Hottest Mess (SIN 2)

Liam shrugged. "You two are my best friends. That entitles me to butt in."

Dallas grinned. "Yes it does."

The bartender passed them their drinks, and they stepped away. When they were out of earshot, Liam spoke softly, "And Colin? You still haven't said anything to her?"

It was a fair question. Liam had been the one to call with the news about Colin's possible involvement in the kidnapping, and both he and Dallas had agreed that Jane shouldn't know. But that was four days ago. Four days of sex and intimacy, and Dallas could understand why his friend might think he'd changed his mind.

"I haven't said a word," Dallas admitted. "Honestly, though, I'm afraid that decision is going to come back and bite me in the ass." He looked hard at Liam. "This can't drag out forever. We need answers. Tell me you've decrypted the netbook."

Liam's expression darkened. "Not yet."

"Fuck."

Liam shook his head. "We will. But in the meantime ..." He took a breath, then rubbed his temple with two fingers, a sure sign that he was troubled.

"Tell me."

Liam steered them toward a secluded corner and lowered his voice even more. "We found a lock box with old hard drives hidden under some floorboards in Ortega's house."

Dallas cocked his head. That really was interesting. "Noah's been working on them, I assume? You've found more intel on Colin?"

"Some of the data's corrupt, and some we haven't broken encryption on. It's a lot to work through, but, yeah. From what we've seen, we know that there was email correspondence between Ortega and Colin about pulling a new job."

"When?"

"That's the kicker. About a month before you were taken."

"You think they were planning the kidnapping."

"It's possible," Liam agreed. "Or they could have been talking about smuggling drugs, arms, counterfeit bills. We don't know."

"But you don't think it's any of those things."

Liam met his eyes. "Neither do you."

Dallas dragged his fingers through his hair, trying not to let his anger and frustration show on his face, just in case anyone was paying attention. "I know this man," he said roughly. "I grew up around him. He fucked up, sure--he's done jail time, he's made some stupid decisions, and he put Jane in danger, especially that time when she was eleven. But I never believed he meant to hurt her back then."

"And when she was fifteen? When you were taken? Do you believe he could have done it then? To Jane? To you?"

"No," Dallas said, then dragged his fingers through his hair. "Yes. Fuck, I don't know."

Liam hesitated, then said, "You haven't really talked to me about what went down inside those walls, but I know you well enough to know--"

"That it fucked me up. Yeah," Dallas said, his body as tense and tight as his voice. "What's your point?"

"That it was personal, man." Liam met his eyes without flinching. "Seriously personal. And so you want to rule Colin out because you know him. You like him. Hell, he's even family. Maybe not legally--not anymore--but by blood he's tied to Jane more firmly than you are. But from where I'm standing, that's not a reason to rule him out. That's a reason to drag him straight up to the top of the list."

Dallas sighed, but nodded. "I know. I've thought of that myself."

"I know you have, because you're smart and you know how this works. But I also know that you don't want to think about it because you're human and you care about him and you know it would kill Jane. So I'm playing the role of asshole here and telling you that you have to think it. You have to look at it. And if it turns out that he's our bad guy, you have to be ready to do whatever's necessary."

Liam's tone was firm, no nonsense. And when Dallas looked at his friend's face, he saw concern. He saw friendship. Most of all he saw respect.

"Thanks," he said, referring to Liam's support as much as his words. "I will."

"I've got your back no matter what. I've got Jane's, too."

"I know you do."