Page 59 of Fierce Lies
But sleep would not be on the cards.
18
ELENA
Icouldn't sleep.
My fingers moved in slow, absent circles over the blanket draped across both of us—it was scratchy and uncomfortable, but it was better than nothing. And it was finally warm, warm from our combined body heat. I wasn't thinking about the fabric now. I was thinking about him. About the way he was holding me, how he hadn't wanted me to get off of his lap. Surely it wasn't comfortable, especially with his leg, but I wasn't going to argue with him.
Being on his bare chest, his tattooed arms holding me tight under the blanket, it felt right. Despite everything. Despite the lies.
"What were you planning to do once you knew the truth about your dad?" he asked once it was clear Ivy was fast asleep. She'd let out a few soft snores despite our situation.
Of course she could still sleep in this mess.
"I dunno, nothing. I just wanted to know." I had no idea what I would've done. I knew better than to take on a mafia family.
"You wouldn't have tried to blackmail them?"
"Knowing they're mafia? Hell no," I scoffed, causing him to chuckle slightly. "I don't want to die just yet."
"I know. Thank you."
"For not dying?"
"For saving my life. Even pepper-sprayed, Alfeo was stronger. I lost a lot of blood, and willpower can only strengthen you so much." Jackson's voice was soft as he squeezed his arms around me.
"Couldn't go letting our best chance of survival go and die. Besides, he would've followed after us. No witnesses and all that," I muttered, not wanting to think about Alfeo.
"That was the only reason you saved me?" His voice was curious, and I could hear a hint of something else.
"Maybe I'd fallen a little for you. Hard not to. Big macho guy who looks like he belongs in a magazine, helping me survive the rain and…" I chuckled, catching myself before giving him more compliments. Of telling him how his damn smile made my legs weak. He didn't need to know I was crushing hard on him. And battling myself the entire way, especially since I knew who he worked for now.
We could never work. I didn't want to get involved in that kind of life.
"Maybe I fell too. It was why I couldn't stop myself from being around you. From trying to help you," he said, his voice almost canceled out by a low rumble of thunder. I couldn't help how my heart skipped a beat at his words.
"I kept telling myself it was part of my job. You were the new hire, I was meant to make sure we could trust you, that you weren't planted by a rival family or someone out to hurt them," he said quietly, his thumb now stroking my arm.
"Guess I didn't help my case by looking up those financials," I mumbled. "You were watching me? Had my office wired?"
"Knowing who the Donatis really are, you really need to ask?" he scoffed lightly.
"Yeah, I still feel a little off about that, but I know it was your job, I guess." I wasn't a fan of being scrutinized like that, but I understood. It made sense.
"Yeah." He fell silent after that as lightning ignited the room for a moment once more.
We sat like that for some time, and I matched my breathing to the soft rise and fall of his chest. It never eased or slowed, and I knew sleep was not his friend tonight, same as myself.
"We were special forces," he said, breaking the silence finally.
No preamble. No warning. Just those four words. I didn't speak. I didn't move. I just listened.
"Not the kind you read about in the papers," Jackson continued, his voice a low rumble beneath my ear where I rested against his chest. "The kind that doesn't exist on paper at all."
I felt the steady thump of his heart against my cheek, slightly faster now. Whatever he was about to tell me, it cost him something. I curled my fingers into the blanket, anchoring myself.
"Our unit was tight. We'd been through hell together, trusted each other with everything." His chest expanded on a deep breath. "Then they brought in someone new. Intelligence asset from another country's operation. Guy named Turner."
