Jake: The Sinner Saints #3

by Adrienne Bell

“Yeah, I remember you,” Charlie said in a whisper.

  But judging by her hushed tone, not very glad to hear from her.

  “You know, I’m sorry,” Verity said in a rush. “Maybe this was a bad idea.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Charlie said without hesitation. “Just give me a second to get into my office and lock the door.”

  Verity swallowed hard. Were things really so bad that someone like Charlie was afraid to even be caught talking to her?

  Apparently so.

  Verity waited and eventually heard the soft click of a door closing on the other end.

  “Dang, girl,” Charlie said, her voice back to its usual bubbly tone. “I was beginning to fear that I was never going to hear from you again.”

  “Well, I landed in a little bit of trouble.”

  “That’s the understatement of the year,” Charlie said with a laugh. “Last time I heard, you had both the FBI and the Norteños gunning for you.”

  “Yeah, it’s been a rough couple of days,” Verity said with a sigh. “But, strangely enough, that’s not why I’m calling.”

  “Is it Jake?” Charlie asked a little too quickly. “Is he giving you grief?”

  A bright blush lit up Verity’s cheeks. Suddenly she was glad that Charlie couldn’t see her face. Grief wasn’t exactly how she’d characterize what Jake was giving her.

  “No,” Verity said. “But if you could give me any pointers on how to deal with that Bowie guy, I'd appreciate it.”

  "Wait," Charlie said her tone becoming serious. “Bowie is there?”

  “Yep,” Verity said. “And I get the feeling he really doesn’t like me.”

  “Well, you can’t take that personally. He doesn’t like anybody.”

  Verity pursed her lips together as she nodded. That was actually strangely reassuring.

  “But if you aren’t calling me about your many warrants or man problems,” Charlie said, “then why are you calling me?”

  “That’s the thing. I’m not entirely sure.” Verity straightened her back as she explained the story behind Roman’s letter and her plan to get to the antiquities before they were sold off. “But now that plan is off the table, the guys are off playing soldier, and I’m stuck here feeling…useless.”

  “And you were wondering if there was any way that I could help you to keep fighting the good fight?” Charlie said as if she could read her mind.

  “Exactly,” Verity said beginning to feel hopeful.

  “Oh, Verity, sweetie. I can help you do a hell of a lot more than that,” Charlie said. “Do you have a laptop?”

  “No.” Verity shook her head.

  “There should be one in Jake’s bag. I can hook it up to our secure network remotely.”

  Verity put down the phone long enough to run over to Jake’s duffel. Sure enough, she found a small laptop nestled at the bottom.

  “Now what do we do?” Verity asked as she plopped back down on the edge of the bed.

  “Now, Verity,” Charlie said with a laugh, “we screw with some bad guys."

  ***

  It had only been a few hours since Jake had left Verity behind at the motel—well, three hours, twenty-three minutes to be precise—but he still couldn’t keep from pressing on the accelerator as he passed the Augustville city limits sign.

  He told himself it wasn’t because he was nervous. She was probably fine. There was no reason to believe otherwise.

  Still, he didn’t like being away from Verity this long. Not now. There was no way he was going to be satisfied until he saw with his own eyes that she was safe and sound.

  He pushed the pedal down a little farther.

  Bowie turned his head Jake’s way but didn’t say a word. Not that Jake would have taken it if he had. Bowie was the last person on earth who was allowed to call another man out for being too protective of a woman.

  Fortunately, his friend was too wrapped up with his own concerns to take Jake to task for his. Their recon mission hadn’t been a great success. They’d managed to get on and off of Silas’ property without getting caught but just barely. The place was crawling with men. Neither of them had been able to get close enough to see anything of real value, let alone gather evidence that Bowie’s DEA contact could bring to a judge. Whatever Silas was hiding on the property, he had it well concealed.

  “I have to go, Diane,” Bowie said into the phone as Jake turned into the motel parking lot. “Let me know if you have any luck, and I’ll call you if anything changes.”

  “Well, that could have gone better,” Jake said, throwing the truck into park.

  Bowie cocked a brow. “At least you didn’t waste any time getting us back.”

  “You don’t like my driving?” Jake didn’t even glance at his friend as he stepped down on the pavement and headed toward the motel room.

  “Didn’t say that.” Bowie’s voice followed him. “Just not used to going that fast outside of one of Carter’s race cars.”

  Jake ignored the jibe as he pulled out the key and threw open the door. The hair on the back of his neck stood up when he saw that the room was dark.

  Well, that wasn’t completely true. There was some light, a faint, unnatural blue-tinted glow that emanated from deep inside.

  Jake’s hand instinctually went to the holster at his side. He checked behind him and found that Bowie was doing the same. All traces of humor fell away as they stepped over the threshold.

  Jake let out a breath the moment he saw Verity sitting cross-legged on the far mattress. She was fine. Just fine. The only thing out of place was the laptop that she had balanced on her knees.

  His laptop.

  Jake’s back teeth ground together.

  “Verity,” he said, not bothering to hide any of the displeasure from his voice. “What’s going on?”

  She didn't look up from the screen. Instead, she lifted a single finger. “One sec.”

  Jake had to snap his jaw shut.

  One sec? She was putting him off? What the hell was going on?

  Jake turned to Bowie, but his friend was no help. He just arched his brows as something that looked suspiciously like a grin started to play at the corner of his lips.

  “Okay, so that's done,” Verity said to no one in particular. “I think we've done all the damage we can on these message boards. What's next?”

  Jake's brows dipped down as his forehead furrowed. He took a step forward, ready to demand to know what in God's name was going on, but someone spoke before he could.

  “Not much more to do,” a familiar feminine voice sounded from the computer’s speakers. “We're coming to the end of the list.”

  Charlie.

  Oh God. Jake rolled his head back.

  Verity had an open laptop in front of her and Charlie on the line. No way in hell this was a good thing.

  “Give me the laptop, Verity,” Jake said, moving over to the bed.

  “Just a second,” Verity said, still focusing on her typing.

  “Time’s up.” Jake was all out of patience. He snatched his computer off Verity’s knees and spun it around.

  Several windows were open, and staring up at him from one in the corner was Charlie’s smiling face.

  “Hey, stranger,” Charlie said as his face came into view of the webcam.

  Jake ignored the cheery greeting.

  "What the hell are you doing, Charlie?”

  "Good to see you too,” she went on.

  Jake drew in a deep breath, trying to wrangle his temper back under control.

  “Someone needs to answer me,” he said.

  “Or what?” Charlie asked, with a sly smile. “You’ll come back to the office and yell at me in person? Cause, honestly, I’m willing to take that hit if it means that you’re coming home.”

  Damn it. Even though he knew Charlie was blatantly manipulating him, Jake couldn’t stop the wave of guilt that crashed over him. He couldn’t bear to look at her another moment. He tossed the open laptop down on the bed, and pierced Verit
y with a stare.

  “Tell me what you were doing,” he demanded.

  “Fine,” she said, looking up at him with real anger burning in her eyes. “Charlie was helping me navigate the dark web and plant false information about Silas’ stolen art.”

  Jake saw red. “What?”

  “Oh, rookie mistake, Verity,” Charlie said with a groan. “You never want to spill the whole truth to these guys. Not all at once, anyway. Isn’t that right, Bowie?”

  Jake turned his head long enough to see that the smirk had faded from Bowie’s face. “No idea what you’re talking about,” he said.

  “Really?” Charlie said, her voice dripping with attitude. “Because I’m pretty sure you told me you were off to help a client in Hawaii this week.”

  Bowie’s gaze slid to the side. His lips became a hard flat line. “And I don’t think that Carter would approve of you combing through illegal online marketplaces.”

  Charlie laughed. “If I waited around to get Carter’s permission for even half the things I do around here, I’d never get anything done.”

  “If this is what you’re spending your time on, then maybe that’s not such a bad idea,” Bowie said.

  “Right,” Charlie snapped back. “Like you guys could make it a single day without me.”

  Jake’s hands shook as he balled them into fists at his side. His patience was gone. He couldn’t take another second of this bickering. He needed to talk to Verity alone. Now.

  “Bye, Charlie,” he said.

  “Hey,” was all she managed to get out before he leaned over and flicked the laptop closed.

  “Bowie,” Jake said, shutting his eyes. “Can you give us a minute?”

  “Yeah,” Bowie said. “No problem.”

  Jake didn’t trust himself to open his eyes until a few seconds later when he heard the click of the door closing behind him. Only then did he dare to pull his shoulders back and look down on Verity’s utterly unrepentant face.

  ***

  Jake was pissed. It was easy to see. His arm muscles were practically bursting out of his shirt. His face was tight. His whole body was vibrating with an angry energy that made him look like he was going to explode.

  The strange thing was Verity didn't care.

  Not really.

  Maybe yesterday she would have been falling all over herself to apologize to him, but not today. Why should she? She’d done nothing wrong. And if he would only calm down for a second, he’d see that.

  “Jake, I think you’re overreacting,” she said.

  “Overreacting?” he said, drawing in a deep breath. Verity realized that he was trying to control his temper. He didn't want to go off on her.

  “Really. It's no big deal," she tried.

  And just like that, all the storm clouds that he'd been trying to push down rushed to the surface. He leaned in closer, looming over her.

  “No big deal?” he roared. “What the hell were you thinking?"

  Verity had enough. She wasn’t about to cower in the corner just because he raised his voice. If he wanted a fight, she would give him one.

  She jumped up from the bed, and Jake pulled himself up to his full height. Still, Verity managed to stand toe to toe with him as she met his stormy gaze.

  “The same thing I’ve been thinking about for the last week. How to save the art that my brother stole.”

  "By toying with dangerous criminals?"

  “Roman brought me out here for one reason—to authenticate the art he stole,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm. “If I do the opposite, if I tell the world they’re fakes, then maybe I chase away his buyers.”

  Her argument didn’t work. Jake’s face only grew redder. “And incur Silas’ wrath in the process.”

  Verity threw her hands up in the air. “What is he going to do, Jake? Ruin my career? Get me in trouble with the law? Send people out to kill me?”

  “This isn’t a joke, Verity,” Jake said. “You have no idea how dangerous Silas can be.”

  “I got a pretty good idea when he convinced my brother to shoot at me,” she countered.

  “But you still didn’t learn.”

  Verity’s eyes narrowed. “What happened to all that talk last night about how brave I was? How I was a fighter?”

  “I didn’t mean for you to go after Silas on your own,” Jake said, his eyes going almost wild.

  “Then what did you mean?” she asked. “Because I have to tell you, Jake. I cannot go back to hiding my face and cowering in corners. Too much has happened. Some of it good. Some of it bad. But there’s no pretending that I’m the same person I was before. You showed me that.”

  Jake’s lips pursed together. His big hands opened and clenched at his side.

  “God damn it, Verity.” His tone was as hard as the line of his jaw. “Do you have any idea what will happen if Silas decides that you’re a real threat? Do you know how hard he’ll come after you? Have you given a single thought to the things he’ll do to you?”

  “I have,” she admitted…and decided that the benefits were worth the risk.

  He broke his gaze and stared down at the floor at his right.

  “And what about me?” His voice was so tight it broke. “What the hell would I do if something happened to you?”

  Verity’s mouth fell open as a long breath left her lungs. Suddenly she realized that it wasn't anger that was moving him. It was fear.

  He was terrified that she’d put herself in danger that he couldn’t get her out of. That maybe no one could.

  She understood what he was feeling. She’d hated watching him leave today. She'd almost driven herself mad with worry.

  But she knew his talents. She’d seen firsthand what he was capable of.

  She’d trusted him.

  Now it was time for him to return the favor.

  “Look at me, Jake,” she said, lifting her hands to cup his cheeks. The short coarse hairs of his beard bristled against her palm, but he didn’t pull away.

  His mouth tightened into a flat line as he looked down at her. She could see the war waging inside his eyes. She lifted herself up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss against his tight lips, then another against his cheek.

  “I’m sorry that I dragged you into this,” she said.

  “Verity, don’t,” he tried to stop her.

  She went on anyway. “But now that I’ve come this far, I have to see it through. All I can ask is for you to trust me," she said.

  Jake wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against him. She rested her head against his chest and listened to the comforting drum of his heart. A part of her wished that she could stay like this forever, safely enveloped in his embrace.

  But deep down she knew she couldn’t.

  A moment later, he proved her right by pulling away.

  “You don’t understand,” he said, turning his back on her and walking toward the door. “It’s not you I don’t trust.”

  Verity opened her mouth to say something—anything to stop him—but nothing came out before the door closed with a soft click.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jake ground his back teeth together and let out a frustrated growl the moment he stepped outside his door. He leaned his back against the painted stucco wall, and, for half a second, he wanted a drink so bad it hurt. That wasn’t all he wanted. It was the whole package—to be back at the Crossroads, to be tucked away in his corner booth where no one pestered him. Where everyone had the good sense to leave him alone.

  Everyone but Verity.

  She hadn’t just changed her life the night she’d snuck into his world. She’d changed his as well.

  And that was why he could never go back. Verity had shown him what he’d really been doing—running from all the pain and guilt that had built up in his heart.

  Of course, she’d also shown him that running never worked. The only way to defeat the hurt and uncertainty was to face it head on.

  Which was exactly what he planned on doing…right after
he had a few minutes alone to collect himself.

  But it looked like he wasn’t going to get that either.

  Out of the corner of his eye he could spy Bowie leaning against the grill of his truck.

  “Thought you’d be long gone by now,” Jake said, turning his head.

  Bowie cocked his chin to the side as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Had a feeling you’d be coming out here sooner rather than later.”

  “So, you just stuck around to gloat?” Jake pushed off the wall and headed over to the other side of the hood.

  “No.” Bowie slowly shook his head. “Truth is I may have been too quick to judge your girl in there.”

  Jake’s brows pulled together. “You saying you’ve changed your mind about Verity?”

  Bowie shrugged.

  Well, God damn. That was as close to an apology as he’d ever seen Bowie get.

  “Does this have anything to do with your private conversation with her this morning?”

  “Maybe,” Bowie admitted. “I was worried she might be using you, but I was wrong. She’s good for you. She cares about you. Deeply.”

  Jake didn’t need Bowie to tell him that. He saw it clear as day in her eyes. He felt it in her touch, heard it in her voice. Even when she’d tried her hardest, she hadn’t been able to hide her emotions from him.

  And heaven help him, he felt it too.

  Jake knew all about the strong connections that could form between people in intense situations. He’d seen it happen to two of his friends this past year.

  Somehow he'd thought himself immune to it. He'd been in plenty of dangerous situations, some of them with women. He’d even slept with a few of them, but no one had ever moved him the way Verity did. She made him smile, and laugh, and feel something deep inside that had nothing to do with lust.

  Well, that wasn't entirely true.

  He would be lying if he said he wasn’t sexually attracted to her. She was soft in all the right places. Hell, just thinking about her curves was enough to make him hard.

  And yet, that wasn’t what drew him to her the most. It was her resiliency, her courage, her passion. That was what set her apart from every other woman that had come before—her internal fire that refused to be doused.