Page 85 of Master of Lies

But I’d said those words again.I love you.They reverberated like a plucked string. I had to say it. Had to be sure she knew it before I walked away into God knows what. Just in case. No matter what happened, she would always know it.

My last words to my mother before she died were still ringing in my head. I heard them every damn day. Me, screaming at her.Fuck you, you junkie bitch. Get out of here. Go kill yourself. You’ve been trying for years, so fucking finish the job.

There had been extenuating circumstances, of course. She’d driven me over the edge for the umpteenth time. Once again, she’d found and stolen my meager hoard of cash, the one I’d saved up to pay the electricity bill, and used it for meth and a couple of gallon jugs of vodka.

Mom had taken me at my word. She’d gone to the closest high bridge she could find, and jumped off, to her death. Jesus, what was it with me and bridges?

I hadn’t told her that I loved her. At least not since I was a dumb little kid who didn’t know any better. But that night, she punished me forever, dying like that. Making damn sure I would never have a chance to fix it.

But I could learn from my mistakes. At least that.

CHAPTER29

Freya

Brilliant. Miraculously, I had found a way to make this situation even worse for myself…by letting my legs fall open. The cherry on the sundae. Let the guy use his magic dick to churn me up into a total froth of wild feelings, and then, when I’m at the absolute peak of emotional vulnerability, whammo. That’s when I get to watch him zip up his pants and walk away into mortal peril. Leaving me alone in the dark. Again.

Simply genius. Really, I just astonish myself sometimes.

I slid off the table and let the skirt fall. I tried to shoehorn my boobs back into the bodice for a couple of minutes before I realized how silly that was. The dress had served its purpose. It was time to take it off and put on something more practical. Jeans, a warm sweater, boots to run like hell in.

I had no idea what came next, but if Jed had his way, I wouldn’t participate in it. Which was the story of my life. My two brothers were so fucked up by what had happened to me at our aunt and uncle’s house, they’d been madly overcompensating ever since. Trying to keep me safe at all times, in all places. It was sweet of them, and I appreciated their anxious care as much as it annoyed me. Protecting me was a near-impossible task, considering who I am. But that didn’t stop my brothers from trying.

Jed was doing the same damn thing. Maybe guys like him were all just wired up that way. Maybe that’s how they all acted when they gave a shit. I had only my brothers to compare him to. None of my other boyfriends had ever behaved that way.

Of course, none of my other boyfriends had ever made the cut, either. Lightweights, to the last man. To be fair, I’d probably cherry-picked them just that way on purpose, for some reason known only to my darkest subconscious mind.

I got into my BBBag and pulled out the little pillbox that had the tiny trackers in it, so I was ready when Jed emerged from the bathroom. He was in black commando gear now, perfect for sneaking around in the dark, doing nefarious things. He had his new smartphone in his hand.

“Grifo texted me the location,” he said. “An address out in Gresham. It’s a forty-minute drive, and I’m meeting him in less than an hour. I should get going.”

“Let me see that address,” I demanded.

Jed turned the screen so I could see it. I committed it to memory, and handed him the tracker. “Load that up,” I said crisply. “You promised. I’ve already entered the data into the app on my own phone. You just have to put in the trace.”

He lifted his eyebrow at me, but got to work, prying his phone apart and inserting it without argument. “I’ll take the car I rented today and leave you the Jeep,” he said. “And I’ll call the Drakes on the way and organize protection for the Grifos. You call Ethan and get him and his team involved. We need all hands on deck from now on.”

“Yup,” I said. “I will. First thing.”

He put his phone away, and pulled out a six-shot snubbie. “I’ll leave you this.”

I recoiled. “You remember what happened the last time you gave me a gun,” I said. “When we’re all done with this, and we’ve won, I’ll do some intensive training and get really good with guns. Until then, they’re just another hard thing for a bad guy to bash me upside the head with. So thanks, but no thanks.”

“Okay. But I’ll hold you to that. About the training.” He slid the gun back into whatever pocket he’d stowed it in. Then he grabbed my hand and kissed it. “Let’s just claw our way to the other side of this,” he said, his voice rough with suppressed emotion. “Then you and I can figure out who we are together without Boer breathing down our necks.”

I kept my voice light. “Fingers crossed. Get on with it, then. Just text me every twenty minutes like you agreed. And set a timer to remind yourself. A vibrating timer, of course. I don’t want to get you killed.”

He tapped his phone, and held it up to show me the timer app, already programmed. “It is done, your Majesty.”

I tried not to snort and roll my eyes, but failed. Jed just grabbed me, squeezing me close, and giving me another one of those sweet, breath-stealing kisses.

“Talk to you in exactly twenty minutes,” he said. “And I sent you the phone numbers of the Drake brothers. Ethan has them, too. Anything happens, anything at all, you call them, first thing, got it? And call your brother, right now. Call everyone.”

I was holding myself together by sheer brute force, trying to keep from shaking apart into tears. “You’re starting to repeat yourself,” I said tartly. “Just get gone. The sooner you go, the sooner you’ll be back.”

He backed away a step. “I love you, Frey,” he said. “Before, I was okay with there not being anything on the other side of this whole thing. I thought, if Boer ended me, whatever. No big deal. That’s not true anymore. Now, I want it all. I want you.”

“Me too,” I said, in a tight voice. “I love you too. But the stakes are really freaking high, and I’m all wound up, so I just can’t let myself get mushy right now. Or I’ll break.”

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