Expose, p.14
Expose, page 14
I was worried about Izzie. Jaxson’s hands gave mine a tentative squeeze.
He was concerned too.
“I’m sorry,” I said, keeping my voice low, so the conversation was between the two of us.
A stony stare from Lincoln made my heart skip a beat, and I met his gaze in the rearview mirror.
Jaxson’s jaw remained tight, his shoulders square. “I have to ask you something and you owe me the respect of answering honestly.”
I wanted to tell him I’d always been honest, and while I’d kept secrets, I hadn’t lied to him, not outright.
My stomach bubbled with fear and dread.
What was he going to ask now?
I gave him the best smile I could muster to ease any worries that he had and squeezed his hands in mine. “Of course. What is it?”
“When you moved into the cabin the very first night, you told me you were shocked about not having electricity. Did you lie to me? The more I play that night over in my head. I keep thinking that you genuinely seemed surprised but knowing what I do, that you wanted to move off-grid, go somewhere that you wouldn’t be exposed, it makes sense that you would have intended not to have electric.”
Jaxson unclasped his hold from me and dug out his phone again. He pulled up the original listing on the cabin. He showed me the listing, holding his phone for me to see.
Off-grid. Quiet, rustic living at its finest either year-round or the perfect getaway cabin with hundreds of miles of trails all around.
“I hadn’t taken off-grid to mean no electricity.”
“Well, you should have,” Lincoln added sharply from the driver’s seat.
I pursed my lips, considering the right words. Why was he pissed at me?
Was it because I had worked for the agency or because he was defending his friend? “Yes, off-grid could mean no electric, but it can also mean a small town in the middle of nowhere which is precisely what the cabin is and where it’s located.”
I’d spent a great deal of time looking into small towns, but most I hadn’t been capable of affording, and getting a loan would have been too risky. I needed to keep a low profile, little good that had done.
I’d still been found, and I wasn’t sure where I’d messed up, except my credit card. While it had been assigned to my maiden name, the name I’d legally taken, it was possible some asshat had figured that out and exposed me.
Now they were hunting me down.
“Shit.”
“What?” Jaxson asked.
He shoved his phone back into his pocket. We turned off the road, onto the last trail up to his house in the woods.
“I just realized how they found me. I’ve been stupid. I thought that if I kept a low profile, everything would blow over, but it’s clear that was a mistake.”
“You’ve made a lot of mistakes,” Lincoln muttered from the front seat.
“What’s that?” I shot back and turned to face him, letting go of any trace of Jaxson against me.
The truck came to an abrupt halt. “We’re here,” Lincoln said, putting the truck in park.
“Stay in the truck. Keep the doors locked.”
Lincoln shut off the engine and took the keys with him. They locked the truck and hurried inside.
“How am I supposed to stay warm?” I asked.
No one could hear me. Both men were already outside rushing to get into the house and make sure Izzie was all right.
A red hatchback sat in the driveway in front of the house. I didn’t recognize the car, but I hadn’t been to his house. I shifted closer to the door but kept inside the vehicle.
The truck's engine roared to life, and I jumped in my seat, realizing Jaxson had turned on the auto start. At least I wouldn’t freeze to death.
Part of me wanted to help. I didn’t enjoy sitting around, watching events unfold and not being involved. I also knew I was no good if I was injured, and I didn’t have the luxury of acting like an agent, gun drawn, running around with body armor.
The reality was I never had a traditional field assignment unless you called stakeouts and surveillance operations exciting. It wasn’t a thrilling job, but it was essential in catching the bad guys.
I missed being able to use my skills. The resort hadn’t been the most exciting job, but I thought it would have given me a fresh start. Instead, it paid barely above minimum wage, and I’d been tracked down. That wasn’t anyone at the resort’s fault.
I was prone to keeping secrets. That’s all I’d ever known but look what good it had done.
I had lied to Jaxson, the one guy I liked and had a chance with, all because telling the truth was too hard and too risky. I was worried about being exposed and look where that got me.
I hated myself.
BOOM!
BOOM!
A loud explosion rattled the truck and blew out the windows.
I covered my ears and my head on instinct, but I heard nothing but a slight ringing sensation and beyond that, silence.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jaxson
Jogging into the house, key in hand, I threw open the door and unarmed the alarm, leaving the door wide open behind me for Lincoln to follow.
I didn’t turn around to see where he was. I didn’t wait for him.
“Skylar! Izzie!” I shouted and hurried through the house, upstairs to the playroom, where I told them to go.
I threw open the door and lunged inside, only to find it empty.
“Skylar! Izzie!” I tried again, hoping they would answer me, needing to know they were both all right.
Isabella was my world, and while Skylar wasn’t my favorite person, I trusted her to look after Izzie and make sure she was safe.
Silence filled the house as I flung each door open, searching high and low for both of them.
I fled down the stairs and to the basement, discovering Izzie in a laundry bin atop a mound of bedsheets.
Skylar had the lid of the dryer open doing a load of darks. The washing machine tumbled and thudded, probably making it difficult to hear, besides the basement’s soundproofing. I had set it up as a training facility before we invested in the building that we have now for Eagle Tactical.
I exhaled a sigh of relief, throwing my arms around Izzie, pulling her tight and spinning her around, comforted that she was safe.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you guys come in.” Skylar glanced at me over her shoulder and pointed at Lincoln. “We haven’t met,” she said, smiling and putting out her hand for an introduction.
“I’m Lincoln Taylor.” He offered his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Lincoln smiled charmingly at my sister and brought her hand to his lips.
Skylar grinned and giggled. It didn’t take a genius to see what was happening between the two of them.
“She’s off-limits.” I wanted it made clear that he wasn’t to date Skylar.
If they dated, then I’d have to see more of her. That was the last thing I wanted, for Skylar to find another reason to hang around Breckenridge.
There were other reasons, too.
She was far too juvenile to handle Lincoln.
She liked to play the field and go out partying. I was lucky she hadn’t done that in town, coming home after the bar closed, trashed, and stumbling through the front door.
I wouldn’t tolerate that type of behavior, certainly not around Izzie.
BOOM!
The house vibrated from a nearby explosion. I clutched Izzie to my chest, covering her, uncertain what was happening around us.
Lincoln met my stare. I handed Izzie back to Skylar. “Stay down here.” My boots smacked the stairs hard on the way up, running out the front door to check on Ariella.
The truck’s window had been shattered. I ran through the snow to the truck, my feet slipping under me, but I caught myself before falling. “Ariella?”
Her head poked up, her eyes wide and her body trembling.
“I was just sitting here when the windows blew. It sounded like an explosion nearby.”
No one could have missed the deafening roar.
“Do you smell that?” she asked.
I spun around, glancing over my shoulder toward the bridge between our houses. Smoke billowed into the sky.
Ariella unlatched the door and yanked it open. I took a step back, getting out of the way for her. Her feet sunk into the snow with each quick step she took toward the bridge.
Unlike at the house, where I’d shoveled and it had slightly iced over, the bridge’s path was thick with recent wet snow.
“Stay with Skylar,” I shouted at Lincoln as he stood on the porch, his brow furrowed and phone in his hand. He pointed in the smoke’s direction. He saw it now, too.
“I’m calling the fire department,” Lincoln said.
I followed Ariella through the forest and across the bridge, along the trail between our properties. It was much shorter and a quicker route than by truck.
Thick, black smoke rose into the chilly air. The heat of the fire roared and whipped with the wind against the cabin. There was no chance of saving it or anything inside.
“No!” Ariella shouted, rushing toward the cabin.
I hurried after her, grabbing her by the waist, restraining her as she tried to break free, twisting and turning to pull herself from my grasp.
“Please! I have to get inside!”
“You can’t,” I whispered against her ear, clinging to her body, holding her back, willing her to stay with me.
Didn’t she understand the danger?
The fire bellowed and boomed, the sound deafening as it ate away at the structure, fire soaring outside through the windows and where the roof had been moments earlier.
Her body went limp in my arms, and I scooped her up and carried her back to my house.
“Put me down!” She tried to pry out of my embrace and eventually gave in when I didn’t let her go. Her head rested against my chest, her arms around my neck.
“Is she okay?” Lincoln opened the front door for me as I brought her inside and gently guided her onto the sofa to lie down.
“I’m fine,” Ariella said, sitting up, her feet dangling off the sofa instead of stretched out like I’d laid her. She unzipped my coat and pulled it off, handing it to me.
“What was so important in that house that you felt it necessary to run into burning flames? I know you don’t have a pet, and no one else lives there.” I’d been there the night before, and it had just been the two of us, alone, exploring each other’s bodies.
Already, it seemed like a lifetime ago.
She hadn’t even acknowledged my letter that I’d left her on the fridge. All that would have to wait. There were more pressing matters at hand. Besides, I wasn’t even sure I could forgive her yet and be with someone who had deceived me.
I pushed the memories from last night away. I had to compartmentalize what happened between us.
“In my knapsack, there were some photos.” Her eyes were cast down toward the floor.
I stepped closer and bent down. “What kind of photos?”
I wasn’t able to ignore the knot in my stomach. She found it necessary to lie to me again.
What had she hidden away in the cabin that was worth risking her life over?
“You wouldn’t understand.” Her piercing green eyes glanced up at me.
“Try me, Freckles.” I kept her trapped against the sofa. My legs straddled hers.
She swallowed, and her tongue darted out, licking her lips. Silence enveloped the room.
“I’m going to check on Skylar and Isabella,” Lincoln said. He hustled out of the room and down the basement stairs.
Each thud was louder than the previous against the wooden steps.
Ariella gnawed on her bottom lip, tugging the cherry pink edge between her teeth. Her eyes fell to the floor.
“You will answer me, Freckles.” I lifted her chin with my thumb, my fingers grazing her tender skin.
“What was the question?” Her lips pouted, her brow furrowed, and she tilted her head to the side.
“You are the queen of avoidance, aren’t you?” I could see it written all over her face. “Don’t play me.” I didn’t like games, and I would not engage in them with her. “The photographs in your cabin. What are they? Family photos? Something else? It’s just you and me. You owe me an honest answer, Ariella. Especially after you lied to me about why you came to Breckenridge.”
A soft puff of air escaped her lips with a sigh. She gently pushed against my chest. When I didn’t move out of her way, she rolled her eyes and folded her arms against her chest. “It wasn’t a lie. I’ve never told anyone who I used to work for, even when they employed me.”
“You mean the C.I.A.,” I said. Even now, she avoided using the agency’s name.
Ariella shifted against the sofa but couldn’t move farther than her butt allowed without sweeping her legs away from me, which she didn’t do.
I reached out and guided her arms from their folded position. Taking her hands in mine, I could feel that her fingers were frigid from the outside temperature. Her cheeks also had a slight blush which I assumed had been from the cold. It could have also resulted from the stress of her home burning down to the ground.
“You’re freezing. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“It didn’t seem important,” she whispered, meeting my stare.
On the back of the leather sofa rested a throw blanket.
I stood and pulled the warm blanket down and unfolded the Sherpa, covering her with it. Her shoulders slumped, and her demeanor seemed to relax once she was tight under the blanket. I sat beside her, my legs brushing against hers, sitting atop the blanket.
“You need to take better care of yourself. I understand you’re upset about the fire, but whatever was destroyed, it wasn’t worth dying over.”
“You don’t know that,” Ariella said, her eyes wide. She turned to face me. Her hands clutched the blanket around her small frame.
“Then explain it to me.” I didn’t enjoy being left in the dark. She continually gave me pieces of a puzzle, one at a time. “I don’t like being strung along or having to drag secrets out of someone.”
She trembled beneath the blanket, and I couldn’t tell if it resulted from her being chilled or the adrenaline issues that she’d had the previous day.
Was this a daily occurrence regarding her health? Another question that I wanted answers to but wasn’t expecting all of it explained tonight. Foremost, was the lie about her past, the fact she’d worked for the C.I.A., and whatever had her risking her life to go back inside for that stupid knapsack.
“About four years ago, I was pregnant,” Ariella said.
Pacing the length of the living room, I could have easily worn a hole through the floor. Restless energy poured out of me until I heard her faint answer.
That took me by surprise. I swallowed the lump in the back of my throat. “I didn’t know.” I didn’t want to overwhelm her. Approaching her, I towered above. “What happened?”
She stared down at the blanket. “Noah was born prematurely, at twenty-eight weeks. There were complications for both the baby and for me. He was a fighter, lived two weeks in NICU but in the end, it was just too much.”
I sat down beside her, my hand falling on her thigh, giving her a reassuring squeeze. “I’m so sorry.”
My heart ached.
Her son would have been around the same age as Izzie. It broke my heart to imagine what she went through and experienced.
She pressed her lips tight. “Me too. The fire took the last and only picture I had of my son.”
Heaviness weighed over me.
Her eyes glistened with tears and she breathed in, sniffling, but the wetness didn’t fall from her eyes.
Her strength surpassed mine.
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It hurts too much to think about. I miss him every day, but his hospital bracelet and photo were inside my knapsack.”
I pulled her into my lap, my embrace crushing her, keeping her tight to me.
Her body trembled. Her breaths were shallow and short.
“Let me take your pain away,” I whispered into her ear.
Her cheeks were flushed. Her hands came up to my neck, icy cold. She ran her fingers through my hair. “You can’t. No one can.”
My forehead pressed firmly against hers. I wouldn’t take that as an answer. I wanted to lay her down on the sofa and kiss her pain away.
“I don’t know how I would have raised Noah with Benjamin in prison, on my own.” Ariella winced. “I’m sorry.”
“About what?” Why was she apologizing to me?
She kissed my cheek before she moved her head to rest on my shoulder. “I don’t know how you do it.” She paused for a beat, exhaling a heavy sigh. “Raise a daughter by yourself. It’s impressive to me that you’re a single father and you work full-time.”
“Maybe it will comfort you to know that we believe you and your ex-husband were set up,” I said.
She pulled back from my embrace. I thought hearing that would have made her happy. “What?”
“Blue Sky Resort requested that we run a background check on you before you were hired. I didn’t dig too deep. Once I connected you were married to Benjamin Ryan, I’ll admit, I lost my shit.”
“Is that an apology?” Ariella asked, tilting her head before climbing off my lap. I didn’t want her to pull away.
“It might be,” I said. “Mason kept digging and discovered your previous employer. There were a number of questionable transactions that were traced back to the C.I.A.. Mason brought up that someone might have set you and Benjamin up.”
“Who would set him up? Unless they were also setting me up, but why? Could there be a mole in the organization, someone who set me up to take the fall?” Rubbing her temples, she leaned forward, her head in her hands.
I hoped she wasn’t about to get sick. I wanted to take her back with me to Eagle Tactical, but I wasn’t sure she’d be willing to go.
The anger quelled and dissipated as her body relaxed. “I never thought I would want to thank Mason,” she said.
