Page 13 of Thaddeus

I shut the door and all eyes were on us.

Whatever.

I didn’t give a shit about that, either. All I wanted was to get the fuck away from her.

Yeah, I should’ve left her cold-hearted ass in the dirt.

Her heels clacked on the tile floor as she walked away from me and my eyes landed on the fucking tattoo on her back.

Goddamn. Why was my name inked on her skin?

“I take it you two know each other,” Declan snarled. “Mind making the introductions?”

“I’m Emerson Pierce.”

“And you know Thad how?” he continued.

She pinched her lips together and her eyes shot to mine. I may’ve never discussed Emerson with my team, and I would’ve preferred never to have had to, but I bought this. And I’d have to pay.

“We dated when I was in BUD/s,” I told the room.

Max gave me a hard stare. He’d seen her in Mexico, but when he’d started asking me questions about her, I’d blown him off. I was sure he was also putting two and two together. He might not have known about Emerson at the time, but during our first work-up he’d known I was seeing someone. And when we’d gotten back and she was gone, he’d been there through that, too. Though I never told my platoon what had me in a perpetual bad mood, they’d all noticed the swift change in my attitude.

“I take it things didn’t end well,” he pushed.

Dick.

“They ended,” I bit out, not offering anymore information.

“Right.” Declan’s stare shifted from me to Emerson and he asked, “How do you know Jefferson Garcia?”

“Why’d you kill him?” Her question took me off-guard and her tone bore no indication of her feelings about his death.

That annoyed the fuck out of me. Both because she’d asked and because I couldn’t get a read on her with her features blank.

Declan continued to study Emerson, and with a shake of my head, I allowed my gaze to fall away. I couldn’t even bear to look at her any longer. I took in the room, seeing Kyle and Brooks both watching Emerson with intent fascination, probably trying to puzzle her out as well. Max, the most untrusting of the group, looked at her like she was an enemy posed to strike. Which I thought was the correct way to handle her. But it was Tatiana who looked at Emerson with pity.

I wanted to set Brooks’ wife straight, tell her that Emerson Pierce didn’t deserve an ounce of her care and concern. The woman was poisonous.

“That’s not your business. Why were you with Garcia this evening?” Dec continued.

“I don’t think that’s any of yours. I have no idea who any of you are. Why you killed Jefferson. Or why I’m here. What I do know is because of all of you, I’m totally screwed. I also know I’d like to leave.”

“Who do you work for?” Dec asked.

“No one.”

“Right. This is going to go much easier for you if you answer my questions. Why were you with Garcia this evening? How do you know him? And who the fuck do you work for?”

Declan’s demeanor had changed. The hard edge in his voice had my protectiveness roaring to the surface. I wanted to save Emerson from his ire, but she wasn’t mine to save. And the fact we’d found her on Garcia’s arm getting ready to go into a warehouse where money, drugs, and women were exchanging hands, while being entertained by the sickest shit imaginable, told me she not only didn’t get my protection but she deserved every bit of Declan’s attitude.

And it would get worse for her if she didn’t start talking.

“I told you, I don’t work for anyone. I have no idea what that even means. How I know Jefferson is none of your business. I’m leaving. Unless you’re going to keep me here against my will and torture me, I have nothing to say to any of you.”

Yeah, that last part of her little speech was a dig at me. I kept my eyes trained on Tatiana, not giving Emerson anymore of my attention.

I’d fucked up huge bringing her back here.