Lies(46)

Crow raises his hand. “I brought claymores.”

“Love me some explosives. Good work. Knew I liked you for a reason,” says Thom. “All right, let’s get busy.”

Everyone disperses, off to do who knows what home protection work. Fox starts grilling Helene about the security system, the location of any hardware including gardening tools, and the location of any and all access points. Given this isn’t a place Helene spends quality time, they then go off on a tour of the house. Bear and Crow, meanwhile, start unpacking and prepping enough guns and knives to kill an army.

“I can still get you out of here.” Thom stands at my side. “I’m serious, Betty.”

“Don’t. I’m not going anywhere.” I sigh. “What can I do to help?”

His face is somber. “Make sure all the windows are locked and curtains drawn. We need this place locked down tight.”

“Okay. What gun should I take?”

He picks up a small pistol, placing it in my hand with a grim expression. “Helene will be right beside you. Follow her lead. Don’t point your gun until she does. Don’t pull the trigger until she does.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it,” he says. “Otherwise the chances are you’ll accidentally hit one of us. I’d rather die in your arms than in your crosshairs.”

“Fair enough.”

“So you stay in the basement, safe and sound.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. It’s a tender, sweet thing for him to do. In fact, this whole moment fits that description, despite the weaponry.

My lungs feel leaden all of a sudden; my heart beats double time. The look in his eyes as he gazes down at me is everything I could have asked for. Everything I’d given up hoping I’d ever get from this man. And now here he is, giving it to me in spades. I do my best to memorize this, to commit it to memory for all time. Because, the truth is, we may very well not have many of these moments left, care of Archie and his goon squad.

“Pretty sure you said the same thing when you left me to go to Helene’s hotel,” I say in my ever so slightly sarcastic tone of voice. “Just F.Y.I..”

“Let’s not have a repeat of last night.” He kisses my forehead. “Hand to God, babe, you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Nearly gave myself a heart attack too. But I don’t say that.

“Promise me you’ll keep your badass self in the basement for now, out of sight, okay?”

“Okay. Fine.” I shrug. “You’re going to be careful, aren’t you?”

“I’m always careful. I love you, you know?”

“You keep saying that.”

He gives me the smallest of smiles. “Just making sure you believe me this time around.”

And I don’t know what to say. Especially not when he’s looking at me this way. The subtle shift of his features leaves me with no doubt that he knows all about the war going on inside me. Heart versus head and all that. My feelings for him are far from simple, but I’m not quite sure they’re what he wants from me yet—assuming he wants me to say the same to him in return, as is tradition. “Thom…”

He blinks. “I better get to work.”

And the blink is the only indication that I’ve struck a nerve, and hurt him by delaying saying it back. And wounding Thom in any way pretty much feels like driving a knife through my own heart.

I’m honestly stunned. It’s a revelation. If this doesn’t answer the do-I-or-don’t-I-love-him question then nothing ever will.

Only he’s already gone.

I’m just standing there staring after him like an absolute certified idiot. One who wants to kick herself for not saying it back right away, for not taking the risk and jumping, trusting he’d catch me. Now he’s in a deep discussion with Bear, words like “perimeter” and “defense” being thrown around.

The moment’s gone and, like everyone else, I guess I have a job to do. Or I could be honest and admit that I don’t have the guts to pull him aside right now or just cut the shit and say it in front of other people. To wear my heart on my sleeve in front of an audience of operatives. Regardless of us potentially facing a messy and violent death soon, deep down, I’m apparently still an emotional scaredy-cat. This is beyond disappointing.

But if Thom can be brave enough to put his heart on the line, then so can I. He deserves nothing less.

Shoulders back, tits out. After being labeled a badass, the least I can do is rise to the occasion emotions-wise. I’ll get another chance alone with him to ’fess up before everything hits the fan. Hell, I’ll move heaven and earth to make sure of it.





CHAPTER NINE


“Thom?”

He turns away from one of the living room windows. Behind him, a dazzling golden sunset lights up the yard. It casts the kind of perfect lighting that only comes along every once and a while. At his feet, an equally dazzling and dangerous array of firepower awaits, spread out on the Oriental rug. “Babe. Hey. You okay?”

“Yes. I um…” I cocked my head, taking in the weird tool in his hand. “What are you doing?”

“Cutting holes in the glass to fire through,” he explains. “Less obvious and messy than breaking the windows.”