Secret Weapon

* * *

“Officer O’Neill. Get the hell out of here.” Sloan still held Janine tight to his body, his cock still embedded inside her.

“Is there something wrong, Sloan?” Liam asked.

“No, just … go get the others and go back to the bar. Ensure we’ve got privacy here.”

“Okay. Sure.”

Sloan didn’t want the others watching him and Janine. The door closed behind Liam.

“Sloan—”

“Wait.”

He held her pressed between his body and the wall. It should take only another couple of minutes.

A knock sounded at the door.

“What is it?” Sloan called.

“Cameras and audio are off,” Liam called from the other side of the door.

“Thanks,” Sloan said. “Whoever wasn’t in the room with you was watching a video feed.”

She nodded. “I figured.”

He drew back from her, immediately missing her soft body pressed against his. He strode to the cot and tugged the blanket from the top, then walked back to her and draped it over her shoulders. She grasped it and pulled it closed around her, covering her lovely body.

“Is something wrong, Sloan?”

“No. Well…” He raked a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, but I need to know. The way Liam was looking at you … Is there something going on between you two?”

She pursed her lips. “Sloan, there’s something going on between me and all the guys here. Including you.”

His lips compressed to a flat line. “Let me be clearer, then. Have you been seeing him outside the group?”

* * *

Irritation flared through Janine. “There’s no reason I should feel guilty about that.” Even though she did. “You knew the deal before we started this.”

His jaw tensed and his eyes glittered like granite. “Are you in love with Liam?”

She opened her mouth to deny it, then closed it again. The fact that he’d ask her that, and with so much emotion in his eyes, was the proof that she’d been looking for all along. Proof that he couldn’t handle any of this.

Sloan frowned, clearly taking her hesitation as an answer. Anger flared in his eyes and he turned his back on her. In total silence, he gathered his clothes and pulled them on, then left the cell, leaving the door open behind him. He strode out of the room. Janine stared at the door, her irritation ebbing away. Damn. She’d made a huge mistake starting this with Sloan. All along, she’d been afraid he’d get hurt, but it had seemed the only way to convince him there would never be anything more between them than friendship.

Now she wondered if even that would remain.

Nineteen

In a daze, Janine pulled the blanket around her, then walked across the room and out the door into the hallway. She went upstairs to the bedroom where she’d left her suitcase and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, then headed back downstairs to the bar. As soon as she opened the door, three pairs of eyes turned to her.

“Sloan left,” she said.

Liam stood up and approached her. “What’s going on with him?”

“He was … upset about something.” She gazed at Liam, then Derek and Jonas. “I’m sorry, but I’d like to go home.”