“I took long? How much time does it take to unfold a six-foot square liner?”
“A long time if you’re weak with hunger.” She popped a French fry into her mouth and glanced up at the sky. “Looks we’re going to get hit hard.”
“Maybe.” He placed the bucket beside her, and she grabbed a longneck. Beer first to calm the body. “You could’ve helped, ya know. It’s hard balancing all this food.”
“It was your turn to buy. Besides.” She popped the top and handed the first beer to him. “I don’t like to go in when Sonja’s working. By the way she looks at you, she’d like me gone.”
“Didn’t see Sonja.” He hopped up on the other side of the bucket. “Trust me. It’s not me or you.” With a swig of brew, he cut himself off. Why had he wanted to explain?
“Then what is it? Obviously, you know,” she said, opening her lager.
Shit. She was always so full of questions. He finished, short and sweet. “Swift. They had…a thing.”
“Oh. Okay.” A satisfied grin graced her lips. “I can see that.”
“You can?” He didn’t much care for her statement.
“Sure. He’s a pretty boy with unruly hair and a cool British accent. Sonja’s ankle ink is the Union Jack flag embedded in a treble clef. She’d totally go for an updated Beatle.”
Somehow her strange observation made him feel better. He tapped the top of his bottle to hers. “Great job tonight, partner. Two successful missions, back-to-back.”
“Has anyone ever done that before?”
Grinning, he shook his head. “Nope. Just us.”
He chugged deeply while she sipped, and then they both dived into their extra-long cheesesteaks.
Prudence moaned, chewed hard, and wiped her chin with a paper napkin. With a shake of her head, she swallowed and grinned. “This is so good. McDevitt’s wife makes the best cheesesteaks outside of Philly.” She took another girlie bite, moved it to her cheek, and talked around it. “Tonight I’m gonna eat the whole thing.”
“You never make it through half. I always have to finish it off.” Which was why he bought identical orders. He chowed down on another huge bite.
She swallowed and pointed at him with a French fry. “Sounds like a challenge. Since this could be my last one, I gotta make it memorable.”
He noticed the resigned sadness in her tone and tensed.
After two more chomps, he pulled long on the beer and swallowed. “Why? You can’t be worried about your figure.”
He thought she was looking down at her plate to hide blushing cheeks. He was wrong.
“Don’t imagine you’ll be bringing me here, once you get a new partner.”
He damn near spilled his entire dinner to the ground. “What kinda shit are you talking?” Peeved she didn’t answer, he tossed his plate behind the bucket. “Are you dumping me?”
“No.” Her head snapped up. Worry creases etched between her brows. “Shit. I didn’t say this right.”
Anxiety churned inside him. “Say what?” He jumped off the tailgate and faced her.
“Calm down. I’m the one that should be riled.” Cheeks flushed, she focused over his shoulder. “Dad’s back tomorrow.”
“Hell.” He blew out a relieved sigh. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“It took nearly the whole two weeks, but I’ve finally accepted he’s going to be pissed, whether he’s my boss or my dad. But you, on the other hand, have regained respect.” She looked at him with liquid eyes, full of wisdom and loss. “You can have any partner you want.” Casually, she tossed her plate next to his. She sighed long and then added, “And our relationship will change.”
Change?
An unexpected sense of joy warmed him from the center out.
She was absolutely right.
With Prudence benched again, their relationship would change. He’d be free to seduce her and bed her at his discretion. And after two weeks connected nearly twenty-four seven to the curvy spitfire, that’s exactly what his libido wanted. It was hard to recall a time when he wasn’t, well, tempted.
She finally looked at him. “Tell me I’m right?” On the surface, her words asked for confirmation, but her tone begged to be told she was wrong.
He hooked his thumbs into his back pockets and stared up at the sky.
Damn it. Damn it all to Hell and back.
She was wrong. Prudence had come a long way from the day she showed up on his stoop with a crazy plan. She’d earned her position as Hell Runner. And he couldn’t tolerate her with another partner.
“You are so—”
“It better be a compliment coming out of your mouth.”
“High maintenance.” He shoved the beer bucket out of the way and parked his ass beside her. “I don’t want any partner, but you. So get all these doomsday notions out of your head.” Playfully, he poked her in the temple.
In the yellowed light from the back porch, he could see her cheeks pink up when she smiled. “Thanks. But I don’t think your word will be enough.”
“Lucky for you,” he said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “I see problems in advance and plan accordingly. Whether Jack wants to play boss or protective pop, he can’t deny your abilities.” He pressed a few buttons and then turned the phone so she could see the videos he’d been filming. “I dare him to produce anyone better than you in the field. And if he won’t see it, I’ll email this to every single council member.”
“Wow! I am good.” She glanced up at him. “Part of me should be irritated you did this on the sly. But I’m way too happy you did.”
Her grin could have fueled every car at Daytona.
“Here.” He shoved the phone toward her hand. “Take it with you tomorrow.”
“No.” She bit her lower lip in the way that drove him crazy wanting to kiss her. “Why don’t you show it to him? Come with me? The meeting’s at ten.”
He sighed hard through his nose and rubbed the top of her head to keep from doing something more impetuous.
“Hey.” She batted at his hands. “You’re messing up the locks.”
“You should have asked me a long time ago.”
“I didn’t want to appear weak. Like I depend on you to fight my battle.”
“We’re a team. We should approach the boss as a team.” He twisted and grabbed his plate. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy. Let’s face it, Jack’s smart and a little wily.”
She stole a handful of fries. “But we have proof. And the truth is on our side.”
Jesse snorted. “Yeah.”
He bit into the cooled off cheesesteak and ruminated. More times than he could count, the truth didn’t mean shit. The manipulators of the world won more often than not. Fuckers.
But not tomorrow. He glanced at Prudence, devouring her dinner with more enthusiasm.
No. Definitely not tomorrow.
∙•∙
Full as a fat cat, Prudence handed Jesse the other half of her cheesesteak and fell onto her back in the flatbed.
“Knew you couldn’t do it.”
“It’s not nice to gloat,” she said, folding her hands behind her head.
“Better practice gloating. You’ll need it when you talk to Jack.”
While he stuffed his face, she stared up at the cloud-laden sky and obsessed about her meeting with her dad. Despite the racket, the not-distant-enough band couldn’t drown out her thoughts.
Why did she allow Jesse to give her hope? Why, when she’d finally come to her senses?
Because she didn’t want to let go. Not of the rush from outrunning demons. Not of the sense she made a difference for all those suffering in vain.
Not of Jesse.
She couldn’t bear thinking about a day when she wouldn’t cling to him on the back of his motorcycle, or share a knowing glance before whisking a soul out of harm’s way, or talk. The way they did tonight. The way they did every night.
He jumped off the tailgate, brushed his hands over
his thighs, and then took the trash to the bin.
Propped up on her elbows, she watched him saunter back. Jesse had surprised her. He wasn’t the man she thought she knew from the classroom or when she’d showed up unannounced and proposed they search for Swift.
He looked the same—scruffy, cocky, smolderingly sexy—yet he no longer seemed irritated by her presence. A couple of times she even caught him smiling at her. No doubt about it, she liked the change. She’d like to think their partnership instigated it. She’d like their partnership to instigate something more. Something against the rules.
Instead, she sat on the brink of losing everything. What if Jesse was wrong about Dad? What if she lost her job in spite of her success? And not only her, but Jesse for helping her? Shit. The Holy Water Deschamps had given her hadn’t done a damn thing, either. She hadn’t known what changes to expect, but she wasn’t faster or more agile, and she hadn’t started giving off a Heavenly glow. Nothing that might sway her dad to accept her new position.
She laid back and sighed, wishing on all the unseen stars they’d still have jobs this time tomorrow.
He shook her foot. “Come on. I’d say we could sleep here, but I don’t think those clouds are going to hold out.”
Shocked, she blurted her first thought. “You’d sleep with me in the back of your truck?” The image of cuddling with him on the thin batting set her on fire.
“Yeah. It’s freeing to snooze in the open. But only when the sky’s clear.” A drop of rain hit his face, and he wiped it away. “Let’s go, Luckett.” He offered his hand.
He’d meant actual sleeping.
She gripped his hand and slung out of the truck. Before she turned around, he’d slammed the tailgate and was folding the cushion. Despite the rain and total exhaustion, she wasn’t ready to be alone.
“Got a crazy question. If you couldn’t be a Hell Runner anymore, what would you do?”
He chucked the rolled padding behind the driver’s seat and hooked a hand over the top of the door.
“It’s not a crazy question,” he said. “It’s a stupid one.”
“That’s insulting.”
“It was insulting to ask it. And you really aren’t asking me. You’re asking yourself. Because despite what I told you, you don’t believe me. You still think your father will screw up your life.” He scrubbed his face with one hand. “I get it. He’s a manipulator. It’s hard to fight a manipulator on their turf.”
“Then what do we do?” The rain started to pelt, cold pins pinging on her bare arms. She hugged herself and waited for an answer.
“Get in.”
She ran to the passenger door and climbed inside, hoping he wouldn’t leave her hanging.
Before answering, he started the engine, hit the wipers, and then turned to her. “I tell you what we don’t do. We don’t quit. And we don’t think about wanting another life.”
“But the only turf belongs to Hell Runners. I don’t stand a chance, if he chooses to shut me out.”
He busted out a laugh, his face bright with genuine amusement.
“Princess, I know from experience.” His fiery tiger eyes fixed on her. “There’s no shutting you out.”
Chapter Eight
Jesse bolted from the subterranean elevator and strode with single-minded determination toward Jack’s office. Not yet late, but he was cutting it close. He felt like his stomach gripped a sharp stick and was periodically poking his heart with it.
Worry. He’d never let it in before, and now he couldn’t shake its tail. At least he’d faked through it for Prudence last night.
He patted his back pocket and felt the sharp edges of his cellphone. Thank God it hadn’t popped out in his haste. As the saying went, a picture was worth a thousand words, so a video must be the equivalent of a political filibuster. The chancellor may be protective, but once he witnessed Prudence in action, even he couldn’t deny Hell Runners’ use of his righteous daughter.
Jesse overtook the last corner and stopped dead.
Ahead of him, his partner cat-walked in high heels around the little cushioned sofa to the left of the boss’s door. Her plain white blouse clung to her back, and her straight black skirt tried like a champ to corral her curves. The skirt was losing—beautifully. If she was aiming for studious librarian, she fell way south of the mark.
He didn’t mind a good look at those carved-from-ivory legs, but the refined threads didn’t suit her, and her father would only perceive her fancy duds as trying too hard. Good thing she decided to invite him. No one had ever accused him of kissing ass.
He’d reached halfway across the room before she noticed him.
“’Bout time you got here.” She beelined toward him, her breasts jiggling behind tiny buttons.
“You couldn’t have been waiting long. Neither one of us got enough sleep. And there’s no way you did all that in ten minutes.” He pointed a finger at her and waggled it from her starched blouse to her sexy high heels.
“Did all what?” Instead of her usual arm-punch greeting, she put her hands on her hips.
“You know. The girlie thing.”
“This is not a girlie thing—this is business attire. There’s no difference between putting on a skirt and pulling up jeans.”
He arched both eyebrows at her.
“Okay.” One corner of her mouth quirked up. “Maybe a little, but I wanted to make the right impression on Dad. Show him I’m professional.”
“You’re a professional no matter what you wear.” He forced his gaze not to wander over her body.
“Thanks, Thorne.” She smiled and popped his bicep with her hand like she always did, trying too hard to act like his buddy.
Checking the clock over the secretary’s desk, he scrubbed the stubble on his chin. “It’s ten sharp. Hey, Peggy—how long until he actually lets us in?”
“Pffff. You know Jack.” Peggy glanced up, her silver bob skimming her stiff collar. “Hard to say most days. Worse after a trip.”
Trips had nothing to do with making them sit time-out. Waiting for extended periods put most people off their guard, impatience nibbling away confidence by tiny increments. Jack counted on that. Especially today.
“It’s already been a crazy morning on his first day back,” she added with a sigh. “Lots of phone calls. He’s spoken with almost every council member.”
Shit! While they sat trigger happy in reception, the boss would be loading up on grenades.
Maybe Jack’s schedule deserved a serious shake up.
Jesse nabbed Prudence by the elbow and guided her toward the doors leading to the inner chamber.
“You trust me, right?” He removed the cell phone from his back pocket.
She shrugged. “More than not.” Her mouth curved into a wry smile.
“A simple yes would do.”
“What do you have in mind?”
He bounced the cellphone in his hand, and he grinned. “Pulling the first pin.”
»»•««
With the same surety as passing through the bronze Gate, they entered the chancellor’s office. Chin high, Prudence strode confidently beside him. Maybe it had been a good idea for her to dress like an Armani ad. It may not impress her old man, but she impressed herself, and that’s what mattered.
Engrossed in conversation, Jack hadn’t noticed them until they breached the circle of light around his monstrous desk. Looking up, he stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide. “Maurice. Maurice,” he said, trying to cut off his caller.
The element of surprise. Score one for Jesse.
“Maurice, I’ll have to call you back,” he blurted over the accented voice continuing to prattle about a meeting in Paris. He aimed his rock-hard gaze at Jesse. “My ten o’clock is here.” He cut the connection without a courteous au revoir.
“Peggy wasn’t out front, so we took the liberty of letting ourselves in.” Prudence thoughtfully covered for his secretary and then sat in one of the upholstered chairs in front of the desk. She crossed her colt
ish legs and smiled sweetly, like they weren’t about to do battle. “You didn’t need to hang up with Chancellor Vipond. We could have waited while you finished your call.”
Jack stood, as all people do when they sense the need to intimidate.
Likewise, Jesse deliberately chose not to sit. Instead, he rested a hand on the back of Prudence’s chair and leaned casually.
“Jesse, I didn’t expect to see you.” Jack’s eyes narrowed to flint drill bits. “I thought I was going to have a nice breakfast with my daughter.” He smiled at her, but his eyes didn’t soften. “I would like to catch up.” He lowered his voice. “Privately.”
“I’ve already had breakfast, sir.” Her sir sounded forced but was a smart countermove.
“Well, I haven’t.” Without being invited, Jesse reached across the desk and flipped the lid on the box of pastry.
“And whatever you have to say to me, you say to us,” she said, her voice all business. “I’m sure you’ve already heard, but Jesse and I are partners now. We wanted to tell you in person. And together.”
Good. She dived right in.
He chose a cruller from the box and then tilted it toward Jack.
The boss waved him off with a sneer. “Take the whole damn thing. And go. Leave us to talk.”
“He’s staying.”
Mouth drawn small and tight, Jack sat back in his chair. “Fine. Have it your way.” He focused only on his daughter. “Of course I was informed.”
“Then you also know we’ve had the most productive two weeks of any Hell Runners.” Jesse placed the box on the edge of the desk. “Ever. Including the best days of me and Swift. Last night we ran two missions, not the usual one.”
Now was the moment for evidence. He flipped the cell over in one hand. “For as many times as I suggested to you Prudence needed to be in the field, it never occurred to me to take her under my wing. I should have thought of it. She needed someone with experience to nurture her abilities.”
“And you’re the man for that?” Jack said with ire intended to shake Jesse’s confidence.
Rule Breakers, Soul Takers (Hell Runners Book 1) Page 9
