Noah waved them back, not looking even a bit intimidated. “I wish I’d known about you. I would have come for you.”
Her gaze fell to the floor. “Maybe you should do that DNA test. Make sure I’m who you think—”
Noah caught her chin and tipped her head back. “I would have come for you.”
A tear slid down Jasmine’s cheek. “I didn’t want to put you at risk.” Her attention shifted to Drake. “I didn’t want to put any of you at risk.”
“Yeah, well…” Victor’s voice had roughened. “Looks like they put themselves at risk. And now they’ve got you right back in the crossfire, too.” His furious stare was directed at Drake. “Maxwell Case thought she was dead. Everyone was supposed to think she’d burned in that fire. But now you’re here, and you could’ve tipped off Case!”
“We were careful.” It was Trace who replied. Drake was too busy staring at Jasmine. She’d just hurriedly wiped away the tear on her cheek. He hated to see her cry. “No one followed us.”
“You sure about that? Cause I’m not buying that story!” Victor started to pace. “We need to move her to a new safe house. Get her out of here so we can be sure this place wasn’t compromised.” He nodded toward Saxon. “Let’s get her bag and start moving her out of here.”
The guy really thought Drake was just going to let her vanish again? “It’s not happening,” Drake said simply.
“Did you just give me an order?” Victor glowered at him. “Cause it sounded like you tried to order me around.”
“I told you a fact. Jasmine isn’t going to vanish again.”
“Since when do you get to decide her life?”
Since she became my life. He didn’t tell the jerk that. What he felt for Jasmine…that was between him and her. They needed to be alone for any more revelations.
“I want to…know you.” Noah’s voice was halting as he spoke to Jasmine. “I found out you were my sister in the same moment I found out you were dead—or, I thought you were dead.” He exhaled. “I want to know you.”
And Drake just wanted her.
So he stared at Jasmine. “You don’t have to run.” Slowly, he advanced toward her. His hand lifted. Touched the blonde hair. “You don’t have to be someone else. You don’t have to start a new life in a different place. You don’t always have to be looking over your shoulder.” That was exactly what she’d do, as long as Case was out there.
“So what is she supposed to do then?” Victor demanded.
Drake didn’t look away from Jasmine. “Stay with me. I can keep you safe. I can protect you. I can stop him.”
Her lips trembled.
“Stay with me,” he told her again, and the words were as close to a plea as he’d ever come.
“No, no way.” Victor thunked closer with his cast. “You are in way over your head, Archer. You can’t keep her safe. You can just get her dead.”
“You underestimate me,” Drake said softly.
“No, I just know what you are.” Red stained his cheeks. “I mean, big deal, so you once pulled some missions when you were playing soldier.”
Playing soldier? Oh, that jerk was pushing him too far.
“But now you spend your days drinking in casinos and flirting with women. You are in so far over your head because you’re—”
Trace’s laughter stopped him.
Drake let his own lips curl. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read in your FBI files. Jasmine isn’t the only one good at pretending to be someone else.” He let his hand fall away from Jasmine’s hair. “Maxwell is already after me anyway,” Drake told him. “So I’ll put myself up as bait. I’ll draw him out. I’ll stop him because the FBI sure as shit isn’t having any luck.”
Victor snarled at him. Yeah, the guy reminded him of an angry wolf.
“I’ll stop him,” Drake said again. “And you won’t have to run.”
But Jasmine shook her head. “He’s not the only enemy I’ve made.”
He leaned in close to her. “Do you think I’m afraid?”
She searched his eyes. Shook her head once more.
“Then stay with me.”
Silence. Tension stretched, filling that room, and…Jasmine nodded.
“No!” Victor was furious. “This is a huge mistake! Jasmine, you can’t trust this guy—”
“But I do!”
“You’re his current addiction. He wants you, and the guy is used to taking what he wants. But what happens when he gets tired of you? When he gets bored? He’ll toss you aside, and the lions will close in.”
Tired of Jasmine? “Not going to happen.” He was being patient with the FBI prick, mostly because he knew Jasmine had ties with the guy and since those ties were familial and not sexual, he was giving the man a bit of leeway.
That leeway was going to end.
“We have a helicopter waiting to take us out of the mountains,” Drake told Jasmine.
“Because your last escape flight went so well?” Victor’s face had darkened. “This isn’t happening! Jasmine, you’re going with me and Saxon. We’ll keep you safe. The way we always have. You can count on us. You know it and—”
“I want Drake.”
Victor stopped talking.
“I love you, Vic, and Saxon, you’ll always be my champion, but I…I need more.” Her voice broke. “I don’t want to start over again. I don’t want to run anymore. I want to have a real life, and I want to stop pretending.”
Victor’s face had gone slack with shock.
But Saxon…he just nodded.
Her hand curled around Drake’s. “I’ll get my bag, and I’ll go with you.”
Fuck, yes.
“But you have to promise me one thing.”