Page 9 of The Reluctant Siren (Texas Sirens: Legacy #2)

Jensen bit back a growl as he stared down at the one woman he’d ever loved.

Harlow Dawson’s hair was longer and she’d changed the color, but he’d known exactly who she was the minute he caught sight of her walking back with Miranda.

She looked like his every fucking wet dream, and his every nightmare since she was in a place where he was absolutely sure everyone in charge was a killer.

He pulled her back to the tiny office he’d been given when he took over as dungeon monitor. Phil didn’t particularly like to do things like assign work schedules and duties, so this was where Jensen sat up late or came in early to get done the minor tasks of running the club. It was nothing more than a desk, a chair, and a laptop, but it would have to do.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Harlow?”

Her eyes flared briefly, hurt showing there, but this wasn’t some sweet reunion. She was supposed to stay out of trouble. He was going to have such a fucking talk with Niall, who should have been watching her.

Niall, who’d sent him a text earlier, but he hadn’t been able to reply. He couldn’t call. Not here.

So he definitely didn’t want her walking around like the sweetest treat he’d ever seen.

“I’m on a case.”

She straightened up, and her jaw went tight.

“And now I realize I was right about this place. So the cartel they took out a couple of months ago wasn’t the real owner. If you’re here, then the real man behind this place is Cliff Hamilton. I knew it.”

“You came looking for me? Do you know what a stupid move that was?”

Her arms crossed over her chest, and she huffed out a laugh that held not an ounce of humor.

“I was not looking for you. You made yourself clear when you left me to be arrested and assaulted.”

The words hit him hard.

“What are you talking about? The cops were coming. I had the timing down. I certainly wouldn’t have left you there if I didn’t know the cops would take control.”

“Yeah, well they did, but not before your friend broke my arm trying to get me to tell him where you were,”

Harlow said with a bitterness he couldn’t deny.

“Fucker still aches. But that doesn’t matter. What does matter is I had no idea you were here, not that it would stop me. I’m on a case, and I swear if you fuck this up for me, I’ll be the one looking for revenge. Now I’m going to get back to my boyfriend and you can pretend like you don’t know who I am. Good-bye, Jensen.”

He slammed his hand against the door so she couldn’t open it. It put him in close proximity, so close he could smell her. God, he missed that scent. Strawberries and fucking cream. He was addicted to it.

“Harlow, I didn’t know about your arm. I…I tried to stay away from you. Even from news of you. I knew your dad came to get you.”

“Yeah,”

she said, not turning around.

“Thanks for that, too. He’s been up my ass for the last two years over that. You should let me go now, Jensen. My Dom is going to start to wonder where I am.”

Oh, he wanted to know about that, too. Niall hadn’t mentioned she’d taken a top. All he heard about was her playing with friends who were tops. Nothing serious. Nothing close to permanent.

“What is his name?”

“It doesn’t matter because we have nothing to do with each other, Jensen Wiley,”

she replied.

“The fact that you’re here tells me otherwise. What is your case?”

She turned, her back to the door. That stubborn look on her face did something to him. Revved him the fuck up. She was so close, and this was not how he expected this to go. He was supposed to show up on her doorstep with flowers and croissants and pretty much beg for a second chance. He wasn’t supposed to be the bad guy in her life. Again.

“I don’t discuss my cases with strangers,”

she said flatly.

He felt a brow rise over his eyes.

“Stranger?”

She shrugged.

“Well, I never really knew you.”

He wasn’t letting her off so easily.

“Oh, you knew me, baby. You knew me in pretty much every way a woman can know a man.”

“I knew your cock, Jensen.”

She gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up.

“Good for you. You know how to work it. But the rest, I didn’t know at all or I would have realized what a betraying motherfucker you would turn out to be.”

“I did it to save you.”

He knew she wouldn’t understand but he had to try.

“Things were getting dangerous, and if you stayed you would have ended up in Mexico with me. They would have used you to manipulate me.”

“Oh, that wouldn’t have worked. They would have figured out quickly Jensen Wiley doesn’t have soft spots to exploit.”

She was so wrong.

“I assure you the minute they took you into custody, I would have given it all up.”

Her purple hair shook.

“Tell yourself that so you can sleep at night. I don’t care. I have everything from you I ever want. I have a reminder to not trust a man like you again. It still aches every time it rains. I was fairly certain he was going to rape me.”

He felt those words like a kick to his gut. It forced him to step back.

“You weren’t alone with him for more than a few minutes. The cops were coming. I had confirmation they were on the way.”

“And you slipped out the back so you didn’t have to face the consequences,”

Harlow accused. She had her tough-girl face on, the one she used when she shut out everyone.

“When your friend realized the cops were on their way, he turned on me. He broke my arm, shoved me over a table. I was lucky, but I will never forget that it was my loving boyfriend who left me there.”

He was going to be sick.

“I wanted you out, and I knew you wouldn’t leave without finishing your case. I got her out. I did that for you.”

“You did it for your own conscience. You didn’t do it for me. Look, you seem to think you can make me believe you actually cared about me.”

“I loved you.”

He felt his fists clench at his side.

“Harlow, I still fucking love you. I know you…”

She put up a hand to stop him.

“Don’t care. Anything I felt for you died when you left me behind and didn’t even give me a heads-up. I don’t love you. I don’t trust you. I don’t think about you. You are a mistake I made and I won’t make again, so whatever this is, you can stop. It won’t work.”

This was his nightmare. She didn’t even want to hear him out.

“But you have another Dom? I thought you wouldn’t make that mistake again.”

“I have a real Dom this time. One who truly cares about me.”

Oh, she had these little tells. Nothing big, but when she wasn’t entirely telling the truth, her brow raised the slightest bit, as though begging him to challenge her.

She didn’t know if this mystery guy honestly cared about her.

Or she was worried because her last boyfriend nearly got her killed.

“Did you meet him at your club? It’s here, right? The Hideout?”

He wasn’t about to tell her he knew damn near everything since he’d had someone watching her for months.

He should have had someone watching her every minute they were apart. Then he would have known how much damage he’d done.

Would he have stayed away? Would he have kept his head down and worked if he’d known how much she was hurting?

He wanted to say no.

She took a deep breath.

“It doesn’t matter because you don’t have any part in my life. I have a job to do. Unless you want to give me some intel, we need to be done here. Is this whole club a front for Cliff Hamilton’s drug operation? Has he been using a delivery app to run his drugs and possibly launder his money?”

Fuck. She’d put that together quickly.

“I’m going to have you kicked out. I don’t expect to see you here again.”

She stared at him for a moment, eyes narrowing. This wasn’t her tough-chick persona. This was her “I will murder you and bury you on some farmland”

persona.

“And I’ll shout to the top of my lungs your real name as they haul me out. I’ll make sure you can’t work undercover ever again. You’re in my city, Jensen. My family owns a nice chunk of it, and that includes cozy relationships with important people. I can have you kicked out of Dallas. Honestly, I might like to see how you handle getting arrested.”

He did not like the fact that his cock hardened when she challenged him.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would, and I know you’re sitting there stewing in your own misery because how could the sweet, loving woman you idealized in your head ever do something so terrible to you? How could I do it knowing how much you want revenge for your brother? Because I do not care about you, Jensen. You killed the woman who loved you. She’s gone and she’s not coming back. If it’s a choice between your useless, selfish revenge and my client’s life, I’ll sell you out in a heartbeat, and don’t think I won’t.”

Who the hell was she here for? Who sent her in?

How was she looking at him like he was nothing to her?

Because you dumped her without warning. Because you picked revenge over her when she would never have done that to you. Not ever. She had the chance to get her client out and stayed to help you.

She would have gone to Mexico and given him cover and done whatever he asked because her love was worth something.

His wasn’t.

He was in the wrong and acting like a massive asshole.

“Tell me what you need, and I’ll get it done. Are you here for one of the subs? They aren’t really, you know. They got hired with the promise of big tips and were given almost no training and thrown to the wolves. It’s not bad right now because the club is pretty new and mostly tourists and couples. But at some point they’ll be expected to serve at a private party.”

She nodded.

“I remember how it went.”

She’d taken a job to get close to her target, and only Jensen coming in and claiming her had saved her from being asked to serve at one of those parties.

“Is it one of the girls?”

he asked. He was worried about a couple of them.

“Please tell me it’s Miranda because she’s getting moved up, and you know what that means. You already know the truth. Hamilton is coming into town, and he wants to expand into Houston. I need a couple of weeks and this is all over. I’ll help you if you’ll trust me this much.”

“I don’t trust you at all, but it doesn’t matter. After tonight I won’t come back. My partner and I can handle it all from outside the club,”

she promised.

“Now can I get back to my boyfriend?”

There it was again. That hesitation around the word boyfriend.

“I want to meet him,”

he said.

“We walk out into the lounge. You first, and then I’ll follow. I’m the dungeon monitor so no one will think twice about me introducing myself to the new couple.”

“There’s no need for that,”

she replied.

“Like I said, we won’t be back. I shouldn’t have brought him in the first place. I should have taken a bodyguard, but they’re all close to my dads. The last thing I need is my father showing up here to make sure I’m safe.”

She went pale in the low light.

“Or worse. My dad bringing my mom here and going undercover. They might actually do that, and Reasonable Dad would come along. Mom always says she would be good undercover.”

He loved when she talked about her family, when she joked and told stories about how weird they were. They were odd but loving from all the stories she told.

“Harlow, I need you to let me help.”

“The last time you helped I woke up in a prison infirmary. I think I’ll deal with it myself.”

He had to find a way to make her see reason.

“You know I’m the best shot at getting Hamilton. I realize you don’t like why I’m here, but I can take him down and save a whole bunch of people who’ve fallen into his schemes. I can map out the whole organization. But I can’t if you blow my cover.”

“Getting Hamilton isn’t my job,” she said.

But he knew her.

“You want to take him down as much as I do. You can’t stand the thought of all the lives he’s ruined, and if you get the chance, you’ll do anything to bring him to justice.”

“You don’t want justice. You want revenge.”

“What if I was willing to do it your way?”

He couldn’t quite believe what he was saying and yet he also couldn’t stop. She was here, and while she was upset as hell with him, there might still be a way to save this. She hadn’t walked out. She was still standing here and he wasn’t blocking the door.

She was unsure of this “boyfriend”

of hers. Did this man even exist? If she wanted to save face with him then he had to consider a scenario where she was lying about not caring about him.

“You’ve been planning on killing Cliff Hamilton for years. You’re not going to give up on it.”

He moved closer. Carefully. Like she was a deer he would scare away if he moved too fast.

“What if I did? What if I agreed to give you everything I have if you’ll let me work with you. What if I decided sending him and everyone he works with to jail was enough?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

A little closer. She refused to cede space to him, and he could use that stubbornness to his advantage.

“Any number of reasons. I’ve been doing this for years, and I’m sick of it. I want to have some kind of life. Because you’re smarter than I am and have way more connections. You’re right. My plans only work for revenge. If I kill Hamilton, I cut off the head and another one grows back. If I work with you, we can take down the entire organization and save all those kids he fucked over.”

“Again with the why?”

He almost had her.

“Because if I prove to you I’ve changed, you might give me another chance. I know you don’t believe me but I left you behind to save you. I thought you were in danger, and I knew I couldn’t convince you to leave me.”

“It’s not going to work, Jensen.”

But it kind of was because she’d softened. Her shoulders had come down, and she was looking at him, really looking at him. Now that he was here, this felt right.

“I’m willing to take that chance.”

Her gaze went sharp.

“I’ll meet you tomorrow.”

“No, you’re moving tonight. I know how you work. You made contact and if you aren’t planning on coming back it’s because you don’t have to. You’re picking her up tonight. Whoever it is, she’ll be in danger.”

“I was planning on coming back,”

she explained.

“I even told her I would come back so no one would think we were connected, but seeing you here made me rethink because you won’t be able to not give us away.”

“So you’re not moving her tonight?”

He stared at her. She gave him nothing. Which gave him his answer.

“Where and when? I will give you everything I have, work with whoever you want me to, if you let me help tonight.”

She was quiet for a moment and then her eyes closed and they were hard again when she opened them.

“I need you to understand that if you fuck me over this time, I won’t quietly go away. If for some reason you decide to get rid of me, my family will come after you.”

There was the guilt. How could she think that? He loved her.

“I would never. Fuck, baby, this is screwed up. Can we please talk?”

“Not about our relationship,”

she insisted.

“That is off the table and has been for a long time. I need you to understand that if you had showed up at my place, I would have slammed the door in your face. But I do want to take this whole group down, and if you give me information, I don’t have to get it from my client. I’m moving her tonight at two this morning.”

“After her shift ends.”

He nodded. He believed that she believed she would shut him down, but he still felt the connection between them. He could fix this.

“I can leave early. I’ll be at The Hideout when the club closes. That will give me time to get together some information. I’ll be your partner in this. We can do this together. There will be fallout from whoever you’re extracting, but I can handle it.”

“It would be better if I came back with my Dom. It might be weird if I spend time with her and then she disappears.”

“Please tell me it’s Miranda.”

She nodded slightly.

He breathed a sigh of relief. This was one good thing that might come out of it.

“Good. She wouldn’t survive upstairs. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get her out of here before they sink their hooks in.”

“You could get her arrested,”

Harlow said with an eye roll.

Brat.

“How about we concentrate on getting Hamilton.”

She took a long breath and sighed.

“Yes. I’ll give you the address to the club.”

“I know it.”

He was going to have to confess at some point.

“I was curious.”

But not tonight. He needed to talk to Niall.

“I’m going to go back to the lounge. My boyfriend’s waiting. You better be nice to him. He’s the best man I’ve met in forever. It’s one of the reasons I’m agreeing to this plan. I’m worried about him. He’s not used to places like this. It’s going to be hard on him. He’s a good man.”

And Jensen wasn’t. He got what she was saying. He belonged here. The trouble was here was danger, and Harlow was attracted to it. She couldn’t stay away from it. She found it wherever she looked and got tangled in it at all times. She didn’t need a good man. She needed a man who could watch her back.

Like you let her watch yours?

“We can talk about it at The Hideout tonight.”

He would be able to get a measure of this boyfriend of hers. Niall would tell him all about it after they had a talk about why he’d never mentioned the man at all.

She nodded.

“I’ll be there.”

So would her whole family. At least the ones from the club.

He would deal with it.

She turned and opened the door.

“Hello, Master.”

She shut the door behind her.

It took everything he had not to go after her and introduce himself.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to sit down. He wasn’t going to go to the security office and look through the cams. He was going to be a fucking adult, one who damn straight knew he wouldn’t have a chance with her if he didn’t start to show her some trust.

If he could convince her to ditch her boyfriend and come back to the club with him, they would be stuck together for a while.

He would have to mention seeing her tonight. He would tell Phil he’d had a great conversation with the new girl who came in, and he was going to see if she would like to come back for some one-on-one sessions. Lay the groundwork.

He could make this happen.

He just had to have some faith.

There was a knock on his door, and then Phil was coming in.

“Hey, we need to talk,”

Phil said, a frown on his face.

Well, there was no time like the present.