Never Gonna Happen

by Cynthia Eden

  What is the next move?

  Not another safe house. Not another time trying to lure in the bad guys. Although, the lure trick had worked. Only with nearly disastrous results.

  “I want to kill Dex,” Antony suddenly declared.

  Her eyes widened. Her stare jumped toward the two frowning cops. “He’s exaggerating,” she hurried to say.

  “No, I’m damn well not. This is a serious cluster situation, and the perps should never have gotten so close to you. You were supposed to be safe, off-grid, you were—”

  “I knew Dex wanted to lure in the bad guys. He let them find me. The idea was that we’d take them into custody, and all of this would be over.”

  Antony’s face flushed. A very dangerous shade of red. “What?”

  Judging by that unnatural color…“I think you heard me.”

  “I will kill him!”

  Again, the cops looked nervous.

  Alyssa shook her head. “He’s not killing anyone,” she assured them. “Just exaggerating. You know how it is.”

  Their expressions said, no, they didn’t exactly know how it was.

  Alyssa peered back at Antony. “Watch what you say,” she advised softly. “Especially when we are in front of cops.”

  His clenched jaw flexed. Antony gritted out, “You knew what he’d planned?”

  “I suspected back at the hospital.”

  “And you went with him? Are you crazy?”

  Her shoulders stiffened. “I’m not crazy. I am tired of being chased by bad guys. I’m tired of having my whole life turned upside down. I’m tired of running.” She could hear the heat in her own words. “So the idea of setting a trap appealed to me. I went in with my eyes open.”

  “You could have been killed!”

  She edged closer to him and dropped her voice even more. “And you’re a spy. You could be killed on every mission you take.” Her voice was so low the cops wouldn’t be able to hear her. She’d also moved and angled her body so that they wouldn’t be able to see her lips moving as she asked, “Do you let that stop you?”

  “Alyssa…”

  “He was going to shoot Sebastian.” This part still had her shaking. “Did anyone tell you that?”

  Antony’s brow furrowed.

  “The man was running out of the smoke—some guy dressed in all black. I think he was the one who set the bomb. He aimed his gun, and he was going to shoot Sebastian in the back.” Her heart iced at the memory. “I screamed for him to stop. He didn’t. So I shot him.”

  Her brother blinked. “Say that again.”

  “I shot him. At least twice. I couldn’t let him hurt Sebastian.”

  “You shot a man…to protect Sebastian.” Antony frowned, as if he were having a really hard time understanding those facts.

  Seeing as how he’d just repeated the events perfectly to her, it was obvious he got what she was saying. “Yes. You know I’m a good shot.” Not as good as their mother, but still…she always hit her target.

  “You’ve never shot at a person before!”

  “And a person was never trying to shoot the man I love before!”

  His eyes became saucers. “No.”

  Crap. Those words had flown out. As they always do. She cleared her throat. “I’m really tired.”

  “You love Sebastian?”

  She’d just said so.

  “Since when?” Antony demanded.

  She looked away. The cops were watching with avid gazes. Could the situation get any more embarrassing? “Let’s talk about it later.”

  “You can’t love him. You barely even seem to like him most days.”

  “Sometimes, what you see isn’t always what you get.” She backed away from Antony.

  “It’s because of the sex.” He nodded. “You’re confusing good sex and love.”

  She had to stare at him. An are-you-freaking-serious stare.

  “What an idiot,” Isla mumbled. But her voice was just loud enough to be clearly heard. Alyssa was sure that was deliberate.

  “I am absolutely not!” Antony straightened his shoulders. “I will have you know that I am—”

  “And I will have you know that I’ve had sex before,” Alyssa stormed right over his words. Obviously, the cops were going to hear it all. Wonderful. “Not like it’s my first rodeo.”

  Now Antony winced. “I don’t want to know about your sex partners. That is something a brother should not ever—”

  “You’re the one who told me I’d confused good sex with love. Newsflash, I’ve had good sex. I didn’t think it was love. I just thought it was good sex. And I don’t have good sex with Sebastian.”

  His brows furrowed. “You don’t? I mean, that’s great. Then you won’t need to have sex with him again and—”

  “I have amazing sex with him. Because I love him.” It was getting easier to say. So what if the cops heard? Maybe it was time to say it to everyone. Or, at least to the person who needed to hear the confession the most.

  Sebastian.

  “Since when?” Antony seemed truly perplexed. “You’ve barely tolerated him over the years! Whenever he came into a room, you immediately stiffened! You were always extra tense when he was around and—oh, shit.”

  Understanding had dawned. She could see it on his face. “Exactly. I was extra tense because he did matter. Because I was nervous around him. Because I wanted to be close, but I didn’t know how to make it happen.”

  “But he’s an asshole. Most people don’t even like him!”

  “That’s not who he really is. You like him. You know what he’s really like, and it’s not cool for you to rail about a friend.” She paused. “It’s even less cool for you to say that stuff about the man I love.”

  His eyes squeezed shut. “Please, I am begging you, stop saying that.”

  “Why? The more I say it, the easier it will be for you to accept.”

  His eyes flew right back open. “Are you using psychology tricks on me?”

  Alyssa rolled one shoulder in a shrug.

  “Tell me why you love him. Just do that for me. Tell me why, Alyssa.”

  “How about this…why don’t you tell me why he’s your friend? Why you’ve been partners with him for so long?”

  “Because he’s brilliant.” An instant response. “Because I’m an asshole, too, and I understand someone who doesn’t bullshit. Because he gets the job done, and I can always count on him to do that. He may drive me crazy at times—lots of times, and in fact, now is one of those times—but I know that he’d have my back no matter what.”

  She nodded. “I happen to think he’s brilliant, too. But I also like that he notices the details about me. All of the details.”

  “What does that mean?” A furrow appeared between his brows. Antony yanked off his glasses and began to polish the lenses on his shirt.

  She put her hands on her hips. “What’s my favorite holiday?”

  “Christmas.” He nodded.

  “No, that’s your favorite holiday. I like the Fourth of July. Because I like fireworks. I love the way they light up the sky.”

  Now his brow furrowed. “Last summer, Sebastian insisted on spending all that money on the company’s annual picnic. I told him that he was wasting money getting that giant fireworks show but he said…” Now his lashes flickered. “He said they were worth any price. I thought he was crazy. Just wasting money. He was,” he added quickly. “But…did he do that for you?”

  “I also like apple pie.”

  “He had a whole freaking table of apple pies at that Fourth of July picnic!”

  Yes, Sebastian had. She held Antony’s gaze. “Do you know the scent of my favorite lotion? The lotion I’ve worn for years?”

  “I have no freaking idea. Why would I know that?”

  “He knows. It’s lavender.”

  Once more, Antony’s lashes flickered.

  “Do you know which bakery in town I love the most?”

  “Uh, no.” Antony shook his head. “Let me guess
, though, Sebastian knows?”

  She nodded.

  He shoved the glasses back onto his nose. “You get that the man has an insane memory? He can remember everything about everyone.”

  Her brother was trying to say that she wasn’t special. That Sebastian remembered the details about all the people he met. “He might very well remember that much about everyone.” She nodded. “But when my life was in danger, when he was standing in front of several hundred people about to go live with your newest tech, he left them all because he wanted to save me. That means I matter to him. Just like he matters to me.”

  “I…” Antony’s voice trailed away.

  For once, she didn’t think Antony knew what to say.

  That was okay. She had plenty to say. She grabbed his shirtfront. “They won’t let me out of this room.” She eyed the cops, then peered back up at her brother.

  “Uh, that grip of yours is pretty tight, sis…”

  “But they’ll let you out. You’re going out now, you’re going to find Sebastian, and you are going to bring him back to me. Right now, got it?”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.

  “Get him. Get him in here. Now.” Because she had to make certain Sebastian was okay. Because she needed him.

  And, as she’d told her brother…because she loved him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I’m not saying a word without my lawyer!”

  Sebastian glared at the perp through the glass. Of course, the blond would lawyer up immediately. Bad guy 101, and as the fellow’s rap sheet had proven, this wasn’t his first brush with the law.

  More like his twentieth.

  A quick scan of Dwight Granger’s file had shown that he’d started getting rough with his enemies back when he’d been a teen. Assault charges had gotten him tossed into juvie, and from there, he’d graduated to bigger game. B and E’s, kidnapping, and even a murder for hire charge that Granger had managed to dodge when a witness mysteriously vanished.

  “Of course.” Winston sat across the small table from Dwight. He nodded. Looked all congenial and calm. “You don’t have to say anything. That is completely your option. I was just going to talk so that you’d understand why you will soon be transported.”

  “Transported?” Dwight straightened in his wobbly chair. “Where the hell am I going?”

  “I actually don’t know, and I don’t want to know. That kind of thing is above my pay grade.”

  Please. In reality, Winston wanted to know everything. It was just part of who he was.

  “Government agents are on the way to collect you,” Winston revealed to the perp.

  “What?” Dwight laughed. “Like I buy that bull.”

  Sebastian stiffened. The man’s response seemed…genuine.

  With a smirk on his face, Dwight glanced around. “Why the hell would government agents be coming to get me?”

  “Well, you did break into an apartment building, set a bomb—”

  “I didn’t set the bomb! That wasn’t me!”

  “And then you assaulted a federal agent.”

  “Who was the damn federal agent?” Dwight’s brows scrunched.

  Again, his response seemed genuine. Appearances could be deceiving, though.

  Winston looked down at a file in front of him. “I’m not at liberty to divulge an agent’s—”

  “You’re not talking about that rich-boy prick, are you? Because he’s no government agent, and you’re not about to slam a charge like that on me! No way!”

  “You’re worried about that charge?” Winston cleared his throat. “Maybe you forgot the breaking and entering, the bomb, the—”

  “I’m not getting shipped off to some secret government facility, you hear me? That’s not happening! I’ve heard stories about people just disappearing into those holes and never getting out!”

  Oh, he’d heard stories, had he?

  Winston closed his manila file. “Oh, good, then you’re already updated. Here I thought I’d have to go over things for you. But you obviously understand your new living conditions, so we’re all set. You’ll remain in this room until the agents arrive for your transport.” He peered at his watch. “Shouldn’t be long. Maybe ten minutes, tops, and then you’ll be out of here.” He rose. The legs of his chair scraped across the floor. “By the way…” Winston leaned over the table. “That ‘rich-boy prick’ happens to be a friend of mine, and I don’t take kindly to people assaulting my friends.”

  Dwight swallowed. “You…you gonna hit me, now? Get you some payback?”

  “Why would I do that?” Winston smiled. “You’re about to be shoved in a hole and forgotten. Your payback will be coming no matter what I do. Same situation for your buddies. You’ll all vanish soon enough.” He whistled and headed for the door.

  “You can’t leave me!”

  Winston kept walking. “Well, I can’t talk to you any longer. You did ask for a lawyer, and the agents are coming and—”

  “Screw a lawyer! Help me.” Dwight’s face mottled. “I wasn’t told anything about the people in that place being agents! I was just…shit, the orders kept getting bigger and bigger, you know?”

  Winston slowly turned back to face him. “I don’t know. Spell the situation out for me.”

  “Look, first, we were just scaring the woman! I mean, easy money for a scare. Who turns down that kind of job?”

  A law-abiding citizen?

  Sweat trickled down Dwight’s temple. “Those bullets weren’t supposed to hit her at the theater, and they didn’t!”

  Well, hell. Winston had worked his magic. Now they were getting some place.

  “And we left the message at her place to frighten her. She was supposed to hook up with the rich-boy pr—I mean, with that guy. Your friend. She was supposed to hook up with him. Dammit, I even thought he was our client in the beginning!”

  What? Now Sebastian was leaning forward because that last bit made zero sense.

  Winston was frowning, too. “What do you mean, you thought he was the client? Why the hell would you think that?”

  “Some guys like to play hero.” Dwight licked his lower lip. “Me personally? I like to be the bad guy.”

  Obviously.

  “Since the orders were for her not to get hurt, I figured maybe he wanted to act the hero. I mean, the goal was for her to move in with him. We made that shit happen.” Dwight nodded.

  Yes, they had.

  “But then things changed.” Winston stalked back toward Dwight. “Want to tell me about the hit at Shark Gaming and Design?”

  “Look, if I talk, you’ve got to keep those agents off me! I’m not disappearing! I’m not having some X-Files shit up in here!”

  Had that guy seriously just made a flashback reference to—

  “I make no promises.” Winston tapped his chin. “You know what? Maybe I should go talk to your buddy. What was his name? Oh, yeah, Martin. Martin—”

  “Marty don’t get a deal! I get the deal! I mean, Marty was the one who fired the shot at Shark Gaming and Design. He was also the one who fired at the woman when she was at the theater. I didn’t shoot at anyone. You hear me? I never shot at anyone.”

  Except Dwight had tried to sneak into the bedroom at the safe house and fire a gun at the bed. The only reason you didn’t fire is because Dex snapped your wrist. A wrist that had already been wrapped up and was currently being cradled on the guy’s lap.

  “Listen!” Dwight exploded. “If you’re making deals, you deal with the guy who didn’t shoot!”

  And to think, Dwight had been such a confident bastard when he’d been saying, “Boom” over and over again.

  Not so confident when he was locked up. Not so confident when he feared he was about to be sent into some secret government prison.

  Winston waved his hand. “Why was the hit taken at Shark Gaming and Design?”

  “We just got the order that we’d get ten grand if we winged one of the owners. Again, wing him. Not kill him.”
<
br />   “Yeah, look, you put a bomb at the last location.” Winston’s voice dripped sarcasm as he continued, “That screams kill to me—”

  “It was a small bomb! Shit! It was more of a distraction than anything else—”

  The door opened behind Sebastian. He tensed, figuring another cop had come in the room. “Look, I’ve got permission to be in here—”

  “Sure, but knowing you, I figure you’d be watching the interrogation whether you had permission or not,” a familiar voice responded.

  He fired a fast glance over his shoulder at Antony.

  Antony twisted his lips into the rough semblance of a grin. “I kinda thought you’d be in the interrogation.”

  “Tried to be. Winston wouldn’t let me.” He looked back at the interrogation room. “Things are getting interesting.”

  Antony moved to his side. They both focused back on the scene.

  “You’re telling me that you never intended for anyone to get hurt?” Winston shook his head. “Try that line on someone who hasn’t seen your rap sheet. You don’t care who you hurt. You sell your services to any interested party, and you stopped asking questions long ago.” Once more, he made his way for the door. “I think we’re done.”

  “You’re right! I do sell my services—and that’s what happened this time!”

  Now we’re getting to the man pulling the strings.

  Winston slanted a glance back at Dwight. “I’m thinking the government agents would be more interested in your employer than in you.”

  Dwight’s shoulders sagged. “That’s gonna be a problem.”

  “I don’t like problems. I’m more of a solution man.” Winston returned to the table. He pulled out his chair. Spun it around. Straddled it. “Tell me who hired you.”

  “I would…if I knew.”

  Winston waited.

  And waited.

  “Jesus, I hate the sweat-it-out technique,” Antony muttered. “Makes me nervous as hell. By the way, what the hell happened to your face?”

  “It’s a cut above my eye. Not my face. My moneymaker is just fine.”

  Antony grunted.

  “It was all online!” Dwight suddenly cried out.