Sure, he understood Mike’s position, but goddammit. There was more than one way a person could get hurt.
Good intentions or not, he still should have had the balls to refuse Mike’s request. Jake should have trusted Olivia enough to tell her the truth sooner. Hell, he should have told her a million times before now, but he’d been too fucking scared.
She’d been through so much. He didn’t think she could handle learning her dead brother wasn’t really dead, on top of everything else.
And that right there was the problem.
Jake had always underestimated Liv. So had Mike. They’d spent their lives trying to protect her the best way they knew how, but she’d been right all along.
Olivia didn’t always need his protection. She needed a partner. An equal.
She needed someone to stand by her side, not in front of her while barking orders. Jake hadn’t seen it that way ten years ago, so he’d gone along with Mike’s plea for silence, to keep Olivia from getting hurt.
“Yeah, and how did that work out for you, asshole?” Jake chastised himself. Champ sneezed then shook his head as if he were agreeing.
“I know, buddy.”
Leaning down, Jake patted the right side of his horse’s neck with a gloved hand. “I really screwed up, didn’t I?”
This time, Champ remained silent, and he figured that was about as good an answer as any.
He wondered if Trevor had made any progress today. Desperate, he wanted to call his friend and ask him what Liv had said. But, hell. He wasn’t some junior-high kid asking his friend to pass notes to the girl he likes during study hall.
Jake had to keep some part of his man card, even if it was just a tiny, torn off corner. Damn, if his curiosity wasn’t eating him up inside, though.
Back at the barn, he’d just finished brushing down Champ and was latching his stable’s gate when Coop walked in.
Jake glanced up at the other man’s face. Coop’s expression had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
“What’s wrong?”
Coop’s brows turned inward. “You talk to Ryker?”
Damn. Now those hairs were screaming at him. “No. Why?”
“You need to call him. Says it’s about Olivia.”
Jake’s entire body immediately tensed up, his nerve endings tingling. “What about her?” he stepped closer to his teammate. “Is she okay?”
“Far as I know. Mac talked to her about two hours ago. She tried calling her just now, but she didn’t answer. Mac wasn’t overly concerned, though. When she talked to her before, Olivia was getting ready to go into work. Said she’d picked up an extra shift or something.”
Jake relaxed his shoulders. Mac had talked with her recently, and she’d been fine. Plus, Trevor should have made it to Liv’s house and been gone by now. He would have called if something were wrong.
“So, what’s the problem?”
Coop shrugged a shoulder. “Don’t know. Ryker just said to call him ASAP.”
Shit. His shoulders tensed up again. Needing some uninterrupted time to think, Jake had purposely ignored his phone when he’d been out riding. It would ring, and he’d look to see if it was Olivia.
When it wasn’t, he’d shove it back into his pocket. The way she’d left the other day, he didn’t actually expect her to call. That didn’t stop him from praying it was her each time his phone would buzz.
Not wanting to talk to anyone but her, he’d let Ryker’s calls go to voicemail. Assuming he was calling about a new job, Jake hadn’t bothered to check any of the other man’s messages yet.
Ryker knew he’d taken himself out of commission, though. Now, Jake had to wonder...why all the calls?
He’d been so up in his own head, worrying about pulling his ass out of the mess he’d made with her, he hadn’t been thinking clearly.
He should have known, if Ryker was calling him on his down time, he needed to answer his damn phone. And Coop said it had to do with Olivia. Fuck!
Jake broke into a sprint, running from the barn to the house, his phone to his ear as he tried to get through to the Homeland agent.
The first three times he called, it went straight to voicemail. Jake didn’t bother to leave a message. Instead, he ended the calls and immediately tried again.
By the time he reached his house, Jake’s heart was slamming against his chest. Not from the uphill run, but because he knew in his gut that something was wrong.
On the fourth try, Ryker finally answered. “About damn time you call me back, McQueen.”
“What do you know?”
“Shit, you didn’t check your messages, did you?”
“Don’t fuck me around, Ryker. What’s happened?”
A loud sigh hit his ear. “You need to get to your girl, and stay with her.”
Fear assaulted him, his steps faltering as he entered his house. “Why?”
Not that he needed a reason to keep Liv safe. Jake would always do that, but right now, he needed answers. He just wasn’t ready for the one he got.
“Cetro.”
Ryker’s one-word response stunned him. Jake stopped moving altogether. He closed his eyes as he spoke. “Explain. And, I swear to God, Jason...you’d better not feed me any bullshit on this.”
“The short of it? Cetro escaped, and word is he blames Olivia for his brother’s death.” There was a slight pause and then, “He’s going after her, Jake.”
Jake’s eyes flew open. “What the fuck?”
Jake ran to his kitchen and grabbed the keys to his truck from the counter. He continued talking as he stalked down the hall toward what Jake called the war room.
Mac—who’d apparently come with Coop to deliver Ryker’s message—abandoned the cup of coffee she’d been making, and she and Coop followed closely behind. They all went straight for the enormous safe at the back of the room.
“He’s supposed to be locked up!” Jake growled. “What the hell happened?”
He quickly pressed his palm against the biometric scanner to gain access. A second later, the loud click told him it was unlocked.
While Ryker explained
