Читать книгу The Bride's Secrets - Debra Webb - Страница 10

Two weeks.

Fourteen days and nights.

J.T. had yearned to feel her lips against his…had ached to touch her…to hold her.

He forgot all about her order. His eyes closed. His arms went around her. The move was pure instinct.

He’d fallen so fast, had loved her so damned much.

But that had been before.

Before she’d stood him up on the most important day of their lives.

His eyes opened.

Fury firmed his resolve.

She tensed, sensing his change.

He clutched her waist. Pushed her a few inches away.

“Who the hell are you?” he muttered, his voice thick with the need throttling through his body.

“Did they go inside?”

He blinked. Her focus was on the now…the situation. He should have known he was the only one affected by the meshing of lips.

Stupid, J.T. Truly stupid.

The idea that bullets had been flying around them as they’d fled that warehouse suddenly bobbed to the surface of all the questions and emotions churning in his confused brain.

He cut his attention to the building’s front entrance. Three of the five who’d followed them from the dock pushed their way into the theater’s lobby. “Three just went inside.”

“One or more will be sticking with my car.” She kept her gaze carefully locked on his. “You don’t see number five?”

“Wait.” His gaze clocked the movements of an older man, one who definitely didn’t fit in with the teenage crowd all around them. “He’s moving in the opposite direction.”

“Excellent.”

She grabbed his hand and started cutting through the crowd. He shouldered between the bodies, staying close behind her.

He had questions for her. So damned many questions. Those would have to wait until they were out of immediate danger.

Could she be telling the truth?

Why would these guys be after him?

He’d worked a couple of Colby Agency assignments with two of the other investigators but nothing on his own yet. He’d made no enemies in that short time or on either of those assignments. His former career in insurance had been as a claims investigator. He’d certainly made no enemies there. His work had been straightforward—review the closed files and ensure that the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed.

J.T. shook off the situation analysis. Tried to think clearly about the moment.

No matter how he weighed it, he shouldn’t be here with Eve. What was he doing following her? Whatever she was into had nothing to do with him. Obviously she’d drugged him. The knock on the head wouldn’t have dulled his reactions to this degree.

When he would have stalled to demand more answers, she took a left, headed for a couple of teenagers loading into a minivan.

“Hey.”

The kid climbing behind the wheel looked back.

“Can you give us a ride?”

J.T. started to advise Eve not to waste her time. The driver looked ready to bolt. As he well should. Giving rides to strangers was a bad idea.

“I’ll give you a hundred bucks,” Eve tacked on.

The driver exchanged a look with his passenger, who’d already climbed into the van.

Eve pulled a couple of bills from her shoulder bag. “Two if you hurry.”

The driver stared at the cash and licked his lips. “You have to pay me now.”

“Are you crazy?” the passenger muttered to his friend.

Eve handed the driver a hundred. “One now.” She reached for the van’s sliding door. “One when we get to our destination.” She opened the door and climbed in before he’d had time to answer.

This was insane, but J.T. climbed in behind her all the same.

“What the hell you doing?” the passenger asked the driver. He was clearly a lot more rational than his friend.

“Just shut up,” the driver advised as he backed out of the space.

For J.T.’s eyes only, Eve pointed to the car she’d parked a couple of lanes away. Sure enough, a man loitered next to it.

J.T. couldn’t deny the threat had been real. But he was certain this wasn’t about him, despite what she had said.

“Where to?”

Eve turned her attention to the driver.

Before she could answer, J.T. gave the kid the address of the closest police precinct. “I’ll give you twice what she offered if we go there first.”

“You got it, mister.”

Eve glared at J.T. “You’re going to make this hard, aren’t you?”

He cut her a sideways glance. “I don’t know what you’re up to, and I don’t care. But, for me, it’s over.”

That she winced on the final word shouldn’t have reached out and put a chokehold on his throat. But it did.

They were out of the parking lot and a full two blocks down the street before Eve reacted.

She scooted forward. “Don’t pay any attention to my friend,” she said to the driver. “We’re going to the Pier. You’ll drop us off there, and I’ll give you the other hundred, as agreed.”

“No way,” the driver argued. “He said he’d give me twice as much.”

Eve reached into the bag she kept close to her side and withdrew the Glock. “But I’m the one with the gun,” she countered.

The kid’s head whipped to the right.

“Watch it, man!” his friend shouted.

Horns blared.

The driver turned the car back over the line he’d crossed.

“The Pier.” Eve reminded him. “Straight there.” She instructed him on the most direct route. “Make it fast, but stay close to the speed limit.”

Eve leaned back in her seat and divided her attention between the driver and J.T., but she kept the Glock aimed directly at him.

She was not happy.

Tough.

Neither was he.

She’d better brace herself. Once they were at their new destination, this reunion was over.

J.T. decided then and there that he no longer cared about the why. He’d spent two weeks tearing himself apart, desperately seeking the truth.

That was the moment the situation crystallized: in a stranger’s minivan with the business end of a Glock directed at him.

It didn’t matter why. She had dumped him. Disappeared. It was over.

Who she was or what she was into had nothing to do with him, no matter what she said.

He hadn’t recognized the five men who’d shot at them, then gave chase. He damned sure didn’t recognize the woman sitting a scarce eighteen inches away.

Long, silent minutes later the driver took the final turn to the Pier.

“Drive to the end of the block,” Eve instructed, breaking the long stretch of intense quiet. “We’ll get out at the intersection.”

“Whatever you say, lady.”

J.T. steeled for making his break.

His cell phone and wallet were missing. But he wasn’t concerned. He would find someone, even at this hour, around the Pier. All he needed was one minute on a cell phone, and help from the Colby Agency would be dispatched.

The van braked to a stop.

Eve shoved the second hundred at the driver. “Thanks, kid.” She reached for the sliding door on her side. “And remember, this never happened.”

The kid stared at the money in his hand. “That part could be extra.” His greedy gaze lit up with hope.

“That’s all you get, kid,” Eve warned. “Don’t push your luck.”

“But he said—” the kid started to argue.

“He,” Eve interrupted, “doesn’t have a weapon.”

The kid backed off. “Whatever you say, lady.”

J.T. got out on his side of the vehicle. He started in the direction of the Pier. Didn’t look back.

The van rolled away from the curb, passing him as it barreled forward.

“You’re making a mistake,” Eve shouted at his back.

He kept walking, refusing to spare even a backward glance.

She hustled up next to him. “You’re going with me, J.T.”

He didn’t slow his stride. “Not a chance.”

She stopped.

He kept walking.

The sound of a car door closing told him she’d gotten into one of the vehicles lining the curb.

Apparently she’d had a plan B. He hadn’t recognized the vehicle they’d left at the movie theater. Probably a rental. Who knew? He didn’t know her at all. Didn’t know what she liked…what she drove…that she had a fetish for guns.

Nothing.

He’d been a fool.

A few seconds later a car slowed on the street next to him. The passenger-side window powered down. “Get in the car, J.T.”

He ignored her order.

She braked hard, got out. “We’re wasting time,” she shouted over the top of the car. “Get in now!”

He hesitated, turned to stare at her. “Or what? You’ll shoot.” He sent a pointed look at the weapon in her hand.

She didn’t immediately answer.

“So shoot.” He turned away and started forward again.

“Give me two hours,” she called after him. “I’ll explain everything.”

Something had changed in her voice. There was a desperation there…a fear…almost.

He shook his head, wasn’t going to be fooled by her again. Whatever she said, this couldn’t have anything to do with him.

And he was out of here.

“J.T., please. I need your help.”

His step faltered. He told himself to keep walking, but his feet failed him.

“Just hear me out,” she pleaded. “That’s all I’m asking.”

Fury pulsed in his jaw. He wanted to pretend the past couple of months had never happened. That he hadn’t met and fallen in love with her.

The men who’d shot at them…the chase…zoomed into vivid focus in his mind.

She was in trouble. Obviously. Whatever it was about, she needed help. He couldn’t deny that singular fact.

Nor could he deny another glaring fact.

He couldn’t just walk away and pretend he no longer cared.

He did care.

Damn him.

Mentally kicking himself for being a fool, he changed directions and strode up to the car waiting in the street. The sparse traffic glided around her, the other cars’ occupants likely assuming the two were in the midst of a lovers’ spat.

He stopped at the passenger door and stared at her across the car’s roof. “Two hours,” he confirmed. “You have two hours to explain yourself, and then I’m gone.”

She nodded, her blue eyes wide with worry. Her blond hair was still damp and clung to her face like tendrils of silk.

He said nothing more. Got into the car.

She settled behind the wheel and put the vehicle in Drive.

“Where are we going?”

She glanced at him before rolling forward. “Where we should have gone two weeks ago.”

He frowned. Two weeks ago they would have gone on…

Their honeymoon?