Page 30 of Dirty Gambit

Next to him, eyes glittering in the shadows, Jessie shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She whined but remained such a trooper. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Other than the odd family vacation or road trip, she hadn’t been strapped to her chair for that long. It couldn’t be easy for her and yet, she remained so cooperative.

“It’s okay,” he assured her gently. “We’ll be home soon. I promise.”

“Bye, bye, bye,” Jessie answered weakly, words thick with emotions.

He meant it. He would get them out of this mess. He would get his sister home even if he had to … what? Kill Lena? Seriously injure her and take control? Those were options, but even while he thought about it, he knew he could never actually hurt her. It was insane.Shewas insane. Everything he knew about her suggested she could potentially be unstable, but God help him if that didn’t only make him want her more.

Crazy girls had never been his thing. He had seen firsthand from his friends what happened when they got attached to someone not fully capable of taking rejection well. But Lena was something else. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it made him hot with desire and infuriation. Every word, every glance, every decision she made elicited a flurry of want and anger. Maybe the two just naturally went together, but that was the kind of power she had over him and he couldn’t for the life of him decide what to do about it.

His gaze flicked to the windshield now a blurry sheet of rain, obscuring the world from them. The side windows were no better. The not knowing if Lena was all right rampaged through him, coiling his muscles and making his heart race. His anxiety pulsed in the air, filling the cabin. It was all he could do to keep from slamming a fist against the glass.

She was okay, he told himself. She had to be.

But what if she’d tripped and hit her head? What if she was lying out there, bleeding and unconscious, unable to move or return to the car? What if she’d walked into the wrong person’s house and they were hurting her? There were so many scenarios his head hurt.

She has the gun,he reminded the gnawing concern.She’ll use it if she needs to.

But the voices never stopped, bombarding him with images until he was sure to lose his mind even while that voice pointed out how much better his and Jessie’s situation would be if something did happen to Lena. Someone would find them eventually. He had Jessie’s baby bag. He personally didn’t need much. He could wait until help arrived, which could be as soon as the morning when the owner of the land rode out to check on his fields. He’d spot them and come check. It would be over. They’d be home with their family by sundown.

But Lena’s face refused to leave him alone. Her smile and the way she always had something morbid to add to every conversation stirred him up inside and he wondered if this was what people called Stockholm syndrome. The girl had intentionally and willfully drugged him. In the long list of everything else she’d done to him in the last twenty-four hours, it probably didn’t seem that bad, but it was just further proof that he shouldn’t give a shit if she ever came back.

“What do you think of her, Jess?” he asked the girl. “Crazy, right?”

The girl released a series of babbling Jaxon didn’t understand but sounded important.

“We definitely shouldn’t care if she never comes back, right?”

Even as he said it, his stomach muscles clenched. He shut his eyes and dropped his head back against the armrest.

He was still sitting that way when the door on Jessie’s other side tore open with such unexpected violence that Jaxon jumped. His head shot up even as his unchained hand shot over Jessie’s bulky seat in protection. The overhead lights momentarily blinded him to the figure stooping down, but he would have recognized that wild tangle of black anywhere.

“Lena.”

Her name rushed out of him in the same breath one would use to pray.

Dripping wet and visibly shivering, Lena met his gaze over the short distance.

“You guys okay?”

Jaxon nodded, never having felt such a crash of relief. “Are you?”

The question seemed to take her by surprise, which made two of them. But she swallowed once and gave a quick nod.

“I found a place we can stay the night,” she said.

With no more information on the matter, she shut the door and hurried around to the trunk. It was opened and he could hear her moving things around. A moment later, the lid was slammed shut and she was at his door. A swirling gust of wet wind swept in with her when she pried the handle and yanked the door open.

“Promise me you won’t try anything,” she panted.

“I won’t,” he heard himself say without thinking.

“You would be putting Jessie’s health and safety on the line if you do, remember that.”

Not waiting for a response, she unshackled him. Then stuffed the strap of a black duffle into his hand once he was on his feet in the rain with her.

“What’s this?” he shouted over the raging elements.

“Nothing,” she yelled back.

---