Page 37 of Midnight’s Captive (Stroke of Midnight #2)

Taryn leaned over the computer screen. She was finalizing the plan to get Hope out of the Tremaine medical center without raising alarms. The last sticking point had been how to get her from her room to the ambulance, and she’d finally figured that out. She’d called in a series of favors to enact this rescue. Rescuing Ash’s sister was costing favors she didn’t want to spend. But if he upheld his side of the bargain and she was able to stop Giselle’s pimp from showing up here, it would be worth it.

“Another rescue?”

Taryn looked up. Rhonda stood in the doorway.

“Yeah.” She smiled at the other woman, glad she looked less concerned than she had the night Taryn kicked the pimp out.

“Can I help?” She stepped into the room and peered at the desk.

“No, I think I’m good,” Taryn said.

“Seems awfully soon to be planning another one. The new girl, Gazelle, has only been here a couple days.”

“Giselle has been here almost two weeks,” Taryn corrected gently. It was an unusual name, but it wasn’t that hard to pronounce, was it?

Still, Rhonda wasn’t wrong. Taryn usually preferred at least a couple of months between rescues. The time allowed her to identify the woman who needed help and to make a plan that covered any contingency. If only that had been an option with Hope’s rescue.

“It is unusual,” Taryn admitted. “We’ve been asked to find a family member. Someone’s sister.”

“The hacker guy, right? The one you’ve been kissing?”

Taryn’s face flushed. She could kiss whoever she damn well pleased. “Yes.” She bit back a comment about Rhonda’s overstep. While Taryn was friendly with all the girls who stayed here, very few became actual friends. Rhonda wasn’t one of them.

Rhonda sighed. “Why does his sister need to be rescued?”

Taryn’s temper flared, but she held on to it. Rhonda was pushing more than usual. Taryn didn’t like it.

She almost refused to answer. Instead, she offered a tidbit, hoping it would make Rhonda go away. “She’s in a bad spot.”

“But why are we rescuing her? We’ve never done that before.”

Taryn’s jaw clenched, but she held onto her patience. Barely. “Because the Jack provides services to people for money. That’s how this place works.”

Rhonda looked like she wanted to argue further, but Taryn was done. Questions were a good thing, in her opinion, but the questioning? Yeah, not so much. “I need to get back to this, Rhonda. Was there anything you needed?”

Lips pursed, Rhonda glared at Taryn. “I just came by to say hi. You don’t have to be so rude.” She turned and stomped out of the room. She probably would have slammed the door shut, but Dani grabbed it on her way in.

They both watched Rhonda walk away. “You’re right,” Taryn said. “Something’s going on with her.”

“Can I come in?” Dani’s smile was rueful.

Taryn smiled back. “Of course. As long as you promise not to question everything I do.”

“Done.”

There was a bounce in Dani’s step that Taryn hadn’t seen before. “I take it the date went well?”

She beamed, her smile practically blinding Taryn. Dropping into her usual chair, she arranged her skirt daintily around her legs. “I really like him.”

“He seems like a good guy.” She’d only met him briefly, though, and was reserving judgment. Maybe she’d ask Ash to dig into Mason’s background.

Having easy access to a hacker would certainly help the Jack’s business. If only he wasn’t planning to leave town as soon as Hope was free. It would be hard to hide Hope in Seattle, but not impossible. Razor Jack’s certainly had the room.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she grimaced. She might have ruined her chances with him.

“He’ll be back, Taryn.” Dani spoke softly, her tone reassuring.

“I wasn’t thinking about him.” Her denial was almost immediate.

Dani’s look said that she totally knew Taryn was lying.

“Fine. Maybe I was thinking about him a little.” Taryn waved her hand, as if it would clear her conflicted thoughts. “Enough about me. Tell me about your date.”

It was the perfect distraction and for the first time in hours, Taryn relaxed as she listened to Dani gush about her evening. Every aspect of her meal was described in the smallest detail. The plot of the movie, lovingly described. Even the kiss they’d shared at the end of the night.

Taryn smiled. What told her the most about Dani’s evening was the fact that her friend had taken the time to notice all those details. She’d relaxed enough around this guy to enjoy herself. That was priceless.

Dani’s background was as fucked up as Taryn’s. Although Dani had blossomed and grown over the last few years, she still had trouble letting herself get close to anyone, especially men.

Taryn completely understood.

But where Taryn had thrown herself back into sex with abandon and a fuck-you attitude during her second year of freedom, Dani was more tentative.

While Taryn had worried that Dani would never even date, she couldn’t fault Dani for her hesitation.

“You really like him.” Taryn watched Dani’s reaction.

“Shut up!” Dani’s face flamed, but she couldn’t stop her smile.

“You’re allowed to be happy, you know.” Taryn looked her dead in the eyes, her voice completely serious. “You can also leave here at any time.”

Despite Taryn’s somber tone, Dani cracked up.

Taryn frowned. “I’m serious.”

“Oh, I know,” Dani said. “The whole ‘you can be happy’ speech is pretty rich coming from the woman who just broke up with her boyfriend.”

“He isn’t my boyfriend.” The denial was automatic. “And we didn’t break up. We just...” She still didn’t know what the fuck had happened.

Or what to call it.

Or even how to deal with it.

Instead, Taryn refocused their conversation. “We were talking about you. There’s nothing keeping you here. You can be happy. You can be free. You can be loved.”

Taryn wouldn’t require a favor from Dani when she left. If anything, she owed Dani multiple favors for all the times she’d kept Taryn sane when nightmares left her shaking. They’d huddled together, trading stories in the dark.

Dani was Taryn’s sister in every way except blood. “I only want you to be happy,” Taryn repeated stubbornly.

“I know you do and I love you for it. I’m happy here.”

Taryn started to protest, then stopped when she recognized the look on Dani’s face. It was her don’t-you-dare-interrupt-me face.

“I like working here. I make good money. I have respect. Responsibility.” She paused, looking pensive. “Where else could I get that with my background and no experience?”

Taryn growled.

Dani laughed again. “In time, I may want to look for something else. Stretch my wings. But I’m comfortable here.”

“I love that you’re comfortable here, but?—”

Dani interrupted her. “This is my home, Taryn. I’m safe here. That’s what makes it the perfect place for me while I try dating. I know you’ll always have my back. And to answer your question, yes, I like Mason. A lot. But we’re taking it slow. I don’t want to get overwhelmed and make a rash decision that will ruin it.” She shot Taryn a pointed look.

“I didn’t ruin anything,” Taryn muttered. “He did.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Sure, you had nothing to do with it.”

“He asked me to go with him, when he leaves with Hope.”

Dani’s eyes widened. “Holy shit! What did you say?”

“I didn’t answer and he pushed for one.” Taryn sighed. “I can’t leave the bar, Dani. No, that’s not quite right. I don’t want to leave the bar. I’ve made Razor Jack’s my own.”

“And here you are trying to convince me to leave? Don’t think so.” She waved Taryn off before she could argue. “That’s a tough situation. You really like him, don’t you?”

Taryn didn’t want to lie. Not to Dani. Not to herself. Not about this. “Yeah. I do. I mean, I did.” Her heart twinged.

“Then you should go for it,” Dani said, like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Taryn shook her head. “I can’t. The bar, what I do here, is too important.”

“More important than love?” Dani’s voice was soft, but her words were a wake-up call.

“Is this love?” Bewilderment washed over Taryn. Was that what all these feelings were? The pain in her heart when she thought about her last interaction with Ash at the bar? “I’ve never been in love.”

“That’s the perfect reason to follow it through.”

“There’s too many girls that I could still help.” How could Taryn put her happiness first, when there were women who’d never felt it?

“You don’t have to save them all,” Dani said gently. It was an old argument. One that they’d never see eye to eye on. “You can’t.”

“I have to try.” Taryn had to give them the chance that she’d never been given.

“You could move with him, start over,” Dani countered.

Taryn had thought about that, but the logistics... “I’d have to build an entirely new network. In a new city. It would take me years to gain knowledge of all the players, make the connections. Too many things could go wrong. Too many girls would be hurt in that time.” Taryn looked her in the eye. “It’s too much.”

“You can’t let this run your life forever.” Another old argument.

“Maybe not. But it’s going to for now.”

Dani sighed. “Fine. You know how I feel.”

“I know. And I love you for trying,” Taryn said. “But this wasn’t supposed to be all about me. Are you going to see Mason again?”

Dani blushed. “Yes. In a couple nights. He’s taking me to the theater.”

“So fancy,” Taryn teased. “Seriously, though, I’m so happy for you.”

Pink tinged Dani’s cheeks and her eyes got dreamy for a moment. Then she returned to the present. “What are you working on? Hope’s rescue?”

Taryn nodded.

“We’re still doing that?”

“I haven’t heard otherwise. Plus, I told Ash that we would help.” She might have broken up with Ash—maybe—but she wouldn’t abandon a woman who needed help because of a broken heart. “And he’s already started working on the payment.”

“You’re right. If he’s already paid us, we can’t back out.” Dani’s lips quirked in a half smile. “Have you figured it out?”

“Finally,” Taryn said. She briefed her friend on the plan and Dani whistled when she was done.

“That’s a lot,” Dani said.

“I know. I knew it would be complicated, but...” She shook her head. “Remind me to never take on a case like this again.”

“Done.” Dani looked at the plan again. “When do you want to do this?”

“Soon, but I need to talk to Ash again. We need to know where to deliver her. We could set up a room here.” Taryn paused, reminded of her half-baked thought to keep Hope and Ash here, with her. “But if he has a place or a vehicle to get her out of the city, we’ll need to coordinate.”

“Oh no, you have to talk to Ash again.” Dani dramatized her statement with a hand pressed to her forehead and then to her heart.

“I hate you,” Taryn said without any heat.

Dani leaned back in her chair and pulled her legs up, tucking her knees to the side. “You could just call him, you know?”

“I don’t have his number,” Taryn admitted.

“What?”

“He kept stopping by the bar. I didn’t even think about it.” And that should have been her first warning. The Jack never forgot details like that.

“I’m sure you can get a message to him.”

“Yes,” she admitted, trying to ignore Dani’s scrutiny.

“Then put on your big Jack panties and reach out. Tell yourself it’s only business if you have to, but you can’t move forward—with this or with him—if you don’t at least talk to him.”

Dani was right. Taryn knew it.

“I’ll think about it,” she grumbled.

Dani laughed. “And think and think and think.”

Taryn scowled. Her best friend wasn’t wrong.

Dani pushed out of her chair. “You sit here and think. I’m going to bed.”

“Thanks, Dani. I couldn’t do this without you.”

“I know, boss.” She tossed Taryn a smile.

“Night, Dani.” Her friend slipped out of the office and left Taryn alone with her thoughts.