“I told your brother about it, but he wouldn’t listen to me. I couldn’t keep him safe if he had no faith in me or my abilities. I wouldn’t have his death or disgrace on my head.”
The shorter guy stepped forward. “So, how do you boys know each other?”
“Uh, Bailey Gregory, this is my boss, Jesse Sparks. Sparky, this is the governor’s twin brother, Bailey.” Jagger stepped around us, going inside the building and leaving Jesse Sparks staring at me.
“Let’s go inside.”
We went into a large open room with several desks set facing each other. I saw Jagger sitting at one, scowling. He was a moody bastard.
Sparks kept walking, but he barked out an order before he went into his office with me on his tail. “Jagger, get your ass inhere. I have the feeling you have a lot of insight into why the governor asked me to bail this guy out as a personal favor.”
God bless Thomas. He was a good guy, but he had no common sense when it came to staying under the radar.
After sitting in Sparky’s office with him and Jagger for an hour, I stood. My patience had already left the room.
“I need to get back to my motel. Those deputies kept my sheet, and I expect the motel folks are gonna want it back.”
Jagger chuckled. “You think it’s an important part of your disguise, do ya?”
Fuck if he wasn’t exactly the way I remembered him. My heart picked up at the sight of him for the first time in a couple of years.
I laughed. “Fuck no, but I don’t want to be charged for it. It was as thin as a sheet of paper. How’ve you been, Jagger? I can honestly say I never saw you as a bounty hunter.”
Jagger was just as gorgeous as I remembered him being, though now there was some salt in his golden-blond hair. He was clean-shaven and his eyes sparkled, which I definitely remembered from our interaction at the lake house. He was an impressive man, and I knew there wasn’t anyone who could intimidate him.
“I’m fine, Bailey. How about you?”
How was I? That was a good question. “Well, it seems I have myself in a bit of a pickle. I believe Boyd Newton is blackmailing Thomas. He’ll end my brother’s career if he has his way.
“I came here to find him and make him understand that I wasn’t going to allow him to hurt Thomas, but something’s hinkyabout the situation. A few days ago, I beat the crap out of a guy up in Caron City, thinking he was Newton. When I found him on Fremont coming from Glory Hole Studio, he didn’t have any of the bruises he should have had.”
Jagger sucked in a breath. “I told the governor not to trust Boyd Newton.”
I nodded. “You did, and I did, but Thomas is his own man. He’s afraid of being outed, and now that little fucker, or someone he’s close to, is blackmailing my brother. I had him. I fucking had him when that bike cop caught me. Newton said he wanted to press charges against me, and the sector car showed up to take me away. I will catch the son of a bitch, and I’ll kill him when I do.”
It wasn’t boisterous language. It was the mother fucking truth.
Jagger smirked. “Naw, you’re not gonna kill him, Bailey. How would your arrest play out with Thomas’s administration? I know you don’t want your brother to bear the brunt of your transgressions. Where did you beat the shit out of the guy you thought was Newton?”
I missed what he asked me, being hypnotized by Jagger’s eyes. There was something about the man that I couldn’t look away from.
Chapter Four
Jagger
The past had a way of roaring into town when least expected, that was for damn sure. Bailey Gregory sat in Sparky’s office staring at me with that sexy smirk I remembered from a few years ago.
At first, I wasn’t sure if he even recognized me from our one brief encounter at the governor’s lake house in the Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest. It had been a wild ride that weekend.
July 2024
The door to the lake house swung open, and I, along with the other five members of the governor’s protection team, drew our service weapons. Thank heaven we didn’t immediately shoot.
“Guys, it’s okay. This is my older brother, Bailey, who isn’t supposed to be here.”
The tension between the two men—and the governor’s guest—had all of us averting our eyes in confusion. The governor’sfriend, who was a last-minute addition to the trip, appeared ready to shit himself.
Our lieutenant holstered his weapon, so we all followed his lead. “Master Sergeant, it’s good to see you again,” our boss said as he extended his hand to the handsome man standing in the doorway, looking seven shades of pissed off.
