Page 77 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Lindy

Hopping on one foot, Lindy tried to get her boot on while also buttoning a dry pair of jeans.

She tipped, lost her balance, and fell onto her bed, accomplishing neither task.

If it wasn’t for the two large males who could barely walk into the house behind her without arguing, waiting for her in the other room, she’d have taken a second to enjoy how she felt.

Totally full.

Since she’d been dealing with her darkness and its needs, she’d lived in a state of hunger, never feeling as if she had enough. But the romp in Jesse’s RV left her feeling not only full but stuffed. As if she couldn’t possibly soak in any more sexual energy at the moment.

Lifting her hand before her face, Lindy lay on the bed, staring at it, positive she could feel the energy in the room—in nature. That she was somehow in tune with it all. The feeling was surreal, leaving a smile creeping over her face.

She hadn’t realized the toll her succubus side took on her daily until now.

Until she got a taste of what it was like to be totally and completely pain-free.

She’d have stayed there a minute and let the events of the day have a second to marinate, but a loud crashing sound from the kitchen let her know her alone time was up.

She buttoned her jeans and then sat up, zipping her boot.

Standing, she smoothed her shirt down and grabbed a hair tie, hastily twisting her hair into a high, loose bun, before rushing out of her bedroom. She rushed into the kitchen, expecting to find her ex in wolf form, trying to eat Jesse.

Instead, she found Robert near the refrigerator, leaning partially against it, checking under the beds of his nails as if he was bored with waiting for her to join them for a talk.

Jesse was leaning against the back door with one ankle crossed over the other and his arms across his chest. He, too, looked as if he’d been in that spot for a good ten minutes.

There was an unnatural stillness in the room, each male looking as if they were going to great lengths to appear nonchalant and innocent. If she wasn’t so worried about them finding a way to actually kill one another, she’d have found the scene comical.

Lindy glanced around, trying to figure out what the loud noise had been. When she realized neither of the men was making eye contact with her, she groaned. “Are you kidding me? You were fighting, weren’t you?”

“Pfft, no,” said Robert too fast to be believable.

“We’d never,” added Jesse, the grin tugging at his mouth saying otherwise.

“You’re both dirty liars,” Lindy snapped, planting her hands on her hips and stepping closer to Robert.

A low growl came from Jesse. The sound was a deep rumble and sent a shiver of desire racing through it. If the noise had been meant to warn her away from getting close to Robert, it failed.

Lindy narrowed her gaze, peering up at Robert.

His eyelid twitched.

She pointed at him. “Ha! I knew it. Liar.”

“Am not,” Robert returned, focusing on something past her shoulder, avoiding her gaze.

“Dude, I know your tells. You are so lying to me,” she shot back.

His shoulders lowered ever so slightly, a clear admission of defeat in his posture.

The growl emanating from Jesse grew louder.

She turned her focus to him, feeling like a referee caught between two opposing teams. “What’s the issue now?”

“You came to me first, not him,” Robert offered, his thumbs going to his utility belt.

Confused, Lindy stared between the men. “I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t I come to you first? You’re not only closer to where I was proximity-wise, I know you much better than him. I can read you. I don’t know his tells. Heck, I don’t know much about him other than he’s not human.”

“You know each and every inch of me,” Jesse said, his gaze moving past her to Robert as if taunting him. “Step away from him, Lindy.”

She perked up and blinked several times, positive she’d heard him wrong. “Did you just give me an order?”

“I did,” said Jesse, his jaw tight.

“While that is well and good when it comes to sexy times, it doesn’t fly for me any other time.” She couldn’t help but notice that neither of the men had moved from their respective spots in the kitchen.

Jesse’s green gaze seemed to almost glow for a second. “Lindy.”

Robert growled, his hand moving to her arm.

The second he made contact with her, Jesse was coming toward him at record speed. The back door fell inward, falling flat onto the kitchen floor with a bang.

Lindy jolted.

Jesse froze a few feet from her and Robert. He glanced over his shoulder at the door and then slowly back toward her. “Um, I can explain.”

Her jaw dropped. “You broke my door? He just fixed it for me!” She pointed at Robert.

Jesse’s shoulders squared. “He didn’t fix it. I did.”

She snorted. “No. He fixed it.”

Jesse took a calming breath. “Lindy, the night of the dream.”

“Right. The one you claim wasn’t a dream,” she said, crossing her arms under her breasts, wanting to hear his explanation. “What about it?”

“How much do you remember?” he countered.

She tensed and glanced fleetingly at Robert. She didn’t want to talk about it in front of him.

Robert touched her back lightly and rubbed it. “It’s all right. I won’t get mad. I swear.”

“If he keeps touching you, I’m going to rip his hand off,” warned Jesse.

Lindy turned to face him fully. “Try it. I dare you. Because if you so much as cough in his direction right now…”

Robert put a hand on her shoulder. “Lindy, stop. He can’t help it. It’s hard-wired into him to protect you—to keep you safe. Even from me.”

“But you wouldn’t hurt me,” she said, unsure what was happening. “We’ve been friends for years—even before we were lovers.”

Jesse growled. “Gorgeous, if you could refrain from ever mentioning the word ‘lovers’ in the same sentence as him, it would really help things out here.”

“Tell me everything. Right now,” she demanded.

Jesse started to speak but stopped. He tried again but stopped yet again. “I don’t even know where to start.”

Robert sighed. “Lindy, he was there when you were little in the labs. He’s one of the men who freed you.”

For a few seconds, she thought Robert was joking. But as she stared harder at Jesse, the dreams and memories she had of the labs long ago came rushing back to her. She gasped. “You were there?”

Jesse nodded. “Charley’s father was leading the rescue. I wasn’t even part of it. Not really. The credit goes to Samuel, Benat, and Nick. They were already well on their way to getting you and the other kids out of there. I was only there to kill Samuel.”

Her eyes widened. “You tried to kill Charley’s father?”

“Do you mean that time or any other time?” asked Jesse, flinching a bit.

“There were other times too?” she demanded.

He tensed more and raised his hands. A fly flew in through the back door opening.

Jesse snatched it out of thin air, twisted and threw it back out of the opening in mere seconds before focusing on her once more.

“It’s hard to explain. Yes, I’ve tried to kill him more than once, but it wasn’t me.

I mean, it was me, but my head had been screwed with. I didn’t realize who he is to me then.”

“Who is he to you?” she asked, thoroughly lost.

“They’re family, Lindy,” Robert said, his voice low. “He’s family to Charley.”

“Samuel is my first cousin, but his family took me in when I was a baby. They raised me as their own,” Jesse said, looking far off in thought. “So really, he’s more of a brother to me than a cousin.”

“And you tried to kill him?” she asked, horrified at the idea Jesse would do such a thing.

Lindy knew Samuel. She’d met him several times in her life, the first of which was apparently when she was locked in a research lab—though she didn’t remember him from then.

He was a good guy with a big heart. Why would Jesse want to hurt him?

A sinking feeling came over her. “You didn’t say anything about being related to Charley at the man-meat market.

I pushed her to hire you. I put you in her orbit. Oh God, are you here to hurt her?”

Shock coated his face. “What? No! Never!”

Lindy eased back from him, no longer sure of anything anymore. She twisted and grabbed Robert’s wrists. “We have to get to Charley. I have to warn her.”

“He’s not going to hurt her,” said Robert softly. “I think he’s been trying to protect her for a long time. You too.”

“He’s right,” Jesse interjected. “I went to that lab all those years ago with orders to end Samuel. The second I got down there and saw what that place was doing to kids, the idea of harming him left me. Then I saw you and Charley. There was a scientist there with a ladle. He was going to strike you with it.”

Lindy gasped and cupped her mouth, memories of it filling her head. There had been a soldier there. He’d stopped the man in the lab coat. “You snapped his neck.”

Jesse winced. “I really wish you didn’t remember that.”

“You wish I didn’t remember you saving me?” she asked, confused.

“I wish you didn’t remember seeing me be the monster I am,” he returned, lowering his gaze. “You didn’t need to see that. I should have killed him away from you. Out of your line of sight.”

She eased toward him and lifted her hand, coming just shy of touching him. “Thank you for doing what you did. I don’t remember everything from back then, but what I do remember isn’t great. You weren’t a monster to me. You were a hero.”

He lifted his gaze, his brow knitting.

She stared harder at him. “You haven’t aged.”

“Lindy, I explained a lot of us don’t,” said Robert. “Remember?”

She nodded. “Is he Fae? His eyes sometimes seem like they’re glowing.”

Robert snorted. “He’s not Fae.”

“What is he?” she asked.

“That’s for him to tell you,” Robert said. “But I can tell you this, he’d kill anything and anyone he thought was a threat to you. And he’s been trying to keep his distance from you for nearly a week.”