HOT Justice: A Hostile Operations Team - Book 14

by Lynn Raye Harris

“And it might not be.” It was hard to acknowledge the truth of that, but he had to.

  “Right. But that’s not because of anything you do or don’t do.”

  He let his hands slide down to her ass. It gave him a thrill unlike any other to touch her so freely. To know she was his. “I like having you here with me. Think you can maybe bring some clothes over and stay for a while?”

  Her hands roamed down to his ass, squeezed. “I’ve been planning to downsize now that it’s just me in that big townhouse. I could find a place closer to here, stay with you while I’m looking.”

  He wanted her to stay with him all the time, but he also understood it was awfully quick to be planning to live together. “That sounds good to me. But if you never find a place you want to live in, you can just keep living here. Or maybe we’ll find a place together, one where you can hire that fancy decorator of yours.”

  She laughed. “Oh, I think I can get her to give me some advice for this place. But yes, maybe we’ll find a place we both like. It’s an option.”

  It was time to get serious. “All the options are open, Haylee. The truth is I want to be with you. I want to wake up and go to sleep with you, and I want to know you’re here when I come home. But if you need to keep the idea of your own space alive, then I’m for that too. Just know that I want you in my bed every night. Can’t imagine not having you next to me.”

  Her eyes grew shiny with tears. “That’s so sweet.”

  “Sweet?” he growled. “Not sweet. Selfish. I need you in my arms. Beneath me, on top of me, beside me. I need to feel your pussy wrapped around my cock and your tongue against mine. I need it to feel complete.”

  “Wow,” she said, blinking up at him. “That’s probably the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  He bent and hooked an arm behind her knees, sweeping her up and into his arms while she laughed. “Hang on, baby. The romance is about to get even better.”

  “Oh, I can hardly wait…”

  Haylee had never been so happy in her life. With Wolf, she was comfortable. She felt like she belonged. Like they belonged together. For the first time, she was eager to leave the townhouse she’d shared with Nicole behind. She’d been hanging on for months, even though it was too big for just her, but now after a couple of days with Wolf, she knew she was ready to give notice and move out.

  “You ready?” Wolf asked as he emerged from the bedroom, looking so handsome in his jeans and long-sleeved henley. The weather was starting to get a little cooler now. It was the first part of October and she still hadn’t answered her mother’s query about Thanksgiving. She didn’t quite know how to answer. Was it too soon to bring it up to Wolf? Would he want to go to his parents’ instead? Would he be on a mission? She had no idea, so she shoved it under the metaphorical carpet and didn’t deal with it.

  “Ready.”

  They were headed over to her place to pack up her clothes and shoes. She planned to take an inventory of her furniture and figure out what to do with that as well.

  Wolf opened the passenger door for her and she climbed into his truck. It took them about twenty minutes to reach her place. Wolf pulled into one of the guest spots and her heart thumped as she remembered the last time they’d been here. His guys had secured her doors after that. She hadn’t gotten to thank them personally, but she would the next time she saw them.

  “Gonna need your car keys, babe. If it’s the battery, I’ll jump it for you.”

  She dug them from her purse and handed them over. “It feels so weird to be here now. I guess it really is time to move on.”

  “It’s safe, if you’re thinking about that. Nobody’s tried to enter the house again. We put up cameras.”

  “I was thinking about it a little, but I was also thinking how much things have changed for me in the past few days. Not just you, but there’s an end to Nicole’s story now. I just have to write it.”

  She wasn’t the one breaking the story about Oscar Silva and the cartel, but she could still write about Nicole’s life, her addiction, and her death from the tainted pills. The story was still important, and Haylee was going to make sure she did it justice. Even if nobody wanted to publish it.

  “You’ll do a great job, Haylee.”

  “You don’t actually know that,” she said softly.

  “Yeah, I do. Because you’re the kind of person who throws your whole heart into things. You’ll do it right because you can’t do it any other way.”

  God, she loved this man. How had she gotten so lucky?

  “Stop,” he said.

  She blinked. “Stop what?”

  “Thinking that I’m just being nice.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  He kissed her hard. “There’s more of that when we get back home.”

  “Then I guess we’d better get moving.”

  They got out of the car and went inside. Nothing was out of place, though of course Wolf went totally badass on her and swept through with a weapon like he had the first time they’d entered.

  “What about the cameras?” she asked when he returned and slipped the gun into its holster beneath his shirt.

  “They’re working just fine. I wanted to impress you.”

  “I’m impressed.”

  He grinned. “Get your shit, babe. I’ll go and have a look at the car.”

  “Okay.” She watched him walk away from her, his ass filling out those jeans in a way that made her mouth water. When he was gone, she got her suitcase out of the hall closet and took it into her bedroom to begin packing her things.

  It was going to be a process to get completely out, but she was ready for it. Surprisingly ready. “I miss you, Nicole,” she said as she tugged open her drawers. “But Wolf is a good guy and I’m so happy with him. I wish you could have met him. You’d like him. And I know he’d like you.”

  Her phone rang and she picked it up without looking at it, distracted by her task and figuring it was Wolf calling her from the parking lot. “Hello,” she said, tucking the phone between her shoulder and ear as she tugged out another drawer.

  “Haylee. Thank God you’re okay.”

  Haylee nearly dropped the phone. “Tony? Where have you been? I’ve been worried about you!”

  “Have you really?” He sounded a little bitter, though maybe he was just tired.

  “Of course I have. You disappeared days ago, and I’ve heard nothing from you since that weird phone call. I thought maybe somebody had hurt you!”

  “No, nobody hurt me,” he said. “I had to get out of town while I could.”

  She sank onto the bed and put her forehead in her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on? You could have just given me everything. You didn’t have to go to such lengths. I’m assuming the papers on my porch was you, too. Was it?”

  She was mad over how he’d gone about it, but she didn’t want to let him know that. He sounded stressed enough without her adding to it. But dammit, if he’d just been forthcoming with everything, maybe they could have done something about the cartel and the drugs sooner. All those months she’d been searching. How long had he known?

  “Yes, it was me. I didn’t want to endanger you, Haylee. You needed plausible deniability if anybody asked where you got the information.”

  Haylee sighed. Maybe he had only recently found the information, but what he really meant was that he hadn’t wanted to be implicated. “Silva and the cartel can’t hurt you now. You’re safe.”

  He snorted disdainfully. “No, I’m really not. Who do you think prosecutors will want to testify against them?”

  She wasn’t sure what Tony knew about the organization and she wasn’t going to ask. It was too late for that. “Maybe you can go into witness protection. Or maybe it’s not necessary at all. I don’t know, Tony. But you need to come back. Talk to the FBI. Assess the situation.”

  “I want you to go with me.”

  Her heart throbbed. She didn’t want to go to the FBI with him, but what could s
he say? Maybe Wolf could go too. “Okay. If that will make you feel better.”

  “I think it would. Yes.”

  She heard footsteps on the stairs. Wolf was coming up. She’d have to explain this to him. He was on the landing now, his dark form throwing a shadow across the space. Then he stepped into the room and Haylee’s stomach dove to the floor. Tony pocketed his phone. Alarm bells jangled in her head but she didn’t know why. Tony wasn’t the bad guy. The bad guys were in jail.

  He shrugged, his frame looking more gaunt than it had the last time she’d seen him. “I used the key you keep in the plant at the back door. Sorry I couldn’t tell you I was coming up.”

  She stood. “Tony. You scared me.”

  “I didn’t mean to.” His gaze fell to her suitcase. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready?”

  “To come with me.”

  She stared. “I, uh, no. I meant I’d go with you to the FBI, not go with you. To where, Tony? Why?”

  “Away,” he said. “Where we can start over.”

  Haylee’s heart thudded. “You aren’t making any sense. We can’t just leave and start over. It doesn’t work that way.”

  “Why not? I think we can do anything we want to do. I fucked up with Nicole, but I won’t do that with you. I know better now.”

  Her skin prickled. “Fucked up? What do you mean?”

  There were dark circles under his eyes. “I didn’t know the pills would kill her. I swear I didn’t.”

  Haylee’s blood ran cold. “Tony—you gave Nicole the pills she ODed on? Why would you do that? She was an addict.”

  He ran a hand over his face. His gaze was bloodshot. His eyes were hollow. “I didn’t know. She didn’t tell me.”

  “That wouldn’t have mattered! Street pills are inherently dangerous—you had to know that much.”

  He shook his head back and forth, almost as if hadn’t heard her. “I didn’t want the senator to have her. He wasn’t treating her right. Hiding their relationship. Using me as their cover. He said he’d marry her, but he had no intention of divorcing his wife. I tried to tell her. She wouldn’t listen.”

  Haylee reeled. Nicole and Frank Watson? But it made a strange kind of sense. Nicole had never really talked about Tony, which Haylee had always found a little bit odd once she’d learned about him. But Nicole had talked about the senator a lot, though she’d never said she was dating him. Having an affair with him. Was she? Or was Tony making it all up?

  “Why are you telling me this now?” Her heart hurt at what he was saying. At all the connections in her head that were suddenly snapping into place. Nicole had been a little withdrawn in the days before she died. Frank Watson and his wife had announced to the world that she was pregnant around that time. Oh Jesus.

  “I was the one who was going to pick up the pieces. She was in pain and I gave her something for it. I would have taken care of her, Haylee. But she took too many. She must have taken too many.”

  Fury scalded her. “Those pills were tainted, Tony! They were cut with fentanyl—that’s what killed her. You should have never given them to her! How could you do that?”

  “I didn’t know.”

  Tears flooded her eyes. “That’s no excuse.” She brought her phone up, intending to call Wolf and tell him to get in here.

  But Tony was on her in a flash, snatching the phone from her hand. “No,” he said savagely. “You aren’t calling him. He doesn’t get to have you. You’re mine.”

  “No, I’m not. I can’t be.”

  He pulled his hand from his pocket—and pointed a pistol at her heart. “You’re mine—or you’re nobody’s.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Wolf popped open the hood of Haylee’s Honda Accord and swore. The battery was disconnected, the cables removed from the posts. His blood ran cold at the sight. No doubt Silva’s men had done it so John Payne could show up and offer her that ride. Motherfuckers.

  Wolf went to his truck and grabbed his tools so he could reconnect the battery. He’d have to clean the posts too since they were somewhat corroded. The car had definitely seen better days. Haylee said she didn’t drive it often and he could believe that. He’d get it running again and then see how much work it needed. He didn’t want her driving around in a death trap. She meant too much to him.

  He cleaned the posts and tightened the cables, then went and turned the key. The car didn’t start so he pulled his truck up and connected jumper cables. Then he took out his phone and sent her a text while he gave the battery a few minutes to charge. Just because. How’s it going in there, babe? Need any help?

  She didn’t answer right away. He didn’t expect her to. But a tingling sensation started buzzing inside him at her lack of a reply. He told himself it was ridiculous, that she was packing—or maybe she was in the bathroom and forgot to take the phone with her—and that he was being overprotective. He glanced in either direction. The neighborhood looked perfectly normal. Cars drove by and people went about their business. Nothing strange about that.

  Besides, Silva and his men were in jail. Why would anyone come after Haylee now? She’d had nothing to do with their arrests. It wasn’t like she was the only witness to a crime and needed to be eliminated. It was just that he still had the jungle on his mind, the smell of the drug manufacturing camp and the satisfaction when it went up in smoke. It was still fresh, and it made him think of all that could be lost so easily.

  He waited a couple more minutes, and then he texted again. Haylee?

  She was going to text him back any second, roll her eyes at him for being overprotective. He waited for the three dots that indicated she was typing. Nothing happened. He lifted his gaze to the windows of her townhouse. The blinds were closed so he wouldn’t be able to see movement anyway. He told himself not to do it, that he was being crazy, but he turned on the tracking for her phone. Just to see where she was.

  A white BMW turned the corner up ahead as the program searched for her signal. The car accelerated away and his gaze landed on the license plate out of habit. It was a Virginia plate.

  A second later, the tracking program pinpointed Haylee’s phone. It was moving away from him. Ice formed in his veins, turned his guts to stone. How in the hell?

  The BMW. She was in the BMW.

  Wolf launched into action.

  “Where are you taking me?” Haylee asked. She was trying to be calm, trying to keep Tony talking. Maybe if she talked enough, he’d realize he couldn’t get away with this.

  But why couldn’t he? He had one hand on the wheel and the other held the gun pointed at her. He hadn’t restrained her in any way, but he hadn’t lowered the gun either. She didn’t think he’d shoot, but the truth was she didn’t really know. She didn’t know him as well as she’d thought.

  She’d thought he was decent, kind. Stable. He wasn’t any of those things. He was neurotic and maybe a bit crazy. Or deluded. He was definitely deluded.

  “You’ll find out when we get there.” He waved the gun around and she shrank into her seat. “It’s going to be fine. I’ll take care of you. I’ll give you everything I would have given to Nicole. You’ll see.”

  She forced herself to stay calm. “I want you to let me go, Tony. That’s all I want from you.”

  “I can’t do that. I loved Nicole, but she didn’t love me. I won’t make that mistake again. I’ve spent too much time with you to let anyone else have you. You weren’t supposed to be dating anyone, Haylee.” He snorted. “A military guy, no less. I’m a lawyer! I can give you things. A lifestyle. I was willing to be patient, but you had to go and ruin it all.”

  Haylee bit the inside of her lip. He was talking like a crazy person. How had he managed to hide his obsession for so long? She’d known though, hadn’t she, that he’d been a bit obsessed with Nicole? Of course she had. She’d ignored the signs because she’d loved having someone to talk to about her friend. Someone who missed Nicole’s smile, her laughter. Someone who claimed to love her. It had been a comfort to ha
ve him at first, and then later he’d been so supportive while Haylee worked and researched and tried to write a story about illicit street drugs.

  Her heart hammered as he accelerated toward the main street. She wanted out, but there was no way she could escape. She glanced in the mirror—and saw a truck behind them. Was it Wolf? The truck wasn’t close enough, but it looked like his. A silver truck barreling toward them. She prayed it was him.

  Tony had pocketed her phone. She’d heard the dings from messages, but she didn’t know if it was Wolf sending them. Why would he when he’d been outside and could have just walked inside to talk to her? But maybe he had, and maybe he knew.

  Please, Wolf. Please help me.

  The truck was coming fast. Tony looked up into the rearview and swore. Then he stomped the gas and she was knocked against the seat as the car sped toward the stop sign ahead. He still had the gun on her, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, his face red with anger.

  “Tony, for God’s sake, stop!” she cried out when he approached the intersection at high speed.

  Cars zoomed at them from the cross street. Haylee screamed as he braked hard and whipped the steering wheel, skidding through the intersection as cars honked and swerved around them. There was a moment—a single moment—when their forward momentum stalled as the tires squealed to gain purchase. Tony grabbed the wheel with both hands—and Haylee took her chance.

  She threw the door opened and jumped, landing on the embankment with enough force to knock the breath out of her. Pain exploded in her body—and the metallic taste of blood flooded her mouth as metal and glass shattered in her ears.

  “Haylee! Jesus Christ,” a voice cried. Then a pair of big hands were on her, gently prodding her. “Baby, talk to me. Tell me you’re okay.”

  “Wolf,” she whispered. “Love you.”

  It hurt to breathe. Hurt to move.

  “Don’t fucking move,” he ordered. “Let me check you for injuries.”

  “I’m… Fine. Just hit kind of hard.” The breath had been knocked out of her and she’d bit her tongue—that’s where the blood was from. She was pretty sure that was it anyway.