After over an hour, we reach the most northern tip of the property. I send a text to Matt, who confirms there has been no activity, then I send a text to Ciaran, letting him know we made it. I hop off and get to work, having Lux drive every few yards to where we need a sensor then a camera. I follow the diagram Kai had mapped out and I memorized. The air grows stickier while I work and soon sweat beads on my temples. Lux is holding her own, but I can see that she’s just as uncomfortable.
“Next time you have Kai on the wakeboard, you should show him no mercy. Just dump him right into the water,” she quips, a small smile tugging at her lips. Our gazes lock and I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my mouth. My own thoughts are on the darker side and include knives and pulling his skin back, but her idea could be just as entertaining.
“We’re almost a mile from the cliffs where we started,” I tell her, hoping I sound reassuring. It’s been two hours already and we, for sure, have two more before we can head back.
“Then we still have the whole southern half to do, right?” Her head tilts, her long black braid swinging over her shoulder.
I give her a small nod, my jaw tight. This project is really going to take all day. We both fall silent again while I work, trying to up my pace while also checking in with Matt and Reed about each camera. So far everything works and that’s the only thing keeping me going. Once we reach the dirt road, the sky chooses that moment to open up, a crack of thunder splitting the silence, and rain falling in sheets. Lux lets out a small scream, and I gun the gas down, racing us up the hill.
My truck is the last one there when we reach the turnaround. Lux hops off and I throw her my truck keys, while I move the four-wheeler over under some trees and slide the cover on. My clothes are soaked by the time I get into the cab of my truck. Lux cranks up the heat, but goosebumps are already dotting her skin too.
“This would happen,” I practically growl, my eyes narrowed. Again, my brain thinks of all the creative ways to get back at Kai.
“At least we made it back to the truck before it started,” Lux throws in, her hands rubbing up and down her arms.
Without thinking, I grab my sweatshirt from the back and toss it into her lap. She doesn’t even hesitate to put it on. I fix my eyes out the window, instead of on her. There are weird little flips happening in my stomach just from seeing her wear my clothes. My sweatshirt looks good on her and I don’t hate knowing it will smell like coconuts later.
“Do you think it will last long?” she asks, motioning toward the windshield.
I shrug. “Hopefully not. There wasn’t rain in the forecast but they lie.”
A beat of silence flows between us, before she sits up straight and crosses her legs. “Let’s play a game.”
My brow lifts. “Like what?”
“Do you have your phone?”
I nod and slide it out from the back of my jeans. I clear the message from Matt before holding it in the space between us.
“Okay so, we each take a turn giving an example or a scenario, then we each have to pick a song that best fits it. Whoever has the better song wins.” Her eyes light up with excitement while she explains the rules.
As much as I hate games and sharing my choice of music, it’s almost hard to deny her this. I can tell this is a part of her old life. A life when she was Lux Anderson before all the bad shit. I can almost picture her sitting in a bedroom or a classroom with some friends, playing this game. My fingers deftly pull up my Spotify account and I hand the phone to her. “Go first.”
We take turns back and forth like that, the rain pattering around us, until I forget the time and the job I should be doing. Some of the scenarios Lux comes up with are ridiculous and some are actually good. My choice of song that I would listen to while shooting guns at the range wins me a point, and Lux is even impressed by my choice.
“I can see ‘Price on My Head’ working.” She rolls her eyes, hating to admit defeat. We’re tied in points now.
“Okay, last one,” I tell her, “Ciaran is on his way back up here with his truck to pick you up.”
“I’m not helping you finish?” Lux quirks her brow at me, almost looking offended, like I’m trying to get rid of her.
I shake my head. “The rain isn’t going to stop and I need to get to the southern tip. I’ll work faster if I’m not worried about keeping us both out of the rain.”
Her mouth turns down, and her eyes drop from mine. “Okay.”
“So last category.” I tap the phone in her hand.
“Best song to make love to,” she automatically responds.
My brain short circuits for a second, refusing to imagine Lux naked while at the same time wanting to imagine any part of her golden skin bared to me. I shut everything down, hoping I can play this off without scaring her. I smirk. “Easy.” Grabbing the phone, I put on Maejor’s “Lights Down Low.”
“Seriously?” Lux laughs and I relax. No, it isn’t something I’d probably choose, but it’s at least a song I knew would defuse the tension in the air around us. I shrug in response and she shakes her head. “You are so uncreative.”
“What’s your song then?” I pretend to be offended and hand her back the phone. I don’t want to know. Honestly, I can’t even think about it. I tilt my head back against the glass and close my eyes. Breathing in and out, counting to ten.
Within seconds, Def Leppard’s “Love Bites” fills the air. I sit up and find her already watching me. “Love Bites?”
Her shoulder lifts. “It’s a classic. Plus, it’s the most accurate song about love I know.”
My chest squeezes in response to her words; they’re an echo of my own thoughts, something I keep buried deep and force myself not to think about. After years of feeling unloved, unworthy, and abandoned, there is suddenly someone across from me whose eyes tell me she knows the same pain I’m feeling. Lux’s green eyes don’t look at me with sadness or pity though. Those green orbs hold a challenge, a dare to step up instead of run away from those feelings. And for the first time, I don’t want to run. There is just one thing I have to know first.
“Why were you avoiding me?”
Her cheeks tinge pink and she looks down to her lap, “I wasn’t avoiding you.”
I raise my brow, challenging her, and she scoffs, “Fine. Maybe a little. I’m just not used to sleeping with anyone. Even now in the room with Oaklynn and Saylor, I get nervous. I have dreams about what happened. But I didn’t with you.”
“You were also exhausted,” I remind her, while trying to ignore the way my heart is beating faster in my chest.
“Yeah,” she says, her eyes finally coming back to mine. “I think it also helped that it was you. I felt safe. And I didn’t want to leave.” Heat curls in my stomach and flows inside my veins, fast as lightning and just as deadly. She didn’t want to leave me. Lux’s eyes widen, as if she can sense the change in the air, the electric crackle that happens between us. Her eyes drag over my face before dropping down to my lips. I don’t know who moves first and I don’t care. I can’t stop my brain from thinking past the need I have to connect with Lux, to feel her skin against mine.
My hand slides into her hair as she moves to her knees, her hands landing on my shoulders, and our lips meet. She tastes like coconut and sunshine, and it melts on my tongue, while her body rests against me. I can’t let her go. Even though she’s a target and should be off-limits, even though I swore we would only be friends, my hands refuse not to touch her. A small gasp leaves her lips, before her arms tighten around me, her own hands gripping my shirt, letting me know she’s just as lost as I am. We block out the rain, the noise of our lives and breathe each other in. My hands glide down her sides and rest on the exposed skin from where her shirt has ridden up. I pull her further onto my lap, her legs falling to either side of my waist.
I’m so lost, so far gone in this new feeling that I don’t hear the crunching of rocks under tires. Lux pulls back first, biting her lip, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. “
Someone is here.” It takes my brain a full two seconds to look around and realize what she is actually saying.
I twist to look out the back window, and sure enough, Ciaran’s black truck is sitting there waiting. My head falls back right as he honks the horn. Lux laughs and I raise my hand up to flick him the middle finger. Lux laughs again and I scrub my hands down my face while she slides from my lap and back to her own seat. She opens the door and steps out, and I swallow, mentally telling my body to calm the hell down and fighting against the tightness of the erection I’m now sporting.
“It stopped raining at least,” she calls, before bounding over to Ciaran’s truck. I catch sight of Saylor helping her in, when I’m finally able to get out without embarrassing myself.
They take off before I make it to the four-wheeler, breathing heavy and trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Good thing I have the next four hours to figure my shit out. My head is a mess and so is my past. Lux doesn’t deserve to be brought into the mess of my life but now that I’ve tasted her, felt her, I’m not sure I can let her go either.
Silas
I should care more about the emergency meeting Matt and my dad pulled us in for, but I can’t keep my mind off of what happened with Lux. The whole scene in my truck replays in my mind over and over. I can still taste her. Feel the heat of her skin and hear the soft noises she made with her body pressed against mine. It’s been three days and I haven’t had a moment alone with her, not without trying. The girls suddenly had nail appointments that Mrs. Saffran took them to one day and then they had a day with Mila on the pontoon that Oliver borrowed from his Robin Lake friends. If Ciaran and I had been around, we would have put a stop to it, but dead bodies and the constant threat over our heads are making things difficult.
After I placed all the sensors and cameras, each day has been a waiting game. We take turns monitoring everything, and when we aren’t doing that, we’re waiting on word from Randy in Savage Lakes. Everything has been surprisingly quiet, but it’s only a matter of time. A storm is coming our way. We’ve been warned. That should be what it takes for my mind to stop its constant loop of Lux. It should be enough to temper the rolling in my gut, making me want to seek her out just to catch a glimpse of her, whenever I can. The feeling almost gives me a headache, my body feeling pulled in two different directions.
Why I am caring so much is another issue. My gaze lingers briefly on Ciaran. I wonder if this turmoil is what he experienced with Saylor. The not knowing and the wanting to crack your head against the wall because you feel like a teenage girl with her first crush.
I’m thankful, for once, when Matt finally turns the screen on and we’re graced with Erika’s grim expression. I hesitate before reading too much into things, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen the woman genuinely smile.
“Thanks for pulling together so quickly,” she says, her eyes tracking everyone in the room.
“Of course,” Matt answers, his voice slightly gruff, while he rubs a hand down the back of his neck.
Erika blows out a breath on the screen, her usual cool demeanor melting away. I blink.
“The defector’s home was secured and shut down. Julie and Craig were apparently approached by a third party with misleading information about another target we had taken on, who supposedly had connections to Julie’s father’s death during a deployment fifteen years ago. That was all the information we got before the file destructed on itself. No names or other information on the deployment is known. But this appears to be the reason they turned on Rogue.”
“Fuck’s sake,” my dad mutters from across the room, his head lowered.
“I couldn’t agree more Jason.” Erika laughs bitterly. “Not only are our people defecting, but they are being fed information, wrong information, but still knowledge only a Rogue member would know.”
“So we cut it off at the head,” Matt suggests, and Erika focuses on him.
“It’s the only option we have right now,” Erika agrees, even though her face says differently.
“There are 15,622 Rogue employees just in the Midwest alone,” I tell them, reminding everyone our numbers are larger than they appear. It’s not as simple as sending a company email. A home visit to each site alone could take weeks, and again, that’s just in the Midwest. Part of my dad and Matt’s legacy is that they’ve taken this company and grown it to the size it is, doubling our efforts of protecting victims, survivors, and other potential people who need us.
“We’ll cover them all,” Matt answers and Erika nods her head. My jaw clamps shut. I know it’s what needs to happen, but it’s a daunting task for whoever takes it on.
“So is this third party related then to the DeMucci or Connelly families? Is this because of Calvin?” Ciaran asks the million dollar question.
All five of us are now glued to Erika, waiting on her response.
“Calvin has been accepted in as long as he helps produce the next heir. As his heir is supposedly dead, he has been tasked with finding the next one.” Her eyes move to my dad. “Kelly is alive. She’s being held by the DeMuccis, who are trying to use her to find their heir who was hidden by Rogue. Calvin thinks he can reach her, but he also knows she has to give them something soon or they’ll kill her.”
The air in the room stills, my dad’s facial expressions changes from one of hopelessness to a deadliness I’ve never seen.
“Jase,” Matt calls his name twice before my dad’s gaze swings to him. My body coils, ready to hold him back if needed.
“We don’t have enough information yet.”
“You heard her, Matt. Kell is a sitting duck in Calvin’s pond of fuck-ups. They won’t hesitate to kill her and you know she won’t turn on Rogue.” My dad’s voice is void of emotion, his body vibrating with pent-up anger.
“I’m working Calvin in there as fast as I can,” Erika replies quietly.
Next to me, Ciaran runs his hands through his hair, his head hanging down. Saylor. Mila. The girls have no idea about the kind of danger their mother is in or that she really could die this time. One wrong move, or an extremely weak one, and this could blow up in our faces. Everything is riding on Calvin and his track record, which isn’t exactly stellar.
“So just to be clear, once and for all,” Kai cuts in, clearing his throat, “we do not suspect that the third party reaching out to Rogue is directly related to Calvin.”
Erika nods her head.
“And the random person, or people, who are taking the defectors out are what? Vigilantes? Serial killers?”
“We’re still looking into it,” Erika replies, her eyes narrowing. “One thing is for sure is that Craig’s murder is directly related to the previous ones in Savage Lakes. Our M.E. confirmed this.”
“Well, at least something worked itself out,” Kai murmurs.
“If you call that working out. We still have no idea who’s behind it,” I remind him.
“Just had to ruin the moment for me didn’t you, Montgomery.” Kai whistles under his breath and falls back in his seat.
“Anything else for us, Erika?” Matt asks, his face turning to face her.
She shakes her head. “I’ll be in touch.”
The screen goes black, and everyone goes silent, soaking in everything we just heard. An hour ago, my biggest worry was wondering if I could go back to being just friends with Lux. Not that I’m sure what that even looks like. Now I’m reminded why never starting a relationship with a target inside Rogue is a good thing. Someone out there wants to end Rogue and two crime families are searching for their hidden heirs to continue running their empires. And Calvin is continuing to breathe, providing breadcrumbs of information for Erika to bring to us.
Just another day in Rogue. And it’s exactly the wakeup call I need to get my head on straight. Kissing Lux was all the taste of feelings I can afford right now. No matter how much I’m craving to feel her against me, for my fingers to twist into her thick, dark hair again, this isn’t the time. Lives are in danger.
The only way we might survive this is if I can lock this down now and place all my thoughts from earlier back in the friend zone. I refuse to be the reason Rogue continues to be in danger, and if I take my mind off the big picture right now, I could miss something that could cost us dearly.
Lux
It was just a kiss. It’s not like I haven’t been kissed before. This should not be a big deal. It was just a kiss with Silas Montgomery. Just like that, my chest squeezes and my lips pull into a stupid grin. Days later and that last thought is all it takes to make my heart race and my hands feel clammy. It was a kiss, an amazing, lightning across the sky, reawakening, never felt like that before kiss, and it matters because it was Silas. So much for bright ideas and calling a friendly truce. I’ve now made out with and had my hands all over the one guy who has actually been a friend to me.
I want to talk to him. Maybe I should apologize? My fingertips run across my lips again, it’s not like it was just me, though. I definitely didn’t imagine the way he responded or the way he was just as reluctant to let me go as I was to leave. If I hadn’t known that he was in a time crunch to get the cameras and sensors up and how important it was to Rogue, I would have made any excuse to stay. He’s going to hate me. They all will if they find out what I’ve been doing and what I’ve done.
Thinking about the dead body and the logistics, I don’t believe Nash is involved. There is no way he could be. If he was or had the ability to be here in Minnesota then he wouldn’t have needed me to give him information on Saylor. And that is all it has been, just as he promised. I tell him what she ate for dinner and he responds right away. I miss a few days and he hounds me like he’s lovesick, which means he isn’t here or even close by. Not that this makes me feel less guilty. If anything, it won’t be Silas’ lips that cause my death, but the constant shame I feel lying to everyone. I don’t deserve to be happy and I definitely don’t deserve anything good that Silas could give me.
#SummerGirl Page 9