“Oh shit.”
“Yeah. I saw her exit a few minutes before he did and she was carrying a huge shopping bag and some smaller packets from the Design Emporium.”
“You can’t really believe—”
“I do, Miah. It all makes sense to me now. I’ve been asking myself why Paulie would even think of getting us information and why she’s been so eager to help when she’s Ronny’s best friend. I’ve been wondering what she does all day when she goes to visit Cleo and what she can possibly see in spending days with an old, chair-ridden woman.”
“Jared, man, you’re looking for things—”
“No, I’m not. Haven’t you wondered what is going on here with me watching her all hours of the day? I kept hoping I was wrong about this, that somehow I was wrong about Paulie being in on this,” he mutters, dragging at his smoke again.
“Jared. I don’t understand, man. Why would you even suspect her in the first place?” Wyatt asks, just as confused as any of us are.
“You all know that I’ve met Williams before, yeah?”
“Yeah? So? She’s FBI and one of the ones who saved Clari,” Miah grits out through clenched teeth.
“Well, I wondered what they’d be doing on this case if it was handed to our side. So I looked into it. They, whoever else was with her, are not here on official business. Not thinking too much of it and knowing it could be a spook operation due to leaks, like we’ve found out, I let it go and chose to move on. I’ve met Williams, after all, and she is, was good people.”
“But?”
“But I’ve been spending a lot more time watching Paulie than anyone thinks Goddammit, and after that nosy neighbor of hers caught me I started leaving the car behind and going into the trees. I saw Williams and one of her cohorts creep onto her land and I watched them meet. I assumed it meant they got to her, too, and were also using her to get info.”
“And that is most probably the case,” I say, though I don’t believe a word of it myself.
Nah, after that little talk with Trace and the way my mind works, I, like Jared, know exactly what’s going on here.
It’s just a matter of proving it.
“You know it isn’t, Jace. Goddammit, you fucking know what’s going on here just like I do. Williams is in on this shit, and either she’s using Paulie—God help me, I hope she’s just using her—or Paulie is as wrapped up in this as the rest of them. I should have connected the dots sooner and known this Goddamned Lane plague was involved in this shit,” he growls, flicking his cigarette so hard it snaps in half and he’s forced to light another one.
“Wait. Are you saying what I think you’re saying, bro?” Wyatt asks, finally getting the gist of what me and Jared are getting at.
“Yeah, I’m afraid I am. Someone in the Lane or Conrad families, probably both, if we’re lucky, is orchestrating not only one of the biggest extremist groups in the country, but they’re also using their power to get at us through our women.”
Well fuck.
I can see someone going after Ellie because of Bolton—that is, after all, where all this shit started. The Lanes and Conrads swore vengeance on us for that little mercy “killing.” I can also see them trying to get to Miah by using Clari, because, let’s face it, Miah is the ringleader of our little crew. To take him down would severely cripple us as not only a family, but a unit as well.
Hell, I can see them getting to Trace given she’s mine and they know that using her would distract me while they move their shit around and start playing games with Roman while I’m not watching. To use Trace is so obviously smart. Keep me out of the way while I run after her ass.
Good plan.
But Paulie?
Like Jared just said, there’s a strong possibility that the chick is involved in this, and if that turns out to be true, I hope like hell it’s her being blackmailed or threatened and not her being part of it voluntarily. As much as I think Jared loves her, I’d hate to see him turn his hate on that little woman.
Jared is one of those mean-tempered guys when he’s riled, and nothing riles the man more than his loved ones being threatened.
“Listen. Let’s just take a step back here and calm down. This situation was a cluster fuck to begin with, we all know that. We have a SEAL mole, a senator, if Trace was right, cops, an FBI agent gone rogue, and some people who are out for revenge. Paulie could be in some serious trouble here, and I think it’s your duty to look at this before just going after her,” Wyatt says sternly, giving his little brother a look that speaks volumes.
Leave it to Wyatt to state the obvious in such a way that Jared actually pauses and stops to think. Thank God for big brothers, because I think his stern words finally sink in and Jared relaxes his battle stance and takes the first deep breath I’ve seen him take since getting here.
“You’re right. She could be in trouble. I don’t know. All I know is that she left her house at noon today with a packed bag. I don’t know where she is, and she’s not answering her phone, so instead of assuming she’s made a run for it or gone to them, I’m going to handle this like a hostage situation.”
Chapter Eleven
Jace
I feel like I’ve run a marathon when we all finally get home and Jared leads us to his place, ready and hopping now that he’s got his head back on straight. The man smells like an ashtray and looks like he’s put ten years on in the last hour, but at least he’s not looking ready for blood anymore.
The plan we’ve come up with is a simple one, our only option really, and I just hope it does something positive because we’re treading a fine line here.
Roman is still in too deep for comfort and we need to find him before things blow up, and by that I mean before Jared loses his patience.
Add to that the possibility that Paulette Hayes could also be in some real trouble, and what I get is a bad feeling that has me by the balls.
“Okay, listen up. We need to get to Roman. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, so we need to start thinking clearly here. We also need to review the footage from the camera I put on Paulette’s place and see what the hell spooked her, or…we need to see what went down just before she took off.”
Good, so he’s at least trying not to go rogue, I think, watching the little shit plant himself behind that computer he seems to love so much and start tapping away at the keys a mile a minute.
“Miah, Wyatt, get in touch with Senator Dobson like I told you and get him here. I don’t give a shit if you have to go to DC yourselves and kidnap his ass, but get him here. If he knows anything, I want to be the first to know what it is. Jace, go get our girl. We need to talk profile.”
“Jared—”
“No. Trace came back here with a mission and a lot more information than she realizes. I want it all and I want it now before this thing gets any worse and we end up getting our whole family slaughtered. Get Tracy,” he barks before turning back to his monitor with a curse.
I second his words and leave the room with a heavy feeling pooling in my gut.
I know Trace is likely trained, a little, but I hate having to bring her back into this mess when deep down I want to grab her and run and just forget about it all till it blows over.
I could kick Miah’s ass for taking this assignment so close to home, and I will, just as soon as I go tell my girl that instead of being safe and out of it, she has to help us catch these people before Jared loses his mind and just starts shooting or we get my brother back in a body bag.
Paulie, well, she’s not family yet, so if she is involved, I’m not against leaving her to her own devices. It’s a cold stance, I know, but that’s the way I feel, especially if I have to watch my brother and best friend go insane when he finds out his woman is a bad seed.
I find her a few minutes later in the library, curled up with a copy of Wuthering Heights and a glass of iced tea. She looks so peaceful and calm as she reads that I hate myself when I stop in front of her and call her name.
“Jace? Did you find Jar
ed? What’s really going on here?” she asks, looking worried and angry that I left her in the lurch earlier.
I sigh and get down to my knees in front of her, sliding my hands to her hips to bring her closer.
“We think Paulie is involved in this, Trace.”
“What? No way. No way. Paulie is not capable of this. Ronny, I can see that bitch getting neck deep in this mess and not caring about the consequences as long as she makes money, but not Paulie. She’s too sweet and kind for this, Jace. For heaven’s sake, she cried for a week when my goldfish died and all I did was tell her how the poor sucker wouldn’t flush,” she says, yelling by the end of her speech.
My chest hurts a lot when I look into her sad eyes and see the doubts and the hope lurking in their depths. Tracy hates seeing the bad in people; she always has. This tough, smart-mouthed exterior she keeps throwing at us is just her way of staying sane and safe and not getting hurt by people—something that’s my fault.
But her heart is big, and I know that thinking of Paulette this way must be hurting her a lot right now. I won’t lie to her, though, not even to save her the heartbreak, so instead of just agreeing, I do the right thing and just lay things out for her.
“Jared’s seen her meeting with Williams.”
That comes as a surprise. I see it in the ways she freezes and rears back, looking at me oddly.
“What? Why would she be meeting with Williams? She doesn’t even know—are they investigating Ronny because I just knew that bitch was behind all this.”
“Babe, Jared checked into this and Williams is on forced leave, pending suspension. She’s not working this case officially. In fact, I don’t think she’s working a case at all, but rather that she’s working for them,” I admit, rubbing slow circles around her hips when she tenses and start chewing her lips so hard I see a drop of blood form.
“Stop that, babe,” I scold, using a thumb to free her lips and wipe the blood away. “This is not your fault, so quit thinking it is.”
That lips starts trembling and she buries her face in her hands with a groan.
“I’ve been such an idiot, Jace. I…when Williams approached me about this instead of Jackson, like usual, I just accepted it. She offered me freedom if I managed to come down here and sew it all up nice and tight and I just jumped at it without thinking. When she mentioned the chance that Daddy was involved, she had me and I just…I wanted it to be over so that I could leave. I just—”
“Wanted to leave it all behind and finally have the chance at the life I promised you but never delivered,” I finish for her, closing my eyes as self-loathing courses through me.
That sad, desperate look I saw the first time I met her is back in her eyes and it makes me want to start hurting people. She’s been so happy these last three days, flitting around the house with Ma, Ellie, and Clari just doing things that she should be able to do without the worries that she’s lived with for years.
I did this. If not for my fear and stupidity, she would be my wife and the mother of my children and none of this would have ever touched her, never mind her having to accept that this is a very well-thought-out plot to draw me out and hit back at my family.
I have no doubt anymore that the Lane gang is involved and that using their resources this way was always the plan. For all I know…
“Shit. Shit. Shit!”
Trace jumps at my loud expletives and I soothe her with a kiss as my mind starts racing.
“What? Jace, are you okay?” she asks when I jump to my feet and pull her into me, squeezing her smaller body way too tight.
“I’m fine, babe. Or we will be. I think I know how to get the answers we need,” I say, almost tripping when I just grab her up and start running for Jared.
“Jace, slow down, you’ll break your neck getting us up the stairs!”
“No, I won’t. Now hush up and kiss me before we get inside and have to talk to those three gorillas,” I say, pushing her up against the wall beside Jared’s door and sealing my mouth to hers.
That feeling of home and belonging rushes through me when she opens her mouth beneath mine and takes my tongue into her mouth with a sigh, letting me taste and plunder at will.
For all this stress and the problems we face, I still can’t stop wanting her like this, thinking almost every hour on the hour about dragging her back upstairs to our bed and stripping her naked to feast on her lean body.
I’m always hard around her, even in times of crisis, and if things weren’t so urgent right now I think I’d drag her to bed and do just what I want to her for hours. Days. Weeks, if I had my say.
Tracy moans again and I almost die on the spot when she hops up and clamps her legs around my hips, grinding her jeans-clad sex against the bulge straining against my zipper.
“Christ, I always want you,” I groan, pushing back into her, searching, adjusting till she moans and I know I’ve found her clit.
We may not be able to cut out and go to bed right now, or anytime soon, but I can take this one moment to reconnect with my girl and give her the pleasure I need as much as I need air to breathe.
“Oh, oh, right there,” she moans into my mouth, her breath mingling with mine as I push harder and twist from side to side, causing friction on that little pearl between her folds.
Her moaning gets loud and I’m forced to stop and take a deep breath before clamping my hands to her ass and walking the ten steps needed to reach the small alcove hidden to the right of Jared’s door.
Once there I press her back to the wall and seal my mouth over hers tightly, starting up that rhythm again, almost wild with the need to hear her, see her, feel her come undone beneath me.
Nothing fills me like knowing that I give her pleasure—nothing—and as she starts sucking at my tongue and making those sexy noises deep in her throat that let me know she’s close, I swear I can feel my own orgasm trying to break free.
The pain in my dick is unbearable as it starts baying to be let out, but I ignore it and push closer to her heat, grinding herder when she digs her nails into my scalp and starts bucking beneath me in bliss.
“Hmmm, oh, oh, oh.”
I let her ride it out to the very end, kissing her softly the whole time as she comes down from the high of climax. I let her down minutes later after a few soft kisses and words of praise to let her know how good that was for me, though I’m still hard and aching for her.
The feeling is full and sweet as I fix her hair and steady her by the elbow, leading her directly to Jared’s door before pausing to face her.
“Jared isn’t quite right in the head at the moment thanks to the Paulette situation, so just breathe and try not to take it personally if he gets mean. I’ll be there with you the whole time. Remember, I have a plan, and no matter what you learn tonight, Trace, know that I always have your back and you don’t have to do a damn thing you don’t want to. Okay?”
She nods her head and leans up to peck my lips.
“I trust you.”
***
“Stop.”
We’ve been at this for an hour and I’m just about ready to deck my own brother when Tracy shoots to her feet and plants her hands on the desk, leaning over to loom over my much bigger, meaner brother.
“You’re being an ass, Jared Lane, and I’ll thank you to stop taking your mood out on me. I have told you a million times that I don’t know more, so either move the fuck on or shut up already.”
Damn that was sexy.
Wyatt starts laughing when Jared rears back, eyes narrowed and makes as if to zip his lips when my fire-breathing dragon gives him one last glare before plopping back down beside me.
“Trace—”
“Shut up, Jared. I am sick of you growling at me, and from the way your brother’s been grinding his teeth, I’m either going to be one brother short in a minute or I’ll be marrying a toothless man, so just shut the hell up right now,” she yells. “Now. Like I said, I don’t know anything else. I already feel terrible enough about
my own stupidity as it is. I don’t need you to point it all out to me, okay? I do not know where, why, or how Paulie got involved in this, and before you start barking again, I don’t think she’s in on anything. She’s more likely than not in the same boat I was in till a few hours ago. We need to find her, Jared.”
I watch him struggle to regain control of his emotions for a few minutes as Trace leans back and crosses her arms over her chest.
“Jace is right. This thing, whatever it really is, is not a new thing. It’s been going on for a while. It has to have been for it to be this organized and well concealed so…we need to talk to your aunt Lynn. Can I just say how messed up it is that you all have stuck one of your crazy relatives in one of the American Horror Story asylums?”
If that’s the rosy picture my baby wants to believe in, then I won’t tell her that Lynn wishes Sister Jude was her jailer. I really like that irony right there, because if Ma knew about this, Lynn would wish she were dead right now.
“She won’t tell us a thing,” Jared growls, pulling at his hair as exhaustion lines his face.
“She won’t need to, asshole. I’m a profiler, remember? All you have to do is ask her the right questions and I’ll know her story before you can blink,” Trace says confidently, smiling so wide I see her back molars. “I know how to put the screw on in an interrogation and I sure as hell know how to read people. If Lynn knows anything, I’ll get it out of her.”
“She’s been locked up for over a year.”
“Good. That means she’ll be cocky and defiant, the best mix for the Mayfield cocktail I’m about to give her. Come on, Jared, what do we have to lose here? We have nothing as it is, so questioning Lynn won’t lose us a damn thing.”
I feel almost giddy when Miah finally weighs in and gives us the go-ahead.
“I’ll call Case and let him know you’re coming. Wyatt, get the jet ready and tell the pilot to be on standby. Jace, you and Trace go get some answers from the bitch and we’ll keep everything together on this end. Jared, if you don’t stop foaming at the mouth I swear to God I will tranquilize your ass and wake you when this is all over.”
JACE (Lane Brothers Book 3) Page 10
