Page 103 of The Reluctant Siren
“Yeah, he was an MP. Now that I think about it I believe shesaid I killed someone close to him.” Hamilton knelt down. “Is that what I did,you asshole? I took out your girlfriend or something?”
He didn’t even fucking know. All this time he’d made thisman the center of his world, and he didn’t even remember Tommy. He likelyhadn’t even done it himself. He’d ordered someone to do it. It was all useless.So fucking useless, and now he was going to die here and it was useless, too.
He was useless.
The only thing he’d ever been halfway good at was beingNiall’s friend and Tommy’s brother. He could have been good at loving Harlow ifhe’d been able to see past his guilt and fear.
It was fear. He was afraid of loving her. Of losing her. Ofnot being worthy of her.
Hamilton reached out and pulled his head up. “You and me aregoing to have a talk and you’re going to tell me where you put that hard drive.Then I’ll kill you. If you think that’s not a good deal for you, well, let meshow you what I can do while you’re alive.”
He stood up, a gleam in his eyes, and then he brought hisfoot back and kicked Jensen squarely in the stomach.
All the air left his lungs and before he could breathe,Hamilton kicked him again. And again.
Jensen groaned and hoped the end came soon.
ChapterEighteen
Harlow dropped down on the lawn in the greenest patchshe could find since she hadn’t expected the building to have a slanted roof.Jasper had claimed he could get low enough that the drop wouldn’t be too bad.She’d been willing to chance it, but Niall had thrown a Dom hissy fit, andsince she really could roll off the fucker, she’d given in.
She looked up and Niall was climbing down. He got to thelast rung and carefully jumped.
Jasper immediately took off since he’d already heard someradio chatter about a rogue chopper, and he’d explained he was too pretty to goto jail, so he was heading for his uncle’s office where he would update Big Tagon what was going on.
Niall winced as he straightened up but didn’t complain. Notabout pain. “You should have let me go first. I would have caught you.”
She glanced around, her SIG in hand. Everything looked quietand calm now that the chopper was off. She looked at the numbers. They wouldhave to move to the other side. “I couldn’t be sure they don’t have someone onlookout. I didn’t want you to get shot while you were trying to catch me. Iknew you would want to.”
He frowned her way. “Well the next time we have to jump outof a chopper, I’d like the chance to spare your knees.”
He was a beautiful man. Could she trust him? She damnstraight couldn’t trust the asshole she’d come to save. “We should move aroundto the front.”
She started for what seemed to be the parking lot, movingpast the laundry room. This wasn’t like her condo. There were no insideamenities. If Jensen wanted to do a load of laundry and it was raining, hewould have to wait. She glanced inside but no one was there.
“Tell me again why we’re not calling the cops.” Niall’svoice had gone quiet, and he moved behind her.
“Because it would cause a hell of a tangle, and we can’t besure they won’t arrest Jensen and put him in a cell alongside whoever is tryingto kill him.” She moved slowly, listening for anything that would let her knowthey weren’t alone. The apartment was set back from the street, and they werein a rundown part of the city. There was a convenience store across the streetahead, but the stores around it were all closed down and abandoned.
All of this could have been avoided if her asshole cousinanswered his phone or read his texts.
“Traffic was awful,” a deep voice was saying. “Look, can wetell my boss I got here in plenty of time? You said he just went upstairs,right? Big Tag doesn’t care that there was a three-car wreck on I30. He’llexpect my ass to fly here, and he can be mean. I lost his damn niece. He’snever going to forget that. I’m in the doghouse.”
Landon Vail. He was a McKay-Taggart bodyguard. She breatheda deep sigh of relief and moved around the building.
“What’s happening? Where’s Jensen?” She wasted no time.
Jack’s eyes widened when he saw her. He looked up as thoughhe could still see the chopper. “Damn it. Ruby. Ruby sent a damn chopper topick your ass up and make my life hell.” He pulled his cell phone. “Guess Ishould have answered her.”
“Yeah, you should have,” Harlow said with a frown. “Shewasn’t flirting with you, asshole. She was trying to tell you that the hit ison for today.”
Landon raised a hand. “Yeah, I’m supposed to tell you that,too. I was just getting to the pertinent information.”
“After you covered your ass,” Niall added.
Landon sighed. “It was traffic, and no one sent a chopperfor me. Look, I’m here as Jensen’s bodyguard.”
Jack’s eyes rolled. “I think I can handle it. He doesn’tneed a bodyguard.”
