’

  He shrugged, sitting on the bed beside me. ‘Well this time you partied a bit too hard and your former boss had to take you to the hospital. So, people are questioning the salaries of these Directors since Illarion drives a freaking Maserati.’

  ‘God.’ I was so sick of being watched. ‘People are shit.’

  ‘That, they are.’ He held out his hand, helping me up into a seated position. ‘How are you feeling by the way?’

  ‘Fine.’ I shrugged. But that punched in the gut feeling wasn’t going away. The physical injuries would heal, my heart had other ideas. ‘Super healing gene is really handy.’

  ‘Some injuries didn’t heal though.’ His eyes flicked up to my face.

  ‘No.’ I said. ‘Serum messes with our genetics.’

  ‘I never knew.’ His voice quietened.

  ‘Yeah. Neither did I.’ I forced a tight smile. ‘But I’ve got this nice little scar to remind me.’

  He gingerly traced his finger across the line, pulling his hand back almost immediately.

  ‘I’m sorry, Ace.’

  ‘It’s nothing, hardly the worst thing I’ve endured.’

  ‘That’s not what I’m talking about.’

  There was a pause. I think after all this time, finally being here, reunited, alive, it was impossible to say all that needed to be said. His gaze dropped and as much as I wanted to pretend that we didn’t have anything to talk about, that heavy, third presence in the room said otherwise. God, I needed to get a better grip on my emotions.

  ‘I’ve heard about some of the things, through sources.’

  ‘What things?’ I asked keeping my eyes dead ahead.

  ‘About Dalca.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s a little different hearing it in person, isn’t it?’

  Knowing that there was a whole group of Sensitives out there who knew some of the most intimate details of my life, was scary and the feeling of vulnerability it brought with it, would never go away, no matter how much time passed or how much I healed.

  ‘You have to believe me, Ace, I didn’t know.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter now, it happened, it’s done.’

  ‘It does matter, it matters to me.’

  ‘What do you want me to say?’

  ‘Nothing,’ he looked down, ‘But if I had known, I—’

  ‘You what? You would have disobeyed orders? To save one little girl from some pain and risk the whole world?’

  He closed his mouth and looked away from me.

  ‘Do me a favor, Alex. Please let this go.’

  ‘Okay, if that’s what you want.’

  ‘It is.’

  He nodded and got up.

  ‘By the way, this is the stuff Illarion brought, the said there was a change of clothes.’

  ‘Thanks. Speaking of clothes, who dressed me?’

  Alex looked down at the bright pink and grey hoodie I was now wearing. ‘Not me, don’t get too excited. Illarion did, they’re my sister’s clothes.’

  ‘She’s here?’

  ‘She was, she went back to her place to feed the cat.’

  ‘Huh.’ I smiled. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen her.’

  ‘She’s still the same, maybe more annoying.’

  ‘I bet, she tells you off now, doesn’t she? That’s why she’s annoying.’ I raised my brow with half a smile.

  ‘Yeah, yeah.’ He groaned. ‘Hungry?’

  ‘Yes.’ My stomach groaned on cue. ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘Good. I ordered pizza, should be here in a few minutes.’

  ‘Peperoni?’

  ‘You know it.’

  A smirk spread across my face, Alex was far from redeeming himself in my books, but this was a good start.

  ‘Extra cheese too.’ He added.

  That earned him a few more points.

  ‘I’ll let you get changed, there’s a shower in there.’ He pointed to the adjoining door. ‘I’ll be just outside, yell out if you need anything.’

  ‘Thanks.’ I raised a brow. ‘But I’m sure I’m safe in there.’

  ‘Well unless you don’t count the deadly towel hook, you should be fine.’

  ‘Had a few run ins, have you?’

  ‘Just a few.’ He grimaced.

  Laughing, I took the bag he left on the edge of the bed and thanked him again.

  Minutes went past after Alex disappeared through the door, before I picked myself up and rummaged through the bag picking out a dark green t-shirt and black jeans. And then, when I looked in a smaller, separate bag I blushed and then laughed when I saw that Illarion had packed emerald green, lacey underwear and a matching bra.

  Of course he’d picked this out without any regard for comfort or practicality, that and the fact that the top drawer was the one where I didn’t keep the lame push up bras.

  Shaking my head with a smirk, I took my clothes into the bathroom and set them down on the counter, carefully avoiding the infamous clothes hook.

  ***

  Ace

  Pulling my hair up into a half up, half down style, I pulled a few strands out, smoothing them around my face.

  When I was done with the makeup to cover the bruises from the day before, I stuffed my other clothes into the bag and set it back at the foot of the bed.

  Alex’s hushed voice carried through the room and while I contemplated standing back to listen, I quickly shot the idea down and walked into the room instead.

  His eyes traveled over me and a second later, he returned to his conversation telling the person on the other line that he would have to call them back.

  ‘Sorry about that.’

  ‘No problem. Pizza?’

  ‘It’s here.’

  ‘Want me to go out and grab it?’

  ‘It’s okay, I’ve got it. Drinks are in the fridge.’

  As soon as he left for the door, I made a beeline for the fridge. There were a couple of cans of Coke, some beer and OJ. Taking the cans, I took them with me and looked around, letting my eyes wander over the room.

  Just like the room I’d woken in, there was very minimal décor and very minimal furniture. Only the bare essentials, just like we’d been programmed to live out in the field.

  Tearing my eyes away, I moved to the dining room. The table was square, seating four people with four basic black chairs matching the black tabletop, and in the center there sat a large candle in a black holder. The beautiful vanilla and coconut fragrance filled the small space around it and brought a sense of comfort.

  Funny, Alex didn’t strike me as the candle type. I set the drinks down and turned to the door when he walked back in.

  ‘Soda? Really?’ He asked, placing the pizza down in front of me.

  ‘Vanilla? Really?’ I nodded at the candle.

  He smirked, busying himself with the pizza box. ‘Reminded me of
someone, from my past.’

  Clearing my throat, I looked down.

  ‘What did you have in mind?’ I asked, holding up the can of Coke.

  ‘Beer.’

  ‘Of course you did.’ I chuckled. ‘I’ll grab you one.’

  ‘No, it’s fine.’ He smiled, taking a slice. ‘Soda’s fine.’

  For a few minutes we settled into a comfortable silence, eating and drinking until the distracted, distant look in his eyes got to me. I cleared my throat, placed my slice back in my plate and looked up at him.

  ‘I can’t help but think that you’re keeping me here.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’ He kept eating, stopping only to wash the food down with some Coke.

  ‘Illarion and Aurel are gone with my partner while I’m holed up with you eating pizza and drinking Coke.’

  ‘Don’t make it sound so depressing.’

  ‘Look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate you doing this for me, but I’d like to know why I’m being kept hidden.’ I took another bite.

  He stopped for a moment, his eyes studying me before he dropped the slice in the box.

  ‘You’re not being hidden, just safe. For now. We don’t know if they’re planning anything yet, we haven’t had any solid intel and Illarion and I both agreed that the priority is still keeping you safe.’

  ‘So you agreed without consulting me, who by the way, this whole thing is about.’

  ‘Exactly why you’re here and not out there.’

  When I opened my mouth to argue, he held his hand out.

  ‘I know you hate this, Ace.’ He said, his eyes centered on me. ‘But we don’t have any other options at this point. You’re the jackpot, you know it as well as they do. It’s too much of a risk.’

  ‘So that’s it.’ I muttered, losing my appetite. ‘I’m a liability, so I’m on the bench now.’

  ‘You’re not a liability.’ He shot. ‘And you’re not on the bench. You’re our strongest asset. But right now, you’re also a target. And we don’t know what they have, for all we know, they could have an airborne virus to take you out, or another gas attack. We’re blind here, we have to play this smart.’

  ‘I can fight.’

  ‘Yes, you can. But if they get you again, like they did yesterday, what then?’

  ‘It won’t happen again.’

  ‘How do you know?’ His voice was getting louder. ‘Because the way I see it, you have no control. You don’t know what’s coming, if you did, this would be a different conversation.’

  I shut my mouth, my heart thundered against my ribs, my cheeks flushing with anger and humiliation, but he was right.

  ‘Fuck,’ he shot off, rubbing his hand across his five o’clock shadow. ‘I’m sorry—'

  ‘What does this mean for me?’ I changed the subject.

  ‘It means you sit tight; we’ll work on what we can from here and when we know more, we move.’

  Again, I hated what he was telling me and I couldn’t stop the frown that exploded across my face. But damn it, I couldn’t for the sake of everyone involved, go off half-assed and ill prepared. A lot more than my ego and my butt were on the line.

  ‘Matt and Illarion spoke to Peyton. She’s in.’

  That was a relief.

  A moment of silence settled between us and Alex let out another sigh.

  ‘Ace, I don’t like this shit either. You know I would follow you into anything, like old times.’

  ‘But not this time.’ I forced a tight smile.

  ‘No. Not this time.’ He agreed. ‘This time it’s bigger than me and you. I’m sorry.’

  Yeah, yeah so was I.

  The rest of the pizza was devoured by Alex while I couldn’t even manage to look at it without feeling sick.

  I watched with morbid fascination, how he managed to stomach an entire feast while we were facing down the literal end of our kind, was beyond me. I couldn’t even wrap my head around the impending disaster let alone, process it.

  A few hours later, the front door opened and Illarion walked in with Matt and Aurel—whatever they were talking about was cast to the side like an afterthought when Illarion’s eyes found mine.

  Almost like he was searching my face for answers, he took a long moment before he turned away making the nerves inside me fire like Fourth of July fireworks and Illarion caught the show right away, casting me a quick look.

  I’d forgotten how much we shared without saying a word and truth be told I’d forgotten how hard it was at times.

  ‘What did you get from Belfort?’ Alex asked, leaning on the counter. ‘Did he bite?’

  Illarion looked away from me for a moment occupying himself with a set of notes he’d written. ‘He didn’t know much, I probed but I’m certain I got all I could.’

  ‘Did you see any compulsion?’ Alex directed the question at Aurel.

  This was frustrating, I could have gone in and done all of this and it would have taken me one glance.

  Illarion cast me a quick look from which I turned, keeping my eyes down.

  ‘No.’ Aurel said firmly. ‘I’m starting to think only people higher up the food chain would be privy to that info.’

  ‘So, people we don’t have access to.’

  Their eyes snapped to me.

  ‘Ace—’

  ‘Don’t.’ I shook my head, directing my next words at Illarion. ‘Take me home. Please.’

  ‘Okay.’ He agreed keeping his eyes on me and before he could say anything else, Alex stopped him.

  ‘It’s safer here, in numbers, you know that.’

  ‘I’ll keep her safe.’

  ‘Like you did last time?’

  If anyone could have moved faster than Illarion did in that moment, I wouldn’t have believed it. Before Alex took another breath, Illarion had pinned him to the wall, his face mere inches away.

  ‘Say another word, please.’ He warned.

  Alex swiftly drew his arms up, pushing Illarion off him.

  Both men stood dangerously close and the testosterone was the only thing close to the Sensitive power running through the small space around us.

  Aurel rushed to Illarion’s side, firmly grasping his shoulders and easing him away from Alex. ‘Come on, Brother.’

  For a moment, neither of them moved and I was holding my breath, hoping that nothing else would happen.

  After the longest time, Illarion’s arms grew lax and he stepped back.

  A shaky breath rattled my lungs before I expelled a low groan. Within a heartbeat, Illarion’s hand was on the small of my back, leading me to the door. Matt met us there, handing me the small bag Illarion had brought earlier.

  Sweet baby Jesus. That was far more excitement than I needed today.

  ‘We’ll see you soon.’ Matt said quietly, ‘Get some rest.’

  Illarion nodded but he was rigid, his body boiling and tense, every step was silent, I slipped my fingers through his, and tightened my hold on his hand.

  He didn’t look at me, not even when we reached his car and he pulled the door open. He even managed to drive all the way to my apartment, ride the elevator and follow me inside without a word.

  When I closed the door, about to tell him that Alex was just being a dick, Illarion dropped to his knees at my feet, pressing his head against my stomach.

  His arms were a steel band around my waist and the unmistakable short breaths of someone who was losing it, resonated through the room breaking me in two.

  ‘Ila.’ I whispered, pulling back, trying to coax his face up. ‘Look at me.’

  Every muscle was tightly wound, and he didn’t budge, so I did the only thing I knew always worked.

  I knelt, gently cupping his cheek, tenderly bringing his lips to mine and I kissed him.

  Slowly, deeply, with every intention of showing him how much I loved him, how much he meant to me, I poured my entire being into the kiss.

  As we parted, I felt his body loosen up and the tension filling his veins was promptly replaced with fire.<
br />
  His dark eyes found mine and the hope in them that was little more than a glimmer, now shone through the pain.

  ‘I love you, Illarion.’ I whispered. ‘Always.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ace

  Illarion’s eyes drank me in, every movement I made was watched in careful anticipation. Starting with my sweater, I slowly pulled it off, letting his hands coast across my skin. Leaning in for another hungry kiss, I melted into his touch embracing the warmth of his hands slipping to my lower back, trailing gentle lines over my body.

  Holding in a sharp breath, I twisted my fingers through his hair pulling his face back to mine.

  In one, fluid motion he stood, bringing me with him.

  He didn’t say a word as he gently undressed me or when he quickly freed himself from his clothes and led me to my bedroom.

  It was incredible how natural everything still felt, almost like the last eleven months didn’t happen, like I haven’t been alone and afraid to be near anyone else.

  But Illarion wasn’t just anyone, and this moment in time, linking our lives together again, really drove that home.

  We broke apart while we crept under the covers and in no time, we were right back where we started. I tilted my head back, giving him the access he desired and he wasted no time dipping his lips to my pulse.

  He pressed feather light kisses along my neck, traveling up across my jaw and cheeks, while his hands roamed across my stomach, coasting across my breasts and eventually his lips joined in.

  As I rolled my body against his, a sharp and sudden burst of emotion flared inside me, my eyes shot open darting around; a shadow, something, someone moving off to my side forced a broken cry from my lips. I jerked back and Illarion stilled immediately, his wide eyes searching mine and then looking over to where I was. When he obviously saw nothing, because there was nothing, my eyes watered.

  I was losing my mind.

  ‘It’s okay.’ He whispered against my lips, easing my hand into his. ‘Look at me, only me.’

  When he tried to pull back, I pulled him down.

  ‘Don’t stop,’ I pleaded, ‘Stay.’

  Ignoring the well of tears, and the nagging feeling of dread he nodded and pressed his lips to mine. Short breaths caught on my lips when his other hand slipped between my legs, tenderly pushing them apart and when his fingers slipped inside me, his dark eyes took on a hooded quality and looked down into mine.