Page 40 of Jonas (Silver Team #4)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

I should’ve been focused on Natalie, and coming up with a game plan, and what excuse I was going to give her for disappearing the way I had.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about the look Lore had given Cash when he mentioned Child Protective Services.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe she had experience with them, too.

Or maybe she hadn’t lost all her humanity after all and there was a part of her that could still feel sympathy for a man who’d very obviously had a shitty childhood.

“When you’re ready to make the call, let me know and I’ll clone your number so you can get in touch with Natalie,” Garrett said. “Until then, I got shit to do.”

The video call abruptly ended and the screen on the wall went black.

“Does no one say goodbye anymore?” I mock-complained.

I heard Jonas chuckle but I felt him press his lips against my temple. “Let it go.”

“This isn’t a Disney movie, Jonas,” I huffed. “It’s rude.”

“Disney movie?”

“Please don’t waste your time explaining Frozen or Elsa to him,” Kira said without looking up from her laptop. “If the movie doesn’t include explosives, rapid gunfire, or jumping off buildings, none of them will get it.”

“You forgot sex,” Cash joked. “Above all else we understand sex.”

“You’re gonna understand what my size nine boot feels like up your ass if you don’t get to work,” Zane threatened.

“Hard pass. I’m not fond of big things up my bootyhole.”

“But, he’s okay with small things,” Smith muttered.

“Good to know,” Lore joined in.

“You’re all fucking fired,” Zane grunted, then prowled across the room and jogged up the stairs.

I glanced around the room. No one seemed particularly worried about Zane’s outburst.

“I ran that address on Dunaway Court in McLean,” Kira began.

“It’s a rental. Owners check out. They’ve owned the house for twenty-five years.

Moved to Florida six years ago and it’s been a rental since.

The current rental has been in the property for nine months.

It’s rented to a Cherri Jackson. But Cherri Jackson lives in Kansas City, Missouri and according to her debit card transactions yesterday she was in Kansas City enjoying an Italian meal at Garozzo’s.

Before that she dropped a whack at Ulta. ”

“So the renter is guilty of identity theft,” Theo tossed out.

“Yep. Who wants to go sit on the house?”

“Smith and I will go,” Theo offered. “Plan on us being gone all night unless you need us.”

“Zane has Jameson and Holden from Gemini still on standby, so if need be you can call them to rotate in.”

“Copy that,” Smith acknowledged and stood.

Theo followed Smith to the stairs.

“Easton, get ahold of Shep and ask him what he has on Rutte.”

“On it.”

“Nebraska—”

“I already know what you want me to do and I’ll do it, but you owe me big for the ass-chewing I’m gonna get from Zane.”

“Whatever you want,” Kira returned.

“You know there’s no guarantee Dutch will tell me anything,” Nebraska went on.

“You know he’s got a soft spot for you, Dove. He’ll sing like a canary.”

“Who’s Dutch again?” I asked.

“Black Team,” Kira distractedly told me.

“You mean the team Zane said was off-limits? That Black Team?” I asked for clarification.

“One and the same, sister. Learn this quick—when it comes to The Viper King, it’s always better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”

I seriously, highly , one hundred percent, doubted that.

“If you say so.”

“What do you need me to do, Boss Lady?” Cash queried.

“I need you and Lore to go through the traffic cam footage I flagged. I need a clear timeline from Anson’s death to Lou Peterson’s.

I want to know where they were before they died, who visited the house, and what cars were in both their neighborhoods.

All their personal security footage has been wiped clean.

Totally and completely gone. No backups.

Same with all their neighbors. But the traffic cams in the area are still intact. ”

“What did I do to make you hate me so much?” Cash grumbled.

“Stop acting like an overgrown toddler,” Lore complained. “Let’s get to work. I’ll grab my laptop from upstairs.”

“Zane texted me. Penny is thirty minutes out,” Kira informed the room.

“Christ, is she related to Cash?” Jonas grumbled. “Fort Meade is over an hour away from here.”

“I’m an excellent driver.”

“Whatever you say, Rain Man. You’re a freaking menace behind the wheel.”

I couldn’t stop my smile at the memory of Jonas complaining about Cash’s driving. That seemed like a lifetime ago, not just days.

“I’ll wait until after we meet with Penny then I’ll call Natalie and set up a meet,” I offered.

“What’s your excuse for quitting?” Nebraska asked.

“I’ll say I got spooked when I did an audit and saw the resumes were the same. I was afraid I’d be fired for not catching them earlier, or worse I’d be blamed if there was a security breach.”

“You think she’ll believe that?”

I glanced at Jonas and shrugged. “I think she’s freaked out right now and not thinking clearly so I could tell her my grandmother’s ill and went to visit her and she wouldn’t remember I told her I had no living relatives.”

Nebraska grabbed her phone off the table and stood. “I’m gonna go call Dutch.”

Easton did the same. “I’ll go with her, and call Shep.”

Cash sighed. “I guess I’ll stare at grainy traffic footage with the Mistress of the Dark.”

“I heard that,” Lore yelled from upstairs. “If you’re a good boy and do as you’re told I’ll show you how much I love that name.”

Cash shook his head, and much quieter he said, “And you all say I’ve got issues. That woman is demonic.”

I pinched my lips and sucked them inward so I wouldn’t laugh.

“And yet you’re still playing with Miss Satan,” Jonas noted.

“Nothing wrong with a little cat and mouse to keep life interesting.”

“Who’s the cat and who’s the mouse?” I asked Cash.

“Does it matter?”

“Yeah, idiot, one of them is the prey,” Jonas pointed out.

“Life’s short. Live dangerously.”

None of us spoke until Cash was upstairs.

Then it was Kira who broke the silence. “He’s playing with fire.”

“Yep,” Jonas agreed.

“He’s gonna get burned.”

“Yep.”

“Someone needs to stop him.”

“Yep.”

I was getting dizzy listening to Kira and Jonas go back and forth.

“Any chance you can stop him from…”

“Fucking her?” Jonas supplied and I nodded. “Not a chance.”

“So we just sit back and wait for the blow-up?”

“Yep.”

“That doesn’t sound good, Jonas.”

“It doesn’t sound good because it’s not good. But Cash does what Cash does. He digs Lore, he’s gonna go for it, if he hasn’t already and the only thing we can do is be here for the fallout.”

That was interesting.

I lifted my brow and smiled. “Hasn’t already?”

“They’re sleeping in the same house.”

“And they both went outside for a middle-of-the-night walk. Though, unlike the two of you, they minded the camera angles.”

I felt my cheeks heat. Which was dumb because all that Kira saw was some kissing and a tiny bit of dry humping.

“For the record,” she continued. “You two are cute together. Never imagined the kind of woman Jonas would be with mainly because I never thought he’d find a woman, with his trust issues and not liking to be touched. But now that I’ve seen you two together, you’re the perfect woman for him.”

I felt like preening under Kira’s approval. However, I was stuck back on not liking to be touched.

“You don’t like to be touched?” I asked him.

He didn’t hesitate. “Nope. Hate it.”

There was this funny feeling that was creeping up from my stomach, making its way into my throat.

Not funny ha-ha, funny like I was going to vomit.

I touched Jonas all the time, and he hated it?

Not, disliked. Not, wasn’t a big fan of it.

Straight-up hated . And he never told me.

He let me touch him and suffered through it.

When the hell was he going to tell me that I’d done it enough and he couldn’t take it anymore?

“Dee Dee,” he called.

Oh my God, he hated being touched, and I’d been torturing him.

“Baby,” he tried again, this time grabbing my wrist and bringing my hand to his chest.

The moment my palm hit the fabric of his tee, I tried to yank my hand back. Effortlessly, he overpowered me, going so far as to lean into my hand.

“I hate being touched, except when you do it. Growing up, I wasn’t touched with kindness. I associate touch with dysfunction and abuse. Except, like I said, when you touch me. From the very first time you did it, I knew it was different. I knew I wanted more.”

I glanced at Kira, aware we had an audience and maybe Jonas didn’t want to talk about this in front of her.

“Baby, if I can’t talk about this in front of KK then that means I’m hiding my shit.

I’m still back in a dark place where I shove all feelings in a box and pretend they don’t exist. That got me nowhere.

I learned that with my team, I let all my shit hang out.

You’ve heard Cash. He does it, too. The more you’re around, you’ll hear the other guys say shit.

It’s how we bring it into the light. It’s how we keep all the bad shit from choking out the good. ”

That not only made sense but I thought it was healthy.

“That’s a very emotionally intelligent way of looking at it.”

Kira laughed. “Yeah, that’s us, a group of emotionally intelligent people who between us have a cargo ship of baggage.

Before I met Cooper, I believed with all my heart and soul I killed the people I loved just by loving them.

I lost my parents, then my brother, both in the ugliest of ways, and my survivor’s guilt was so extreme I barely left my apartment for ten years.

All I did was work. My only friends were Jonas, Cash, Theo, Smith, Easton, and Layla.

And five of those people were dead on paper and my only communication with them was over the computer.

We all have shit in our past that if we let it, will drown us in misery.

We all have trust issues and that’s why we protect what we have with each other.

Theo gave us Bridget. Then Easton gave us Nebraska.

Smith, Aria. And now Jonas is giving us you.

We protect what’s ours, Derrika and that goes beyond physically.

If you let us, we’ll show you your worth.

We show you, you are not what your father said you were.

And growing up the way you did might’ve had some good but it was totally fucked up. ”

She knew about my father’s teachings. I didn’t ask her how she knew. It didn’t matter because I knew for a fact it didn’t come from Jonas. I trusted he would never divulge my secrets.

Kira eyed me. “You didn’t ask if Jonas told me.”

I didn’t miss the approval in her tone.

“I know he wouldn’t have told you.”

“He didn’t. Part of it I heard, as did Zane and Cash. The rest of your history I learned by looking into you.” She paused and held my stare. “Are you mad?”

If anyone else had intruded on my secrets I would’ve been furious.

“No.”

“Good. Zane’s on his way. And the rest of the team sans Theo and Smith are coming back down. Apparently Penny drives faster than Cash when he’s playing Grand Theft Auto, the real-life version, and she’s pulling down the lane now.”

I blinked at Kira.

“I have to say, you’re impressive. You multitask like a boss bitch.”

“It’s like walking and chewing gum.”

It was nothing like walking and chewing gum. She’d been fully engaged in a conversation while watching cameras and fielding texts on her computer.

I couldn’t read while the television was on, so she could blow off my compliment all she wanted but I was still damn impressed.

Jonas used his grip on my wrist to bring my palm up to his lips and press a hard kiss there before he smiled. I couldn’t see his mouth since my hand was covering it, but I saw the crinkles at the corners of his eyes.

“You’re sure?—”

“Baby, I’m positive.”

We’d agreed to no bullshit, no hiding, straight-up trust and honesty.

So I took him at his word and nodded.

That earned me a real kiss, with tongue.

This lasted until Kira muttered, “Incoming.”

And still, Jonas took his time ending the kiss.