“Are you okay?”she murmured.
Something touched lightly to his cheek, and he reared back as though he’d been slapped.Christ, she’d just placed the pads of her fingers against his face.It had been decades since he’d been touched with such tenderness, and it shook him.Welled up agonizing memories that were fighting to break loose.
“I don’t like to be touched,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Sorry, I—Your expression looked so broken for a moment.”
He shifted her arm near the sink and flushed any remaining debris with water.Tension built in his chest.Anger at himself.His existence.One he’d tried so hard to make meaningful through the lives he saved.None of it mattered though, not when he hadn’t been able to protect the only ones he’d cared about.For that, he loathed himself.He twisted the faucet tap with too much force.“Not a moment,” he growled, feeling more like a beast than a man.“A lifetime.”Not that he’d been expecting company, but if he hadn’t been drinking earlier, he never would say something like that.
Ivy’s eyes widened, but not with fear.There was empathy in the glittering depths, and it only made his anguish intensify.He looked away, grabbed the dressing, and hastily wrapped it in place.He said nothing as he cleaned and bandaged her head wound and he was thankful she didn’t try to fill the silent space with chatter.When he was finished, he cleaned up the supplies, then turned to her.“Pull up the recording.”
Chapter Three
Ivy’s hand trembledas she reached for her cell phone, but not from fear.Her earlier adrenaline had plummeted.Her arm and head ached.She’d also wildly misjudged the man standing in front of her several times now.She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten so deep into the forest, but when strong arms lifted and cradled her, she’d thought she was dreaming.Then when she’d regained conciseness and found herself restrained in those same arms in the shower, she’d been terrified.
And again, when she recalled exactly what had happened at the estate she was inspecting and when she’d accused Jude of being part of the scheme she’d overheard.Even when he’d shown his identification, she’d still thought he was a prickly recluse hiding out in the woods.While that might still be true, she wasn’t sure how she’d missed the pain radiating from him.It was tangible and hung in the air like a dark shroud around him.He wasn’t angry or mean, she’d bet her life on it.He was a human being who had been deeply, maybe irrevocably scarred in some way.
“Sure,” she said gripping the phone, pleased when she was able to turn up the volume without dropping the device.Ivy pressed on the app and brought up the recording, shocked that it was still going.It was nearly an hour and a half long.She took a breath, then pressed play.
“Place looks like shit.”Her stomach hardened to the point of pain when she heard the man with the muffled cotton ball voice speak.
“Doesn’t matter.Boss just needs a place to hold the kids.”And there was the voice that had scared her the most.No inflection.Not an iota of warmth.
“Still should be livable, if they’ll be here until buyers are lined up,” the bulldog said.
“When did you develop a fucking conscience?A little mold never hurt anyone.Until payments are made, the kids stay here.”
Jude’s muscles corded and she glanced up at his face.His jaw was clenched, nostrils flared, and the merciless expression in his eyes made a shiver skate down her spine.
“Our only job is to make sure that once they’re in here, there’s no way out.Let’s get a thorough count of all the entry points so we can install additional locks and seal the windows from the outside.”
The men continued talking.In the background of the audio, she could hear herself trying to slow her breathing.When Leo told Eddy about the truck parked out front, panic gripped her all over again.She heard footsteps pounding, her own and the men’s.She’d come so close to being caught.Jude grabbed the phone from the counter, silencing the audio.He punched something into the phone, but she was too busy trying to control the rapid drum of her heart to think much about what he was doing.A heavy weight landed on her knees.She looked down to see his massive hands spanning over the gray sweats he’d loaned her.
“Breathe in,” he commanded in a tone she couldn’t help but immediately obey.“And out.Slowly.”Her gaze locked on to his.The color of his eyes reminded her of the full moon suspended in a dark sky.Not quite silver.Barely a whisper of blue.Hauntingly beautiful with the raw impression of stark loneliness that was almost painful to behold.She was typically good at reading people, but she couldn’t read him.He stared into her eyes, but she could gain nothing from his expression.
They might’ve sat there in the bathroom for ten minutes or half an hour.She wasn’t sure.
“Steady?”he finally asked.This time his tone was less authoritative, as if the call had somehow shifted his perspective.
“Yeah.I think so.”
“Did you see either man?”Jude’s fingers flexed on her knees, and the light squeeze made her all too aware of how close they were positioned.
She told him what she could from the brief glimpse she’d taken through the trees at the estate.When she was finished with her descriptions, she could’ve sworn approval flashed in his eyes.He nodded, then removed his hands from where they still rested on her lap.She hadn’t been aware of how grounding his touch was until it was gone, and the earlier fears he’d soothed flared through her, making her stomach clench.
“Okay.”The sound of his voice was enough to settle her before she could do something embarrassing like snatch his hands back.“Come into the living room.We’ll talk about what you need to do next.”Something vibrated and he reached into his pocket.“Hayes,” he barked and strode into the other room.With her hands on her knees, she pushed herself up and followed.
“I want a team out there.Ivy, what was the address?”He leveled his gaze at her over his shoulder.
She told him, and he relayed the information over the phone.
“There’s a truck.”Again, he looked at her expectantly.
“Ford F-150.Black.”
“Hear that?Okay.If it’s there, bring it in.I want surveillance throughout.Tap into the street cameras.We’re looking for two men.Mid-forties, Caucasian.Don’t rule anyone out though.Forward the audio to the agents you want on this.Keep me updated.”
Ivy was stunned.He’d wasted no time contacting whoever was on the other line.Maybe that’s what he’d been doing with her phone—sending the audio recording to his team.Something shifted in him the moment he received the phone call.He was immediately on alert.His bloodshot eyes sharpened, and he delegated tasks like a man who knew to the marrow of his bones he was in charge.He shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned to fully face her.Dark circles marred the skin under his eyes.There was stubble over his face and jaw, as though he hadn’t bothered to shave in a few days.His hair, albeit short, was jet black and standing on end, like he’d raked his fingers through it more than once.He was handsome in a brutal sort of way.
