by Marnee Blake
That wasn’t it, though. She was loyalty and protectiveness. She gave and gave, to everyone. To him, to her family. If she was only a sexy body, this might not be so dangerous.
But it was.
He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hey. I stopped in to see your brother.”
“I see that.” Her smile grew. “Aren’t you going to be late for work?” He wondered if she realized how much her teasing softened her face, made her completely irresistible.
“I was leaving now. Can I give you a ride?”
She nodded her head as she stepped in, squeezing his forearm. Awareness coursed through him. “No, that’s okay.” She smiled at her brother. “I’m going to hang out with Hunter for a little bit. Whether he likes it or not.”
When Lance returned his gaze to Hunter, he realized his mistake. He’d completely forgotten that his friend was in the room.
How was that possible? When Meg was around, he couldn’t think of anything else.
Until now, though, he hadn’t realized how much of an issue that was going to be. The look on Hunter’s face said he saw exactly what was going on.
How the hell was he going to keep their relationship a secret if his face gave him away every time?
Awkwardness settled in the room as Hunter glanced between them, back and forth. The smile smoothed off Meg’s face. Apparently, she saw exactly what he did: her brother knew.
“I’d love some company,” Hunter said, but no one believed him. His eyes settled on Lance. “You should go. Before you’re late.”
Meg’s hand fell away, and she swept forward, to Hunter’s side. With a little wave, she offered Lance a sickened grin. “See you later.”
As he stared at the siblings, he took his cue. “Right. Later.” Then he turned to Hunter. “Text me.”
Hunter nodded, and Lance left before they could add to the weirdness.
In the hall, he wrestled with whether or not he should go back in there. What would he do, though? Have a conversation about how he’d slept with Hunter’s sister? He just made up with the guy. Seemed cruel to start off with, “By the way, I’ve never had sex as amazing as what I had with your sister last night.”
He wasn’t ashamed. If anything, he didn’t know how he was going to go back to the air center and pretend he didn’t feel protective of her. Pretend she wasn’t his. Even now, he wanted to go back inside that room, sweep her into his arms and kiss her senseless.
Probably wouldn’t go over that well, though.
As he strolled out of the hospital, and into the parking lot, he exhaled. Meg said this wasn’t going to be easy. He thought she meant because he was a firefighter, because her brothers hated him. Because she was his trainer.
He had no idea that it could be worse if her brother was a friend again.
If either of them found out he was looking into their father’s deaths, he might lose them both again.
And this time would be much worse.
* * * *
“I thought you didn’t want to play with fire.” Hunter dropped his head back onto the pillow.
To avoid meeting his gaze, she stepped forward and pulled the pillow up, so he didn’t get a crick in his neck. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He snorted. “Please. I’m your brother. I always knew when you were lying, I just didn’t always tell Mom.”
She chuckled. “Fine, then. How about it’s none of your business?” She wasn’t talking to him about this. What happened between her and Lance was still new. She wasn’t ready to start hashing it out with Hunter.
Last night had been perfect. She had always known, or at least she had always suspected, that there was something between them. But the chemistry that had exploded last night had been volatile. It wasn’t only that it was great sex, though that was part of it. What they’d done together…it had reached a spot inside of her much deeper, much more meaningful. There was no going back, not for her.
She didn’t know what that meant. Was she trying to start a relationship with him? Because anything serious affected everything else in her life.
There wasn’t much choice, though, not anymore. Because she couldn’t imagine being without him again. There was no going back, but she didn’t know the way forward.
“Maybe it isn’t my business, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have anything to say.”
“Of course,” she said. “Because my love life requires your comment.”
“This has nothing to do with your love life.”
“It doesn’t?” She glanced up at him, but where she expected judgment, all she found was concern.
“No, it has everything to do with Lance Roberts.” Hunter shook his head. “I don’t care who you fool around with, Meg.” She offered a skeptical snort. Lifting his good hand, he smirked. “Okay, fine, maybe it bothers me a little bit that it’s Lance. But that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“So what are you talking about?”
“There’s something going on with him. And I don’t mean just standard stress, or whatever else the other guys at training are dealing with.” His mouth tightened. “Things around Lance are dangerous right now. Has he told you that his stuff keeps going missing?”
She shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“People are taking his stuff. And if they aren’t taking it, they’re ruining it. He had to start leaving his personal things in his Jeep, or at his grandmother’s.”
“How do you know? You’ve been ignoring him for the past three weeks.”
“Just because I look like I’m ignoring him doesn’t mean that I’m actually ignoring him.” Hunter snorted. “I know what’s going on around there.”
Uneasiness settled in Meg’s stomach. She didn’t like to think that Lance was dealing with people trying to sabotage him. But she couldn’t deny that Hunter was probably right. “The parachute…”
Hunter nodded. “Exactly. Someone did that. And he might want you to think that it was a one-time deal, but it isn’t.”
“What are you saying?”
Hunter blew out an exasperated breath. “Yesterday…my parachute. It was supposed to be his.”
Heat flowed from the top of Meg’s head down through her body in a slow trickle. “What?”
“It was supposed to be his. We traded, at the beginning of the day, I ended up picking his up as we were preparing, and he waved me off when I offered to hand it back. They’re all supposed to be packed exactly the same way, so we didn’t think anything of it. But now?” He exhaled. “The parachute was tangled. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. If I hadn’t lost my knife when we jumped, I would’ve cut the cord, and my other chute would have expelled appropriately. It would’ve been scary, but it wouldn’t have been dangerous. At least not overtly.”
“The parachute…it was supposed to be Lance’s.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. It didn’t shake out the panic there, though. She shook it faster. No. That couldn’t be. “Does…does he know?”
Even as she asked, it was clear. Of course, he knew. She told him that the parachute had been twisted. Lance was smart enough to put it all together.
“With his father’s history…” Hunter’s mouth firmed. “Some people don’t want him around.”
“Someone wants to kill him. And they almost got you killed.” Anger coursed through her, and she could feel her face heat. “We need to tell Joe.” This would require an investigation. Someone would pay for this.
“I was going to talk to Will first.” He grimaced. “I wanted to see what he thought we should do.”
“Well, now you won’t know. Because I’m going to Joe as soon as I get back to the air center.” She straightened her spine, and she could barely think around the fury running through her. “Hunter, you could’ve died.”
“B
ut I didn’t. Don’t borrow trouble.” The conversation was over. At least for him. She pinched her mouth together, forcing herself to stay silent.
“Talk to Joe if you have to. I understand. But more important, I want you to be careful. Not just because I think Lance is dangerous for you personally, but because somebody has it out for him.” His eyes softened again and for a moment he reminded her of the brother he used to be, so many years ago. She hadn’t seen this brother much over the last decade. And if he wasn’t strung up in traction right now, she might have thrown herself into his arms. She had missed him.
She nodded, unable to speak around the lump in her throat.
“Since I’m going to be stuck here for a while, I can’t look out for you.” He offered her grin. “Not sure who’s going to keep you out of trouble now.”
She tried to smile back. “I’ll be careful.”
“Good.” He reached his good hand for her. She squeezed it, not wanting to let go. “I love you, sis. Not sure I tell you enough.”
“You don’t,” she said. He barked a laugh. “But I love you too.”
She glanced down at him. They had made a turn. After watching him be hurt, after how close she’d come to losing another loved one, she refused to leave things unsaid ever again.
“Bet you could use a snack. Hear the food in here isn’t that great.”
Her brother blew out a breath. “What I wouldn’t do for a Snickers.”
She extracted her fingers from his grip, and snagged her wallet on the way into the hallway. When she got there, she paused to lean against the wall.
She’d almost lost Hunter, and last night she’d finally come to terms with dating a firefighter, despite the danger they put themselves in every day.
But what Hunter described for Lance…could someone be trying to hurt him? It was bad enough that he was in constant danger due to firefighting, but this?
She would talk to Joe as soon as she got back. Lance hadn’t told her. Probably planned to keep her out of it. If he thought she’d allow him to be in danger, he was mistaken.
Chapter 15
“I’m Special Agent Bates. Do you know why you’re here?” Two days later, the officer from the Forest Services in front of him looked official and daunting. Lance had seen him arrive by plane earlier. He hadn’t seen an official look so formal since the one that delivered the news that his father was dead and likely responsible for his jump partner’s life.
Lance glanced around Mitch’s office, taking in the dusty floor and general clutter, and wondered what the hell was going on. Mitch and Joe had taken up residence near the door and Meg looked out the window, her arms folded across her chest. He couldn’t see her face, so there was no indication as to why he had been brought here.
“I can’t say that I do.” He could think of a few reasons, but all of them put his job at risk.
“I’ve heard you’ve been having some difficulty.”
Well, wasn’t that leading? “With training?”
“No. Mr. Buchanan tells me you’re excelling there.” The officer folded his arms over his chest. “He mentioned you had a few accidents.”
Damn. So that’s what this was about. He assessed the man in front of him. “Accidents, huh?”
The officer’s eyebrows lifted. He leaned back on his hands, against Mitch’s desk. Mitch wasn’t going to like that. “What do you think they were?”
As far as he could tell, there were two options. He could pretend he didn’t understand what any of this meant. The last weeks of stolen items, the ripped chute, the threatening letter. He’d have to hope that the man sizing him up with a shrewd look now believed that Lance was that clueless.
Except someone that naive shouldn’t walk around unsupervised.
The pattern of incidents was clear. Someone was targeting him. It would take a special kind of stupid not to see that…the kind of stupid that didn’t deserve to be one of the world’s most elite firefighters. Surely the officer would doubt his competence. Lance would.
Which left him with the truth.
Lance couldn’t think of any way around this. Across the room, Meg’s guarded gaze studied him. He forced himself to watch her as he spoke.
“They aren’t accidents.” He swallowed. “I think someone knows I’m looking into my father’s death.”
Meg’s fingers fluttered until they rested over her mouth, a failed attempt to hold in the gasp she made.
Though he was addressing the investigator, Lance refused to look away from her. “Last year, I read the investigative conclusions from the fire that killed him and Mr. Buchanan. My mother gave me the report. That my dad convinced Mr. Buchanan to jump on the wrong side. That you,” he paused to look at Joe, “said they refused to leave before they were overrun.” He turned his gaze back to Meg. “But, it doesn’t make sense.” He shook his head, feeling helpless against the betrayal on her face. “I need it to make sense.”
Except that was a lie. He didn’t only want it to make sense; he needed the truth.
“You think that someone did this to stop you?”
Lance narrowed his eyes on the ranger. Time to put all of his cards on the table. “Well, someone slashed a parachute I packed. I’ve had socks stolen, sneakers, a whole mess of personal items.” It was annoying to have to run to Gram’s house to get his things, but it had been easier than answering questions or being short on equipment. Maybe he should’ve said something. But he didn’t want to be the guy whining. That might’ve been a mistake. By not taking that stuff seriously, maybe he’d driven whoever was doing this to do more dramatic things…like tangling a parachute that got his friend hurt. Glancing away, he took a deep breath. “I also got a threatening note. I thought it was a prank, like the stolen things. I didn’t take it seriously.” It was important that they understood that. If he’d believed, even for a minute, that this would lead to Hunter getting hurt…
“What?” Meg’s voice broke. He’d kept so much from her, from everyone at the air center. He could only imagine what was going through her head right now.
“It’s in my glove box. I’ll give it to you when we’re done.”
The investigator grunted before pushing away from the desk. “Well, I’ll admit, when Miss Buchanan called, I wasn’t sure I should come. I was going to have them send me the parachute. It sounded like it could have been an accident. She didn’t mention you were inquiring into your father’s death.”
“Because I didn’t know.” Her derisive response tore at him, and he gripped the handles on the chair tighter.
“Wait.” Lance studied her. “You called the investigator?” No way. She had to know how much of a risk that put his job in. She wouldn’t have done that…
“Did you know that Hunter Buchanan’s parachute had been meant for you?” Mitch uncrossed his arms and leaned against the desk. “That you were the one who should’ve gotten the tangled chute?”
He glanced down, his jaw tightening. Damn it. Hunter had talked. “Yes. I knew.”
Meg gripped her elbows, turning away from him.
“You should have said something, Mr. Roberts. These are very serious suspicions. Keeping them to yourself…you put everyone at jeopardy.” The investigator swiped a file off the desk, his brows furrowed and frustration in his movements.
Lance’s fingers flexed on the armrests, clenching and unclenching. Scanning the room, he tried to put himself in their shoes. “I never expected anyone to get hurt.”
“Well, that’s exactly what happened.” The officer slapped the file back down. “We have the canopy. Someone tangled the lines. They’re knotted. Someone did that on purpose.”
Mitch interrupted, “Let’s not panic. No one could’ve predicted it would go the way it had. The backup chutes…there was no way to guess that Hunter would lose his knife. And Lance had his. Maybe it was a careless prank.”
“Maybe,�
� the investigator said. “But it sounds like whoever is doing this is getting more brazen. Even the best-case scenario, that he tried to scare Mr. Roberts, isn’t good. He didn’t consider how bad it could go. Someone like that? They’re dangerous.” He gathered his things. “We need to root him out, before someone else gets hurt.”
The investigator’s resolve increased Lance’s opinion of him. “What did you say your name was?”
“Bates.”
“Thanks. I’ll help however I can.” He rolled all of the information around in his head, placing it against the other events of the past three weeks. Hunter had almost been killed. He didn’t like being the target, but this had almost killed his friend. He couldn’t take any more chances now. There were people he cared about at risk.
“You can make sure you speak up, if anything else comes up.”
“Of course.”
“No.” Joe Buchanan pushed away from the wall. “Not just speak up. If anyone else gets hurt, you’ll be gone. I can’t have this kind of risk here. You must understand that.”
It pissed him off. He’d done nothing but keep his head down and work hard. There were other guys who washed out, but not him. Yet even as he recognized that it wasn’t fair, he could see where Joe was coming from. It was his job to keep everyone safe. Couldn’t fault him for that. “I do understand.”
Joe nodded. “Good.”
“I’d like to take a statement, get your impressions of the things that have happened since you arrived. I’m going to talk to a couple of other people.” Bates squared his shoulders. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Mitch’s expression was grim, and Joe looked sick. But Meg? She was pale, as white as milk.
This was everything she feared, everything she worried about. During their night together, he’d promised her that he would always be careful. But this was out of his control. He couldn’t help that some psycho had targeted him.
How was he going to promise her that he would stay safe now?
He would have to talk to her. He would explain. They could do this.
