Page 33 of Justified Fear (TFH Team Bravo #2)

T hey kept her in the hospital for two days.

TWO LONG DAYS. Keely was ready to crawl out of her skin by the time they let her go.

Her family had been around, but not too obtrusive.

Oh, her brothers were still giving Ryan crap, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by it.

In fact, he appeared thoroughly amused by it.

Her mother had made sure she had a lot of her favorites in the refrigerator, so she didn’t have to cook unless she felt like it.

The day after she was released, she was sitting on the lanai when Ryan came out.

The sun was setting, and the heat of the day had burned off.

She and Maya had been enjoying the serenity of her backyard away from everyone in the house.

When she thought they weren’t obtrusive, it didn’t mean her brothers weren’t annoying her.

She hoped her parents were taking them back to the mainland with them tomorrow.

“Hey, are you getting hungry?” he asked, but she sensed a dark mood had settled around him.

“What?”

“What do you mean what?”

“Ryan, I know that you can hide your moods, but I know when you’re upset over something.”

As if to prove her point, Maya got up and walked over to Ryan. She was a good SAR dog, but she was also intuitive to people’s moods.

“Now tell me what’s bothering you. Did you have a fight with my brothers?”

He snorted as he took the chair beside her. “I can handle a couple of shit kickers from Texas.”

Yeah, her brothers liked him. He stood up to them, and she knew Ryan had gained their respect.

“Love, you’re going to tell me at some point, so just tell me.”

He sighed. “Raymond Garcia is dead.”

She blinked as her brain tried to figure out who that was, then she remembered.

Ray had lied about a lot of things, including his last name.

He had been from Bedford, but Ray had some top-notch computer skills.

He’d created a whole identity for himself and called on his old friend Chad Brothers to help him.

Only…Chad had gotten caught up in the idea of having his own restaurant.

“What happened?”

“He was attacked out in the yard. I have a feeling the cartel found out he had gone completely bonkers. They would be worried about just what he would reveal. He also made a lot of enemies, including several factions of the Yakuza.”

She sat there for a second, waiting for the guilt.

She had felt that a lot over the last three days, thinking of all the bloodshed Ray had caused to get to her.

But she didn’t feel any. Not for this. Ray had chosen to be the way he was…

or, well, maybe he did have a mental illness. Either way, it wasn’t her fault.

Keely sighed. “Well, I guess that’s that?”

He nodded. “How are you feeling, baby?”

Usually, she didn’t like that name when another man would call her by it. In fact, when Chad had called her that, she told him to stop. When Ryan did it, she got all tingly.

She took his hand. “Are the bros still here?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. Yep, he had been horrible about not touching her for the last few days. The doctor said she was fine. She just had to be careful of her shoulder.

“Yeah. And, apparently, TFH has decided to show up at your house.”

“What?”

“It’s a thing we do for our Ohana. We throw a party.”

“I have no food. I have to cook,” she said, rising from her chair, but he stopped her.

“Don’t worry. They are bringing dinner. I think the Dillon Security people will be here too.”

As if on cue, she heard someone drive up out front.

“As to the other thing,” he said, pulling her closer and slipping his arm around her waist. He brushed his mouth over hers. “Let’s just say to be continued?”

Heat slapped through her blood. “Can’t we tell them to leave?”

He chuckled, and her nipples hardened against the fabric of her bra. “No. But anticipation will make it so much better.”

She opened her mouth to respond when the screen door smacked open.

“We’ve told you that having your hands on our sister irritates us,” Keanu said.

Ryan’s gaze didn’t move from hers, and his hold on her tightened. “And I told you to get bent.”

“There’s a bunch of people and food here,” Keanu said, laughter filling his voice.

“Then I guess we’re having a party,” she said.

Eden watched as Kap picked up one of Del’s kids and throw him up in the air. How did a man look so sexy all of the time.

“So, you were in one of the alphabet companies like Mix,” Autumn said. Eden tore her attention away from Kap and looked at the other woman.

“I guess everyone here knows,” she said. Hell, the whole world knew after someone blew her cover three years ago.

“I just want to make sure that you have his back.”

Most people would be offended by Autumn, but the truth was, Eden appreciated bluntness these days. After years with the CIA, she hated double speak. She had been a master at it, but now it just pissed her off.

“Always.”

Autumn studied her for a moment, then she nodded. “We have a mutual friend who says I can trust you.”

Now she was frowning. “Who?”

Autumn turned her head and looked across the pool at her brother. “Let’s just say this person is…well, she irritates Mix on so many levels.”

Sam— or that was the name people knew the woman by these days. Eden knew her from her days at the CIA when they both worked there.

“Yes, well, he can trust me. I would never knowingly put him in danger. I would never do that to a partner.”

“Good.” She smiled. “Now, I know that there are Liliha cocoa puffs inside, so I am going to get myself some of that. Also, don’t tell Mix what we’re talking about. He would get his feelings hurt. He’s sensitive like that.”

She strode off without waiting for Eden to say goodbye.

“Interesting conversation,” a deep male voice said from behind her. Dammit. She had been keeping an eye on him, avoiding being in the same airspace, but she knew that Georgia accent too well. She especially liked it at night…

Nope. Not today, Satan. She would not go down that road.

As she turned, she tried to prepare herself for the perfection that was Kapone Hanson.

She thought she would get over him by now, three years after her entire world had exploded, but she hadn’t.

In fact, she had yet to let another man touch her.

He was possibly the most beautiful man she had ever seen.

He had light brown skin, dark eyes, and when he smiled…

she felt as if the entire universe was shining.

“Do you eavesdrop on your friends all the time?”

“I wouldn’t call you a friend.”

Even though the words pierced her heart, she made sure not to let it show on her face. She had been known as the Ice Queen once upon a time, and Eden hoped there was a little bit of that ice-cold blood left.

“Same, Kap, same.” She took a drink of her water to hide her sadness. She refused to let him know how much his words hurt her. “I meant Autumn.”

His jaw tightened ever so slightly, telling her he was clenching his back teeth.

“You should be careful of her.”

“Of Autumn? She can’t hurt me. She wouldn’t.” Not unless Ian got hurt, which was something Eden had planned to prevent. None of her insane world would touch him.

“I meant that you shouldn’t use her. I know that’s your go-to.”

Another knife to the heart. The man had had almost three years to figure out that she wasn’t the bad person in their story.

That they had both made mistakes, but she hadn’t done things to hurt him on purpose.

She’d had orders—just like he did. And she was sick of it.

Sick of the asshole comments, of being hurt by them every time he lashed out at her. She was done.

“So, I guess your pursuit was my fault.”

Kap’s jaw tensed again. Bingo.

“Because I think I told you that you didn’t want to get involved with me, and you ignored that, right? If anyone looked like they were the bad person, it was probably you.”

“Are you seriously blaming me for your lies?”

“Well, someone outed me to the press. Someone put my life in danger. My family’s lives are in danger. We had kept our cover for decades, but a month after meeting you, I was outed. So spare me the outrage, Hanson. I can do without it from someone who really has no right to judge other people.”

Kap’s eyes narrowed as he studied her, but before he could come back at her, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Pulling out her phone, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her ride was there.

“Well, this has been fun, as usual, but my ride is here,” she said. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

Then, without waiting for him to respond, she made a beeline for Ryan and Keely. After thanking them for the party invite, she headed out to the man waiting for her. She knew that no matter what, he would always be there, and vice versa. Twins were like that.

As she neared the car, she took in her brother’s appearance.

He looked better these days. There was still a darkness that had settled around his shoulders from the incident three years ago.

Forty-eight hours of torture left its mark on his soul.

She knew some days El had issues, but more and more, he was spending days in the light.

She slipped into the car.

“How was the party?” El asked, his gravelly voice a testament to his torture.

“You could have come with me,” she said.

“No thanks. You know I don’t do those things these days.”

At one time, he had been the life of the party. Now he tended to work in the shadows. No matter how much she tried, Eden couldn’t get her twin to step into the light.

“Emily was there.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. She knew her brother had an infatuation with Emily Daniels. In Eden’s opinion, Emily was just as infatuated with El.

“By herself?”

“No.”

She let the silence draw out.

“She’s dating? Good.” His tone did not sound like he thought it was good. In fact, it sounded like he was really angry about it.

She snorted. “No. She was there with her brother, Aaron.”

As they took the on-ramp for Pali Highway, he glanced over at her. “I have news, but you seem kind of upset.”

Of course, he knew. Having a twin was sometimes a curse.

“Tell me.”

“Edwin O’Malley is dead.”

Her shoulders drooped. They had tracked the former double spy to Hawai’i a year ago before he disappeared once again. “Do they know how it happened?”

“Robbery. Funny thing that nothing was taken again.”

“Just like the others,” she murmured. “That’s our last lead.”

“We’ll find him,” he said.

She nodded. At some point, they would find the man who outed her, left her brother to die, and put a target on her entire family. Or they would both die trying.

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