He scowled and shook his head. “No, it was in Virginia last summer. My friend Todd and I were trying to help his cousin escape an abusive situation. Unfortunately, her husband started shooting.” If Jason thought too hard about it, he could still smell the blood, still hear the baby crying. “If Todd wasn’t a PJ too, I probably would’ve bled out before the ambulance arrived. Instead, I have a metal rod in my leg, and it’s mostly healed, but I’m not operating at one-hundred percent. Might never be.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her blue eyes full of sympathy. “That must be hard, especially given how active you’ve always been.”
His jaw tightened. “I got off easy. Todd’s cousin died.”
“Oh, my God, that’s awful.” Emma started to reach for him, then seemed to think better of it. “Thank you for trying to help her,” she said softly.
Feeling keyed up again, he moved to the window for a reprieve from the scent of stale cigarettes that permeated the room, and from Emma’s questioning gaze. He didn’t want the sympathy in her eyes or the softness in her voice.
Or maybe he wanted both too much.
He shouldn’t. They’d both clearly changed. She might not have been lying about her relationship to Trey Harding back then, but she’d lied about a lot of things today.
Even if she was telling him the whole truth now, which he doubted, the very last thing he needed—even if he wasn’t in the middle of this nightmare—was to get caught up in an old infatuation.
Especially when he was still reeling from another woman’s duplicity.
He forced his gaze away from Emma and massaged his aching leg again. Jason had been feeling pretty good, even with all the walking he’d been doing around Lucerne. And then the gunman in the elevator had kicked his thigh, as if there’d been a bullseye painted right where it would hurt the most. The resulting bruises and swelling were especially painful on tender muscles still trying to heal from the trauma of a gunshot wound, several surgeries, and a permanent rod that held Jason’s femur together.
The damage was probably minor, but the pain, and the attack, triggered memories of that day nearly a year ago when he’d been shot. He’d been growing increasingly dissatisfied with the trajectory of his life before then, but almost dying in Todd’s cousin’s house had been the catalyst for finally making a change.
He’d approached Kurt Steele about opening a west coast office, and six months later, he was a partner at Steele Security and living in Los Angeles, and Todd had come along to handle recruitment and training. Jason was finally in charge of something, finally ready for a more stable work life conducive to a family.
He’d thought a woman from the building where Steele had its new offices might be part of his future too, but he could see now that he’d liked the idea of her too much to really see her for who she was. Maybe it was because he’d be thirty-seven next month, or because all of his friends had met their soul mates by now, but he was tired of being alone. He’d also been tired of thinking the worst of every woman who flirted with him.
History had given him reasons to be jaded, but he’d relaxed and let Lauren slip under his radar. And she’d burned him.
Emma was different from Lauren in every way, but she operated in the shadows, which meant she lied as easily as she spoke English.
Letting lust get the better of him would only complicate things and lead to more heartbreak.
He chugged the remaining water in his glass and gave his head a little shake. Maybe if he thought of her as just another woman who wanted to use him, objectify him, that would cool his ardor.
She glanced over and gave him a tired smile.
A littlezingstreaked down his spine. Apparently he couldn’t even trust himself.
In the tiny kitchenette of the grubby little apartment, Emma wracked her brain for what to do next.
She needed to alert Gretchen that the team might have a leak, let her know she was okay, and upload the contents of the SD card. And she wanted an update on Natalie. Emma could use a VPN to mask her location, but she didn’t have Internet access without one of her phones.
Coming here had been a knee-jerk reaction to the need to get off the streets and have somewhere safe to regroup, but she needed guidance and information from headquarters. She couldn’t just wait here forever.
She had to leave the apartment.
Which left the question of what to do with Jason. If he’d wanted to hurt her, or take the storage device by force, he could’ve done it already. She didn’t fear a physical attack from him. But he still wasn’t necessarily safe for her. He’d want to talk to his brother, check in with his employees. Both of those put her at risk.
If she snuck out of here when he went to the bathroom or fell asleep, she wouldn’t be able to return. The location would be compromised.
“Why are you still here?” she asked as he stood at the sink to refill his glass of water.
Shutting off the faucet, he opened his mouth, then hesitated before saying, “I was after the drive.”
“And now?”
“I’m trying to protect Byron.Andyou. I want to believe he’s innocent, but I won’t prevent you from taking down Warner if all of this is true.” He frowned and leaned against the counter. “Or Byron, if he’s involved. I just want to know what’s actually going on.”
“If the guys who attacked us were mercenaries working for Renfro, then you shouldn’t be in danger once they realize you’re Byron’s brother.” Probably.
