Falcon Falls Security Boxed Set: Books 1-3, page 44
Now it’ll be a wedding wringer.
Ella stared at the fireplace in the living room, her eyes clinging to the flames as she considered Savanna’s words. “I’m tough. You know that.”
Savanna rose and stood beside Rory, both watching her with worried expressions.
“I have to tell you . . . something,” Ella blurted out as her face grew hot. “I haven’t had sex since Jesse,” she revealed the only other secret she’d kept hidden from her best friends and stood. “Not even with Brian.”
“Wait, what? You’re telling us you never did the hanky panky,” Rory began, talking with her hands, “with the man you were engaged to? I mean, y’all went to a tropical island together. I—I don’t understand.”
Ella covered her face with her palm and released an uneasy breath. “He wanted to. Trust me, he did. And no matter how much I tried to get over Jesse by dating Brian and even accepting his proposal, I—I just couldn’t give myself to Brian like that. Not after Jesse. I had hoped, after the wedding, I’d finally accept it was truly over with Jesse.” Tears welled in her eyes at the admission. It sounded absolutely insane when she said it out loud. And it’d been a major problem between them. “Probably why Brian pressed for a quick engagement. And when I still wouldn’t sleep with him even after I’d said yes to his proposal, he lost his mind.”
“Wow,” Savanna said, her mouth hanging open. “Why’d you tell us you two did sleep together?”
“So you wouldn’t think I was crazy, which clearly, I am.” Ella let her hand fall away from her face, which had to be beet red. “Brian was a dick, so I don’t feel all that bad, even if maybe I should. Because I knew in my heart, I was using him to try and move on from Jesse, and my plan failed.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have said yes to Brian, you’re right. But he was a jerk, so I just can’t feel sorry for him.” Rory circled the coffee table and reached for Ella’s hand. “But it’s also kind of a big deal that you couldn’t bring yourself to be with another man after Jesse,” she added in a soft tone as if worried someone would come inside the house and overhear them.
“Maybe you should tell Jesse? I know we’re not supposed to feel sorry for him because, well, hitman. But think about it . . . if Jesse wasn’t in love with you, there wouldn’t be a crazy criminal possibly coming after you.” Savanna grimaced when Rory looked back at her, and although Ella couldn’t see, she had a good idea what kind of look was on Rory’s face. “That didn’t come out the way I meant.”
“That doesn’t mean Jesse loves me,” Ella quickly said. “He just knows what the town thinks about us and what they’d say if someone came digging around for information. They’ve been rooting for us forever.” My dad cried. Oh, God.
“Well, I’m just saying, Jesse must assume you and Brian slept together, and that can’t be easy on him,” Savanna said.
Ella’s romance-book-loving friend was most likely trying to unpack this situation and find meaning in it. She thought about Jesse’s kissing remark, still unsure when the man planned to follow through on that. Kiss Jesse? There went her stomach again. Butterflies this time, and he didn’t deserve that from her.
Savanna was right though. Jesse did hate the fact Brian had kissed her, but maybe it was some weird alpha thing. Brian had something he didn’t, and it was less the fact that he—
“Why should we make anything easy on my brother?” Rory remarked, cutting off Ella’s thoughts. “He told Ella to move on. In fact, he insisted on it. She tried so desperately that she almost married a man she didn’t love just to stop the hurt of being in love with a man who refused her.” Now Rory was analyzing the situation, but she nailed it on the head. “Brian’s Jesse’s fault.” She tsked. “Fuck my brother. He deserves to assume Brian . . .” She let go of her words at the sound of the door from the kitchen opening.
Ella cleared her throat and backed up at the sight of Jesse and Griffin entering the room, Bear trotting between them. She nearly fell onto the couch when her thighs butted against it, forgetting it was behind her.
“Speak of the devil.” Rory shifted her focus to her brother and whipped her arms across her chest. She’d gone head-to-head with pirates and smugglers in the past, so why not a hitman?
Hitman. Ella’s gaze quickly cruised over the length of said “hitman,” taking in the sight of him in his black military boots, jeans, plaid shirt, and black ball cap on his head. He certainly looked like a badass operator instead of a cowboy, not that Jesse had ever looked or acted like the cowboys on her family’s ranch. But right now, he looked lethal, and it wasn’t his clothes. It was the look in his eyes. That hard, bladed jawline covered in a few weeks’ worth of growth.
But how was her Jesse an assassin?
When he was a Ranger, she never considered him a killer. When he took down that man inside Savanna’s home in October, it was in self-defense and to protect Savanna. The word “killer” never entered her mind then, much less “assassin.” But she googled the definition last night—a person who commits a targeted murder.
Murderer. Damn it. That word stung.
“You three okay?” Griffin interrupted her chaotic thoughts as well as the awkward staredown Ella had barely been aware was going on between her and Jesse.
Griffin strode across the room and pulled Savanna against his side. Whenever they were in a room together, it was rare for them not to be touching. They were magnetic. And Ella was so happy for her best friend.
Murderer, she thought again. Terrorists murdered Savanna’s husband in 2015. Those men were real murderers. Jesse’s not a murderer. She tried to convince herself she wasn’t about to marry a killer in that sense of the word. Fake marry, Ella. It’s fake.
“We’re as good as can be expected,” Savanna answered when no one else piped up.
Ella turned to focus on the happy couple and away from the man she wanted to punch for a number of reasons. If she looked at him any longer, she’d stare at his mouth and wonder when he planned to follow through with that promise he made last night and kiss her before their fake wedding.
“Carter, Jack, and Oliver are en route to D.C. They’re stopping there to pick up Sydney and Gray,” Griffin announced. “They should all be here by seventeen hundred hours.”
“I hate that Gray and Sydney have to leave on my account. Gray has a newborn niece, and Sydney has a son. That’s gotta be hard, especially since tomorrow is New Year’s Eve.” And wait, what? This isn’t my fault. Ella’s shoulders dropped. That didn’t make her not feel bad though.
“They understand it’s part of the job, always being on call,” Griffin said when Jesse remained silent.
Ella looked over at Jesse as he took a knee to pet Bear, who had been glued to his side for some reason. Did he sense the alpha in the room?
Of course, according to Savanna, Griffin was very much an alpha in the bedroom.
And when Ella thought back to New York City, well, Jesse was . . .
Let go of that thought.
But how could she? She’d never slept with another man because of that weekend. He’d ruined every other man in her eyes.
“I want to know more about the person who wants me dead,” Ella found herself blurting. Bear suddenly howled, as though he understood what she’d said, and the idea of her “dead” made him sad.
Jesse’s jaw clenched at her words, and his eyes fell to Bear. After a moment, he lifted his hand from the dog’s head and stood, and Bear went directly to Rory.
“We can go into that more when my team is here,” Jesse finally answered, turning at the sound of the door from the kitchen opening again. Ella’s throat tightened at the sight of the gun tucked at the back of his jeans, not even holstered. Just casually there as if it were part of his body.
Realizing his shirt had caught behind the grip of the gun, Jesse adjusted the material to conceal his weapon again.
She’d seen Jesse shoot before. Well, at the range. But the gun had a whole new meaning now.
“We can find another way,” was the first thing from Beckett’s mouth when he walked into the room with A.J. at his side.
Chris and her other brothers must’ve still been out on the property. Did Shep and Caleb know how to “secure the perimeter,” as A.J. had called it? At this point, she had no freaking idea how much her brothers knew about any of this stuff.
“It’s not too late to back down,” Beckett went on, sidestepping Jesse, his eyes lingering on him as he moved past. Oh, the anger was still there. At the highest of levels.
“He’s right,” Jesse said in a low voice while peering at A.J. “We can protect you instead of putting you right in the line of fire.”
“Call off this bullshit wedding. Please.” Beckett strode past Rory and Bear to get to his sister.
Savanna nudged Griffin in the side before taking his hand and leading him from the room, followed by Rory and Bear.
Her two brothers and Jesse didn’t budge. Well, they didn’t leave the room, at least.
“Jesse thinks this fucker will wait until he’s married for his revenge, so why rush this? Why get married at all?” Beckett hissed. “I get that he won’t wait forever, and his patience will eventually run out. And I understand you don’t want to live in fear and protective custody until then since the man can easily figure out you’re still who . . .” He let go of a breath. “But—”
“But why wait? If we can draw him out sooner, then there’s one less bad guy in the world we have to worry about, right?” Ella pointed out, working through the same thoughts that had led her to the marriage decision last night.
One less bad guy in the world. That’d been Jesse’s job, hadn’t it been? To take out those bad guys. But that didn’t alleviate the achy pain in both her stomach and her chest when she thought of the man she’d always loved as a contract killer.
“We can’t even confirm this guy knows Jesse was on the long gun that day taking the shot,” A.J. drawled.
Ella quickly circled the table so she could put all three guys in her view. Jesse’s back was to the room, eyes on the fire, though, so she could only see the hard lines of his back moving as he took in what appeared to be deep breaths.
A.J. swiveled his American flag ball cap backward and folded his arms. “The CIA didn’t provide the Bulgarians with Jesse’s identity. So if anyone at Bulgarian Intelligence knows and passed that intel along to our bad guy, that means someone from Bulgarian Intelligence had eyes on Jesse the day of the hit last year to identify him. The traitor just left out the major detail to Zoran that Jesse didn’t kill his wife. But in my opinion, that’s the only way Zoran did or will find out. There’s almost always an insider helping out.”
A.J. was a conspiracy theorist, and Ella wasn’t so sure what he was talking about. Sofia. The Bulgarians. Zoran. She didn’t know the details yet, but A.J. was pretty damn smart, and she’d be inclined to believe him without question.
“And what do you think?” Ella asked, assuming Jesse would know she was speaking to him, and he slowly turned and faced her.
“My old boss at the Agency is following leads, but he thinks we ought to assume Zoran will or already has learned my name. He still wants me to go back to work for him, though. I was never undercover on jobs, so my identity being known is more of an inconvenience in his eyes.” Jesse was quiet for a moment. “Pretty sure that’s my old boss’s main objective. To get me back.”
“Back?” Ella hadn’t meant to gasp, but yeah, it happened.
“I’m not going back. I’m with Falcon now,” Jesse quickly said. “But that didn’t stop my old boss from throwing out your name to try and put the fear of God in me to ensure I handle this hit personally.”
“If anyone’s going to put the fear of God in you, it’s—”
A.J. slapped a hand against Beckett’s chest, cutting him off, as well as stopping him from taking another step toward Jesse.
“So, you see, the wedding’s not necessary,” Beckett said instead of trying to take a swing at Jesse. “Because Falcon can stop this guy before he learns Jesse’s name. Hell, Falcon can stop him even if he already knows Jesse was the shooter that day. And we’ll keep you safe in the meantime just in case.”
Ella peered at Jesse again to get a read on him. His face was blank. So she looked to A.J. for answers. “Do you think you can find him before he finds you?” she asked. “If he hasn’t already, that is.”
“We have a lot of resources at our disposal. But we should assume the worst, and that’s that Zoran already knows Jesse’s and your name,” A.J. said solemnly.
“How can you be okay with allowing our sister to go to Paris and lure out a cold-blooded killer?” Beckett’s anger was now directed toward A.J.
“Marriage or not. Paris or not. If the bastard knows Jesse shot him, then Ella’s his target no matter what,” A.J. reminded Beckett, sounding almost like he was on Ella’s side, which was both surprising and a change from how he’d first reacted to the idea last night.
“I can’t watch another fight,” Ella whispered, moving between Beckett and A.J. with outstretched hands. “I can’t deal with this right now. We all need to be on the same side.” She released a shaky breath. “I didn’t sleep last night. I’m gonna go lie down.”
“I’m so sorry, Ella,” Jesse said in a low tone, taking her by surprise. His gaze swiveled to A.J. and then to Beckett before moving back to her. “I’m sorry you have to marry a man like me,” he added, his voice cracking as he started to leave.
“Fake,” she called out, feeling just as broken as he’d sounded. “It’s only fake,” she whispered. He looked at her from over his shoulder, his mouth a tight line, and that small nod from him had her legs buckling.
There had never been, and she doubted there would ever be, anything truly fake about how she felt about that man. So much for going to Paris to get over him.
She was now going as Ella Mae McAdams.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jesse stroked his jaw and looked down the hall toward the guest room where Ella had been holed up since the showdown that morning in his living room.
She’d refused to join them for the lunch Savanna had prepared, and thirty minutes ago, A.J. was forced to call through the door to let her know Jesse’s teammates had arrived. Not greeting Jesse’s teammates, even for a minute, wasn’t like Ella at all. Southern hospitality ran in her blood.
To be fair, she had every right to want some time to herself. And she really didn’t need to hear any details about the case, which might only further upset her. Hell, he was struggling to focus on what his two team leaders had said during the last few minutes, too busy wondering if Ella was lying in bed crying.
Jesse wanted to knock down the door, pull her into his arms, and take away all the misery and pain he’d caused her. All he’d ever wanted for that woman was happiness. And to be free from harm. But he couldn’t provide either of those things for her. At least, he never thought he could.
One thing was for certain, he was now the reason she was not only unhappy but also why her life was in danger.
“Ella needs time. And space,” A.J. said as if reading Jesse’s thoughts, and Jesse was glad he was the only Hawkins brother there right now. A.J. had insisted on sitting in with the Falcon team as well as having a say in any plans involving his sister.
Beckett was at work, but he’d taken his daughter with him. He was on edge, and of course, paranoid about someone coming after the people connected to Jesse or Ella.
And Chris was with Rory and A.J.’s wife and son at the Hawkins Ranch to keep an eye on them.
“I could try and talk to her again,” Savanna offered, stepping away from the kitchen counter and free from Griffin’s arms.
“Thank you,” Jesse said, managing to clear his messy thoughts for a moment to answer her. Savanna sent him a polite smile he didn’t deserve before heading toward the hall.
“You two knew, right?” A.J. jerked a thumb between where Carter and Gray sat at the kitchen table, working side by side once Savanna was gone. “You knew Jesse was a hitman before he joined y’all.”
Carter and Gray exchanged a quick look, and Carter nodded, his eyes moving to where Jesse stood with his back to the wall by the door.
A.J. shook his head but didn’t utter a word as he went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. The look of disgust on his face made his thoughts on the matter clear enough.
“Well, the rest of us didn’t know, but I figured there had to be something special about him,” Jack London, their resident comedian on the team, chimed in. “Or maybe weird is the right word.” He made a show of cringing. “Spooks. They’re not my favorite people.”
Not only did Jack look like Ryan Reynolds, but he had the same wit and style of humor as the actor. He’d been in the Army Special Forces, same as Gray, and the two men had been best friends growing up.
After his time in the Army, Jack was part of Ground Branch with the CIA before leaving to work with Gray, but he hadn’t been an assassin like Jesse. He’d been sent on ops to protect CIA officers in the field.
“Hey, my sister is still one of those spooks,” Gray reminded Jack.
“Ah, she’s different.” Jack sipped the sweet tea Savanna had made earlier, sitting across from Sydney and Oliver, who were busy working on their laptops at the kitchen island.
“Don’t forget Carter was once with the Agency,” Sydney pointed out, sweeping her blonde hair into a high ponytail before focusing back on her laptop.
“He had the good sense to leave them.” Oliver looked at Sydney, their latest recruit, and shot her a crooked smile, but she was already focused on her screen.
Well, they didn’t recruit her so much as she managed to track down their secret bunker in the mountains of Pennsylvania and demand a job. She’d been connected to the case involving Savanna, and she’d decided she wanted a career change. A pretty big one. She left her family’s multi-billion-dollar defense company to hunt bad guys with Falcon.
