Page 34 of The Reluctant Siren (Texas Sirens: Legacy #2)

Niall sat in the small room in the emergency department, staring down at his cell. Still nothing.

“She’s not calling you back, man. You should go after her.”

Jensen looked beyond tired, but then he’d had like thousands of volts of electricity run through his system or something. He’d been hooked up to EKGs and had his blood taken and reflexes tested. He’d also talked to the Dallas Police and a man who introduced himself as Jack’s boss.

They had been here for hours, and not one word from Harlow.

Was she done with him, too?

“I’m not sending you home in an Uber.”

He was pissed at Jensen, but he couldn’t abandon him. Though now he worried Harlow would think he was choosing Jensen over her.

His gut was in knots, but he wasn’t sure what he should do.

“I can call someone.”

Jensen looked past tired. He’d aged in the hours since he’d gotten out of their bed and made the choice to leave them.

“Who?”

Niall was unaware he’d made a bunch of friends while he was seeking his revenge on the man who’d killed his brother.

Who was dead now because Harlow put a bullet in him.

Would Jensen hold that against her?

Why was he even thinking that way? She’d made herself plain. If he had a shot with her—and that felt like a big if all of the sudden—he would have to give up Jensen.

His only family.

Jensen sat back, moving his hand like the IV there bugged him.

“Well, I guess I would call an Uber.”

“And where would you go?”

His friend wasn’t thinking straight.

“Your place? It’s being combed over by the police and the FBI. Do you honestly want to go back there?”

Jensen’s last act before the ambulance had shown up had been to crawl to his kitchen, to find the place behind his refrigerator where he’d slipped the drive. It was covered with wallpaper and had taken him a moment to locate since his hand had still been shaking, but he’d passed it off to Landon to take to Harlow.

“It’s all I have,”

Jensen admitted.

“I can’t even sleep in my car. It’s still impounded. I’ll figure out how to get that out.”

“I already got it out for you.”

Niall turned, and one of the Dawson brothers stood in the doorway.

Well, his luck was holding, since that was Chase Dawson come to tell them to stay the fuck away from his daughter. Behind him was Ben. He could tell the difference because Chase’s expression was utterly impassive, and Ben looked sympathetic.

Chase stepped inside. He wore a button-down and slacks with loafers that likely cost more than Niall made in a month.

“I had your vehicle brought down here. It’s waiting when you’re ready to leave. You should know that Ian has smoothed everything over with the police and the FBI… Well, we’re not sure what they’re doing at this point, but they don’t want anything else to do with you. They’re satisfied they can take down the rest of the organization.”

Yes, that was a man who looked like he’d gotten everything he wanted.

“Are you doing okay?”

Ben was in a T-shirt and jeans and sneakers, casual to his twin’s chic.

“Where’s Harlow?”

Jensen asked, ignoring the question.

A brow rose over Chase’s eyes.

“She’s with her mom. I’m fairly certain at this point her sister and Ruby and Gigi have joined them. I think they were opening a bottle of wine when I left. She had a rough day.”

“She spent some time talking to the cops. They were practically high-fiving her,”

Ben admitted.

“We managed to get to the station about halfway through her interview.”

Jensen’s eyes were steady on Chase.

“Is she safe? They let her go?”

“From being prosecuted for taking out Hamilton?”

Chase waved that off.

“Like I said we have contacts, too. And obviously they let her go. How else would she be with her mom? I assure you they’re not opening wine down at the station.”

Ben sighed.

“Give the kid a break. He had a rough day. They said that taser they used on him was amped up beyond anything they’ve seen. The cops were worried about his heart function after all that electricity.”

“They should be more worried about his brain.”

Chase took up a place at the end of Jensen’s bed, looking him over like he was a subject to study.

“You know if it had been Harlow, she could have taken it. She knows what a taser feels like. I didn’t do it. It’s precisely why I let her train with Big Tag. I couldn’t tase my baby girl any more than I could send assassins out after her.”

“What?”

Niall stood.

Chase waved him off.

“They weren’t real, but she would have flunked the course if she’d gotten tagged. Huh, tagged by Tag. That’s what he should call it. Anyway, I hoped Big Tag would scare the shit out of her and she would go back to college and get her master’s in history or something and be safe.”

“She was never going back. She didn’t love getting her undergrad,”

Ben pointed out.

“You can’t treat her like Greer.”

“I know that. Now. She took to that training like a duck to water. A violent, aggressive, perfectly competent at taking out the bad guys duck,”

Chase said with a sigh.

“I have to deal with it. Anyway, don’t worry about Harlow. She’ll be fine. Jasper got off with a warning from the FAA. I think that was because they sent out a young woman who he took to lunch and probably is in bed with now. Youth. That kid should be happy he didn’t kill anyone today.”

“He’s a handful,”

Ben agreed.

“I’m glad we only had girls. So much more reasonable.”

Chase snorted.

Niall stood, done with the brothers’ banter.

“But Harlow did kill someone, and she’s not unaffected by it. I want to talk to her.”

One of Chase’s big shoulders shrugged.

“Then you should call her.”

“You know she’s not answering her phone,”

Niall replied.

Ben sent him a sympathetic look.

“I think she needs some time.”

“Like years,”

Chase added.

Niall shook his head.

“If I give her time, I’ll lose her.”

Chase frowned and gestured to Jensen.

“I don’t think she’s taking him back. Are you planning on dumping your best friend for a girl you’ve known for a couple of months?”

“If I have to,”

Niall said.

“Yes,”

Jensen said at the same time.

“Well, isn’t that interesting.”

Chase looked at his twin.

“You were right. He’s going to martyr himself, and the other one is going to be too timid.”

Niall knew which one he was.

“I’m not timid. I thought we were solid, Harlow and I. We said I love you even after this asshole dumped us.”

“I didn’t dump you,”

Jensen said with some fire back in his tone. He’d been lifeless for hours, dull and without any of the bravado he’d come to expect from his friend.

“I was protecting you.”

“You say potato he says abandonment,”

Chase snarked.

“It all boils down to the same thing. Asshole here has decided twice to protect my daughter by leaving her behind to clean up all of his messes.”

“Hey, I thought we were being gentle about this,”

Ben complained.

“I am,”

Chase affirmed.

“I left my gun at home. That’s me being gentle.”

“I didn’t mean for her to clean up my mess. I meant to do that myself.”

Jensen sounded stronger.

“I meant to clean it up so she didn’t have to be touched by it. I was going to give Jack what I had on Hamilton and offer to testify.”

“Without the lawyer we so generously provided you with,”

Chase pointed out.

“Did you think Lucas left his home for funsies?”

“Well, I kind of thought he left so he could fuck with his son.”

Niall wasn’t going to let them run all over Jensen. They didn’t have clean hands in this either. Especially Chase.

“You’re the one who pushed her boundaries time and time again. I need you to understand that if I’m her man, I’m going to have a problem with that, Mr. Dawson.”

Chase’s eyes narrowed.

“Then it’s a good thing you’re not her man since you’re here with him and not her.”

“Chase,”

Ben began.

The man was intimidating, but Niall’d had a day. He got into his potential future father-in-law’s space.

“I do not intend to let her go. I owe Jensen, and I know that hurts her right now, but she’s a logical, kind woman and she needed some space. She’s not going to have it for long because I intend to convince her to marry me, and when I do, I’m going to trust her. I’m going to support her. And I’m going to call her father out when he fails to do the same.”

Chase’s face fell.

“Damn it. Fine. Ben, I owe you twenty.”

Ben snorted as he sank down to the seat Niall had vacated.

“I told you he wasn’t going to play dead.”

“Well, he’s been quiet up to this point,”

Chase shot back.

He wasn’t going to be quiet forever. He liked to lay back and wait to see if he was needed rather than inserting himself into every situation, but it was clear Chase needed more.

“I love your daughter, and if she’ll have me it won’t matter that you don’t like me. What will matter is her happiness, and she can’t have that if you’re constantly fighting her. She loves you. She also worries you think she’s an incompetent moron rather than the brave warrior princess she is.”

“And now I like him.”

Chase sighed again, a long-suffering sound.

“All right. My brother here seems to think our daughter can’t be happy without at least one of you.”

“Both,”

Ben corrected.

“You know I said both.”

“We can’t pick one?”

Chase asked.

Ben stared at him.

Chase’s shoulders came down, and he seemed to give in.

“Fine. But it’s obvious to me they’re going about this all wrong. And killing that asshole isn’t going to bother Harlow. She’s had to save more than one young woman from his criminal organization. Trust me. She’ll sleep like a baby when it comes to that.”

“But she’s going to be upset that she’s not with the men she loves.”

Ben sounded like he’d been thinking about the situation.

“She’s angry with Jensen for leaving her again.”

“I thought I was protecting her,”

Jensen said.

“You should still do that. I can offer you a ticket to Europe since the whole witness protection thing isn’t going to work out for you,”

Chase offered.

Jensen’s gaze focused, and he flushed slightly.

“I was trying to keep her safe. I might have done it in a stupid way, but I love her. I love her so much I chose her over my revenge. I know that sounds dumb, and I wish I had made different choices, but I’m here now. I know you won’t believe me but I made the decision to call her after I turned over what Jack needed. I was going to ask Niall and Harlow to come to Dallas and be with me when the feds interviewed me. I was going to beg forgiveness. You were right. I didn’t think I was worthy of her. Hell, I don’t think I deserve the support and friendship Niall has given me, but I want to try. I want to change and be good for them.”

Chase sobered.

“Changing for someone else… It’s a starting place.”

Ben nodded.

“A good intention, but it won’t work until you decide to change for you. Another person can make you want to change, but in the end you have to love yourself enough to do it for you.”

Chase stood at the foot of Jensen’s bed and stared him down.

“So this is how it’s going to go. Your car is outside. When we spring you from this place, you’re going to The Club. There’s a hotel there, and you have a room for however long you need it. You’re going to work as a dungeon monitor but only after you pass all of our tests. I’m going to warn you. I will be strict. It’s part time, so I suggest you find another job, too.”

“I’ll ask some friends around town,”

Niall promised. Something was happening, and he was starting to think it was good.

“I might be able to get him a job at a gym.”

“He can work at yours,”

Ben suggested.

“I don’t want to make Harlow uncomfortable,”

Niall replied.

Chase seemed to think about that for a moment.

“What are you willing to risk to give her what she needs?”

An easy question to answer.

“Anything.”

“Then it’s time to top her,”

Ben explained.

“She doesn’t have to accept Jensen right away, but keeping him in your life is important. Seeing him and understanding that he’s not leaving this time will go a long way to fixing the situation.”

“You’re going to help us?”

Jensen asked.

That was wrong.

“They want to help her, and our gorgeous princess is stubborn. She’s capable of burning her own house down when she gets mad, but what she needs is to meet the brick wall. My brick wall. The one that doesn’t move or shake when she’s upset or loses her cool. The one that won’t crumble or fall. I’m not letting her spend a single night without me.”

Ben gave him a thumbs-up.

“That’s how to roll, Niall. If you let her sleep on it, she’ll tell you she wants a break and she’ll overthink things and let her fear and pride keep you apart. Jensen is a different story. She does need a break from you. She needs you to show her you can change, that your priorities are different this time, and that means loving her from afar for a while. You want her happy?”

Jensen nodded.

“So much I was willing to give her up.”

“How about you? You want to be happy, Wiley? Do you deserve to be happy?”

Chase asked, and there was no sarcasm in his tone this time. He was serious and open, and this was the father Harlow loved.

“I don’t know,”

Jensen replied with quiet honesty.

“I know I want to be happy, but I’m not sure I deserve it.”

“Then we’ll work on that,”

Chase said.

“Niall, you’re going with Ben. I’ll take Jensen to The Club, and I expect you both to be there in a couple of days. We have a group that plays basketball twice a week.”

“We’re playing basketball?”

Jensen asked and then nodded.

“Yes, we can play basketball. Niall, are you okay with this? I left you, too. I left you alone to take care of her and I just… I’ve been trying to leave you on your own for years now. I don’t want to. You and Harlow are everything to me.”

He let go of his anger. It was a surprisingly easy thing to do since he’d figured out a long time ago that he did deserve happiness. There was only one way for him. Sharing Harlow with his best friend.

“I’m okay with getting our girl back and making her happy. And somehow I don’t think it’s just going to be basketball, man.”

Ben stood and put a hand on his shoulder.

“You, Niall, are a smart man. Now let’s talk about how you’re going to break into my daughter’s condo and be waiting for her when she gets home from her extended session with the girls to complain about men. It’s why we’re here. If we stayed it would turn on us.”

“I thought we should go to a bar or something, but Ben thought we should do some charity work.”

Chase was right back to snarky. It seemed to be his true language.

But Niall had seen the real man lurking under his rage and sarcasm. He’d seen the man who loved his daughter and would open his home and heart to the people she loved.

He was going to be a hell of a father-in-law.

“I’m ready,”

Niall said and reached a hand out to his best friend.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jensen took his hand, squeezing it tight.

“You love her enough for both of us tonight.”

“Did not need to hear that,”

Chase said under his breath.

Niall snorted. He wasn’t taking anything back. “Will do.”

He followed Ben out, ready to start the fight of his life.