Bane

I didn’t respond because I was the bad and the ugly in people’s lives. The sharp pain of remembering Jasmine being able to see past my faults sobered me. This was too much. After Maren fell asleep, I’d slip out of bed and catch some sleep on the couch.

Arms tightened around me as I came to. Light seeped through the drawn curtains. What time was it? I looked at my watch and saw it was after eight. Hell, I’d slept four hours. I’d slept with Maren. My instinct was to pop out of bed like I’d planned. Maren nuzzled into me, still fast asleep and I stayed put while I worked on relaxing my now rigid muscles.

Bane, calm the fuck down.

I waited for the guilt to assault me. It happened every time after I slept with someone—like I betrayed Jasmine. That feeling had yet to consume me like it normally did. The lack of guilt bothered me. I deserved to pay for what I’d done for as long as I lived. I hadn’t pulled the trigger, but I’d led them to my family.

Discrete Encounters had been involved

, but the question that bothered me was if Hampton set all this in motion. Or was Hampton a pawn in this game of revenge? It was shitty of me to think he’d betrayed me after all we’d been through, but I trusted no one. I hoped to hell that wasn’t the case.

There was no one else I could call that I either trusted or wanted to drag into the middle of this mess. With Eric Thornhill still alive, there was no telling who else he’d sold me out to with the amount of intel I knew he’d given the drug cartel.

“You’re tense.” The sexy sleep-ridden voice had my dick stiffening and pushing away my other thoughts.

Not commenting, I rolled Maren onto her back and grabbed a condom from the pouch where I’d put the stash I’d brought to bed last night. Grabbing the wrapper, Maren tore it. “How many more of these do we have?”

“Not near enough.”

Sucking on her neck, Maren fumbled as she tried to roll on the condom. “Bane, I can’t concentrate.”

“You’ll get it.” I moved farther down to her nipple, gliding my tongue around the area. Her hand fell from my dick only rolling the condom on halfway. I traded nipples while finishing the job for her. Maren was boneless to my assault. Lining myself up, I took her mouth as I pressed against her core, entering at an achingly slow pace.

As her heat closed around me we moaned in unison, seeking that release that let us escape.

Breakfast had been delivered. An array of muffins and fruit laid on the small table. There wasn’t much in the choice of food on the train, but hopefully Maren liked some of this. I’d relocated the surveillance equipment.

Maren was in the shower as I checked all the cameras. None of the alerts went off through the night. I took a sip of coffee. What I needed to do would have to wait until Colorado. With the sound of the train, I couldn’t make a phone call. And the connection wasn’t secure enough to investigate in depth.

Coming out in fresh clothes, Maren sat at the table. Delicately, she tore the wrapper and ate. For now, the fewer people who saw us the better.

“Any progress?”

A frustrated sigh escaped. “Nothing new. I’ve combed over my saved files of Eric’s death and there’s nothing out of place. Everything down to the tattoo on his hand matches the photos.”

I spun the computer around to pull up the two photos side by side only showing the hands. One was from the day Eric Thornhill supposedly died and the other was from my house when he’d looked into the camera.

It was a small tattoo of a double infinity symbol.

Cocking her head, Maren studied the photo. “Wow. They are the same.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense.” I scrubbed a hand down my face as the train temporarily stopped at a station. A few people boarded. Continuing, I added, “The timing feels off for everything. Why introduce us and then come after us right away? Frank was not in control of himself. Anger took over and eliminated his rational thinking. The guy in the back of the truck was clearly agitated with him when he came down. I’m not sure if he was meant to stall me or not expose his hand so soon.”

Maren took a pensive sip of orange juice. The long-sleeve shirt hugged her tits. I wanted to take her again. Hell, my need was only growing and I needed to get control over it. “Is there anyone you can think of that would want to hurt you?”

“The right information in the right hands. Yeah, there are a lot of people out there. With what I did, the job I had before walking away, I made enemies except my identity wasn’t known.” Rubbing my forehead, I knew I’d never be free of my past unless I completely vanished.

Maren’s eyes grew a little wider. “Oh.”

“Yeah, angel. I’m dangerous.” There was no mistaking the truth in my voice.

“I don’t think you’d hurt me. You’re a good person, Bane.” Her voice was small as she looked down. I wasn’t sure if that meant she didn’t believe her words or didn’t want to see my reaction.

“No. I’m not. I’m as bad as they come, angel. But, I’ll keep you safe.”

I would not fail this time.

THE TRAIN STOPPED in Denver, Colorado. A whistle sounded letting the passengers know it was okay to disembark. After being cooped-up for two days, I was done with trains. We hadn’t left the confines of our room the entire time. The nearly nonstop sex had been a distraction, but Bane was restless like a caged beast. In the two days we’d traveled, no new information had been discovered due to the limitations of Bane being able to connect securely. Technology was not my thing.