Page 123 of Darkness Bound (Night Prowler 5)
Jack’s face flushed. “I’m just . . . not ready, No. It’s too . . . strange. I can hardly get my own head around it. I’m only doing this to get the press off my back, and then I’m going to crawl back into my shell.?
??
“I get it,” she said softly. “And I know you. You’re the most private person I’ve ever met. So I’m only going to say this once, and then we’ll consider the subject closed forever.”
Jack’s heart began to flutter. “Why does that sound so ominous?”
Nola looked at her with big, dark eyes, her expression pained. “You’ve said you don’t remember most of the past few weeks, and there are holes in your memory . . . from other times.” She glanced away for a moment, hesitating, then met her gaze again. “You’re my best friend. You know that, right? There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
All the little hairs on Jack’s arms lifted. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she whispered, “You know, don’t you? You know what I don’t remember about my father? About my childhood?”
Slowly, Nola nodded.
Jack whispered hoarsely, “Do I want to know?”
The answer was immediate, blunt, as hard as two fingers snapping. “No.”
Jack closed her eyes.
Nola said, “And that’s why I’m not going to tell you. Because you and I have the same set of monsters, and there’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do to escape mine. Even for a single day. Even for a minute.”
Jack opened her eyes to find Nola staring at her with fierce intensity, her dark eyes blazing wild-thing bright. “But you should know that your father is a good man. Flawed, but good. He never hurt you. Ever. And he never will. He loves you more than anything in the world. You can trust him.”
Jack put her face into her hands, her tentative façade of equilibrium riven with cracks. She whispered a curse, and Nola pulled her into a hug.
“I know. I’m sorry. This sucks. But you’re a tough cookie, Dolan. You’re going to be fine.” She pulled away and swiped at the tear that had begun to track down Jack’s cheek. “Okay. One other thing and then I’m shutting up.”
“Oh dear God. I don’t think I can take ‘one other thing.’?”
“This guy you met in Brazil.”
Jack stiffened. She’d never told Nola about Hawk. How could she possibly know?
“Guy?”
“Yeah, the one you thought I bought you for your birthday. You know, the supermodel assassin rock-star sex god.”
Sex god? Birthday? She remembered the date of her birthday, she knew that it was a few days before she disappeared, when she was on assignment in . . . Manaus.
A picture flashed before her eyes. A burning building. The figure of a man, large and leonine, standing motionless across a cobbled street. Staring at her as if nothing else in the world existed.
A wave of heat flashed over her. Jack made an incoherent noise, which Nola took as an invitation to continue.
“When the police questioned me when you first disappeared, they wanted to know if anything unusual had happened to you within the last few weeks or months. So I told them about the guy you said you hooked up with. They looked into it, but I’m not sure if they found anything. Did . . . did he have anything to do with it? Your disappearance?”
Another picture, vivid as daylight. Jack on her back on a mattress in a hotel room, moaning, Hawk’s dark head moving between her spread thighs.
You like that, don’t you, Red?
All the breath left her body as if a giant, invisible hand had pressed down on her chest.
“Jack? Are you okay?”
She hadn’t realized she’d closed her eyes, hadn’t known she’d sunk into the wood chair at the small kitchen table. Her hand was cupped over her mouth, and she was fighting for air.
“I’m . . . I’m . . .” Jack swallowed, feeling as if the earth had just collapsed under her feet.
Hawk is a friend, and a good man, and whatever you remember or don’t, you should know that you’ve changed him.
