Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Jensen went a faint shade of pink. “I wasn’t planning on doing either.”
“You chose your revenge over her once. Why should I believe you would do anything differently now?”
Jensen’s jaw went tight. “I might not have a fucking choice.”
“But you’re already thinking about how to get back in. So do it and I’ll take care of her.” It was time to start laying some groundwork because the truth was no matter how pissed he was with Jensen right now, he still wanted this chance. “Or you can accept that Jack and the FBI have this and start giving Harlow what she needs.”
Jensen was quiet for a moment. “You would walk away so easily?”
“I’m not walking away at all. I think she needs both of us.” There it was. Everything he’d been working through in his brain for the last few months. He knew she loved Jensen, but she cared about him, too. At least he thought she did. He could show her what he had to offer. Jensen might be the big, attractive, over-the-top heroic guy, but he would probably forget her coffee in the morning and also forget that he could get arrested at any moment. Niall could be there, the steady presence in both of their lives.
They needed each other.
Jensen stared for a moment and then opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he had to say was stopped by Dad Number 1 reaching for his throat.
“You little shit,” Chase Dawson was saying. “You’re the one. You’re the reason my daughter nearly got killed in California.”
So he’d worked that out. Well, it had only been a matter of time. “Jensen, remember he’s her dad.”
Jensen stood, facing off with Chase Dawson, who was roughly the same height but leaner in build. “Mr. Dawson, I did what I needed to do to save Harlow. We were undercover, but things were about to get seriously dangerous. So I made the call to get her out. I should have done it myself, but I thought she would fight me. I thought getting arrested would keep her out of an intensely dangerous situation. A cartel was involved at that point, and they wanted to use her. I couldn’t let it happen.”
“So you left her to get the shit kicked out of her?” Chase practically roared the question.
That was when he noticed the big guy’s wife was walking out the door. Likely to go tell Harlow her dad was about to murder her ex.
He needed to calm this situation down. “He didn’t realize that would happen, Mr. Dawson. By allowing her to be arrested, he eliminated the chance that the cartel would use her. It’s what they did. They used their clubs to identify vulnerable people who could run their drugs for them. Harlow put herself in that position hoping to get picked. When Jensen found out she was next, he stopped it.”
“What the fuck were you doing in there in the first place?” Chase backed off slightly but there was still rage in those dark eyes.
Jensen squared off, and Niall knew this was going to go bad. “It’s none of your business.”
“His brother was murdered,” Niall explained. “He loved Tommy. Most of their lives they were all they had. I don’t know if you know how that feels, but he was older and his dad was long gone. He felt…”
“Responsible for his brother,” Chase said with a long sigh.
“Yes, we do understand what it means to be siblings without parents we could count on,” the other dad said. Ben. His name was Ben. “Chase, could we calm down and talk this out?”
“Oh, he’s about to explode again.” Taggart hung up his cell.
“Or we could not tell him shit,” Jack offered. He also had his cell in his hand. There was a text there. “You know technically this is my jurisdiction.”
“Hush, you toddler,” Taggart said. “I’m not going to hide this, and Ruby found it all on her own, so unless your jurisdiction includes the entire Dark Web, you should brace yourself for Hurricane Chase.”
“What?” Chase asked as his brother moved in beside him.
Oddly enough, Jensen took a step back and was suddenly beside Niall, even though he didn’t look his way.
“Ruby found a hit order on Harlow and Jensen,” Taggart announced. “Those pictures got to the right people, well the wrong people for us. Jensen, unless you’re ready to pull whatever crazy shit you were planning on pulling, you’re shut down. That’s my professional advice.”
“Oh, Jensen doesn’t look like a guy who takes professional advice,” Chase said, his eyes narrow. “He looks like a reckless asshole who won’t want to miss his shot.”
“Brother,” Ben began.
Jensen cursed under his breath.
Jensen’s cover was blown. Years of work gone in an instant.
Niall was strangely comforted at the thought. Not the thought of an assassin, but that Jensen couldn’t go back. How long had he been in this strange limbo where he was constantly waiting to hear his oldest friend was dead and he was alone? It had been a tension he’d gotten so used to that he hadn’t realized it was there.