Page 3 of Their Virgins Secret

Jessa screamed again, the sound so much louder as they closed in. He charged down the shadowy stairs, his feet taking each step with a short jerk, his hand holding the railing. Cole was hard behind him. No damn way to be quiet now. Whoever was here could hear that they were coming.

What was that awful smell? Turpentine? Yeah, and a lot of it. He felt the moment his feet hit the bottom, his body jerking to stay balanced. A thin stream of light whirled around, seeking. Burke couldn’t duck fast enough and was nearly blinded when it hit him, his eyes accustomed to the dark. He threw his arms over his face and pressed forward, nearly tripping over something that lay squarely in his path. A body. There was no way to mistake it for anything else.

“Get out! Get out! I already called the cops!” Jessa’s voice sounded hoarse and shaky.

“Sweetheart, it’s us. ” Burke took a step toward her.

“Get out! I have a gun. ” She wasn’t listening. He couldn’t see her eyes, but he could practically feel the panic screaming off her. And she was lying. He hadn’t heard a shot, and Jessa didn’t know shit about guns.

“Jessa,” Cole barked in that voice that always let Burke know he was taking control and wouldn’t tolerate an argument. “Stand down. You’re safe, baby. ”

“Cole?” Her voice suddenly sounded so small. “Burke?”

“Yes. ” Burke breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, sweetheart, it’s us. You’re safe. We won’t let anything happen to you. ”

There was an ugly laugh from behind him. “Shows what you know, Lennox. ”

The voice made his blood freeze instantly. Who the fuck would know his name without seeing his face? Unless this someone else had sent the text, not Jessa. And this someone had expected them to come running. Had they walked into a death trap?

“Give me some light on him, Jessa. ” Burke thought his heart rate would slow once he knew Jessa was alive, but now his pulse jacked up all over again.

The light shifted and illuminated the man lying on the floor. There was an enormous gash on his head, blood dripping everywhere, and he held his hands over his eyes.

“Who the fuck are you?” Cole asked.

“I’m no one. I’m nothing now that this bitch beat me in the head and caught me. Doesn’t matter. I already planted the charges. This whole place is going to blow, and there’s not a damn thing you can do. I didn’t mean to go down with her. Fucking bitch. ”

“Charges?” Jessa’s hand began to shake, the light bouncing.

“I recognize that asshole,” Cole snapped. “He worked for Ricardo Delgado. What the fuck is going on? Delgado died almost a year ago in prison. ”

Burke’s stomach turned. He’d assumed the world would be a safer place without Ricardo Delgado. How was the asshole reaching out with his violent fist from beyond the grave?

“Later,” he snapped. “We need to leave before this house blows!”

The flashlight dropped, and Burke felt something whiz by him.

He picked it up and aimed the stream of light up the stairs. Fuck. Jessa was running. He didn’t know where she was headed, but they had to get her out of the house damn quick.

Cole turned, his body a ghostly shadow in the darkened room. “Who the hell sent you?”

“Don’t, Cole,” Burke snapped. He had no idea when the charges were set to go off. It could be right fucking now. He didn’t know if they were on a timer or a remote. The whole house could explode at any minute, and Jessa was running to god knew where. “As much as I’d love to interrogate this asshole, we don’t have time. We have to get Jessa out of here. ”

“You’ll never make it. ” The man on the floor groaned. “Bitch is going to get what’s coming to her. Well, what’s coming to you. Did you think you could fool anyone? You better pray my bombs kill her. If my boss catches her instead, he’s gonna have a real good time with her. ”

Boss? His stomach turned. If this guy had been working for Delgado and was talking about a new boss… Fuck, this organization hadn’t died. It had more lives than a fucking cat. Was there a new boss out for revenge? How could the bastard know about Jessa and the few precious days they’d spent with her?

He had a million questions, but no time to ask. They had to get Jessa out. If the man on the floor wasn’t lying, they were all in grave danger. With a deep and angry regret, he turned and darted up the stairs just behind Cole, locking the fucker in the basement.

“Jessa!” Burke shouted.

“I can hear her going to the second story. ” Cole took off after her.

The light was better upstairs. Jessa had left the drapes open, and moonlight drenched the hallway in an eerie silvery glow. Burke ran beside his brother. They caught Jessa at the top of the stairs, Burke’s arm going around her waist.

He’d dreamed of holding her again, touching her. Not once in those dreams did she kick and scream and fight like hell.

“No! Let me go, damn it. ”

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