Tamed

He moved their joined hands to his lap. “To be fair, I killed most of them.”

Cam’s eyes widened. “That’s how you comfort her?”

Shane never broke eye contact with her. He needed her to believe the way he did. “She’s tough. She doesn’t need to be coddled.”

“Man, Shane.” Connor groaned. “This is almost hard to watch.”

“You’re not very good at this,” Cam added.

“You’re both wrong.” She lifted their hands to her lips and kissed the back of his. “He knows just what to say.”

Once again, they were on the same wavelength. People could think whatever they wanted. Maybe he should come up with the perfect line and serve it to her, but truth was, when it came to her he didn’t need to embellish. Flowery words were unnecessary. He felt what he felt. It knocked into him, punched him in the gut and had him reeling. Rather than be scared, he welcomed the sensations this time.

“Are you sure he’s good at this?” Cam asked. “Because, wow.”

“I am not weak.” The words rang out strong and loud. She said them as if the comment resonated with her, rose deep from her belly.

Connor scoffed. “Definitely not.”

From their reactions it looked as if they all knew. The important thing was she finally got it.

Shane winked at her. “No, you’re not.”

She stood up without dropping his hand. “Then let’s go find Jeff.”

There was a topic sure to wipe out his good mood. With one last squeeze, Shane let go of her hand. “That guy is mine.”

The smile that crossed her lips could only be described as blinding. “So long as you end this, you can have whatever you want.”

He didn’t care who heard or how much crap he took for this. “Sold.”

* * *

JEFF TALKED BIG. Puffed out his chest and delivered a full blowhard recitation, complete with anecdotes about how he’d been wronged. When it came to annoying displays of minimal self-awareness, this ranked right up there.

The scene went on for almost fifteen minutes. Jeff sat at the picnic table in the park that had served as the site of one of the many shootings during the past week. Shane and Makena sat across from him. She had to listen to how he’d been set up and how the charges had been blown out of proportion. She waited for him to spin out the oldie about how he’d worked in covert ops, so no one could know the truth.

Somehow he refrained, but she sensed he had that explanation in his arsenal. He just hadn’t whipped it out yet.

When he finally started to wind down, Shane leaned in and stared at him. “You almost done?”

“You asked.” Jeff looked back and forth between them with his gaze hesitating on her for an extra beat.

Just long enough for her to start shifting in her seat. The guy ticked her off. Every word he uttered sent her temperature spiking. The way he made himself the victim and tried to sell his hours logged on the gun range as proof his military story was true. His explanation was a convoluted mess, and she doubted she could hear much more.

“Tell me about the loop.” Shane held a pen and turned it end over end on the table.

“What?” But Jeff’s tone had changed. Just a hint and only for a second, but anyone listening for it would have picked it up. And everyone was listening in.

“You are the leader of a band of misfits who lied about being in the military and being heroes, and now get together to whine.” Shane laid it on thick.

She almost cheered. Jeff didn’t fear her but he might fear Shane. Or he would if he was smart.

Jeff didn’t take the insults well. His skin flushed red and a vein in his forehead popped out. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s not as well hidden as you think.” Shane passed the pen from one hand to the other. “My people found the loop and we’re going over all the transcripts now.”

“Who are your people?”

“You should be more worried about what we can do.” Shane put the pen down with a click.

Something about the smooth move had Jeff’s gaze shooting to the pen, then back to Shane’s face. “You’re bluffing.”

“Frank Jay is dead.” It hurt her to say the words. Hurt even more to realize he’d turned out to be less than the man she hoped he would be.

Jeff’s mouth opened and closed, but that was all the emotion he showed to that announcement. “That group is made up of hardworking men who had their lives turned upside down by—”

She filled in the rest of the sentence. “Their own lies.”

Jeff’s balled his hands into fists. “She—”