“I-I think it’s Cy. The jaw is stronger, or at least, the beard makes it look stronger. The nose is the same, though. And he’s a lot bigger than he was back then…a lot bigger. But…” She pulled the photo closer. Stared at it with narrowed eyes. “It’s him.” A soft whisper. “I didn’t notice him on the beach. He was sitting just a few feet away, and I didn’t notice him. Some great agent I am.”
“He was angled so that you wouldn’t see him. So that he could see you. And he probably had on sunglasses for most of the time. Sunglasses, a hat, and the perfect location to watch you.” Cyrus, you are a sonofabitch.
“You’re trying to make me feel better.” Her head turned so that she was gazing up at him. “It’s just making me feel worse.”
“No, sweets, you’re feeling worse because you just realized your old friend Cyrus looks guilty as hell. He’s right here in the city.” He’d been close enough to just get up and touch her the first day at the beach. “His photo is in the hired sniper’s room. And you don’t want it to be true, but it looks like Landon was right, and I fucking hate to admit that but…”
“But you think Cy is after me.”
Grimly, Jinx nodded.
And I think I’m going to stop him. I think I’m going to make sure that the old friend from your past never has the chance to get touching close to you again.
***
“I want the full story.” They’d just entered Armageddon. It was the middle of the day, and the bar was completely empty. Understandable since the place wouldn’t open until much later that night.
They were supposed to head upstairs and rendezvous with War and Odin in the Trouble for Hire office. But it looked like Jinx couldn’t wait any longer. His voice was hard and rough, and Ali squared her shoulders as she turned to face him.
“Every detail,” he ordered. His eyes smoldered with barely banked fury. That heat had been in his gaze ever since they’d discovered the picture of Cyrus in Louis’s hotel room. “I get that you thought he was a buddy. That he couldn’t possibly be a threat, but you were wrong.”
She had thought that he was a friend. Once upon a time, he’d been one of the sweetest, shyest guys she’d ever met. She’d been his only friend back in the day. Cy had never talked about his family, but then, he hadn’t needed to—she’d been able to see the bruises that darkened his cheeks and jaw every few days.
Cy had wanted to escape. She’d hatched a crazy idea a lifetime ago to help him…
“Ali…” Jinx blocked her path. All big and growly and not flashing his typical smile. “Don’t you trust me?”
Surprise had her stepping toward him and putting her hand on his chest. “Of course, I do.” She trusted Jinx more than she trusted, well, anyone.
I would trust him with my life in a heartbeat.
“Then tell me everything, sweets. You think I’ll judge you for what happened back then? I won’t. I wouldn’t judge you for a damn thing. But I need to know about this guy.”
Because it looked as if Cyrus wanted to kill Jinx. “Yes, you certainly have a right to know.” Wearily, she let her hand fall. Ali turned away from him and paced toward the gleaming bar.
“Did you sleep with him?”
There was a mirror behind the bar. She saw her own surprised face staring back at her. Ali laughed, truly shocked by the question. “No, he was more like a brother to me than anything else.” She turned toward Jinx and let her back rest against the edge of the bar. “Anything sexual like that—we both would have thought it was gross.”
“Gross.” His gaze raked her. “Uh, huh. I’m sure that’s what he thought.”
Jinx wasn’t getting it. “He was my best friend. I was his. We didn’t fit in with the other kids. They were going to parties and football games, while Cy and I spent our nights…” She swallowed. “It didn’t start out with us wanting to break laws, okay? It was a challenge. We just wanted to see what we could do.” She bit her lower lip. “Turned out, we could do a lot. Especially when we worked together.”
They’d been nearly unstoppable.
“We got past every security block in our way. We started with our school. Then went to the city government files. From there we turned to state data. And then…the Feds.” A shrug. “The more we did, the faster we learned how to get better. To be better. We weren’t stealing files or anything. We were just testing our skills. No one was getting hurt, or at least, that’s what we told ourselves.”
He waited. Kept watching.
“Something happened,” Ali admitted as her stomach churned with nerves. “Cy needed to get out of town. He needed a fresh start, and he needed cash to do it. This was going to be the first time—the only time—that we used our talents…to steal. We were going to take the money from an account—look, the guy was a criminal,” she added quickly. As if that makes it better. “We knew what he was because we’d been following the news stories about him. He was this jerk who was tied to a dozen different investigations, and he’d funneled a ton of money to an offshore account. I know it’s ridiculous now, but we were kids back then, and we thought if we were going to steal money from someone, it should be taken from a guy like him.”
His expression didn’t alter. “You said something happened. Why did Cyrus need to get out of town?”
She hesitated. This wasn’t her story to tell…
“Ali. You told me that you trusted me.” He strode forward. Stopped when his body was right in front of hers. “Tell me.”
Her breath slowly eased out. “Cy’s dad almost killed him.”
Jinx blinked.
“I knew he’d hit Cy before. Cy could never please him. See, Cy’s dad wanted a big, tough son. A son who scored all the touchdowns on the football field. Prom king. That guy. He didn’t want a thin, asthmatic son who spent all of his time inside tapping away on a computer. Whenever he’d catch Cy at his computer, he’d lose it.” She would never forget the way Cy had looked that last time. Not just one or two bruises. He’d been covered. His left eye had been bulging and bloody. “Cy had to get away. I begged my parents for money, for help first, but they refused. They said…they thought Cy was trouble. Told me to stay away from him.” Ali could only shake her head. “Like I was just going to turn my back on him?”
Jinx shook his head. “No. That’s not what you would do.”
“Stealing wasn’t right. I get it. But I needed to help him. Cy was going to vanish. Everything was going to be okay and then…” Her shoulders rose and fell. “I got caught.” So much for thinking she’d been invincible. The one and only time she’d thought no one could catch her. “Lots of people with badges and bad suits swarmed my house. I was crying and shaking when they cuffed me and pushed me into the back of an SUV. My parents kept shouting at me and asking what I’d done, and I just kept telling them that I was sorry.” The memory burned through her mind. “My dad’s face was so red. And my mom—she kept looking to the left and the right, and I heard her telling the neighbors it was all a misunderstanding. Only, it wasn’t. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.”