Page 45 of The Reluctant Siren
The door came open and Charlotte Taggart poked her head in.“Sweetie, I think your dad is about to explode and maybe take those guys ofyours with him.”
She gave Charlotte a thumbs-up. “Tell Ian I’ll help cleanhis office and I know some places to hide the bodies.”
Her mom sighed. “We’ll be right there.”
“Yeah, I’m also going to warn you that Ruby called in andshe’s found a hit on the Dark Web on you and Jensen, so Jack was right,”Charlotte said. “Jensen’s cover is blown and you’re both in danger. Your dad isalready talking about moving you home and putting a detail on you.”
Shit. She started down the hallway, hoping she wasn’t aboutto get kidnapped by her own parents.
* * * *
Harlow had the weirdest family ever. From the playboyundercover fed, to the big blond definitely ex-Special Forces guy who mostlylaughed at everything, to the twin dads, one of whom was like a reallypissed-off Sherlock Holmes, these dudes ran the gamut of interesting.
Niall liked it. He wanted in. He could be the quiet one whosat in the back with the twin who wasn’t raging and eat chips and drink beerand watch the whole show.
Not that he had an in since Harlow wouldn’t look at him. Nowshe was gone and he and Jensen were sitting here wondering where she went andif she was coming back.
“She’s already got one arrest,” Harlow’s dad was saying.
“One?” Big Blond Guy waved that off. “I can’t tell you howmany times I’ve been chucked in jail. The security business is not for thefaint of heart, Dawson.”
Niall moved to sit beside Jensen, who gave him a deadly lookand then turned away.
“Come on. Do you think you can take this crew on alone?”Niall asked quietly.
“I wasn’t going to let her get arrested,” Jack was arguing.“Why do you think I dealt with the cops? Who I hope are not on Hamilton’spayroll or it’s going to be a shame to the ladies everywhere that I’m about todie.”
Jensen leaned over, whispering. “I’m not taking on anyone.I’m staying because I need to talk to Harlow, you massive fucking ass.”
“I’m not going to apologize for falling for her. You sent mein to make sure she was okay. You were worried she was in the same cityHamilton was attempting to build a base in, and you wanted someone watchingover her. Or is she right and you wanted me to make sure she remained virginaland pure so she didn’t fuck around while you were off doing what you needed todo?” He wasn’t letting Jensen off the hook. He knew he should have talked tohim, but it wasn’t like Jensen was easy to get hold of these days.
Jensen seemed to stop, the words making him think. Sometimeshis best friend had to take a punch to the gut to figure out what he was doing.“I wanted to make sure she was okay.”
“So I wasn’t supposed to keep all the men off her?”
Jensen sat up, a frown on his face. “Well, I didn’t thinkyou would be one of them.”
Niall had been considering this all damn night. “Because Iwouldn’t fall for the gorgeous, smart, funny, tough chick? How many times, man?How many times did we go out to a bar and hit on the same woman? How many timesdid we argue over who got to go after her?”
Jensen sighed and sat back as the phone rang and the blondguy picked it up while Harlow’s other dad was trying to talk Sherlock down. “Alot. I should have known, but I thought you would at least talk to me about it.I guess in some ways, I knew you would care about her. I guess I was countingon it.”
But he hadn’t been counting on Niall acting on hisinevitable attraction. “I did not sleep with her for two reasons, and neitherof them were I didn’t want her. I couldn’t without telling her the truth, and Iwanted to talk to you. We have been friends for more than half my life. Whenyou wanted to go into the military, I went with you. When Tommy died and youneeded to leave, I gave it up. I would have gone to LA with you.”
“It was a one-man job,” Jensen said tightly. “I didn’t… Icouldn’t risk you. Like I couldn’t risk her.”
He’d known it at the time and been forced to honor thedecision, and Jensen couldn’t possibly know how alone that had left him. Backin their shitty small town without the Wiley brothers. He’d mourned Tommy, too.“All I’m saying is I’ve never let you down before. Not even once. The truth isif you make me choose between you and Harlow, she’s going to win.”
Now Jensen’s asshole smirk came out. “Back at ya, buddy. Andafter tonight I don’t think she’s going to choose you.”
“Oh, you think she’s running back into your arms?” Somethingwas going on in the background. The big guy was pacing and Harlow’s dads werearguing, but Niall was focused. “After what you did? You know she’s beenhealing from that for a long time.”
“I know the minute I offered to work with her, she wasputting you back on the shelf. She agreed to dump your ass and come back intothe club where we were going to make a connection the employees would findbelievable. She was going to be my acknowledged sub by the end of the week.”Jensen studied him carefully. “Yeah, there it is. She talked to you, didn’tshe?”
He wasn’t particularly good at hiding his emotions. Oh, hecould, but he never had to with his best friend. A knot formed in his gut. Ithad been after the meeting with Jensen that she’d talked about how they couldjust be friends. He’d thought it was about her feeling insecure because theyhadn’t slept together, but what if there was another reason?
“She loves me. I can fix this,” Jensen said with confidence.
“Or you can fuck her up more,” Niall shot back. “I can’tbelieve you were going to take her back in.”
