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Clay
Nick had no reason to be standing there with such a smug smile. In fact, Nick had no reason to be standing there at all. I was still mostly undressed, but at least Jayce just had to zip his pants up — he was bold enough to stare down the gun aimed at us while he did it. Either Nick wasn’t as angry as the two men in the parking lot, or he’d heard what happened to them. Whatever it was, he didn’t stop him, and he didn’t give his gun a threatening wave until Jayce started to reach for his bag.
“I don’t think so, Jayce. I’m not an idiot — you aren’t getting your hands on a weapon. Now then, why don’t you just hand over your little friend there and we can make this easy? I’ll even tell your dad you went along with it.”
“Why aren’t you dead?” Jayce sounded casual, but I could see the tremor in his shoulders. I could see the way he took the slightest step to the left so he covered me. I thought about getting a weapon in that moment and simply killing Nick, but instinct told me that wouldn’t be a good idea.
Something told me that there was probably more backup this time, and if shots were fired, there was no way the cavalry wasn’t going to come running in. I had to play this smart. There was no other way to do it.
“Why would your dad kill me when I was right? I knew something was off about your little fuck buddy the second I saw him. It wasn’t hard to figure out what it was.” Nick looked entirely too pleased about whatever knowledge he had, and something in my chest was slowly constricting.
“Shut up.” The words came out before I could stop them, and I pushed myself forward before Jayce had a chance to stop me. Maybe I was willing to risk the backup after all, because the expression on Nick’s face told me that whatever he was about to say, it was nothing good.
“I don’t think so. I think it’s about time we told Daddy’s favorite boy who he’s been sleeping with. What do you think, Clay? Should we just rip the bandaid off?”
Why did he sound so sure? Why did he know anything? I’d been so careful making sure my tracks were covered, so careful when I constructed my little life, my debt. I was careful when I’d killed Keyton, and I was careful when I made sure that it looked like he was still alive.
So what the fuck did he know?
“I said shut up.” Why didn’t I have anything better to say? My eyes flickered to Jayce, who was staring at Nick with a thoughtful expression that made the hair on my arms stand up. He looked calm, but I could see the danger in his eyes, hidden behind glacier blue and ready to destroy the world.
“Come on, Jayce. I really want this to go smoothly. The sooner I get him back to your dad, the sooner we can get back to business. If I bring him intact, I bet we’ll both be in his good graces. Now,” he gestured with his gun. “Come on. We’re on a time limit.”
“You’re not taking him anywhere, Nick. Didn’t you get that before? I’m not letting you hurt him. I’m not letting anyone hurt him.” Jayce’s voice was cool, careful. Whatever information Nick was threatening us with, he seemed ready to ignore it. I wasn’t sure if that made something in my chest settle, or if it made me more nervous — the man in front of us grinned like he’d almost hoped Jayce would say that.
“He’s a traitor, Jayce. You get that, right? He’s a plant. He was sent here by the fucking government to take out the Holden family.”
Fuck.
There was no way he could know that. And besides, he was only half right. I’d been sent here to take out Marcus. Maybe orders had changed, and they wanted me to bring in Jayce, but…
“Bullshit.” Jayce’s voice was still that careful, calm precision, but his eyes turned to me like he needed confirmation. Like he needed to see the same declaration on my face that came from his mouth.
The problem was, I was trying to figure out how in the fuck Nick could have gotten the information he had. Unless they had this whole hotel bugged? But how would they know where we would come? They shouldn’t have been able to get anything like that set up.
“Jayce, why would I lie to you about this, man? Come on, just make this easy.” I’d been wrong about something else, too. Nick wasn’t quite as dumb as I thought he was, because at least he was trying to work this out peacefully. Had they sent him to clean up the last people who’d tried to hurt us?
“Jayce, listen. We should just go.” Something very close to panic was rising in my chest. Suddenly, I didn’t want to know how he knew.
I didn’t want Jayce to know how he knew. I was willing to confess everything, if it meant I was the one who got to do it.
“Clay —”
“Please, I want to leave. I want us to leave.” The word us obviously rocked through his senses again. He didn’t stop me when I stepped forward, but his hand skated along my arm and he cupped my cheek.
“We can go. It’s fine.” His fingers trailed down to squeeze my shoulder gently before he turned to Nick. “The question is, do you want to live through us leaving, or would you rather I save you the pain of whatever Marcus will do to you if you come back empty-handed?”
“What, do you need proof? God, Jayce. You really do think with your dick, don’t you?” Nick pulled out his phone, and the temptation I had to shoot him before he did anything else was so strong I nearly choked on it. I had to do this right, though. I couldn’t… this was…
This was all going upside down.
“Fine. I’ll bring him in. Just… let me handle it. Okay?”
“Good. We’ll see you tonight.”
I stared in wide-eyed shock as my own voice played over the speakers. It was the conversation I’d just had — the conversation I’d lied about having. Jayce didn’t need to hear. When the words I’ll bring him in sounded, his hand on my shoulder tightened, fingers biting into my skin.
“Jayce, I can explain, I —”
