Page 24 of The Reluctant Siren (Texas Sirens: Legacy #2)

Harlow stared at her father in the moonlight.

“What are you doing? Jensen, get over here. He is not going to arrest you.”

“I’m not. Jack is,”

Dad said as though that was a completely reasonable thing to say. As though it was perfectly normal for him to sneak up on her boyfriend and put a gun to the back of his head while her cousin held a sniper rifle on him. He was in all black. A dramatic uniform for a dramatic man.

Also, hypocrite.

“You were going to snipe him? Are you even kidding me right now?”

Her father was paranoid about a couple of things. Germs. Public food. Hospitals. Strangely, rural strip clubs. She did not ask about that. But the thing he was really freaked out about? Getting sniped. How many arguments had she listened to about perfectly nice windows being turned into a killing zone?

“I didn’t know if that one would be in on it. I needed Jack to cover my back, and I thought the best way would be him on the roof. If the roof holds him. I think this place should be condemned.”

Dad nodded toward Niall.

“You should keep your distance, Griffen. I’m still not certain you don’t have something to do with this.”

“Harlow, have I ever told you that your dad is a nut bag?”

Jack jogged in, carrying a rifle.

“Could we stand down, Chase? I told you I need to talk to him. I didn’t say I was going to throw him on the ground and arrest him.”

“No. You said you have proof that he’s been paid over a million dollars by Hamilton,” Dad said.

The whole night seemed to still.

“What?”

Harlow asked, the words shocking her. She was pissed at Jensen, but not for a second did she believe he would take a million dollars from Hamilton. No way. Unless he thought it was a way to get closer to him.

But he said he was rethinking his plans, that he had started to wonder if this is what his brother would have wanted.

Would he say all of that so he could soften her up? So she would talk to Jack and maybe find a way to fix the situation she’d gotten him into?

“I would like to point out that I wanted to talk to the three of you on the phone, but when you fled you didn’t exactly leave a number for me to use,”

Jack explained in his slow Texas accent.

“Hence, I had to connect with everyone’s favorite crazy-ass uncle here. Also, you should know he’s pissed off Big Tag, or at least he will when Big Tag finds out he hacked his system to turn on your tracker. Now I did make use of that, but I would prefer that we don’t mention it because I would like to stay on the big guy’s good side. I’ve heard he sends his daughters out when he’s pissed at a man, and I personally am going to need my balls later in life. It would be a damn shame not to pass on these genes of mine.”

“I told you that tracker was going to get us in trouble,”

Jensen said under his breath.

“That tracker is the only reason you’re still alive, asshole,”

Dad shot back.

Which made no sense whatsoever.

“If I didn’t have the tracker, we would still be talking this out without my father here threatening to kill my boyfriend.”

Dad frowned but that gun didn’t move. He was older but he kept in excellent shape, so he could hold that gun up all night long.

“He is not your boyfriend. He’s the guy who kidnapped you.”

Niall raised a hand.

“Actually, Mr. Dawson, I was the one who drove the car.”

Her father was so obnoxious.

“No one kidnapped me. And you’re probably right about the boyfriend part. I was using that word to spare your sensitive ears. So let’s be honest. He’s the guy I’m currently screwing on a nightly basis. So is Niall. Dad, I get it. You’re scared. Okay. I’ll give you some grace on that, but you are not arresting Jensen.”

“I would like to talk about that million dollars,”

Jensen said haltingly, his hands still up.

“Because the last time I checked I was down to four hundred fifty-two dollars and twenty-nine cents. It was definitely not a million. I would not be living in that cramped apartment if I had a million dollars.”

“A little more,”

Jack said with a yawn.

“It’s one point two million, and from what I can tell it was transferred to your account in the last couple of days. I might have mentioned this to your dad. It’s incredibly shady timing for a large transfer of funds. I’m sure Hamilton intended to send some hacker in to make it look better, or this was going to be a payoff so Jensen here doesn’t go to the cops, but either way we do have to talk about it. I came because Chase wouldn’t let me come alone, and he wouldn’t give me the address. He’s a big old pain in my ass.”

“And you’re playing fast and loose with the law, Jack. You know you should arrest him and bring him in for questioning,”

her dad argued.

Harlow could see the problem with that.

“If you haul him into a police station or FBI headquarters, Hamilton will figure out where he is. Do you honestly think he doesn’t have a way to get to Jensen inside a prison? Seriously? Are you trying to kill him?”

“It would solve so many of my problems, daughter,”

her dad admitted.

Niall huffed and shook his head.

“I think we should probably pack up and find another safe house since this one is completely compromised.”

“I know how to ditch a freaking tail. I’ve been doing it since long before you were in diapers, son,”

Dad said with frown.

“I’m certainly not going to let some criminal kingpin follow me to where my daughter has been kidnapped.”

She stared at her father.

“Are you serious right now?”

“Well, you were definitely not in your right mind when you left the safe building to go on the run while assassins are stalking you with only two dumbass boys to watch your back. Harlow, they are not watching your back. They are watching your boobs, and that is how they will get you killed.”

“Their eyes are going to kill me through my boobs or someone’s going to shoot me in the backside?”

She was not following her father’s logic.

“And they have been extremely interested in my backside. Let me tell you there is a whole lot of watching that part of me.”

“I did not need to know that,”

her dad said, his voice tight, and even in the moonlight she could see how he’d gone faintly green.

“I think that as long as your dad has a gun, maybe we should avoid talking about anything that might or might not have happened earlier in the evening.”

Jensen proved he actually had some self-preservation instincts.

“Now, see, that is a story I am interested in,”

Jack admitted.

“You joining the ménage life, cousin?”

“She certainly is not. Not with these two,”

her dad replied.

“They are a part of her ridiculous need to rebel. She went out and picked two men she knew would set her parents off entirely.”

“You don’t even know them.”

Her father was impossible.

“You’ve literally met them once.”

“You think I need to meet them?”

Dad asked, but at least he brought the gun down. He frowned her way.

“You think I don’t have a full dossier on both of them?”

“And what do you object to?”

Harlow asked.

“Beyond Jensen being a dumbass in need of therapy instead of revenge. I’ll give you that, but you should have figured out that he was trying to protect me when he left me behind to get arrested.”

“To get the shit kicked out of you,”

her dad countered.

“I did not plan on that. I assure you I will find that fucker in jail and deal with him,”

Jensen vowed.

Her dad rolled his cool blue eyes.

“Like I didn’t already do that.”

Harlow felt her jaw drop.

“What did you do?”

A broad shoulder shrugged.

“He’s alive. The Russian mob knows how to shank a guy and leave his ass alive. I think I’ll have it happen every three years or so. Like regularly enough that he knows it’s going to happen, but he doesn’t know when it’s going to happen. I want him thinking about it all the time. And before you yell at me for getting into the mob’s pocket, I paid them. I’m betting I can get a frequent buyer discount.”

“Like a punch card.”

Jensen smiled like he appreciated the idea.

“I need to point out again that I work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and we do track mafia crimes. Including assholes who pay them to hurt people.”

Jack sounded like he’d been over this more than once.

Her dad ignored him completely.

“So I already took care of Jensen’s mess. Let’s talk about Niall.”

“We don’t have to,”

Niall offered.

Harlow waved him off.

“Oh, no. I want to hear what shit he’s come up with. Do you have a problem with his honorable military service?”

“He was in the Army.”

Her dad shuddered distastefully.

“He wasn’t even Special Forces.”

“You snob.”

She wasn’t taking that from him.

“The Navy is not the only military service worth doing. And what did you expect? That I would let you find a Navy SEAL you could sell me off to? With a dowry? So say it. What honestly bothers you about Niall?”

“He works and lives in a crappy part of town. You’re going to end up getting hurt. He runs a gym. Most private gyms fail. So you’re going to end up living in a rat-infested hell hole in the middle of a criminal warzone working two jobs to support your unemployed boyfriend and driving to the federal prison on the weekends for visitation time with the other asshole.”

He was such a drama llama.

“And how have I lost my trust fund in all of this? Or were you planning on taking it away if I don’t do what you want?”

Her dad seemed to deflate.

“I would never, never do that to you. I would never leave you alone like that. You think I don’t remember what it was like? One day Ben and I were overly privileged teens and the next our dad told us we were eighteen and the trust fund from our mom’s side of the family didn’t kick in until twenty-six. We went from having everything to having nothing. I would never do that to you.”

She took a deep breath. Her father was acting out of love, and she wasn’t going to get through to him by yelling.

“Well, you should talk to Niall. He got kicked out of his house for trying to save his mom from his abusive dad, and he was younger than you. They still don’t acknowledge he’s their son.”

Her dad nodded like she’d made his point.

“I did know he has no real relationship with his family. He’s looking for a woman to take care of him.”

“No.”

Niall stared her father’s way.

“You’re wrong. I’m not looking for Harlow to take care of me. I want to take care of her. Me giving to her, ensuring she has what she wants and needs and that she has a safe space is important to me. I know I don’t come from money, but everything I have is hers.”

“Well, that’s easy to say when you don’t have anything,”

her dad said, completely forgetting what he’d talked about.

“Uhm, apparently I have a million dollars,”

Jensen pointed out.

“Do I get to keep that?”

Jack looked like he was getting a headache.

“No, Jensen. You don’t get to keep the obviously criminally attained blood money. Unless you would like to admit to what you did to earn it.”

She shot her cousin a nasty look.

“He’s not saying anything at all. He’s getting a lawyer.”

“See, never once when I thought about the man you would marry did I think he would need a lawyer,”

her dad righteously announced.

“Every word out of your mouth is pure hypocrisy. I am trying here, Dad,”

Harlow pleaded.

“You want to tell my guys about how many times you’ve gotten arrested during a case because you went somewhere you weren’t supposed to go? Got mouthy with the cops? Physically assaulted a client?”

“I only assaulted them if they were assholes,”

her dad replied.

“And the job sometimes requires a certain moral flexibility.”

She gave her dad a smirk.

“Yeah, I know. I do it a lot. The moral flexibility part. I learned it from you.”

Her dad’s eyes narrowed.

“Then you can unlearn it.”

“Jensen, how about we go inside and make a pot of coffee and talk this thing out?”

Jack gestured to the house.

“I still have to be back in Dallas for my shift tomorrow night. Hamilton is coming in, and I need to be ready. I would love to arrest the son of a bitch if I can.”

Jensen actually nodded.

And she needed a keeper? “He is not talking to you without an attorney present.”

Jack’s jaw tightened.

“Well, call one up then, cousin. Do you expect a lawyer to appear from out of nowhere? Want a knight with a law degree to ride up on his horse and save your boy there?”

That was when she saw the headlights coming down the dusty road that led to the house.

It was either someone coming to murder them all or it was her other dad trying to save his more obnoxious half from completely decimating his relationship with her.

“Papa’s here.”

The assassin would be more subtle. He probably wouldn’t be driving at a breakneck speed in the middle of the night.

“Damn it.”

Dad frowned and watched the car pulling up.

“I told him I would handle this and he said he was okay with it.”

Jack had his rifle up against his chest again.

“How the hell do they know where we are? Also, we can’t be sure it’s them. It could be Hamilton’s men.”

Her dad sighed.

“Nope. I can feel him. Lying liar. He never was okay with it. He knew I couldn’t be talked out of it, so he agreed and then followed me.”

“I thought you knew how to ditch a tail,”

Jack said, the words tinged with accusation.

“He didn’t really follow me. He sent Nat in to ask Big Tag politely for the address so she could save Harlow from my tyranny. Or something like that. If Ian wouldn’t give it to her, Ruby would.”

Her dad started to walk around the house toward the front lawn.

“We’re about to have a throwdown, my twin and I. He’s putting you in danger.”

“Don’t scream, baby.”

Niall put his hands on her shoulders.

“We talked about this. He’s afraid.”

“He’s an asshole,”

Jensen proclaimed and then frowned.

“I kind of like him. The Russian mob prison thing was a pretty cool move. You have to admit it.”

“I admit nothing except that this is a complete clusterfuck. My dad brought my cousin out here to arrest you and now my papa is going to spend the rest of the night trying to talk sense into him and we’re sitting ducks.”

Did no one understand? “We’re going back to Dallas tomorrow. Jensen, if you want to have any shot at a relationship with me at the end of this, you’ll do what I tell you.”

His eyes narrowed.

“I’m talking to Jack. I would think you would want me to cooperate with the authorities.”

“She does, but she also knows her cousin is a shark, and she wants you to be protected,”

Niall tried.

He was the smarter of the two.

“What he said. I love Jack but if he thinks turning you over helps his case, he’ll do it and tell me to thank him for saving me.”

“That’s not what he said,”

Jensen pointed out with a sigh.

“For a man who has spent the last couple of years of his life inside a cutthroat criminal organization, you sound like Suzy Fucking Sunshine,”

she shot back.

“Harlow, I’m not going to throw your boyfriend to the wolves.”

Jack stood there listening in like it was his right.

“Sure. Well, I’d still like for him to have a lawyer.”

She knew all of her cousin’s moves. Not only did he believe in the rule of law, he was ambitious. He wanted to move into a better role, and if Jensen’s case was a stepping-stone, then those worn boots of his would come down hard.

“I don’t need a lawyer.”

Jensen sounded stubborn.

“I’ll give him everything I have, and the DA will understand what I’m doing.”

“Baby,”

a feminine voice said from the shadows beyond the house.

Her mom. Her mom was here.

“Are you okay?”

Natalie Dawson rushed in, giving her daughter a once-over.

“Have they been treating you well?”

She hugged her mom, a deep feeling of relief flowing through her. Damn. She hadn’t realized how much she needed her mom. She was a full-ass adult with a dangerous job, and sometimes she just wanted her mom to hug her.

“I’m good, Mom, but I can’t convince my idiot boyfriend that he should have an attorney if he’s going to talk to Jack.”

Her mom gave her a big smile.

“Well, Papa and I fixed that for you. We found a lawyer for Jensen.”

Jack snorted.

“Did you get some yokel up in the middle of the night? Cool. Let him sit in. He can’t pull a fast one on me.”

“I thought I did that when you were four and I convinced you that your horse used to be a unicorn,”

a deep voice said.

Oh, her mom was mean. So mean. She loved her mom.

Lucas O’Malley stood beside her dads looking cool as a cucumber. He was dressed in a suit in the middle of the night like he was going to go toe to toe with the Supreme Court instead of his own son.

Jack’s face fell.

“Papa, are you kidding me?”

“That’s his father? I mean, he really looks like his father,”

Niall whispered.

“If we were at The Hideout someone would be popping corn right now.”

The thought brought a smile to her lips. He was right. The twins would be popping corn and Gabe would open the bar even if it was already closed because this was some good drama.

“Yep, but his family is very much like mine, so that’s Papa. His dad is the rancher I was talking about. Lucas is a lawyer and an excellent one, though he tends to stick to corporate law,”

Harlow replied back.

“I still know how to ensure that a client’s rights aren’t trampled over in the name of so-called justice,”

Lucas assured them.

“And I was serious. I made that horn and everything. I hid it in the barn thinking your sister would find it, but you did and decided you were the one with the unicorn horse.”

She could practically hear Jack’s teeth grinding.

“I was talking about the case. You are my father. You would be required to recuse yourself.”

“That’s for judges. As long as my client is cool with it, we’re fine.”

Lucas held out a hand to Jensen.

“Mr. Wiley, I’m Lucas O’Malley, and I’ve been hired to represent you. This is my son, but I assure you I won’t let that affect me in the slightest when it comes to my job. The same way he absolutely won’t allow a familial connection to stop him from ensuring a full prosecution if he thinks justice will be served. And he’ll regret hurting his cousin.”

Jack’s head dropped back.

“Fuck this case. I’ll be inside when you decide to talk, Jensen. Wake me up and we can get started. It’s going to take forever now because your lawyer is a smartass who likes to shove the law in everyone’s faces.”

“The term you’re looking for is due process, son,”

Lucas called out as Jack walked back toward the house. He sighed as though deeply satisfied.

“This is going to be fun. I love my son but as my husband would say, he’s way too big for those britches he’s wearing.”

“Mr. O’Malley, I don’t have the money to pay for more than an hour or two of your time,”

Jensen began.

“Unless I get to keep the million plus my criminal boss put into my account to frame me. Then I might be able to afford like twenty-four hours or something.”

“This is what I’m dealing with, Mom,”

Harlow said.

“No one is serious.”

Niall moved in beside her.

“We are absolutely serious. I think Jensen is on the confused side. It’s been a weird, wild ride. But you should understand that we are entirely serious about your daughter, Mrs. Dawson. I know we met the other day, but it was a little chaotic. I forgot to mention that I’m your daughter’s Dom.”

“Hey,”

Harlow said because were they just putting it all out there now? “My parents are listening.”

“You didn’t mind when it was me,”

her dad pointed out.

“Do I have to be punished?”

Papa asked.

“I’d like to remind everyone that I’m the half that doesn’t cause a shit ton of trouble.”

“You did for me, brother,”

Dad pointed out.

“I told you I was handling this.”

“By offering up one of her boyfriends to the law,”

Papa shot back.

“Which is why I countered your move. You brought the son. I got the dad.”

Her mom sighed and looked her way.

“Are you sure you want two, baby? This one seems nice and not that hard to handle.”

“I’d like to point out that I’m also her Dom.”

Jensen didn’t seem to want to be left out.

“Not the switch. Niall’s the switch.”

She turned to Jensen.

“You need to take this more seriously.”

Jensen sighed and moved into her space.

“You’ll let me find a way to pay you back for the lawyer.”

She shook her head.

“I have more money than I can ever need. I get to use it how I want.”

“I’ve already been paid,”

Lucas admitted.

“Your mom gave me a five when she picked me up from the airport, so that’s handled. I’m doing this for the absolute joy of spending quality father/son time. He doesn’t want to come home on a regular basis, this is what he gets. I think he’ll also find that his mother is writing some complex characters who resemble him. Not sure if he’s the good guy or the bad guy. I won’t even go into how worried Aidan is. Jack is great at his job but he’s reckless, and he’s absolutely certain he knows what he’s doing. So I’m here to let him know he can’t avoid us forever.”

“And to make sure Jensen gets a good deal.”

Her family drama was going to kill her.

Uncle Lucas’s lips kicked up in a grin.

“That, too. Come along, Jensen. Let’s get this started. My son doesn’t do well on little sleep. I might be able to convince him to call the ADA in charge of the case. He’s probably sleeping with her. He sleeps with everyone. I wish I could say that wasn’t genetic. I had my own…phase.”

Jensen stared down at her.

“You want me to do this?”

Did he even listen to her? “Yes, I want you to take this lawyer who will make sure you don’t say anything that might incriminate you before you have an immunity deal.”

Jensen nodded and leaned over, brushing his lips to her forehead.

“Then that’s what I’ll do.”

He turned and looked at the intimidating men dotting his childhood lawn.

“Mr. O’Malley, I’ll follow your lead. Mr. Dawson, I hope we have a chance to talk. Unreasonable Dad… Sorry, that’s what she calls you when she’s not angry. Uhm, I think you’re cool and I’d like to help you figure out new ways to torture assholes who hurt her.”

Her dad’s smile was entirely predatory.

“Sure. We can talk about the things that scare you.”

Jensen nodded and then sighed.

“He’s planning to torture me, isn’t he?”

“The first smart thing that kid has said all night,”

her dad remarked.

“I think I’ll sit in on the interrogation.”

He turned and walked toward the house.

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t cause a fight,”

Papa said, slapping Uncle Lucas on the back.

“Come on. Let’s get some of that coffee.”

Jensen followed the men, and he was halfway to the house before he seemed to realize something was wrong. He turned and looked to Niall.

“Dude, she’s going to want to talk to her mom and she’s going to cry and say a lot of shit about both of us, and she won’t care that you’re listening but later on she’ll feel bad about it.”

He winked Harlow’s way.

“You say whatever you need to say. She’s your mom. You get to cry on her shoulder all you like.”

Niall kissed her and jogged to catch up.

“Oh, baby, I like them,”

her mom said.

“I do, too, and I think I have to leave them.”

She turned and her mom hugged her and it finally felt okay to cry.