Run To Me (Lazarus Rising #4)(22)

“The world is all about pretending. People are never who you think when you first glance at them.” A lesson he’d learned early on. “Perfect lives don’t exist. Neither do perfect people. We all fuck up, and we just try to do our best to move forward.”

Her hand rose and her silken fingers finally touched his. “You didn’t tell her about me. About what I can do.”

“Because that’s your secret. Reva would have gone to the first reporter she could have found, and then you’d have been shredded.” Shredded, dissected, sent to a new lab when the government found out what she could do.

Subject her to that nightmare again? Only over his dead body.

“You protected me.”

Now he laughed as he tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to sound so stunned.” He escorted her out of the bathroom as if they’d just exited a limo, and, sure enough, he saw the line of bouncers who’d appeared to keep the crowd back. He’d owe Benjamin again. He also heard all of the whispers. Most were too low for him to make out clearly, but Willow tilted her head, as if she could understand them perfectly.

Which, of course, she could.

“They think you’ve gone crazy for me.” Her head turned and her wide eyes met his. “That you’re obsessed.”

They weren’t completely wrong. “I want you to smile.”

Her lashes flickered.

“Every eye in this place is on us. Just smile at me.”

She smiled, but he could tell the curve of her lips took effort. He much preferred Willow’s real smiles to her fake ones. The real smiles didn’t come nearly often enough. He’d work on that.

“Want to dance with me?” Jay asked her.

Her smile faltered. They were walking through the crowd. It seemed like they were finally starting to lose everyone’s attention. “A bodyguard doesn’t dance.”

“Unfortunate. I had so much fun dancing with you the other night.” Last night. It had been last night. Right before a shooter had tried to wreck Jay’s life. “We can go back up to the VIP area.”

She glanced toward the stairs.

“But I think we should leave,” Jay continued briskly. “We came, everyone saw that I wasn’t hiding, and we attracted plenty of attention. If the shooter is here, you would have sensed him.”

“I haven’t.”

Right. “So he’s not here. Let’s get the hell out of this place.”

Willow immediately turned for the front door.

“No, this way.” He nodded toward the back of the club. “I told the driver to pick us up in the back. Mostly because my front departure routine didn’t work so well last time.” He steered her past more bouncers and into an employees’ only section of the club. A moment later, though, both West and Sawyer appeared.

“No sign of a shooter,” Sawyer’s voice was clipped. “West had me check out your competitor, Micah Long. The guy isn’t carrying any weapons, and he was more interested in screwing the two women he’d brought here than anything else.”

Sounded like Micah. The guy always proclaimed that variety was the spice of life.

“The shooter could be running,” West offered as he seemed to consider the situation. “The guy missed you last night, and now he knows the world is after him. If he’s smart, he’s keeping a low profile. He’s gonna try to vanish as fast as he can.”

That was certainly one option.

“Or…” Sawyer cleared his throat. “The fellow is just laying low. Waiting for his chance to strike again. Maybe he’s waiting for the perfect moment to come at you. Could be plotting how to kill you right now.” Jay could only sigh. “Sawyer, seriously, can you ever try sugar coating things?” How did Elizabeth live with the guy?

Sawyer simply shrugged. “Why waste time with that sugary shit?”

Sounded like something a former Navy SEAL would say.

But then Sawyer’s gaze cut to Willow. He frowned. “Everything okay?”

No, not really.

“Hey…” Sawyer’s voice sharpened. It was just their little group in that backroom. The bouncers hadn’t passed the threshold of the door. Jay had no idea where Flynn Haddox was lurking. “Any luck with John Smith?” Sawyer was suddenly asking. “That super soldier we met up in the mountains before Christmas? Is he going to talk with—”

“Not now,” Jay cut in sharply as his gaze jerked toward Willow. Dammit. That little adventure into the mountains was something he hadn’t wanted to talk about with Willow. Not yet, anyway. They’d get to the matter of John Smith much later. Like when Willow didn’t look as if she were about to shatter.

“Who’s John Smith?” Willow immediately asked.

“Someone we’ll discuss later.” Right then, he just wanted to get the hell out of Push. He reached for Willow’s elbow.

But she shook her head. “No more secrets. Secrets like the fact that you used to be involved with Sawyer’s lover, Elizabeth.”

Sawyer blinked. His gaze went cold. Hard.

Crap. “That is ancient history, Willow.” History he was sure Reva had unearthed. “Beth and I are friends, nothing more.”

“You didn’t tell me. You kept it secret.” Color stained her cheeks. “I don’t like secrets.”