She raised her chin a notch. “Let me file my report, and I’ll answer more of your questions.”
“What guarantee do I have that you won’t backstab me later?”
“Believe nothing else about me, but I always told the truth about my mother. I swear on her grave that I won’t betray you unless you give me a reason to do so.”
Memories of Sabrina’s tears as she told him about her mother’s death flashed into his head. That had been the moment he’d started to fall for the woman he thought was Sabrina Ono. Had it been part of her ruse or had her tears been genuine?
More than likely, this was a trick. But he couldn’t risk losing the only lead he had on Watkins. “Fine. But I’m coming with you to watch you file your report. That’s my condition.”
Sabrina relaxed her hand and lowered it down from Jorge’s crotch. If he hadn’t agreed to her deal, she would’ve grabbed his balls and twisted. Making the bitter man angry was not the smartest idea, but it’d been all she had.
Luckily, he’d agreed. “All right then, let me go so we can get moving.”
“Until we get to wherever it is we’re going, I’m going to hold your hand the entire way.” He took her right hand—her dominant one, of course—and squeezed. “If you don’t want to attract attention, then you’d better act like my girlfriend.”
She tried to pull away—this would most certainly get her caught if anyone was following her—but all he did in response was to pull her close against his side and say, “If you stay close and act like you adore me, people are less likely to pay attention to you. So, are you ready?”
She glared and tried her best to ignore the heat radiating off Jorge’s body. She hated to admit it, but Jorge was physically stronger than her. She’d never get free until either he allowed it, or she found a weapon to help even the odds.
Her best option was to use side streets and back alleys to avoid running into any of her Fed League colleagues. The plan wasn’t foolproof, but it was the best she could do for now.
She squeezed his hand back, careful to dig her nails into his skin. To his credit, he didn’t even flinch.
She finally answered him. “Your plan is pretty shitty—and will probably get us both caught—but it’s not like I have a choice.”
He shrugged. “Hey, things could be a lot worse, princess.”
“Stop calling me princess.”
“I would think it wouldn’t matter, seeing as you use different names in different places.”
She grit her teeth. She wasn’t going to argue any further. The more she argued, the more likely she would spill secrets she couldn’t afford to spill. Why she wanted him to believe her, she didn’t know. He’d made his hatred of her clear.
Instead, she focused on keeping up their farce and maneuvering them through the streets to her apartment. But when Jorge adjusted his hand to get a better grip, she couldn’t ignore how she liked the way his rough skin felt against hers. Then he brushed his thumb over the back of her hand, and Sabrina drew in a breath at his light touch.
What the hell? The man hated her and clearly wanted nothing to do with her, so why was she so aware of him? She had succeeded in ignoring his advances for nearly a year. She should be able to keep doing it.
Then the image of him back at the van, mere inches from her face, his gaze intent, sent a thrill through her body. This new version of Jorge could take the shady dealings of her life—and more.
Cut it out, Sabrina. Just because the fiercer new version of Jorge did things to her insides, and lower, didn’t mean she could act on them. Right now, she needed to file her report and then brace herself for another onslaught of Jorge-the-distrustful-asshole.
Her top priority was finding out how much he knew about her past.
They soon arrived at her apartment and she fumbled in her attempt to get her keys out of her pocket. She looked up at Jorge. “If I have to try and unlock my door with my left hand, we’ll be here all night.”
He let go and she instantly felt the loss of his heat. She ignored it, took out her keys, and unlocked the door. She motioned for him to enter, but he shook his head and said, “After you.”
Smart move, as she had some booby traps in place. She inched the door open and unhooked the string trigger before swinging the door wide open. She had no qualms about Jorge being here since she kept no personal information in her apartment, but she’d developed a slight sense of paranoia from her time tracking down a Feiru counterfeiter back in Brazil. These days, she always wanted to know if someone had entered her apartment in her absence.
She flipped on the light and saw everything was untouched, so she walked inside and made a beeline for her laptop. Just as she’d expected, Jorge entered behind her and shut the door.
She waved toward the kitchen. “Make yourself something to eat, if you like. This is going to take me about ten minutes.”
Instead of going to the kitchen or even sitting down on the couch, he moved to stand behind her. “No, I think I’m going to stay here and watch over your shoulder.”
She shrugged, wanting to show she wasn’t intimidated by his proximity. “Fine. The report I’m about to type isn’t anything you couldn’t find out yourself.”
He remained silent, but he was standing close enough she could feel his heat behind her. Ignore it, Sabrina. She’d been around hot men before without drooling all over herself. She could certainly do it now, when both her career and a school of children were at stake.
With the safety of the children in mind, she started typing her report.
Chapter Four
Jorge read Sabrina’s email to Watkins as she typed. It was all about school dimensions, weak points, and when the cleaning staff arrived and left. She’d been right—all of this he could have found out with half a day’s stakeout.
None of it was the key to taking down Watkins. Only the woman sitting in front of him could do that.
As he waited for her to finish typing, his gaze settled on the skin of her neck. The last time he’d seen her, Sabrina’s hair had been a few inches past her shoulders. He wondered if the change of appearance was a sign of her about to switch identities again.
He tried to use her lying to him to stoke his anger, but it wasn’t working as well as it had in the restaurant or back at the van.
Taking her hand and holding it the whole way here had been a mistake. He’d done it to make sure she didn’t run away, but all it had succeeded in doing was reminding him how soft and delicate her hand felt in his.
Of course, describing Sabrina whatever-her-name as delicate was ridiculous. The woman could run ten miles and still breathe easy; she was even stronger in the water. Not to mention she could take down men nearly twice her size with nothing but a few quick self-defense moves.
Yet despite all of that, standing right behind her, her vanilla and womanly scent filled his nose and he couldn’t help but notice her as a woman. Memories of her vanilla scent had both tortured him over the last nine months as well as focused him. Being chained to a bed and pumped full of drugs to keep from shifting had become routine during his time with the Collector. Thinking of how to get back at Sabrina had kept him from going insane, or worse, turning into a sociopathic killer.
Yet here she was, right in front of him, and revenge was the furthest thing from his mind. His semi-hard cock was proof that while his head understood what Sabrina had done, his dick did not.
Luckily, Sabrina closed her laptop and turned around. Good. He could finally get down to business. The sooner he finished this, the sooner he could leave this woman and never have to see her again.
Sabrina stood up. “I’m done. I should receive a follow-up email in the next half-hour, so start talking because I’m kicking you out as soon as I hear the little buzzing on my phone that signals Watkins’s response.”
To put distance between them, he stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest. “As much as I’m glad you’re submitting so easily, I feel there’s a catch.”
She rolled her eyes. “I resist, and you bitch. Then I cooperate, and you bitch some more. I don’t know what happened to you, but clearly it erased any sort of manners you once had.”
“That’s right, princess. And let’s not forget who’s ultimately responsible for that.”
“Right. Me.” She waved an arm and moved to the kitchen. “Have at it. Call me names and blame me some more. But if you don’t mind, some grumpy, angry man interrupted my meal, so I’m going to make something to eat while you do it.”
She opened the fridge and Jorge narrowed his eyes. Unlike his other targets in the last few months, Sabrina wasn’t afraid of him. She probably remembered the kinder, somewhat shy version he’d once been.
Well, he needed to fix that because that young man was dead.
He was across the room with a few strides. Grabbing her shoulder, he turned her around so her ass was against the counter. He switched his grip to her wrists and pinned her legs with his own to prevent her from trying to escape. “Listen, Sabrina the Mystery Woman. This is not a game. You know as well as I that the clock is ticking. I need you to tell me why you don’t want to get kicked off this assignment for Watkins, and then start spilling everything you know.”
Sabrina was not only hungry, but also irritated with both herself and Jorge. The fact he now had her pinned in place didn’t help her mood.
But her irritation was stronger than her hormones, and she barely noticed his heat surrounding her. Right now, all she wanted to do was scream that she was an undercover agent. Maybe then he’d shut up. Of course, she couldn’t do that. Any human working for one of the Feiru Liaison offices who exposed their employer would be pulled from the field and usually stashed away for life. She didn’t know where—nobody did—but call her selfish for not wanting someone to make her disappear.
She tried to wiggle free, but just as she expected, it was hopeless. The only way to get free was for Jorge to release her. For once, she wished she wasn’t human but rather a first-born Feiru with magic at her disposal. Then she’d be able to teach him a lesson about manhandling someone against their will.
But no, she didn’t have any magic. All she could do was answer his questions and stick as close to the truth as possible without revealing her secrets. “First, despite whatever you might think, I do have a heart and I’m not about to let a school full of children be blown up for who the hell knows what reason.”
He frowned. “So you don’t know why Watkins is targeting this school?”
The Fed League’s usual M.O. was to target AMT-related people or former employees. As far as she knew, the school didn’t employ any former AMT employees. The parents of the school’s students didn’t check out either.
She shook her head. “No. I have no idea why the school was chosen.”
He looked skeptical but thankfully didn’t push. “You said ‘first’. So, what’s the other reason?”
Of course he’d catch that. Her next words could be dangerous, but a new idea made her want to chance it. If she could get a Shadow-Shifter to work with her, sneaking into Watkins’s rooms would be a breeze. “Second, I want to take down Watkins just as much as you do.”
She watched Jorge’s face closely. She couldn’t read any reaction, but she knew what was coming.
Jorge raised his eyebrows. “How convenient that you also want to take down Watkins. What’s the reason?”
She raised her chin. “I want to leave the Fed League, but I’ll never be able to do that as long as Watkins is around.”
“Why now? It took a lot of digging for me to learn about your other identity. No doubt you could pull the same stunt again, and disappear without getting caught.”
Time to make up some believable excuses. “I don’t have the same resources as before. The only way for me to leave is to take out the man holding the Fed League together. Watkins is the only one who takes this organization’s aim seriously, and only because he’s paid to. The other so-called leaders just bicker and have petty arguments, each trying to outrank the other and prove they have the biggest dick. Lock away their leader and the Fed League goes back into obscurity.” She moved her head closer to his. “You don’t like me, that’s clear. But agree to work with me, and I’ll help you bring down Harry Watkins in a matter of days.”
Jorge couldn’t tell from Sabrina’s body language if she were telling the truth or not. However, all of this seemed a little too convenient for his liking.
Before he’d been kicked out, he and Sabrina had been close. Going on long runs together, racing in the pool, or even sharing a quiet moment sitting on a park bench—they’d spent nearly every free moment together. Jorge had done it because he’d been infatuated with the spirited woman. Now, however, he was starting to wonder why Sabrina had hung around with him in the first place. He hadn’t had any special protections or friends in high places. He’d just been an angry young man swayed by promises of revenge. Being surrounded by people who’d also had family members tortured and abused inside the AMT had made him feel at home.
Yet Sabrina had always sought out his company, even after she’d turned down his advances for more. Hell, he’d tried to kiss her more than once.
But never had she mentioned wanting to get out of the Fed League. Nor had she shown any dislike of Harry Watkins beyond the usual discontent of the Fed League recruits.
True, something could’ve happened to her between then and now, but his gut told him something else was going on. “Let’s pretend what you’ve told me is true. What’s your plan for taking down Watkins? What happens next?”
A buzzing sound came from near the laptop, where Sabrina had put her phone. She glanced over and then tried to push him away, but Jorge didn’t budge. She frowned up at him and said, “I need to check and see if that’s Watkins.”
He shook his head. “I’m not about to waste time pinning you up against the counter again to get a clear answer. Tell me what you have planned; then I’ll let you check your message.”
She held his gaze for a few seconds before sighing. “I’m in the process of finding people to help me break into his rooms and hopefully take him down.”
He hadn’t expected an answer. “Yeah, and how exactly are you going to make that happen?”
She shook her head. “No, this isn’t a case of me spilling my plans with nothing in return.” She tried to get free of his grip, but failed. “Before I tell you anything else, you’re going to tell me how taking down Watkins will protect your sister.”
Damn, she’d remembered about that. But this was his chance to make Sabrina really understand what she’d done nine months ago.
“Fine.” He leaned in close so she would have to look into his eyes. “I refused to use my shadow-shifting abilities to kill. The Collector didn’t like it, and she brought in my sister to change my mind.”
Jorge kept a tight rein on his emotions. The next few sentences weren’t going to be easy, but Sabrina needed to understand the enormity of what had happened to Alejandra. “They usually chained me up and tranquilized me to keep from shifting. Rather than risk me being lucid and torturing Alejandra in front of me, they decided to take their cruelty up another notch.”
Usually he kept the memories locked up tight, but this time he let them out. He continued, “At first, I thought they were just playing random sounds of a woman calling for help. She kept chattering because of the cold, her words getting fainter as time went on. But once sounds of slapping started, the woman started crying and begging for ‘Jorge to help her.’ The more she talked about our past, the more I started to realize—even through my drug-haze—they had Alejandra.”
His sister had already told him she forgave him in the brief video he’d seen of her after she’d been rescued by DEFEND, and that she still loved him. But he had no idea how he was going to face her. Not just because of what had happened to her, but also because of what he’d had to do to stop her torture.
“Jorge.” He looked up and wished he hadn’t. Sabrina’s face was soft, her e
yes kind. He released her wrists and tried to step back, but Sabrina grabbed the front of his shirt and said, “I’m sorry for what happened to your sister.”
He succeeded in breaking her grip and took a few steps away from her. “Don’t you see? If you had just talked to me instead of going behind my back, none of that would’ve happened.”
While working for the Feiru Liaison office, Sabrina’s actions had caused pain, torture, and even death in the past. Somehow she’d found a way to carry on and do her job. But this time, with a man she’d once called friend, she wasn’t able to push away her guilt.
“I—” She took a deep breath. She needed to make him understand her actions, too. “I did it because I wanted you to move on to better things. You always talked about bigger and better plans to help the first-borns, but I knew you wouldn’t leave unless I did. And I couldn’t leave.”
Jorge looked skeptical. “Your vague statements aren’t helping your case. If you want me to even remotely start to believe you, I need a hell of a lot more information than that.”
In that instant, she wanted to tell him everything. About her secret identities and her training. About her true reasons for joining the Fed League. About how close she was to cracking because of the strain of living a lie for too long.
Her life didn’t lend itself to many friends, but despite whatever had happened between her and Jorge, he had been her friend once. Could she trust him?
He was the key to finishing this assignment quickly. His abilities would lessen the risk of exposure or danger to herself or others. She couldn’t tell him the full truth, but half-truths might just work.
Of course, he’d get suspicious if she made it too easy for him. She folded her arms over her chest. “I’ll spill some details if you promise me that you won’t maliciously use them against me.” He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “I know, I turned you in, but my reasons were to do what was best for you, not to cause you harm.”
Shadow of Temptation (Asylums for Magical Threats #2.5) Page 3
