by Sybil Bartel
Randy grabbed Kendall’s arm and spun her around. “Leave her alone, bitch.”
Kendall glanced pointedly at his hand on her arm then at him. “You want to know the best part about being Candle’s bitch?”
Even from across the dim bar, I could see the color drain from Randy’s face.
“I, um…” Siren glanced nervously at Randy. “I’m going to the restroom.”
“You do that.” Kendall smirked.
Randy inclined his head at Siren but he didn’t take his eyes off Kendall.
Siren dropped her gaze to her feet and started to slowly move away but Drifter was blocking her exit. His eyes on Randy and Kendall, Drifter either didn’t notice Siren trying to leave or didn’t care.
Kendall smiled evilly at Randy. “Are you going to let go of my arm and get me a beer? Or should I tell Candle he can burn you too? You know, he’s pretty good at it. He’s got this slow way he—”
Randy dropped his hand and barked at Drifter, “Get her a fucking beer.”
Looking pissed as hell, Drifter took a step forward and shoved Siren out of his way.
“What do you want, Kendall?” Randy sneered.
Siren waited till Drifter was halfway to the bar then she started to move.
Kendall casually inspected her blood-red nails. “Besides you dead?” she asked sweetly. “Not much.”
I hit the button on the mic. “Goin’ radio silent.”
“Roger that,” André responded.
I switched off my mic and my heart kicked into overdrive as I watched an angel walk toward me.
Her gaze firmly glued to her feet, Siren didn’t look up. Not wanting to take my eyes off her till I knew she was safe, but not willing to risk being seen if Randy followed her, I stepped into the back hall and went to the office André assured me would be unlocked and empty.
I twisted the knob, the door opened and I scanned the room but it was empty. Closing the door behind me, I turned and waited.
Then nothing.
I counted the steps in my head. She should’ve been here. My phone vibrated in my pocket.
“Where the fuck is she?” I barked at André.
“Walking out of the bar. I’m moving to intercept. Meet us on the north side of the building.”
“Negative.” Fuck. “Get her in the SUV, we’re moving to plan B.” I walked out of the office.
“I’ve got a dozen sets of eyes on me. If I take her now, we’re going to have a much bigger problem. Switch to com.” André hung up.
Goddamn it. I turned my mic back on and checked the bar to make sure Randy wasn’t watching then I moved toward the exit and hit the talk button. “What’s she doin’?”
“Approaching. Hold position.”
I stopped just inside the entrance then I heard her voice.
“You can’t be here, André. You shouldn’t have brought him to the apartment this morning and you shouldn’t have brought him here tonight. I don’t want to see him. He doesn’t need to be involved in this. You have to leave.”
My heart leapt and my stomach knotted.
“With all due respect, ma’am, put your phone to your ear like you’re making a call and move to the north side of the building. We’re already attracting attention.”
“No,” she said firmly. “I’m going back inside and you’re all leaving.”
André dropped the polite edge to his voice. “Move. Now. North side, or he’s going to fight his way through fifty bikers to get to you and there’ll be nothing I can do to stop it.”
Siren didn’t respond.
A second later, the door to the bar swung open and André strode in. “Retrieving Kendall. You got two minutes. Keep your head down.” He moved past me and I didn’t stop to think how he was going get Kendall out of there without starting a fight.
I switched my mic off, put my head down and walked out. Without a glance to see who was watching, I made my way around the bar to the south side. When I cleared the corner, I broke out in a sprint and rounded the building. The second I saw her leaning against the rough concrete, anger flooded in.
“You were supposed to meet me inside,” I accused.
She wouldn’t look at me.
“Siren.” Goddamn it.
Slow, labored, she lifted her head and achingly fragile blue eyes met my stare. “Why are you doing this?”
My anger bled into a craving so fucking intense, I couldn’t stop myself. I grabbed for her and pulled her into my arms. Frantic, desperate, my hands touching everywhere I could reach, I didn’t even give a shit that she’d stiffened like she hated me. “Jesus Christ, Siren. You’re fuckin’ killin’ me.” My hands ran up her back, over her shoulders and threaded into her hair. “I know this isn’t what you want. I know you don’t want to be with him.” I bent my knees so I was eye level with her. Then I fucking pleaded. “Please, darlin’. Just talk to me.”
She sucked in a deep breath and the mask slipped.
Grief like I’d never seen on another human being distorted her features and she fell into me. “I can’t.” Her shoulders shook with a silent sob.
I wrapped my arms around her and for the first time, I began to wonder if this was even about Carter. “Shh, shh, darlin’. I’m right here. I’m not gonna let anythin’ happen to you. I told you that. Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.” I stroked her soft hair, wishing the whole damn world would disappear.
“You can’t be here.” Her voice broke.
“I’m gonna be wherever you are.” I held her tighter and my phone vibrated. “Come with me,” I begged.
“No.” She shook her head and pulled away from me. “Stop this. Stop coming to me, stop checking up on me. Just stop it, all of it. I’m not going to be responsible for you and your friends going to jail.” Her voice broke. “I don’t need you to rescue me.”
Jesus, she was crushing me. Rescuing was exactly what she needed but I wasn’t going to piss her off by saying it. “No one’s goin’ to jail.” My phone vibrated again and I glanced toward the parking lot. When I looked back, her face had shut down and I knew I was losing ground. “Leave with me, right now.” Desperate, I took her hand and placed it on my heart. “I’ll keep us safe.” I didn’t know what to fucking say to her to get through.
She pulled her hand back and her next words cut me. “There is no us.”
André jogged around the corner. “Carter’s here. Time’s up.”
I grabbed Siren’s face. “Please.” As much as it killed me, I wouldn’t force her. I wasn’t going to do what Carter had done to her. “Come with me.”
The mask slid back into place and resignation clouded her beauty. “Goodbye, Talon.”
“Nicole!” Randy yelled from somewhere in front.
“Doc,” André warned.
“I’m not givin’ up.” No fucking way. This wasn’t over. “I’m gonna see you tomorrow.” One way or another.
André grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to release her.
Siren turned and started walking.
Half dragging, half pushing me, André pulled us to the back of the building just as Carter cleared the corner and saw Siren.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” Randy yelled.
Oh, fuck no. He didn’t get to speak to her like that. I lurched back toward them but André caught me and slammed a hand over my mouth. “No,” he hissed.
“I wasn’t feeling good. I needed some air,” Siren said weakly.
Randy’s tone instantly turned to concern. “Is it your back?”
“I’m okay.”
I wanted to kill him.
“I told you, you run too much,” he scolded softly. “You shouldn’t be doing that. Come on, baby, you need to get off your feet. I’ll take you home and take care of you.”
Hearing him talk to her like he cared about her made me enraged.
“Okay,” she said quietly, letting him put his arm around her shoulders.
But hearing her acquiesce to him, it fucking broke me.
ANDRÉ DROPPED KENDALL OFF AT her car that was still parked behind my shop. I was silent and for once, Kendall didn’t use the opportunity to needle me. When we nodded goodnight at each other, it was almost civil.
I replayed every second with Siren tonight in my mind. I couldn’t even say I lost her because I’d never had her. Not like Carter had. He’d been there for her. He’d nursed her. He knew her body like I didn’t. I was sick. And I was a fucking fool.
André pulled into my driveway. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“There isn’t one.” I shoved the door open. “Go home.”
He didn’t listen. He cut the engine and followed me upstairs. My adrenaline running out, I was too damn tired to argue. I walked into my kitchen and silently cursed.
Blaze was leaning against my kitchen counter with Layna tucked under his arm.
A smile, so innocent and so pure, spread across Layna’s face. “Talon!”
I shoved every memory of my dead wife away and forced a smile for the girl who could be her twin. “Hey, Sugar.” She’d earned the nickname the first time I’d seen her drink coffee when her ratio of sugar to coffee bordered on diabetic.
She launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around my neck despite her six-foot-four husband looking like he was going to pound my face into the granite countertops.
I hugged her and for a single moment, the world didn’t completely fucking suck. “Nice to see your head still attached to your shoulders.” I had to joke about it.
“Hey,” Blaze warned, his deep voice more of a growl than usual.
I let go of Layna and caught his stare, fighting the urge to look away. His eyes were so clear he looked inhuman. They’d always freaked me the fuck out. Then I’d seen him on the battlefield and inhuman didn’t begin to cover it. Cold, calculating, emotionless, his detachment had scared the shit out of me until he’d put himself between me and a bunch of insurgents. I’d needed to piece together two wounded enough for transport but I’d been taking too much fire to do shit except cover them with my body.
Blaze had sprinted fifteen meters through open fire, positioned himself in front of us, took my M16 and started firing both our weapons while I’d worked. That was the first time he’d saved my life. I respected the fuck out of him for it. Then I’d nicknamed him Deer Hunter. “Nothin’ doin’, Deer Hunter, just glad she’s okay.”
He used his most lethal arsenal and stared at me a moment longer. Then he nodded and cut to the chase. “We need to clean house.”
Translation, he was beyond fucking pissed at what I’d done. I didn’t care. He could go fuck himself. Layna was alive and Maldonado wasn’t. Cleaning house was pointless now. “Maldonado’s dead.”
Blaze’s eyes flared with anger but he didn’t say shit.
Layna tucked herself back under Blaze’s arm. “André told us about Nicole. How long have you known her?” Her brown eyes studied me like she could see right through me.
“I don’t.” I grabbed the bottle of tequila and three shot glasses.
Blaze amped up his glare. “The Lone Coasters aren’t going to let this go.”
I poured out three shots. Shoving one across the counter to André, I pushed the other toward Layna. I knew I was only pissing Blaze off further but I didn’t care. I was itching for a fight and Blaze was fucking hard with the desire to pound my face in. I threw the shot back, refilled my glass, drank another then gave Blaze his glare right back. “Not your fuckin’ problem. Take your bride home,” I taunted.
“I can’t,” he growled.
“Whatsa matter? Too much time downrange, you forget your way to your woman’s house? Need me to show you? ’Cause I remember exactly how to get there.”
Blaze moved, fast and sure like I knew he would. My back slammed into the wall and his arm crushed against my throat.
“I can still breathe, Marine. You turnin’ into a pussy?” Every word made him increase his pressure but it did nothing to the fucking vise grip on my heart.
“Talon,” Layna reprimanded.
André threw his shot back. “Do you two want to kill each other or figure this shit out?”
Nostrils flaring, Blaze looked like he preferred the first option.
So I grinned.
I could have ducked. I could have turned my head. I could have thrown him before his fist connected with my face. Despite him being faster than me and having forty more pounds of muscle, I still could’ve taken Blaze because I knew his weaknesses. I made it my business to know them. But I did none of those things. I let him hit me.
My head snapped back and pain exploded in my jaw. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and my tongue automatically felt my teeth to see if they were still attached. “That’s all you got?” He’d held back.
Blaze fisted a handful of my T-shirt.
“Stop!” Layna cried.
Blaze ignored her. “You put my wife in danger again, you’re dead.” He shoved me hard and let go.
“You two done?” André casually dropped his shot glass in the sink.
Layna scrambled around behind me, grabbing a dish cloth and reaching in the freezer. “Here.” She thrust a makeshift ice pack at me.
I held it to my face without taking my eyes off Blaze. “Thanks, Sugar.”
“Look.” Layna glanced between us. “Maybe we should wait and talk about this in the morning.”
“They already know we’re here,” Blaze said, disgusted. “Black pickup parked twenty meters south on the opposite side of the street.”
“Shit.” André pulled out his cell. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“You weren’t looking hard enough. They’re pulled halfway into the mangroves.”
Neil came up the stairs and strode into my kitchen like it was his. “There’s a black truck, east side of A1A.”
“We know,” André gritted out.
“Then why is it still there?” Neil’s deep accented voice was low and quiet but it still echoed around my kitchen. Six foot six, Danish ex-Special Forces, he was built like a fucking Viking and fought like a goddamn warrior.
“I’m working on it.” André walked to one of the windows facing the street and peered out as he spoke into his phone. “Black pickup, sixty feet south.” He swore in Spanish. “Handle it.” He snapped the plantation shutters closed and shoved his phone in his pocket. “We need to come up with a plan tonight.”
A look I knew all too well passed between André, Neil and Blaze but I didn’t give a shit. I didn’t care about Stone or his fucking motorcycle gang or what was left of Maldonado’s headless organization. The only thing that kept replaying in my mind was the moment I’d first sunk into Siren’s heat. Then I was watching her blank eyes as she’d told me good-bye.
I picked up the tequila and went to the couch. I didn’t give two fucks about how pathetic I looked or that they were all staring at me. I was going to drink till I passed out.
A half hour later, Layna sat down on the couch next to me. “Tell me about her.”
I tried to focus on the bottle in my hand. It was a third gone. “Who?”
Her hand wrapped around my forearm. “Don’t do that. You don’t have to play games with me.”
I chuckled without any humor. “Lotsa things I’d like to play with you, Sugar, but games ain’t one of them.”
“You don’t get to flirt with me anymore. I’m a married woman.”
I leaned my head back and looked at her. Jesus. “You look like her.”
“I know.” A sympathetic smile touched her face.
“I miss her so fuckin’ bad,” I blurted, drunk as shit.
“She would have wanted you to be happy.”
I shook my head but it didn’t ease the confusion. How could she want me to be happy? “She doesn’t even know me.” But the crazy part? The short time I’d been around Siren, I was already more comfortable around her than I’d ever been with any other woman. I didn’t try to pretend to be something better than my dirt-poor upbringing around her. I did
n’t have to flirt my way into her good graces. Shit, she was trying to protect me. Damn it, I wanted Siren back.
Layna’s forehead creased. “Leigh was your wife, Talon. She knew you.”
“I wasn’t… Oh, fuck.” I wasn’t thinking about Leigh. “Goddamn.” I rubbed a hand over my face.
“Wow,” Layna blew out a slow breath as she tried to cover a smile. “You were talking about Nicole.”
I couldn’t believe I wasn’t thinking about my dead wife. But I wasn’t. Two miserable years and I wasn’t breathing grief for her. I was drowning in another kind of anguish. “I fuckin’ slept with her once—one time.” Losing my shit, I held up one finger. “Motherfucker.” I shook my head and reached to put the tequila on the coffee table and almost missed. “Why the fuck am I’m tellin’ you this?”
Vision jacked from too much Patron, I could still make out the smile that spread across Layna’s face.
“I’m a better listener than the guys and besides, I’m a woman. I know how women think.”
This time my laugh was real. “Sugar, if I’m relyin’ on you for insight into women, I’m so fuckin’ fucked.”
She punched my arm. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“You don’t know jack shit about relationships.” Memories of her fumbling every step with Blaze sobered the smile on my face. “But I’m glad you got your man.”
“Yeah.” She glanced at Blaze as he sat at the kitchen table with André and her face lit up. “Me, too.” When she looked back at me, she studied me for a moment. “So you want a relationship with Nicole?”
I sighed, almost wanting to curse the time I’d had with Siren before everything fell to shit. “Want and get ain’t never been friends, Sugar.”
Her hand moved to mine but she didn’t speak for a full minute. “Why’d you do it?”
My muscles tensed and I shut my face down. Drunk as fuck, I still knew what she was asking. “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ ’bout.”
“Why?” she asked gently but firmly.
Because she was the first person to make me laugh for real after my wife died? Because she was my best friend’s wife and she deserved to live? Because she’d lost everything and I knew what that felt like? There were too many reasons. But only one was important. I stared at her hand on mine. “I don’t have family. I have friends…” I looked up at her. “You’re my friend.”
