Caught in the Aftermath

by Jami Gray

  Math leaned forward, his arms braced on his knees. ‘Exactly. So why hit Mandy’s homestead? It’s not close by, but simply along the route. Far enough away that a patrol found her. So what would taking out a single, out-of-theway, homestead accomplish? What was so important about Mandy?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ She held his gaze, fighting through the ugly thoughts slipping in. What if she was a sleeper? Planted there to gain a position of trust and move when the time was right? Her chest hurt, physically hurt, as if she’d taken a hard punch. No painkiller could ease it. She needed answers. Answers that could come from only one person. Swallowing against the metallic taste of betrayal, she asked, ‘What do you want to do?’

  ‘When she shows up, we ask her.’

  ‘And, what? Expect her to answer honestly?’

  He shot her an unreadable look. ‘Are you going to torture her for the truth?’

  The thought of hurting Mandy made Vex sick. Before she could answer Math, she caught a trail of dust heading towards the ranch. Straightening she muttered, ‘Incoming.’

  Math rose to his feet and came to stand beside her. His arm curled around her waist, pulling her close, but he stayed silent. Not like there was anything he could say to make this easier.

  Despite her emotional upheaval, Vex rested her head against Math’s shoulder, needing the comfort. ‘How do you excuse a betrayal like this?’

  The arm at her waist tightened as he brushed his chin against the top of her hair. ‘I can’t.’ Together they watched two bikes roar into the yard. She recognised the lead one as Ruin’s, the second as Charity’s bike. When the dust settled, Ruin got off his bike and waited for Charity and the older woman coming up behind her. The trio headed towards the porch.

  Vex took a deep breath and strove to keep her voice casual. ‘Hey, Ruin! Charity! Mandy! You made good time.’

  Ruin was the first to answer. ‘Reaper sent us out the minute Danny shared.’

  Afternoon sunlight glinted off Mandy’s glasses as she lifted her gaze to Vex. ‘Heard you needed my services.’ The dark-haired, reed-thin woman pulled a small pack off her back as she came up the steps. She flashed a smile. ‘Where’s the patient?’

  Math motioned inside, but didn’t step away from Vex. ‘Down the hall, second room on the right.’

  Ruin noted their cozy position and sent his twin a curious look. She gave him a short shake of her head and a pointed glance at Mandy. Thankfully it didn’t take much more than that to get her silent request across to her brother. He turned to Charity. ‘Babe, you mind helping Mandy? Need to catch up with baby sis.’

  Not missing the subtle undercurrents, Charity’s gaze narrowed but she played along. ‘Sure.’ She held open the door for Mandy. ‘Come on, doc, let’s see what we’re dealing with.’

  ‘There’s soup on the stove if he’s awake,’ Vex said as the two women started inside.

  Charity held the door open, letting Mandy pass through, as she studied the three on the porch. ‘I’ll make sure he eats something.’ Then she let the door close and disappeared inside.

  Ruin waited until the sound of Charity and Mandy drifted away. Then he turned, settled his shoulder against one of the porch columns and faced Math and Vex. ‘You two don’t look especially happy for pulling off a rescue. What’s going on?’

  Studying her brother, Vex found herself reluctant to share. Ruin adored Mandy and was extremely protective of the older woman. No way could she just blurt out Math’s suspicion. She looked back to the screen door, then turned back to her brother. With a tilt of her head, she stepped away from Math and moved out into the front yard, out of possible hearing range. She picked her way over the scrubby grass and gravel, coming to a stop near the bikes. When Math and Ruin joined her, she took a breath and told Ruin, ‘We may know who the mole is.’

  He straightened, his face hardening into a ruthless mask. ‘Who?’

  Vex shared a glance with Math, then braced for the fallout. ‘Mandy.’

  For a long moment Ruin simply stared at her, uncomprehending. Then anger swept in, darkening his face. Recognising the signs of his temper, Vex crossed her arms and waited for the explosion. Sure enough, Ruin closed in and hissed, ‘What the fuck are you talking about, Vex?’ His gaze slid to Math and narrowed. ‘What kind of shit are you playing at? Because this has to come from you.’

  ‘Take it down a notch, Ruin.’ Vex eyed the screen door then came back to her brother. ‘Before you lose your shit, just listen.’

  Ruin pivoted on his heel and stalked away. His shoulders rose and fell as he fought back his temper. When he came back, she didn’t flinch from the storm in his eyes. His voice was arctic as he stared down at her. ‘Start talking.’

  She decided to start with, ‘Cam, Math’s friend, overheard Greer’s guards mention a Mandy.’

  ‘A Doc Mandy,’ Math corrected.

  Ruin glared at him. ‘Doesn’t mean shit.’

  ‘You’re right,’ Vex agreed. ‘But we can’t risk it.’

  Ruin’s gaze dropped to her. ‘You really think that woman in there betrayed Crane? Simon?’

  Vex didn’t miss his unspoken, us? and her heart ached. If she was reeling from the possibility, she knew Ruin was hurting too. Hell, probably more so since he tended to let people in more than she did. ‘I don’t know,’ she answered. ‘I wish I could swear on all that’s holy she would never do anything like that, but that’s a risk we can’t take.’

  ‘She would never work with the Raiders. Not after what they did to her family.’

  ‘If Cam’s right, it’s not Raiders she’s working with,’ Math pointed out. ‘It’s Greer.’

  ‘Sure it is,’ Ruin shot back, his sarcasm coming through loud and clear. He shifted his glare to Vex. ‘What possible reason could she have?’

  Staring into angry, familiar amber eyes, she felt useless. ‘I don’t know.’

  Ruin spun on his heel, giving them his back as he ran a hand through his hair. Minutes ticked by as he struggled with their speculation. ‘What’s your plan?’

  ‘We ask her.’

  He turned back to Vex, his emotions tucked away. ‘You’re going to accuse her of betraying the community that saved her, all on the word of some asshole you hooked up with?’ He shook his head, scorn heavy on his face. ‘What the hell, Vex? You love ‘em and leave ‘em. What’s so special about him?’ He jerked a dismissive hand at Math. ‘He have a magic dick or something?’

  ‘Never had any complaints,’ Math offered unhelpfully.

  ‘Shut up!’ Vex and Ruin snapped in unison before going back to glaring at each other.

  Still struggling with her own guilt at suspecting Mandy, Ruin’s contempt sliced against her heart. As twins, she knew they shared the same, lethal temper, but rarely had she ended up on the receiving end. Ruin’s accusation stirred up a storm of fury, burying the hurt. That he would question her judgement made it that much worse. She closed in and used both hands to shove Ruin back a step. ‘Fuck you, Ruin! I didn’t question which head you used when you hooked up with Lilith’s damn ‘Hound.’

  Undaunted, Ruin shoved back. ‘Charity has nothing to do with this!’

  His hit rocked her but with Math standing solidly at her back that’s all it did. ‘Bullshit! If she came to you with this, you’d have her back. But me?’ She stepped forward forcing Ruin to lean back. ‘I bring this to you and suddenly I’m so desperate for cock I can’t be trusted?’

  His face darkened under her tirade and he crowded her. ‘Careful, you’re starting to sound jealous.’

  Jealous? For a second she could only stare at him, stunned. Was he out of his tiny, demented mind? A short scream of frustration escaped as she grabbed her hair so she wouldn’t deck him. ‘It’s not jealousy you dumbass!’ She dropped her hands and drilled a finger into his chest. ‘It’s fucking frustration that the one person who knows me best doesn’t have my back.’

  Ruin wrapped his hands around her arms, holding her in place. ‘I’m not the one determined to puni
sh anyone who gets close.’ Frustration and temper at an all-time high, he shook her. ‘What the hell did I do that you can’t forgive?’

  Any semblance of control shattered under his onslaught. ‘You left!’ The accusation broke free, a retaliatory truth she’d never dared voice. Not until he backed her into an emotional corner. She spent too many years silencing her younger self for her piece of mind, and now that they started down this conversation, all that buried resentment and pain spilled free. Staring into his stunned expression, she choked out, ‘You left us—me and Marnie.’

  Instead of getting lost with her sudden shift in the argument, Ruin followed her unerringly into their shared history. Emotions played out over his face, a familiar guilt and grief, years in the making, mixed with his current temper, until what was left was an exasperated frustration. He loosened his grip on her with a studied carefulness. ‘I can’t change that, Vex. All I can do is apologise.’

  ‘I don’t want an apology.’ She forced her voice past the constricting weight of suppressed emotions and their choking hold.

  ‘Then what do you want?’

  Hearing the hurt under his frustration, she struggled to find a way to ease it, but came up empty.

  Before she could say anything his face shifted, the hurt disappearing under a scowl as his voice went hard. ‘How long are you going to use that excuse to hold everyone back? God, it’s time to grow up, Vex.’

  Ruin’s verbal slap poured steel into her spine. She drew back only to come up against Math. ‘I grew up a long time ago, Ruin.’ Her emotions iced over and her answer came out in a flat, empty voice as she held Ruin’s gaze. ‘About the same time I was raped and Marnie was murdered. Maybe she was the lucky one.’

  Her revelation struck, wiping Ruin’s face of all but shock. He reached for her but she stumbled out of reach, forcing Math back a step even as his hands went to her hips to keep them upright.

  ‘Goddamit, Vex.’ Ruin’s hands curled into fists and unrelenting agony weighted his voice. He looked away, his throat working. Seconds stretched before he spoke again, his voice rough, his gaze on the ground. ‘I think I knew. Somewhere, but …’

  ‘You didn’t ask.’ Somewhere inside the frozen wasteland of her heart his pain resonated, but she couldn’t feel it. Not yet. Behind her, Math shifted, pulling her closer, his hands folding at her stomach.

  Ruin held up a hand and corrected, ‘I couldn’t. When I got back and saw you, the bruises and broken bones, and then Marnie …’ Whatever he saw in her gaze made him flinch and look away. His hand went to the back of his neck and held on, guilt riding his shoulders into a curve. A breath passed, then another before he lifted his head. ‘I’m sorry, Vex. More than you’ll ever know. I should’ve pushed it, but …’ His shoulders straightened, his chin lifted. ‘Whether you shared or not, isn’t important. I shouldn’t have left you two. Rally couldn’t be trusted, and somewhere, deep down, I knew he sent me on that job to get rid of me.’

  Listening to her brother try to claw free of the past, the ice inside her chest cracked as the emotional storm began to recede. Needing an anchor, she wrapped her hands over Math’s. ‘If you hadn’t gone, he’d have killed you.’

  ‘We’ll never know.’ Ruin’s chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath. ‘Afterwards … it made me sick that I couldn’t fix it, so I did the only thing I could. I hunted the assholes down.’

  Seeing the defeated look on Ruin’s face made her stomach knot. ‘It helped.’

  Ruin searched her face, his doubt clear.

  She wasn’t sure what she could say to make him believe her, so she kept going. ‘It did, Ruin. Maybe I should’ve said something, but you had your own steaming pile of shit to deal with.’ The tension riding her muscles ebbed away as the last of the upheaval retreated, leaving her tired—physically and emotionally. ‘I shouldn’t have shared like that, but you pissed me off.’

  ‘No, I hurt you, which makes me a shitty brother.’ Ruin offered her a half-hearted grin. ‘It earns you a free hit. Want it now?’

  ‘I’ll take a rain-check.’

  ‘Figures.’ Ruin’s attention went to Math. ‘Sorry, shouldn’t have dragged you into this mess.’

  Vex felt Math shrug. ‘Do I get a free punch?’

  ‘Hell, no.’ Ruin rubbed his jaw, not missing Math’s hold on Vex. He aimed a pointed look at his sister. ‘You know what you’re doing?’

  Thanks to the emotional overload, Vex’s brain felt slow and she frowned. ‘With?’

  Ruin lifted his chin indicating Math. ‘Him.’

  Her temper stirred and she narrowed her eyes in warning.

  A warning that bounced right off of Ruin’s thick skull because he kept talking. ‘He doesn’t strike me as the bendable type.’

  Behind her, Math asked, ‘Bendable?’

  White teeth flashed in his beard as Ruin grinned. ‘As in, she won’t be able to wrap you around her finger.’

  Her brother’s quirky humour made Vex huff, even as she prayed she wasn’t blushing. ‘Maybe we can stop poking around my personal life and focus on the problem at hand.’

  Ruin’s humour drifted away. He shot a look towards the house, his face reverting to inscrutable lines. ‘All right.’ He turned to Math, ready to listen. ‘Explain to me why you think Mandy’s screwing us all over.’

  Chapter 19

  Back in the chair on the porch, Math watched the sun flirt with the horizon wondering at the unsettling mix of emotions winding through him. All of it caused by the woman curled in the chair next to him, her feet tucked under her. Everything about her was unexpected, keeping him continually off balance. It was a wild, bumpy ride. One he never thought he’d enjoy, but now that he had a taste? He enjoyed tripping down the unexpected rabbit hole she led him through. Maybe it wouldn’t last, but the ride—damn, the ride might be worth it. Admitting that was a kick in the balls.

  Witnessing the painful confrontation between the twins wasn’t something he ever wanted to do again, but after listening to her retelling first hand, he knew how deep the damage went. For her to drag the whole sordid mess out into the light and share with her brother took courage, and he couldn’t deny a whisper of pride at Vex’s bravery. And that other emotion, the one he couldn’t pin down? The one burrowing deeper each time she stepped into him, like he was her anchor? Nope, he didn’t want to go there. Not until he had no other choice.

  ‘Dammit,’ muttered Ruin, who half-sat, half-leaned on the railing in front of them. With his hip hitched on the railing’s edge, he kept an eye on the screen door and his voice low. ‘I don’t like this.’

  In her chair, Vex stirred, untucking one leg and setting a bare foot on the porch. ‘Not sure any of us do, but we need to know. One way or the other.’

  Ruin’s gaze shifted to the screen door before the hinges creaked. At the tell, Math craned his neck to see who was joining the party. Charity slipped out and made for Ruin, who adjusted his position, making room for her to slide her curves against him. Tilting her head back she touched his jaw with her lips. ‘Hey, babe.’

  Ruin brushed the back of his hand over her cheek. ‘Hey, you.’

  Charity turned, studied Vex and Math before her gaze settled on Math with a disconcerting shrewdness. ‘You guys look awfully serious.’

  Math braced, because he recognised Charity. It had been years, but Lilith’s ‘Hound, as Vex named her, wasn’t one to miss details. When you played master spy to the Rocky Mountain Queen, details often determined your ability to live another day. Math was familiar with the weight and balance of that particular tool. He wondered if, or when, she would share their previous connection with Ruin and Vex. He’d had enough personal revelations for one day, so he’d stay focused and hope she’d pick another time to share. ‘How’s Cam?’

  ‘Sleeping,’ she said. ‘Mandy managed to get antibiotics and soup down him. She’s monitoring his temp. She’s worried it may still spike.’ Not missing the tension, she tilted her head back to look at Ruin. ‘What don’t we lik
e?’

  Ruin flinched. ‘Heard that, uh?’

  Charity didn’t answer, simply watched him in silent demand. Proving he knew her well, Ruin sighed and softly recapped their concerns, keeping one eye on the screen door.

  Math gauged Charity’s reaction. Her job required an enhanced skill at reading people. She would provide an unbiased assessment. If his assumptions were off base, she would set them straight. Once Ruin finished, she gave a small sigh, folded her arms, and dropped her head to rest against his shoulder. Her frown reinforced Math’s uneasiness. ‘You don’t seem surprised.’

  Charity gave a half-hearted shrug. ‘Not much surprises me anymore.’

  ‘We’re talking about Mandy,’ Ruin argued.

  Math waited for Vex to join in, but she stayed quiet, her focus on Charity. Whatever Vex thought, she kept to herself.

  ‘I get that.’ Charity tipped her head back as Ruin’s jaw tightened and he looked away. ‘Hey.’ She caught his face and turned him back to her. ‘I do. But, I don’t have history with Mandy.’

  Whatever Ruin saw in her face eased some of the lines in his face.

  Math leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, gaining their attention. He met Charity’s sombre gaze. ‘Do you think we’re reaching?’

  He gave her points when she didn’t automatically answer. Instead, she thought it over. Eventually, she shook her head. ‘No.’ She shot Ruin an apologetic look. ‘Sorry, babe.’