Strong Enough (Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #1)(31)

“Yeah, I’ll go, but how long is this gonna take? I can’t leave Miran indefinitely, not with just Melanie for help. You know how—”

“Miran will be fine. I’ll talk to her.”

I should’ve expected that. Miran and my father obviously have a longstanding—and very trusting—relationship. It makes me wonder if I’m not the first person she’s taken in like she did me. I mean, she owns the apartment that I live in, she deducts the rent from my pay and gives me the rest of the money under the table. She even gave me a burner cell phone the day that I arrived at her door. I more or less just stepped into a ready-made life, where I could be as anonymous as I needed to be. Heck, Miran and my friend Tracey are the only people in San Diego that even knew my last name. Yet Miran never asked one question.

“How will I know when . . . I mean, will you call me? Or . . . ?”

“I’ll contact Jasper. He’ll let me know where you are and then I’ll come for you.”

“You won’t even know where I am?”

This puzzles me. And it obviously doesn’t sit very well with my dad, judging by his expression.

“No, but you’ll be safe with him. He’s the best.” Dad does throw a look back at Jasper this time. I’m still clueless, though. I can’t see my father’s face, and Jasper’s shows nothing. As usual. He just nods at Dad. But I’m assuming that’s enough communication because when my father turns back around, he looks somewhat satisfied. Even if I am not.

“Will I be able to reach you? Just to know you’re safe?”

“It’s better if there’s no contact until this is all over.”

Suddenly I feel desperate, panicky. I reach for my father’s hand. “Dad, please tell me what’s going on. You’re worrying me.”

His smile is stilted. “Don’t you worry about me. This is about you and keeping you safe. I’ll be fine. I promise.”

Despite the ambiguous circumstances, his reassurance calms me. Colonel Denton Harper doesn’t make promises he can’t keep. And he doesn’t placate. He might keep secrets, but what he does say is true.

“Okay,” I say finally, tacking on no questions or complaints or conditions. The least I can do for this man is go along with what he’s asking, give him peace of mind. That will have to be enough for me, too. I have a feeling that peace of mind will be nonexistent for me in the coming days. Not only will I be waiting for my father to come for me, but I’ll be trapped with a man I already find intriguing and irresistible beyond that with which I’m comfortable. And he gives me the feels. All of them. What will become of me when I can’t escape him, when I can’t slip away into my own troubles?

I’ll succumb.

And we’ll share.

Then he’ll destroy.

I know it. I know it like I know the triangle of freckles that dot my left shoulder. And I know myself well enough to know that this forced seclusion will seal my fate with him. Part of me looks forward to it—to his kiss, to his touch, to having time to delve as far into his life as he’ll let me—but part of me dreads the end. Because it will come. And it will be brutal.

Dad cups my cheeks and leans forward to kiss my forehead. He lingers for a few seconds too long, causing me to wonder if he’s more afraid than he’s letting on. And, if so, what he’s afraid of.





EIGHTEEN


Jasper

I’ve had to do a lot of unsavory things in my life. I was in the military for years, working missions that required some . . . questionable things. I never got into the morality of it. I never trusted my moral compass, not when I grew up the way I did, with a monster for a father. No, I always trusted the judgment of those I work for, those who gave me orders. I trusted that the missions were justified and that they’re what kept people safe in the long run. When I took this job, I had my own reasons for wanting to find the Colonel. I don’t particularly like that there was the collateral damage of a woman—his daughter—but those are details that I can’t afford to get too hung up on. I need answers.

But this . . . this takes it to a whole new level. What kind of person would agree to something like this? What kind of person would use a woman to find her father, knowing what I have to do, and then agree to this? I’m keeping her safe until the Colonel gets me the proof I need, but even then, my orders won’t change.

I know what’s going to happen. We will end up sleeping together. I can practically smell the want on her. Don’t get me wrong, I want it, too. I want it bad. I want her bad. But even when that happens, it will be with the knowledge of what’s to come, of how I’ll betray her. What kind of person could do that?

A monster, that’s who.

And I’m that monster.

I came to terms with it a long time ago. My father was a monster. According to him, my brother was a monster. I guess I always knew I had it in me, too. It’s why I did what I did, so that my mother wouldn’t have to suffer through knowing how I turned out. It’s just never felt quite like this, though. This . . . bitter. This sick. This dirty.

But will that stop me? Will that stop me from sinking into her delicious, willing body?

No.

Because I’m the monster.

—

Muse hasn’t said a single word since we left. I could understand her reticence on the trip here, but now . . . I assumed she’d pommel me with questions. Yet she hasn’t opened her mouth. She’s just stared out the window, into the night.