Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(81)

Kelan opened a bottle of Shiraz, while Val set about making a ginger mojito for Ace. Selena looked at them, but didn’t greet them. Val had asked her before how she was doing and had the door slammed in his face. He knew she knew he was there for her—no point forcing someone to talk when they weren’t ready. This time, Selena surprised him.

“It isn’t that I’m jealous,” she said to no one in particular.

Val met her eyes.

“’Cause I’m not. I’m happy for you and Ace, you and Fee, Owen and Addy. I’m happy for all of you.”

Val stopped what he was doing and leaned against the wall of the bar. Kelan did the same.

“I’ve learned, watching you guys, that you know it when it’s the right one. But what if that muscle or skill is broken in me? What if I never know?”

“You knew when it was the wrong one,” Val said. “Same skill.”

“But they’ve all been wrong. All of them.”

“Nothing happens that isn’t supposed to,” Kelan said. “Those guys taught you something you needed to learn. Even this delay you’re feeling, which isn’t much of a delay because you aren’t even thirty yet, is part of your plan.”

She sighed and sipped the last of her beer. Val opened another and set it in front of her. “Fuck the plan. I miss him,” she said.

“Who?” Val asked.

“I don’t know. That’s the thing. I feel him in my heart and I don’t know who he is. I haven’t even met him yet.”

“Tell me about him,” Kelan said, intensely watching her.

She shrugged. “I have to be making this all up. Some psychosis because I want what you all have. I’m pretending there’s someone for me.”

Kelan shook his head. “Your intuition has always been phenomenal. Tell us about him.”

She looked at Kelan, trying to read him. “He’s dark. And hollow. And aches for me.”

“Wow.” Val’s brows lifted. “See, that’s gonna be some explosive sex, when you two get together.” Kelan gave him a quelling look.

“You think he’s real?” she asked them.

“Dunno,” Val said.

“I do. Your energy is calling his,” Kelan said. “I felt that way about Fiona. It was very real.”

“Do we know him, Sel?” Val asked.

She shook her head. “Don’t think so. There’s something…different about him.”

“I look forward to meeting him,” Kelan said.

Selena pressed her lips into a thin line and shook her head. “I have to making him up.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, one thing’s for sure,” Val said. “When and if he comes into your life, if he doesn’t treat you like gold, we’ll kick his ass.”

She chuckled. “Really, Val? If he doesn’t treat me like he should, I’ll kick his ass.”

“With us standing behind you,” Val said.

“Hiding?” Kelan asked, raising a brow.

“Maybe,” Val said, laughing.



Jax walked around the formal living room of the house he’d grown up in. At some point, Roberta had redecorated. He remembered hearing about that. The antique cherry escritoire that his mother had loved was gone, and so was everything else he remembered from his childhood. It could have been a stranger’s home.

It was, really, just that. He had no sense of who his father was and why he’d done what he’d done. Jax hoped it wasn’t for something as simple and arrogant as keeping up his public persona.

The butler had told him his stepmother wasn’t at home but that his father was, which was good. He wanted to talk to his dad without her interference. His father came into the living room. They faced each other coldly, like strangers. Or enemies.

“Son.”

“Dad.”

“Would you like to join me in the den?”

Jax nodded. His dad had aged significantly in the five years since he last saw him. He’d lost weight. His hair was more salt than pepper. His steps were slower. Jax refused to feel sorry for him. An old monster was still a monster, especially when he remained in the thick of things.

“What brings you to town, son?” Dean asked as he shut the door.

“Questions.”

Dean took a seat behind his desk and gestured for his son to take one of the leather club chairs in front of it. “I knew this day would come.”

Jax stared into his father’s eyes. “I’m sure you did. I know who Roberta is, and I know what she’s done.”

Dean nodded. “It was only a matter of time, I suppose. I raised you to ferret out the facts.”

Jax smiled inwardly. His dad said that with such dignity. Like a monster could raise anything but a monster. “What I don’t know is…why? Why you let her into our lives. Why you let her soil Mom’s memory. Why you let her near your children.”

“I didn’t know, at first,” Dean said. “After Mom’s death, I was just a ghost of a man, facing an uphill battle in my campaign, with two motherless children at home. I had no will to continue the fight. Then she came along. She was my rock. She ran things for me, helped me keep on top of what was happening at home while I was away. Eventually, we became lovers. She was just so rock solid.”