Page 30 of Beautiful Vengeance
“I’ll pay double.Figure it out.”He hung up.Stefan might play both sides against the middle when it suited him, but he owed Jude his life.Seven years ago, Stefan had stolen from the wrong man—who just happened to have been Jude’s current mark.Jude had killed the man before he could kill Stefan, and the dramatic fashion of his demise had made an impression on the hacker.
It didn’t prevent him from charging a shit-ton of money to provide his services, but it kept him more or less loyal.
Neither one of them had counted on Romanov finding Stefan.
The web kept getting more and more tangled.Maybe it’d be different if he hadn’t given in to the temptation Sloan’s hot little body offered, but the truth was that her fledgling strength attracted him just as much as her pussy.She had the makings of being a force of nature, and hell if he didn’t want to stand witness and watch it happen.
He looked at the bag containing the pills and cursed.He might be attracted to her, but that was a long shot from wanting to bring a tiny person into the world with her—withanyone.He wasn’t the settling down and starting a family type.With his history…Yeah, it just wasn’t in the cards for him.It’s not like he could cart a kid and woman around while he staked out marks and fucking murdered them.
Shoving the whole mess from his mind, he stalked outside and across the short distance to Sloan’s house.He let himself in through the back door and was halfway across the living room when a dry voice said, “Young man, I don’t suppose you’re a strippergram here to celebrate my birthday.No?Then I’d take kindly to you explaining why you’re in my house.”
He turned slowly to find a shotgun leveled at his chest, wielded by a well-dressed, attractive woman in her late fifties.
Sorcha O’Connor was home.
***
Sloan heard voices and walked out of her bedroom to find Sorcha had drawn on Jude.Panic flared, but she managed to keep her voice calm and even.If I startle her, she might pull the trigger.“Sorcha, this is my friend Jude.Jude, this is Sorcha.She’s the one who owns the house.”
Sorcha didn’t lower the gun.“Are you sure he’s a friend, darling?He looks like a hired gun from where I’m standing.They all move like that, quiet as cats and twice as lethal.”
Sloan blinked.“He’s a writer.”She didn’t believe it any more now than she had when Jessica told her, but she wasn’t about to let the older woman kill him out of hand.“I invited him over, so please don’t shoot him.”Frankly, she didn’t particularly want to see him while she was still all twisted up over what had happened this morning, but she wasn’t about to tell Sorcha that.And, judging from the brown paper bag in his hands, he’d successfully tracked down the pills for her.“Please.”
With a sigh, Sorcha lowered the gun.“Next time, young man, knock.It’s rude to just walk in.”She shifted to face Sloan, the gun pointed carefully at the ground.“I’m going to wash the stink of travel off me.Deal with this Neanderthal and get him out of here.We’re due for a dinner to get to know each other.”She turned and walked into the primary bedroom, closing the door firmly behind her.
Sloan wasdefinitelygoing to have a discussion with Teague about expectations.He’d told her that Sorcha was a nice older woman who was a bit eccentric.After that encounter, Sloan was inclined to think she was off her rocker.
Though she couldn’t fault the woman for mistaking Jude for a hired gun.He carried himself with confidence, and danger practically emanated from him.But a criminal?Amurderer?It was too far-fetched, even for her life.She nodded at the bag.“I’ll take that.”
He didn’t immediately move, a strange look on his face.“We need to talk, Sloan.Actually talk.”
She knew that, but she didn’t have the emotional fortitude to deal with it today.She shook her head.“We will, but as you heard—I have plans tonight.I get done at the diner tomorrow at two.We can talk then.”She didn’t ask if he was free.
Jude hesitated and then nodded.“Tomorrow, then.”He set the bag on the counter and walked out without another word.
***
Sloan wasn’t sure what to think of the woman sitting across from her.They’d driven up to Cannon Beach for dinner, and Sorcha had put on an album of show tunes so loudly, there’d been no way to attempt to hold a conversation.Not that Sloan minded.She’d relished the ability to sit and just think for a little bit.
Jude was…She didn’t know how to put it into words.Jude was a problem, if only because he brought forth a side of her she’d never known existed.Being in the same room with him made her feel wild and bold and a thousand other things she couldn’t afford.She wasn’t those things.Not really.
And then they’d gone and broken a condom.
She’d taken one of the pills he brought her as soon as he’d left, but there were no guarantees.She could be pregnant.She shuddered at the thought.
“That boy is nothing but trouble.”Sorcha eyed the glass in front of her and filled it with wine from the bottle she’d ordered as soon as they walked through the door.“Gorgeous, and most likely an animal in bed, but trouble nonetheless.”
Sloan blushed and accepted the glass of wine.“With all due respect, ma’am, it’s none of your business.”
She narrowed brown eyes remarkably like Callie’s at Sloan.“That’s the beauty of getting old, my dear.I can say whatever I damn well please and you have to be respectful back.Now tell me, how is it you know my niece?”
“You don’t know?”She’d agreed to have Sloan here without knowing a single thing about her?The thought was downright preposterous.“Surely Callie told you.”
“Callista and I are just beginning to feel each other out.My fool brother never reached out to me when she was a child and so I didn’t even know she existed until a few months ago.”
“I…” What was she supposed to say to that?“I didn’t know.”
“I didn’t expect you to.”Sorcha sat back, looking like a queen who’d wandered into this part of the world.Carrigan did that, too.She owned every space she walked into, no matter what the situation.
