The minute I turn to go down the stairs, I find Blake standing in front of me. “Welcome to your safe house,” he says.
My mind explodes with one word: No. No. No. No. What part of ‘I’m married and Asher is trying to get himself killed does this man not understand’? “Do you even know who Devin Marks is?” I demand.
“I’m ex-ATF, sweetheart. Yes. I know who he is.”
“What does the ATF have to do with him? He sells military weapons.”
“Some of which ended up in Mexico, in cartel hands, more than once.”
Asher’s hands come down on my shoulders. “Come sit down, Sierra.”
I turn to face him. “I’m married, Asher. To another man. What part of that do you not understand? And now they, all your people, know that fact.”
“Sierra—”
“Why don’t you get it?” I demand, curling my fingers around his shirt. “You can’t run off to Dallas and plot some attack. You can’t do it. I’m married to a man who will kill you all. He’s not you. I’m married to another man. I’m—”
He kisses me, and he kisses me like no one is watching, like he’d kissed me in the thrift store. His hands on my face, his lips on my lips and his tongue stroking deep, long, and when his mouth parts mine, he says. “That’s how much I care about your marriage to a man who wants to kill you.”
“You cannot—”
“I can,” he says. “I will.”
“They all know. They all know I’m married now.”
He lowers his forehead to mine. “Stop, Sierra. I know what you’re doing.”
“I’m trying to leave.”
He pulls back and looks down at me. “You’re freaked out about me going to Dallas. I’m going to get the evidence you gathered. I’m going to get him. And I’m not going to let you go. I’m not backing away from this.”
My chest knots and I have a rare moment in all of this where I want to cry. “I don’t want you to die. I don’t want anyone to die because of me.”
He cups my face. “Easy, sweetheart. We’re okay. I’m okay. No one is going to die. That’s the reason we take action. To stop him from killing again. Come sit. We’ll figure it out. Yes?”
“You’re a stubborn, stubborn man.”
“And you’re a stubborn, brave woman.” He kisses me. “Come.” He laces his fingers with mine and I don’t pull away. I cave to the moment and let him walk me into the room, but I don’t give up on my cause, which is protecting him, because he’s not going to give up on me and protecting me. In other words, my only other option is to try to get the Walker brothers on my side and drag him out of this. With that in mind, I let Asher lead me further into the room to a chair, while he claims the one next to me and Blake and Luke sit across from us.
“I’m going to let you tell your story, Sierra,” Asher says, and I know this is because he doesn’t want to tell more than I want told. Because this man is pretty much perfect except for his hero complex.
“I married him thinking he was Prince Charming,” I tell the Walker brothers. “Turns out he’s the Beast under the bridge.” I pull the recorder from my pocket and play it for them.
When it’s over, Luke looks at Asher. “We should have killed him when we had the chance.”
“My exact thought,” Asher agrees.
“That was Norman Casey, the Deputy Director of Intelligence of the CIA, on that tape with Marks, wasn’t it?” Luke asks.
“Yes,” Asher says. “It was, and to make matters even more complicated, Sierra went to a federal agent in Dallas for help. He turned on her.”
“What’s the name?” Blake asks, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“Dirk Bennett,” I say. “He’s high up the chain.”
He types a text message and then looks at us all. “I just group texted Royce and Kara and asked if either know him.”
“Devin Marks has connections in every agency and armed service operation,” I say. “People you think you trust are with him, I promise you. Dirk. I liked him. I thought he was a good guy and I don’t know why you want me to help with Ju-Ju or why I thought I could. I didn’t figure him out.”
Blake leans forward, arms on his knees. “When you’re studying a killer, you look for the bad you know exists, even if it’s in someone who is just a suspect. When you’re with someone who is supposed to be in law enforcement, you look for good because that’s what the fuck they are supposed to be.”
“And everyone in our inner circle knows this,” Asher assures me. “We know bad hides inside good all the damn time.”
“You can’t be sure everyone on your team is clean,” I argue. “It’s impossible.”
“You’re right,” Luke says. “But all of us have a handful of people we completely trust. When you bring that list together, it’s powerful.”
“We need to know what we’re bringing them together for, though,” Asher says, looking at me. “We need in that lock box.”
I want to tell him to back away. I want to tell him this is insanity. He knows. He reads me and says, “This isn’t just about our lives. Every weapon he sells to an enemy could kill an American solider or one of our allies’ soldiers.”
“Worse,” Luke says. “Innocent women and children, not to mention however many more people end up having the accidents you’ve accounted for.”
Now it’s my turn for a reality check. They’re right. It’s a thought I’ve had in the past, but staying sane when I had no option but to run meant setting it aside. I look at Asher. “The key is in my money belt in your safe.”
He gives me a nod and looks at Blake. “If I leave at sunrise—”
“If we leave at sunrise,” Luke says. “I’m coming with.”
Asher gives him a nod this time. “If we leave at sunrise,” he says, “we can watch the box for a day, and grab it and leave Tuesday. That gets me back in plenty of time to be at the bar Wednesday night.”
“I thought we weren’t due in until Friday?” I say.
“We’re on call for Wednesday and Thursday,” Asher explains, “and so far, I’ve been called into work both days.”
Blake’s phone buzzes and he looks down at his messages. “Kara doesn’t know Agent Bennett, but Royce has heard of him.” He sets his phone on the round stone coffee table. “I’ll contact Royce on a secure line when we’re done and find out more,” he says to us all before focusing on me. “And we’ll look out for you here, Sierra. What you did to get here, what you’re doing now: It’s all the right choices and brave, very brave.”
“Agree one hundred percent,” Luke says. “And, Sierra. My wife is one of the top divorce attorneys in the country. She’s sought out by movie stars and athletes. And I promise you she will tell you this isn’t a marriage you’re in. It’s a prison with a death sentence that is his, not yours.”
This hasn’t gone as I thought it would in my mind. I didn’t get any sense talked into Asher. I made myself the scorned married bitch who is going to hurt Asher. “Do not underestimate him,” I say, standing up. “None of you get to die,” I say. “Not one of you. None of you.” I turn and start walking.
Asher is behind me an instant and just before we clear the wall, I stop and turn to him. “Please don’t stop to talk. I need out of here.”
His hands settle on my waist. “They’re on your side, just like I am.”
“I’m married.”
“Stop fucking saying that. It only makes me want to fly to Denver and kill him now.”
“You don’t listen.” I turn and head down the stairs only to find Kara, Julie, and a very pregnant Lauren now standing at the bottom.
I inhale and let it out, starting down the steps, not sure what to expect. When I reach the lower level, Julie steps forward. “If he lives, you have a divorce attorney.”
“I’m not letting him live,” Asher says.
“Then I’ll help you kill him,” Kara says.
“And I’ll be everyone’s criminal attorney,” Lauren says.
They’re all exaggerating, of course. Or I think they are. “You’re all insane.”
Asher slides his arm around my shoulders. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He doesn’t give me time to respond. He eyes the three musketeers in front of us. “We’re going home.” And with that, he turns us toward the door. Home. We’re going home, as if his place is my place. This idea burns a hundred emotions in my belly.
“See you tomorrow, Sierra!” Julie shouts out, followed by a similar goodbye from Kara and Lauren, while I grab my tote on the way past the table.
Once we’re in the hallway with the door shut, Asher doesn’t look at me. He leads me forward and toward the stairs. “Asher,” I say, as we start down them.
“Not now. When we’re alone.”
He’s angry. I get it. I sideswiped him. Well, he sideswiped me too, asking Luke for a plane and deciding to go get my lock box open. Anger crackles between us and about twenty other things, some of which are way too early to name. I may never have the luxury of naming some of the things I might feel for this man. That he doesn’t get that just burns inside me, like his touch burns up my arm, and across my chest.
We exit Walker Security and cross the street, more silence between us. The elevator is next and when I would retreat to one side as I had before, he doesn’t let that happen. He catches my waist from behind and places me between him and the panel. “Key in the code,” he orders, and I know he’s testing me. Making sure I know what I need to know when he’s gone. Damn him, still trying to take care of me. The elevator opens and he takes my hand in his and leads me forward, more of that hard determination in his steps, that anger between us damn near explosive now.
I don’t let him continue to take the lead. I’m the one who took action tonight for a good reason. I step ahead of him and key in the code to the door. He walks me inside from behind, his big body up against mine, and the minute we’re in the foyer, he shoves the door shut and pulls me to him, his fingers tangling in my hair.
“Asher, damn it—”
He kisses me, a drugging, intense kiss that I don’t fight. He tastes of a heady mix of confident male and power that consumes and overwhelms me in all the right ways. I kiss him back, my hands pressing to the strong line of his shoulder blades until too soon, his lips part from mine, those green eyes of his piercing. “You won’t be married to him for long. That’s a promise.” He doesn’t give me time to argue. “Don’t claim him as your husband again. I don’t like it.”