Serena, looking sympathetic, said, “Look, I’ll speak to the doctor and see if we can get you some extra time tomorrow.”
“You can’t know what that would mean to me,” Lauren said gratefully.
Jaden’s hand never left her back as they walked out. She eased onto the back of the motorcycle, wrapped her arms around him and leaned her face against his back. He didn’t pit stop on the way home. He kept going until they returned safely to his place.
“Just remember he’s going to be fine,” he said once they were back inside.
“He was trying to tell me something and I couldn’t make it out.” Lauren’s hands worked the ends of a pillow as she sat on the sofa.
“Maybe we’ll get another chance to talk to him tomorrow. I know he looks bad to you right now, but believe me when I say that I’ve seen a lot worse,” Jaden tried to offer reassurance as he took a seat next to her.
“Like your injuries?” She brought her hand up to his shoulder with the bullet hole.
“That’s nothing.” She tensed when he said what was supposed to reassure her.
Lauren’s finger traced the rough skin, the scars covering what had been a hole in his shoulder. She brushed a kiss there. “This woman you trusted, did the two of you get very close?”
“Not this close,” he said and his lips found hers.
Jaden knew all too well this feeling of the world being right for just a second wouldn’t last.
Chapter 21
Lauren lay sleeping in Jaden’s bed, his protective arms encircling her. Her steady, even breathing said she was asleep. She’d managed to get a few bites down before another round of the best sex of Jaden’s life.
She stirred a place deep inside him—a place that had lain dormant forever—a place that made him want to protect her, to do whatever it took to keep her safe and happy, to tell her all his secrets.
His first instinct was to fight the feeling.
Not wanting to get inside his head about what that meant, how it all would work, he focused on what he knew. He wanted to be with her.
Something about the case bothered him. His thoughts circled back to Lauren. The same question haunted him. Why did they seem so intent on involving her?
He was overlooking something. A connection or link he hadn’t thought of already. Who else was connected to Lauren? Looking at her, their bodies linked, a thought struck. Him. He was the only person, aside from Max, she was connected to.
Hells bells.
Couldn’t be. What if the cartel had been trying to ferret out Jaden? But why? What was Max trying to tell them? He’d repeated “Herrr.”
The realization hit Jaden like a jackhammer to his solar plexus. Herrrr was a woman. Helena? Now his worst fears might be playing out that Helena was behind this.
When he really thought about it everyone around her dropped like napalm. Why hadn’t he pieced this together before? The hollow look in her eyes the day of Tim’s funeral had haunted Jaden. Something broke in her the day she’d lost him. What if Helena was never after Max or Lauren. She was using them to get to Jaden. Why? Did she blame him for Tim’s death? That would make this personal.
She was focused on the man with the angel tattoo and Jaden.
Guilt hit him fast and hard, rolling his insides. Lauren might be safe by now if not for him. One of the Menendez boys must’ve identified Jaden on the beach.
It felt like the worst kind of betrayal lying next to Lauren, having her feel his protection, when, in fact, she could be in more danger because of him.
Icy fingers squeezed his heart. Jaden slid out of the covers, snatched his cell from the makeshift bedside table, pulled on a pair of jeans, and slipped out the front door.
Was Gabriel still with Helena? He texted him. Nothing. He called Gunner next. No answer.
Wishing he had a friend to talk to had him thinking of his old buddy, Tate “Bear” Parker. But, damn, it had been a long time since the two had talked. Jaden knew that Bear had been medically discharged from the Army and was now working in Montana for the Brotherhood Protectors as a bodyguard. The last Jaden had heard, Bear had found what sounded like the real deal with a screenwriter by the name of Mia.
Good for him.
The private agency job he’d taken in Montana seemed to make him happy. Jaden had some serious contemplating to do. Could he set up his own shop in Texas? Bring in a few good men? Help others and know who the hell he was fighting and what they were fighting for? No more black ops. No more secrets. It gave him a lot to think about. Living life on his own terms sounded damn good about now.
A former D-Force soldier, Bear had lost most of his men when an Iraqi informant double crossed them. If not for the close air support that had been called in, Bear wouldn’t be alive right now. He’d had a long road to recovery after taking a hit to his leg, but the last time the two talked Bear sounded like a new man.
Out of desperation, Jaden called his former friend. A true handyman, Bear could fix just about anything. Could he fix this? Fix Jaden?
As Jaden always did, he sent a coded text first.
“Hey.” Bear picked up on the first ring.
“It’s good to hear your voice, bro,” Jaden said.
“Are you about to ask me on a date?” Bear teased. Jaden missed the easy way he had with his former friend.
“Yeah, why? Have you gone all exclusive now with Mia?”
“How’d you kno—” Bear stopped midsentence. He chuckled again, realizing he wasn’t exactly incognito in Montana and he was having
