Page 14 of The Reluctant Siren (Texas Sirens: Legacy #2)

Harlow had the weirdest family ever. From the playboy undercover fed, to the big blond definitely ex-Special Forces guy who mostly laughed at everything, to the twin dads, one of whom was like a really pissed-off Sherlock Holmes, these dudes ran the gamut of interesting.

Niall liked it. He wanted in. He could be the quiet one who sat in the back with the twin who wasn’t raging and eat chips and drink beer and watch the whole show.

Not that he had an in since Harlow wouldn’t look at him. Now she was gone and he and Jensen were sitting here wondering where she went and if she was coming back.

“She’s already got one arrest,”

Harlow’s dad was saying.

“One?”

Big Blond Guy waved that off.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been chucked in jail. The security business is not for the faint of heart, Dawson.”

Niall moved to sit beside Jensen, who gave him a deadly look and then turned away.

“Come on. Do you think you can take this crew on alone?”

Niall asked quietly.

“I wasn’t going to let her get arrested,”

Jack was arguing.

“Why do you think I dealt with the cops? Who I hope are not on Hamilton’s payroll or it’s going to be a shame to the ladies everywhere that I’m about to die.”

Jensen leaned over, whispering.

“I’m not taking on anyone. I’m staying because I need to talk to Harlow, you massive fucking ass.”

“I’m not going to apologize for falling for her. You sent me in to make sure she was okay. You were worried she was in the same city Hamilton was attempting to build a base in, and you wanted someone watching over her. Or is she right and you wanted me to make sure she remained virginal and pure so she didn’t fuck around while you were off doing what you needed to do?”

He wasn’t letting Jensen off the hook. He knew he should have talked to him, but it wasn’t like Jensen was easy to get hold of these days.

Jensen seemed to stop, the words making him think. Sometimes his best friend had to take a punch to the gut to figure out what he was doing.

“I wanted to make sure she was okay.”

“So I wasn’t supposed to keep all the men off her?”

Jensen sat up, a frown on his face.

“Well, I didn’t think you would be one of them.”

Niall had been considering this all damn night.

“Because I wouldn’t fall for the gorgeous, smart, funny, tough chick? How many times, man? How many times did we go out to a bar and hit on the same woman? How many times did we argue over who got to go after her?”

Jensen sighed and sat back as the phone rang and the blond guy picked it up while Harlow’s other dad was trying to talk Sherlock down.

“A lot. I should have known, but I thought you would at least talk to me about it. I guess in some ways, I knew you would care about her. I guess I was counting on it.”

But he hadn’t been counting on Niall acting on his inevitable attraction.

“I did not sleep with her for two reasons, and neither of them were I didn’t want her. I couldn’t without telling her the truth, and I wanted to talk to you. We have been friends for more than half my life. When you wanted to go into the military, I went with you. When Tommy died and you needed to leave, I gave it up. I would have gone to LA with you.”

“It was a one-man job,”

Jensen said tightly.

“I didn’t… I couldn’t risk you. Like I couldn’t risk her.”

He’d known it at the time and been forced to honor the decision, and Jensen couldn’t possibly know how alone that had left him. Back in their shitty small town without the Wiley brothers. He’d mourned Tommy, too.

“All I’m saying is I’ve never let you down before. Not even once. The truth is if you make me choose between you and Harlow, she’s going to win.”

Now Jensen’s asshole smirk came out.

“Back at ya, buddy. And after tonight I don’t think she’s going to choose you.”

“Oh, you think she’s running back into your arms?”

Something was going on in the background. The big guy was pacing and Harlow’s dads were arguing, but Niall was focused.

“After what you did? You know she’s been healing from that for a long time.”

“I know the minute I offered to work with her, she was putting you back on the shelf. She agreed to dump your ass and come back into the club where we were going to make a connection the employees would find believable. She was going to be my acknowledged sub by the end of the week.”

Jensen studied him carefully.

“Yeah, there it is. She talked to you, didn’t she?”

He wasn’t particularly good at hiding his emotions. Oh, he could, but he never had to with his best friend. A knot formed in his gut. It had been after the meeting with Jensen that she’d talked about how they could just be friends. He’d thought it was about her feeling insecure because they hadn’t slept together, but what if there was another reason?

“She loves me. I can fix this,”

Jensen said with confidence.

“Or you can fuck her up more,”

Niall shot back.

“I can’t believe you were going to take her back in.”

“Well, it’s take her back in or watch her blow everything up,”

Jensen replied.

“With you sitting there. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking she had a job to do. You never bothered to tell me what club you were working at. You didn’t even mention it was a lifestyle club. I thought you were a bouncer at a nightclub or something. Is she not supposed to work? Am I not supposed to back her up? You know I was actually doing exactly what you sent me in to do.”

“I did not send you in to fuck her,”

Jensen snarled.

“No, you wanted her alone and miserable so you could hopefully manipulate her back into a relationship with you. Tell me something, Jensen. What happens to her if this mission of yours kills you? Should I make sure she’s alone so she can enter the afterlife pure for you? Same question, but this time you’re in jail.”

Jensen went a faint shade of pink.

“I wasn’t planning on doing either.”

“You chose your revenge over her once. Why should I believe you would do anything differently now?”

Jensen’s jaw went tight.

“I might not have a fucking choice.”

“But you’re already thinking about how to get back in. So do it and I’ll take care of her.”

It was time to start laying some groundwork because the truth was no matter how pissed he was with Jensen right now, he still wanted this chance.

“Or you can accept that Jack and the FBI have this and start giving Harlow what she needs.”

Jensen was quiet for a moment.

“You would walk away so easily?”

“I’m not walking away at all. I think she needs both of us.”

There it was. Everything he’d been working through in his brain for the last few months. He knew she loved Jensen, but she cared about him, too. At least he thought she did. He could show her what he had to offer. Jensen might be the big, attractive, over-the-top heroic guy, but he would probably forget her coffee in the morning and also forget that he could get arrested at any moment. Niall could be there, the steady presence in both of their lives.

They needed each other.

Jensen stared for a moment and then opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he had to say was stopped by Dad Number 1 reaching for his throat.

“You little shit,”

Chase Dawson was saying.

“You’re the one. You’re the reason my daughter nearly got killed in California.”

So he’d worked that out. Well, it had only been a matter of time.

“Jensen, remember he’s her dad.”

Jensen stood, facing off with Chase Dawson, who was roughly the same height but leaner in build.

“Mr. Dawson, I did what I needed to do to save Harlow. We were undercover, but things were about to get seriously dangerous. So I made the call to get her out. I should have done it myself, but I thought she would fight me. I thought getting arrested would keep her out of an intensely dangerous situation. A cartel was involved at that point, and they wanted to use her. I couldn’t let it happen.”

“So you left her to get the shit kicked out of her?”

Chase practically roared the question.

That was when he noticed the big guy’s wife was walking out the door. Likely to go tell Harlow her dad was about to murder her ex.

He needed to calm this situation down.

“He didn’t realize that would happen, Mr. Dawson. By allowing her to be arrested, he eliminated the chance that the cartel would use her. It’s what they did. They used their clubs to identify vulnerable people who could run their drugs for them. Harlow put herself in that position hoping to get picked. When Jensen found out she was next, he stopped it.”

“What the fuck were you doing in there in the first place?”

Chase backed off slightly but there was still rage in those dark eyes.

Jensen squared off, and Niall knew this was going to go bad.

“It’s none of your business.”

“His brother was murdered,”

Niall explained.

“He loved Tommy. Most of their lives they were all they had. I don’t know if you know how that feels, but he was older and his dad was long gone. He felt…”

“Responsible for his brother,”

Chase said with a long sigh.

“Yes, we do understand what it means to be siblings without parents we could count on,”

the other dad said. Ben. His name was Ben.

“Chase, could we calm down and talk this out?”

“Oh, he’s about to explode again.”

Taggart hung up his cell.

“Or we could not tell him shit,”

Jack offered. He also had his cell in his hand. There was a text there.

“You know technically this is my jurisdiction.”

“Hush, you toddler,”

Taggart said.

“I’m not going to hide this, and Ruby found it all on her own, so unless your jurisdiction includes the entire Dark Web, you should brace yourself for Hurricane Chase.”

“What?”

Chase asked as his brother moved in beside him.

Oddly enough, Jensen took a step back and was suddenly beside Niall, even though he didn’t look his way.

“Ruby found a hit order on Harlow and Jensen,”

Taggart announced.

“Those pictures got to the right people, well the wrong people for us. Jensen, unless you’re ready to pull whatever crazy shit you were planning on pulling, you’re shut down. That’s my professional advice.”

“Oh, Jensen doesn’t look like a guy who takes professional advice,”

Chase said, his eyes narrow.

“He looks like a reckless asshole who won’t want to miss his shot.”

“Brother,”

Ben began.

Jensen cursed under his breath.

Jensen’s cover was blown. Years of work gone in an instant.

Niall was strangely comforted at the thought. Not the thought of an assassin, but that Jensen couldn’t go back. How long had he been in this strange limbo where he was constantly waiting to hear his oldest friend was dead and he was alone? It had been a tension he’d gotten so used to that he hadn’t realized it was there.

Of course now he had to worry about assassins. And Harlow’s dads, because he was pretty sure that just because Ben seemed reasonable didn’t mean he wouldn’t stab a dude he thought was hurting his daughter. That was actually a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

Chase growled his brother’s way and then sighed.

“Fine. We need to talk about where we’re going to stash our daughters. I want Greer with us, too. If they find out about her sister, all they have to do is take her and then Harlow turns herself in, so we’re all going off the grid. Ian, do you think your cabin in Colorado is safe enough or should we find somewhere else?”

Jensen’s head tilted, talking quietly out of the side of his mouth.

“Harlow is going to lose her shit. This is her worst nightmare. She’ll have to shut down her business, and she won’t know when her father will loosen the leash. She’ll go crazy.”

A bad plan started to form in his head. A plan that would mean Harlow’s deranged dad would likely hate him, too. Maybe that was a way to rebond with his best friend. Having their girlfriend’s dad loathe them both could be a good shared experience for them.

“You hid the house, right? When you decided to go after Tommy’s killer, you put the house under another name, right?”

“I was careful. There’s no way anyone can trace the house to me. Up until a few weeks ago, my aunt handled the whole thing. I let her live there after my mom passed. All the bills were in her name, though I had to start paying them when she moved out.”

Jensen looked to Ian, who was busy explaining what he called cabin rules to the twins.

“Mr. Taggart, who is the hit on?”

Ian stood, putting his cell down.

“According to Ruby it was you and Harlow.”

“The name,”

Jensen corrected.

“When I decided to go undercover, I hired a hacker, one I trusted. Niall and I knew her from our Army days. She wiped Jensen Wiley off the books and replaced him with Jay Wilson. That’s the name I’ve been going by for years.”

Jack glanced down at his cell.

“That’s the name on the list. I’ll ask my cyber team to dig deeper and see if there’s anything out there.”

“Please don’t.”

Niall stepped forward.

“I would like to keep Jensen’s name off the FBI’s list. I’m not saying he won’t give you all the information he has…”

“Hey,”

Jensen began.

Niall was going to ignore him for now.

“…but I would prefer his actual name isn’t searchable on any database.”

Jensen huffed but Niall spoke his language. It was a grudging acceptance of the truth that Niall was trying to help him. It was permission to continue.

Jack sighed and seemed to think the situation over.

“I would like to see what you have. How long have you been embedded in the organization?”

“Three years, give or take,”

Jensen replied.

A bullshit answer since he was absolutely certain Jensen knew to the day how long he’d been in hell.

“I’ll keep quiet for now, but you have to know it’s going to come out,”

Jack explained.

“I would rather it came out after Hamilton is in jail,”

Niall admitted.

“Well, it doesn’t matter to us what you do since Harlow’s name is out there.”

Chase looked to Jack.

“Any idea how that happened? I know she wouldn’t have used her real name.”

“Of course I didn’t, but it wouldn’t be hard to ID me with facial recognition.”

Harlow stood in the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. Her mom had joined Ben, running her arm through his and leaning on him as though she needed comfort.

Which she probably did since her daughter was being targeted by a criminal organization.

“What matters is they know your name and that means they can get to any of us,”

Chase said.

“So we’re going to head to Ian’s cabin in Colorado for a while.”

Harlow’s eyes went wide. “We?”

Chase squared off with his daughter.

“Yes, we. I’m not sending you off with some bodyguard when your papa and I can handle it.”

“I’ll let my friends in town know why you’re there,”

Ian explained, texting on his phone.

“They’ll keep a watch out for any strangers who show up. It’s not high tourist season so it should be fairly easy to do.”

“I can’t leave my business,”

Harlow argued.

“You can and you will.”

Her dad was obviously not giving in.

“This is one step too far. Do you know how this is going to affect your sister?”

Harlow flushed.

“It doesn’t have to. Put a guard on her for a couple of days and we’ll sort it out. I’m sure this moves up Jack’s timetable.”

“Hamilton is coming into town,”

Jensen said.

“It was all going to be over one way or another in a week.”

“Well, I’m not actually being paid to murder the fucker,”

Jack admitted.

“I know law enforcement might have some people who say we cut corners, but we haven’t lowered ourselves to assassinations yet. Hey, Uncle Ian, what’s Kala doing these days?”

“Mostly Cooper,”

Ian deadpanned.

“But they’re all married and shit now, so it’s to be expected. Chase, be happy neither of your daughters are married because let me tell you they don’t care if you catch them. There is no discretion after marriage.”

Harlow’s mom raised a brow.

“You’re talking about discretion?”

One side of Ian’s mouth lifted in a grin.

“I can talk all I like. We all know I do not follow it.”

“Well, she’s not married, so she’s still my responsibility,”

Chase announced.

“I’m an adult.”

Harlow looked like she was about to explode.

“I don’t know that I believe that,”

Chase shot back.

“Harlow, I love you. I’m doing this to protect you. Ben, I’m going to get the car. You call Greer and tell her we’re picking her up in an hour and arrange for a plane with Julian. We’ll be at least six weeks.”

“What?”

Harlow asked in a way too loud voice.

Because her father was pushing all of her buttons, and she needed some calm. She needed some control.

She needed a freaking hero to ride up on a horse and take her away.

Well, at least he had a Jeep. But he would need some help because her dad was annoying.

They started arguing about how Harlow couldn’t walk away from her business, and then her dad yelled about the business being the problem, and then there was something about whether she should have made a living as an uptight debutante, but Niall was pretty sure that wasn’t an actual profession. He could be wrong. He didn’t watch a lot of reality TV, which was also being discussed as a viable career option that wouldn’t get her murdered.

“She’ll be safe at your place?”

Niall whispered the question.

Jensen’s eyes flared, and he leaned over.

“I don’t think she’s being given that option. You know they have your picture, too. You need to find a place to lay low.”

Sometimes he wasn’t quick on the uptake.

“I did. It’s your place. Not even these guys should be able to quickly find us, and then we will have saved Harlow from her dad and we’ll have her all to ourselves.”

“Because you think we can share her.”

Jensen said the words slowly, like he was tasting them.

“You think she needs us both.”

“I think we all need each other.”

“It probably won’t work. She hates us right now.”

“You do not get to dictate my life,”

Harlow announced in a low tone that felt way more threatening than when she yelled.

“I am your father,”

Chase shot back in an almost identical tone.

“You might not be,”

Harlow verbally jabbed.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Papa over there.”

Ben huffed.

“Yes, because you’re acting just like me right now.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

She turned on her other father.

“We need to sit down and figure this out.”

Her mom reached for Harlow’s hand.

“I’m not going to Colorado. I go to Colorado and he never stops trying to put me in a cage.”

Harlow evaded her mother’s affection.

“You don’t get a choice. If you didn’t want to go in a cage, you should have been less reckless.”

Her dad seemed to have an endless supply of poor choices.

“I can get you a good group rate on some family therapy,”

Charlotte offered.

“Why would we do that, baby? This is some next-level drama right here,”

Ian whispered in a not-whispering tone.

“I would say fuck you, Ian, but I need you right now. Watch after her until I get back. I want her down in the parking garage in ten minutes.”

Chase looked to his twin.

“I know she won’t forgive me, but at least she’ll be alive.”

Ben’s eyes closed and he moved, following his twin.

“I’ll talk to him. Nat, I’ll see you downstairs with Harlow. Don’t walk down without Ian, okay? We’ll work this out.”

He walked out the door.

Her mom turned Harlow’s way.

“Baby, I’m sorry. He’s scared but he’s right that you need a safe place.”

“You think he’s scared but he’s practically giddy because it means he can lock us all up and pretend Greer and I aren’t grownups,”

Harlow replied.

“I won’t let him lock me up. I know that he’s seen the worst of what can happen, but I can’t live my life like that.”

“I can get you in witness protection,”

Jack offered, looking serious for the first time.

“Another cage,”

Harlow shot back. She looked at Ian.

“I suppose you’re going to be my first jailer.”

Ian shrugged.

“I think it’s funny that your dad thinks I’m going to follow orders. Like he hasn’t known me for… I don’t even want to go into how many years it’s been, but he should know me better than to treat me like an employee when I don’t have a check in my hand.”

He turned his gaze on Niall and Jensen.

“You two have any plans?”

“Well, I thought I might haul Harlow out of here under her dads’ noses and take her to a place that Hamilton will never find, hole up, and figure out what to do from there,”

Niall replied.

Jensen nodded.

“What he said, but I probably wouldn’t have said it because now her mom is going to call her husbands or something. He’s not good with subterfuge.”

“Oh, I disagree,”

Harlow argued, her eyes narrow.

“I think he’s excellent at subterfuge. After all, he fooled me.”

He was going to work on that.

“Are you coming or not? You can come with us or go with Jack or your dads.”

Her mom turned to her daughter.

“Baby, if you think there’s any chance…”

Harlow shook her head.

“There’s not, but I also don’t like the other alternatives, and I’m not dumb enough to go out on my own. Ian, you’re not going to stop me?”

The big guy sank into his chair with a yawn that made him look like a sleepy lion.

“Like I said, I don’t see a check in my hand.”

And then he pinned Niall and Jensen with an icy gaze.

“But if you get her hurt, I won’t need a check. I’ll help Chase disembowel you just for fun.”

“I’m going to get going before Chase disembowels me,”

Jack said.

“I’ll keep in touch. Hopefully it won’t be long. Jensen, I need everything you have. Which is why I might have already sent a couple of agents to your place to grab your laptop and anything that might help.”

Jensen puffed up.

Niall put a hand on his arm.

“Were you going to turn it over or not? We need to move so if you’re going to fight, do it quick.”

“I didn’t say I was going with you,”

Harlow said in her brattiest tone.

He was done. They were both so fucking dramatic. He strode over to her, leaned over and had her in a fireman’s hold before she could pull any of her self-defense moves on him. He held her firmly by her legs.

“Mrs. Dawson, I swear I will guard your daughter with my life and with Jensen’s. In fact, I’ll try to make sure he dies first because I’m far easier to live with.”

“Niall, what are you doing?”

Harlow asked, clearly shocked.

Her mom put a hand on her daughter, leaning over.

“You use this time, baby girl. See if you can get what you need. I’ll try to keep your dad off your back.”

“Ian, I will pay you to kill everyone. You don’t even have to torture them. Clean kills are fine,”

Harlow offered.

“I can do it. This is the reason I’ve saved my trust fund.”

Ian snorted, an entirely amused sound.

“And miss the drama?”

He liked the big guy.

“I don’t want to drive past her dad. Should we hide somewhere until he’s gone?”

Charlotte picked up the landline on her husband’s desk.

“No need. Go out the back way. I’ll have security let you through. Is the other one going? Or should Jack take care of him?”

Jack shook his head as though that was a terrible idea.

“I mean, Jensen wouldn’t like witness protection. I swear the names they give out are a deterrent. Do you think you can answer to something like Mortimer Lackey? Seriously, I saw that one the other day and wondered what the dude did to piss someone off.”

“I’m going with them.”

Jensen moved beside him.

“And it’s best you don’t know where we are. I’ll find a way for Harlow to call in when we can. Keep her family updated so we’ll know when she can come home.”

“Hey, we should talk about this,”

Harlow began.

“In three minutes your dad is going to come looking for you,”

Niall pointed out.

She went quiet. He started for the elevator because he knew she wouldn’t stay that way for long.