Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)(22)

There was too much riding on what came next, and that meant she had to postpone the inevitable until they were all thinking a little more clearly.

“I don’t know what I want,” Jake said finally.

Maya took a deep breath. “Then go home, and I’ll see you soon. Because I know it sucks to be dumped. I know that you’re hurting right now, but I won’t be the person you hit because you’re in pain.”

Jake snorted. “I thought that was what best friends were for.”

She shook her head, her eyes annoyingly burning. “We’re the ones that can handle the harshest of blows, but that also means we know exactly where to hit the other.” She paused. “Go home, Jake. Call me when you need me.”

Jake stood up and stared at her. She tilted her head so she could meet his gaze. He was so tall here, so intimidating. This Jake scared her, scared how it changed what could happen. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face that and what it meant.

“I don’t know what I need, Maya. I don’t know if that means you.”

She let the words bounce off her shell. She would not be hurt by them. “Then figure it out because I’m not your f*cking punching bag.” She nodded toward the door. “You know the way out.”

He sighed and made his way to the door. “I love you, Maya. You know that right.”

She did, and it hurt. “Yeah, and I love you, too. Now go.”

He opened his mouth to say something but apparently thought better of it before walking out and leaving her alone with her thoughts. Her shell would hold; she would be the Maya she liked, not the one who asked for permission to feel, to ache. Because this Maya only felt what she wanted to, and pain for the man who’d just walked out of the room would not be part of it.

She was fine.

And if she told herself that one more time, she’d kick her own ass.

Maya let out a breath. Something had shifted between the two of them, and she didn’t know what that meant. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out. There were some things you never came back from, and this seemed like one of those times.





Chapter Six


Border needed to hit something. Anything. It had been almost two weeks since he’d shown up in Denver to try and figure out his future, and all he’d found was a closed door and a path leading to broken promises.

He’d thought he’d left that behind when he’d hightailed it out of Denver in the first place, but apparently, the old saying was true, and one could never truly outrun their past.

What was he doing there? He’d been sleeping in Jake’s guest room for two weeks, but hadn’t talked to the man beyond simple pleasantries. He’d never told Jake he was sorry for leaving, never told him that he’d felt more than just friendship in the past.

Jake never asked where Border had been all those years, and Border had never offered up the information. It was as if there was a wall between them he couldn’t quite fix or figure out. It was his fault that there was weirdness between them, but Jake wasn’t helping. Ever since Holly had broken up with him, he’d been even more growly than usual. Of course, since Border didn’t really know the man as much as he’d known the boy when they’d been friends before, this could just be Jake’s normal attitude. But he had a feeling it wasn’t. And he had feeling that this wasn’t just about Holly.

In the past two weeks, Border hadn’t met Maya, and Jake didn’t mention her. It was as if when Holly had dumped Jake, he’d done something to Maya, as well. Border wasn’t sure what it was, but he had a bad feeling about it.

Since he’d been back, though, his time hadn’t been all about mooning over Jake and trying to plan the rest of his life. Instead, he’d been working, and pointedly ignoring anything to do with the other Gallaghers. And Montgomerys, for that matter. He didn’t want to get tangled up with the ever-growing families until he could be in the same room with Jake and not feel awkward as hell.

While he was in Denver for Jake, and he wouldn’t lie about that to himself even if he wanted to, he was also there to take care of a job he’d failed to complete. He’d failed in the worst way possible, and there was no way he’d let the rest of his mission go by the wayside because he was acting like a damn teenager in heat when it came to Jake Gallagher.

Border wasn’t government, and didn’t have the same rules that those in charge did, but he did have a code. And not letting his charges die in his care was part of it. Of course, he couldn’t tell Jake any of that. It wouldn’t be safe for anyone if Jake had even an inkling of what Border truly did for a living.

He let out a breath and looked down at his phone, reading the latest message from the family he’d handed his last charge off to. They were good people, and he knew they could keep this one safe—unlike the last place Border had been. He closed his eyes and tried to push the memories of the screams out of his head.

It wasn’t like he was some secret agent or anything as media-worthy as that. He just did odd jobs for people who couldn’t help themselves. Everything he did was legal, but sometimes, it toed the line. He protected people when those who should have been able to couldn’t.

And because he worked alone most of the time, he had to learn to trust his instincts. That trust had gotten people close to him murdered, and now he had to face the consequences. He’d left the business, left everything that would have gotten him killed in the next couple of years. He just had to finish this one job, and he’d be clean.