Fighting for Hailey, page 2
“I’m not working with the cops.”
“I meant you and me.” At a slight sound, he paused, frowned. Then he held a finger to his lips, and she nodded as he tugged her back down the hallway.
She ducked into the guest room and silently slid her backpack off as he pulled out his pistol again. He didn’t normally carry, but after what had happened to Easton—one of his best friends being kidnapped in the middle of the day with no warning, no request for ransom, nothing—he was being extra careful. Both he and Cash were. They were worth a hell of a lot more than Easton, but it wasn’t a secret they were all friends, and that Easton worked for Jesse. Which was why Jesse kept expecting a ransom, but so far nothing had come in.
The lack of ransom demand had him more worried than he wanted to admit to himself.
Moving quietly, Hailey withdrew a can of bear spray from her pack and pulled out the orange tab to unlock it. Then she slid on goggles that should have looked ridiculous but somehow looked adorable, because of course they did. He blinked in surprise at her weapon of choice, but turned back to the door as the faint sound of footsteps sounded from the kitchen area.
Stay here, he mouthed.
She lifted a dark eyebrow, which yep, that was about right. She’d never listened to anything, ever. Never believed she could be loved for just her.
Burying a sigh, he moved in front of her and eased out into the hallway. Before he’d taken a step, someone barreled into him, slamming him into the wall. His weapon clattered to the floor under the impact.
But he brought his elbow back, aiming for his attacker’s temple. The only thing he could sense was that the guy was large and definitely male.
As he swiveled, the guy punched him in the side, clearly aiming for his kidney, but thankfully missing.
Jesse managed to keep his footing as he turned, then swept the masked man’s legs out from under him in a sharp kick.
Cursing, the guy tumbled onto his back, but he was quick, struck out again with his feet.
Jesse dodged to the side when the man kicked out, clearly attempting to break his knee.
Before Jesse could move for his weapon, Hailey jumped in front of him and started spraying at the guy’s face.
The man screamed, his balaclava doing nothing to stop the stream of capsaicin spewing over his eyes and into his nose.
“That’s enough.” Jesse wrapped his arm around her middle and tugged her back when she kept spraying, careful to stay behind her as the guy writhed on the hallway floor in agony.
Groaning, the man ripped his mask off as he tried to stand, but his eyes were swollen and he stumbled, bowled headfirst into the wall, and fell back on his ass with another cry of pain.
“Don’t move, or I’ll let her blast you again.” Jesse kept his voice calm but hard as he plucked up his fallen weapon, held it on the red-eyed, snot-faced man, who was still cursing at them. “Find something to restrain him,” he said to Hailey, not taking his eyes off the man on the floor.
Jesse kept enough distance that the man couldn’t attack him from his position. Not that he was worried about the moaning guy. Jesse had training, and this man was a pathetic mess of snot and tears.
A few moments later Hailey returned, a thick cord in her hand, her goggles removed. When she went to move past him, he handed her his weapon. “Shoot him if necessary.”
“Gladly.” Her icy tone didn’t surprise him.
The guy was still groaning but didn’t fight him. Jesse rolled him over and secured his wrists behind his back, then tied up his ankles, careful not to get pepper spray on himself. Yeah, this guy wasn’t going anywhere. Jesse patted him down, found no ID and no weapons.
“Can I get some water for my eyes? Or milk?” the guy called out as Jesse stepped away from him.
They both ignored him as they moved into the living room, as if they both had the same idea. Jesse kept the guy in his line of sight as he turned to Hailey. “You know him?”
She shook her head. “No. This has to be related to Easton being taken. Right?”
Hell if he knew. “It would stand to reason, yes. But we’ve got to call the Feds.”
She gritted her teeth. “We should question him instead.”
“That sounds a lot like torture.”
Hailey simply shrugged, not looking apologetic, her tawny eyes hard. If Jesse was being honest, he didn’t mind the thought of torturing someone related to kidnapping Easton either. But clearly he had to be the voice of reason.
“I’ll call the Feds,” he murmured as he pulled out his phone. If this was related to Easton’s kidnapping, the FBI had just taken over and would need to question the guy.
“Great.” Hailey stalked away from him and disappeared into the guest room. When she came back out, she had her backpack on and a small device in her hands.
“Don’t—” He started to tell her not to approach the guy but stopped when Special Agent Robert Parker, the man in charge of the investigation, answered the phone. Jesse cleared his throat. “I’m at Easton’s condo, and a man just broke in. He’s secured, but I suggest you send someone down here to pick him up.”
Jesse hung up without waiting for a response. Yes, it was a dick thing to do, but he didn’t give a shit. He was just a civilian who’d done his duty by calling it in.
Ignoring his phone when it rang, he moved closer to the two of them as… Hailey took the man’s fingerprints. Okay, then.
“I’m just grabbing his prints before the Feds get here,” she murmured. Then louder as she stared down at the injured man, she said, “If you tell me why you’re here, I’ll wash your face off.”
“Bite me,” the man snarled, tears still streaming down his face. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like a raccoon. Only instead of a black mask, his eyes were red-rimmed.
She made a sound of disgust. “Fine, have it your way.”
The guy shifted his entire body, trying to knock her down even with his bound ankles, but she moved fast.
Hailey jumped up, her petite form easily missing the man’s jerky attempt to swipe her feet out from under her. As she moved away from the guy, she tucked her little machine into her backpack and faced Jesse. “So, I’m going to go ahead and get out of here.”
A bark of laughter escaped, but there was no humor in it as Jesse blocked her way. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Chapter 3
—Whatever it takes.—
“Yes, that’s correct. Ms. West and I arrived together and were here for a few minutes alone, when he,” Jesse nodded at the man being hauled out in cuffs, “broke in and attacked us.”
Sure, it was a crime to lie to a Fed, but Jesse sure as shit wasn’t going to tell them that Hailey had broken in. The only thing he cared about was finding his kidnapped friend, and he’d break all sorts of laws to do it.
If it came down to it, he’d simply say he gave her permission to enter via a rope and the outside patio. Because there was no planet in which he turned her over to the Feds or cops—for anything.
The man in cuffs snorted at Jesse, as if to call him a liar, but Jesse ignored him. And he also made note of the man’s reaction, but tucked that away for later. Whoever he was, he shouldn’t have known if they’d arrived separately unless he’d seen her break in—or seen Jesse arrive alone. Either way, it seemed possible that someone was watching this place.
Hailey ignored the guy too. If anything, she was ignoring everyone. She’d been unusually quiet as she sat on the couch next to him, her arms wrapped protectively around her backpack as Special Agent Parker questioned them.
And Jesse was feeling unusually protective of her. Or maybe it wasn’t unusual. He hadn’t seen her in nine years, two weeks, three days. But who was counting? Didn’t mean his protectiveness over her had ever waned.
“We’ve answered your questions more than once.” Hailey finally spoke again, meeting the agent in the eyes, that red-hot temper he remembered so well simmering just beneath the surface. Oh, that was never good. “Do we need a lawyer?”
“What? No.” Agent Parker frowned as he looked between the two of them, clearly surprised by the question. “We’re just trying to cover everything to understand what happened.”
“Well you know what happened, and answering the same questions over and over won’t do any good. And it sure won’t help you find Easton. Where are you on that, by the way?” she demanded. “Because finding him is what matters right now.”
He blinked, probably because while Hailey looked harmless and sweet, she was dynamite in a small package. A dark horse. “I can’t talk about an ongoing investigation.”
“Then I’m done here.” She stood, slid her backpack on, and shot Jesse a challenging look.
“We’re both done here. And since we arrived together, we’ll be leaving together.” He dared her to correct him, his own look just as challenging.
She gave him a smile that was ridiculously sweet—and fake to anyone who knew her well. “Sounds good to me.”
Jesse turned back to the agent, who was watching them curiously. “The condo locks automatically when you leave, so unless you need us for anything…”
Sighing, the agent stood with them. “No. But I don’t like this break-in. There’s a chance this doesn’t have anything to do with Easton Reed’s kidnapping at all, but you.” His tone was as pointed as his expression as he looked at Jesse.
“Why might this be about you?” He could hear the frown in Hailey’s voice without looking at her.
Instead of answering her, Jesse shook the agent’s hand, then wrapped his arm around Hailey to lead her out with him.
She jolted slightly, but didn’t pull away until they got to the elevator. Then she nudged him back and put a foot of distance between them. Her posture was stiff, and it was clear she was avoiding his gaze as they stepped into the elevator.
“Where are you parked?” he asked.
“Nearby.” She shoved her hands in her pockets and looked straight ahead as they descended, her jaw firmly set.
As if he was going to let her ignore him. “I’ll drive you to your vehicle.”
“No, thanks.”
“I wasn’t asking—and we’re talking.” But not in this elevator which was monitored and recorded. He’d wait until they were in his vehicle. “This way,” he said when she started for the front of the lobby.
Sighing, she turned to look at him. “Look, Jesse, I appreciate you not narcing me out, but—”
He moved quickly, crowding against her before he reached behind her and unzipped her backpack. Then he pulled out the laptop inside. Bingo. He knew she’d had something in it; she’d been cradling it like it was her “precious.”
Trapped against him as he rezipped the backpack, she nudged him once in the stomach. “What the hell are you doing, you freak?”
“This looks a lot like Easton’s,” he said, tucking it under one arm. There were a couple stickers on the front from a YouTube creator he liked. “I knew you found something in there.” Keeping his voice low, Jesse glanced over as a Fed in a blue jacket strode through the lobby door, nodded politely at the guy. “So if you want to look at it, you’re coming with me,” he whispered.
“You are so…” She let out a little growling sound that was adorable, then shoved her hands back in her pockets, her expression calculating. “Fine, whatever. Let’s go.”
He’d missed her, had so many things he wanted to say, to ask her. Because now that he was older and had some distance, he’d started to realize why she’d ended things so abruptly with him. Or at least he thought he did. Maybe she really had just been done with him, as she’d told him before she’d literally left one morning and never looked back. Never responded to any of their calls, emails, or even letters when she’d been overseas.
“So what do you know about Easton’s kidnapping?” Because if she was looking into it, she’d know more than what was on the news. Or he guessed.
She’d always been good with computers. She’d joined the Marines after high school, and from what he’d heard—aka researched personally—she’d been in Intel. Which made sense since she now ran a security branch of Redemption Harbor Consulting, Redemption Harbor Security.
She glanced around as they entered the parking garage, waited until she slid into the passenger seat of his Land Rover to finally talk. “I know that he was taken by pros. I got a copy of that doorbell recording. The two men who took him had on high-quality masks designed to block facial recognition software, but I don’t think they ever planned to be seen on camera. That doorbell was a fluke, I’m guessing, given the angle and the fact that he managed to run from them temporarily.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the headrest. “I hate the thought of anything happening to Easton,” she finally murmured.
“Me too.” He started his vehicle and steered out of the parking lot, mainly so he wouldn’t sit and stare at Hailey. Drink in every gorgeous inch of her.
It didn’t matter that years had passed between them, she still got his heart racing without even trying. Just being near her had always done that. Ever since they were fifteen and got placed in a foster home that was basically a last hope for “problem kids.” Whatever the hell that meant.
The day he’d met her, she’d knocked a kid out for picking on Easton for being gay—then she’d turned to Jesse and asked if he wanted some, her fists raised in defiance as she readied to take on someone twice her size. And that was the moment he’d fallen for her, fast and hard. No turning back after that.
“I hacked into some of the nearby CCTVs, but whoever took him was careful,” she said. “I think they switched vehicles because I never picked up that van on any cameras except for once afterward. Then it’s like it disappeared into thin air.”
“You’re right. They had to have switched. The Feds just found the van a couple hours ago, abandoned on the top floor of a parking garage. Where are you parked anyway?” Not that he planned to take her to her vehicle, but he could have someone pick it up and bring it to his place—because that was where he was taking her. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
“Oh, I actually took an Uber and had it drop me off at a nearby coffee shop. Got a drink, then went for a ‘stroll.’ Figured I’d just call for one when I left Easton’s.”
He snorted softly. “I can’t believe you nailed that asshole with bear spray.”
She shrugged as she pulled out her phone. “You can just drop me off anywhere, and I’ll grab a ride,” she murmured, pulling up her list of favorited contacts.
He tried not to stare, hated that there was a list of names he didn’t recognize. Because they weren’t in each other’s lives anymore. Hadn’t been for a long time. Some days, he wondered if he’d ever known her at all or if those years together had been a fever dream.
“So are you ever going to explain why you abandoned all of us? Just cut ties as if we didn’t live together for three years. As if you and I were strangers.”
The words were out before he could stop himself, but if he was being brutally honest, he didn’t want to stop himself. No amount of therapy was ever going to fix the giant Hailey-shaped hole inside him that she’d left. And he wanted answers.
Tawny brown eyes wide, she turned to stare at him as he pulled up to a red light. Yeah, he probably should have picked a better place than in the vehicle. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything at all. But for the first time in almost a decade, he had her under the same roof with him. He was going to say exactly what he wanted.
“You all did great without me around,” was all she finally muttered as she tore her gaze away.
“So you’re not answering. Never took you for a coward, Kitten.” He used his old nickname for her, very much trying to get a rise out of her. Because sometimes that was the only way he’d been able to get her to respond to something she didn’t want to talk about.
He’d take anything at this point as years of pain roiled to the surface and punched him right in his chest. He’d always told himself he’d be calm if he ever saw her again. Cool, calm, civilized. Apparently, he liked to lie to himself. He was never calm around her.
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Jesse.” His name, one word. Nothing more.
And he felt that word all the way to his soul.
When it was clear she wasn’t going to say anything else, he said, “How long are you in town?” She didn’t live in Virginia, but North Carolina, something he was painfully aware of.
Scant hundreds of miles had separated them the past few years, but she might as well have lived on the moon.
“As long as it takes.” There was a note of savagery in her tone, which wasn’t surprising. The Hailey he’d known once upon a time had been protective of those she’d cared about.
“Where are you staying?”
“Rented a place with my crew.”
“Are you just being intentionally vague? Because I’d like to information-share!” he finally snapped. “Easton is missing, and it’s my fault.” The words tore from his throat, a confession he hadn’t told anyone.
To his surprise, she snort-laughed. “There’s absolutely no way this is your fault.” She was matter-of-fact as her fingers flew over her phone screen, texting someone named Reese—someone she worked with, he knew, from the not-so-thin file he had on her. Yep, he had a file on her like a stalker.
And he wasn’t sorry about it.
He was headed to his home in a quiet, historic suburb, and since she hadn’t said anything about being dropped off, she was coming with him.
The traffic thinned as he entered the historic district, then the roads grew wider as he pulled into his sprawling neighborhood. Growing up, he’d never imagined he’d live somewhere with triple-paned windows, where all the brick homes had large yards, some had fences or walls, and he had enough space to feel like he was insulated.
“I was supposed to have lunch with Easton yesterday,” he said after a few minutes of silence. Not even twenty-four hours had passed, but it felt like an eternity. “But I canceled on him at the last minute because of a meeting. I should have been with him.” Jesse’s fingers tightened on the wheel, his knuckles turning white.
