From The Ashes (Life After War) (54 page)

Marc slung an arm around Charlie's shoulders and noted they were firmer, wider than a week ago. The teenager looking at him in concern was so much like glancing in a mirror that Marc suddenly felt old.

“
You’re not. Stop it.”

Marc grinned. “Then slow down a little with the growing up, will ya?”

Charlie’s head swung toward the Mess, where a large group of new women were being instructed by Hilda. In that gaggle were half a dozen females who looked back invitingly.

Charlie stared at the tables, clearly appraising.

You don’t like anyone yet, my ass
, Marc thought.

Charlie snickered, but didn’t respond. When he’d said he wanted to be sure the first time, he’d meant it. And that required a basis for comparison. The problem was, he had yet to find anyone who compared so that he could implement the test. The woman he had his eye on was just that–a woman. These younger camp females didn't even make him stare anymore. Actually, none of the herd did since he'd accidentally seen Tracy though the peephole in the female camper. She had the biggest breasts he'd ever seen.

She was also servicing a number of the Eagles, including Kyle, if rumor was to be believed. Charlie thought that was unlikely from the way Kyle doted on Jennifer, but he didn't care. Neither of Tracy's main men were interested in anything serious–they both had other plans. At some point, Tracy would be free, and Charlie wanted her. It didn't bother him in the least that everyone called her a slut. In fact, that was part of what Charlie liked about her. He had taken the talks with Marc and Adrian to heart. She would know how to keep him satisfied, and then he'd never cheat. It was a perfect solution to all the drama that he refused to ever become a part of.

“
And if you find someone else who draws you later?”
Charlie's demon asked spitefully.
“Will you stay with someone you don't love?”

Charlie didn't answer. That was why he had to be sure. He didn't ever want to cause someone the pain that the people around him were suffering. As long as he wasn't sure, he would wait before revealing it. When he was ready to do that, however, he wanted to be set to compete for her, and the teenager moved toward the training tent for a workout.

4

Kyle’s tense shoulders in the flap made Angela sigh. “I’m not the enemy. I used to be a teammate.”

The mobster ducked into the tent, leaving the flap open. “I know.”

“
Then why the dread?”

Kyle only snorted, carefully lowering himself into the chair across from her and the small folding table. It reminded him so much of Adrian that he had to smother a frown. He’d noticed Kenn bringing it in as he climbed from the ambulance, along with a set of envelopes, but hadn’t made the connection. Adrian had her doing meetings for him. What else had he missed in his obsession?

Angela let him work through it, not interrupting with any of the scolding or praise she could have given. Kyle was an extremely smart man. He hadn’t earned his place with impulsive actions, and she was sure Jennifer wasn’t one, either.

Nor was his time with Tracy, the worry he was currently trying to hide. Kyle didn't have to be concerned. Angela approved the choice, unable to help feeling a bit vindicated that Adrian's relief source wasn't spending enough time with him to be satisfied.

“
Let's start with why. And don’t feed me that shit you've spread around the camp.
I
know better.”

Kyle flushed, forced to reveal part of his long-hidden ugliness. This was why he'd been staying away from Angela despite the incredibly strong bond they shared. “There's no way I can keep doing this job for him unless I settle my mind.”

Angela waited for him to explain, sensing the determined person headed their way.

“
I'm evil. The things I do are wrong. The Eagles are good. Getting rid of these killers is right. It's like I'm being ripped apart.” Kyle closed his eyes. “She can save me.”

“
That’s a lot to put on one pregnant girl’s shoulders.” Angela leaned forward. “Exactly how will she save you?”

“
I'll teach him that it doesn't matter if he kills, so long as it's for the greater good.”

Jennifer was in the flap, Dog at her heels.

Kyle dropped his head in shame. And concentration. There was now a door in his mind that would always be closed to her, and Kyle mourned the loss even while grateful for the return of his control.

Jennifer didn’t look away from Angela. “Am I allowed to speak for him?”

“
Yes.”

Reading them both, Angela discovered that Kyle didn’t want Jennifer to take
any
of the fallout if he were banished–that's why he'd set it up this way. How sweet. And naïve on his part. If he was voted out, the camp would find a way to hurt her for disrupting the flow of the Eagles.

“
Come in.”

Angela noted the bigger belly, the stiffness of Jennifer's movements. She looked better, but it was obvious that she was much too young for what her body had been forced into.

Kyle stood up, directing Jennifer into the chair.

“
What would you like to say?” Angela asked.

Jennifer wasn't one to play games when it came to getting what she wanted. “Kyle asked me to be his mate. I've said yes, with conditions.”

Angela’s head whipped to his in disapproval. “Really.”

The mobster groaned. “I need her, Angie. In so many ways, I can’t tell them all.”

“
And what about her needs?” Angela demanded.

“
I’m taking care of them!” Kyle snapped back guiltily. “And I’ve made their deal!”

“
But you haven’t stuck to it, otherwise we wouldn’t be here right now,” Angela retorted.

“
I
asked
him to kiss me, to be sure I wanted him.”

Jennifer’s words were clearly a lie. Kyle’s stunned face was the evidence.

Angela snorted, leaning back, “The camp won’t believe that any more than I do.”

Jennifer locked gazes with Angela. “That doesn’t matter to me. He and I have an arrangement in place, one that I like.”

There was steel in that tone, those golden eyes that resembled Dog's. Angela studied the girl openly, evaluating. “The camp will say you’re too young to know what you want or need.”

“
But he isn’t,” Jennifer pointed out. “And you all trusted him before me, right?”

Angela admired the girl’s tactics. “Yes. We never expected Kyle to react this way to any female, let alone one so young. It makes us worry.”

“
It does the same to him, but I’ve talked to Charlie. Wasn’t that how you and Brady started out?”

Angela opened her mouth to scold and realized she was trapped–by a fourteen-year-old girl who had the heart of Adrian’s
highest
Eagle. That said a lot, didn’t it?

Kyle was staring at Jennifer as though she was his reason for breathing. It was an expression she and Marc had shared for all the years of their childhood, and that included when it would have gotten him arrested. Love knew no boundaries of time or distance.

“
I’m going to recommend that you be declared an adult, so that your choices are your own.”

Angela raised a hard brow toward the surprised mobster. “That is what you were hoping for when you planned this, right?”

Kyle forced himself to talk past the lump in his throat. Why had he thought Angie hadn’t known? “Yes. She needed time to get to know me, to feel the connection. I’d never hurt her. I gave that promise during our first night together, and I meant it.”

“
And if she grows up and wants freedom? A new man? You gonna be like Kenn and stalk her?”

Kyle protested that, immediately, and Jennifer’s response confirmed the choice.

“
I’ll let her go.”

“
Like hell you will! Just be good to me, and I’ll never want anyone else.”

Kyle stood up, lost in the daze of getting of what he wanted most–to be allowed to love her.

Jennifer smiled softly, hand over her stomach. “You make me feel safe.”

“
A friend can do that, too,” Kyle offered, starting to realize how crowding her emotions, trying to give her no choice, had been wrong.

Jennifer tilted her head as he stopped in front of her. “You are my friend. You have been all along.”

“
It doesn’t have to be more,” he conceded, unable to hide the misery behind the revelation.

“
I was going to insist on that–being friends only–but something Chris told me made me realize I want more, too.”

“
That was where the… relief question came from?” Kyle asked, slowly letting his hand cover hers as the babies jostled for position.

It was as if they were alone as they worked out the bonds holding them together, and Angela took it all in, concern beginning to ease.

“
Yes. He said you would take a woman here, in secret, to keep from hurting me if I didn’t want you like that.”

Kyle stiffened. “They’ve been informed that I won’t be using their services.”

“
They? As in more than one?” Jennifer’s cute face squashed up in anger. “That makes me want to hit you!”

Kyle chuckled, delighted. “Really?”

“
Yes.”

“
You can. I’d never hit you back.”

“
Even when I tell you that I’ve already signed up for the Eagles?”

“
No. Never.”

His hand over her stomach had tensed for an instant, but she hadn't felt her usual flare of fear. It was liberating, and Jennifer finished making it clear that she wasn’t nearly as innocent as she’d led everyone to believe.

“
When we were in that farmhouse, I had to make a choice. I knew I could use the things you were feeling to control you. That’s all it was at first for me, aside from how safe you made me feel. I saw what you could do for my baby, and... I chose to lead you on. And, I’m not sorry I used you that way.”

She looked up at him with regret and victory. “I’m also not saying all this to keep you out of trouble.”

Kyle took her confession to heart and delivered one of his own. “I knew you would, Jen. I used your worry over the delivery and Safe Haven’s reaction. I’m sorry, I just…”

“
Want me,” she supplied.

“
Yes.” His hand curled protectively over the top bulge, caressing what would be his son or daughter in a couple of months. “Them, too, Jen. I can’t take away what he did to you, but I can swear it won’t ever happen again. We’ll be the family you’re missing.”

She sighed as his touch began to settle the babies down. Her pale hand against Kyle’s extremely tanned fingers was a harsh contrast, a bad omen of their compatibility, her mom might have said, but Jennifer didn’t listen to that voice. Her mom hadn’t always been right–like her being an escort.

Jennifer understood now that her mom could have been one of Adrian’s Runners if she’d wanted to be. Instead, she’d liked her life of moral depravity. Jennifer hadn’t, but that experience had kept her alive during captivity, and she was grateful for it now. Without her mom’s voice whispering, telling her what to do, she would have been one of the hundreds of corpses Cesar left in his wake.

“
I like the deal we have.” She flushed. “And when I’m older, I think you won’t scare me as much.”

Kyle pressed an intense, chaste kiss to the back of her hand. “We’ll go slow with everything.”

Jennifer stood up, silently insisting on being held, and Kyle surrounded her with his killer’s arms, heart complete for the first time in his life. He was wanted!

Angela slipped out of the tent, smiling. Love. It screwed with everyone at some point.

5

“
Why are we stopping?”

Shawn pointed toward the edge of the creek where a large group of wild turkeys were foraging in the bushes.

Neil’s truck came to a stop, lights flashing off, and Sam realized this was their prey. She was relieved. She hadn’t been looking forward to more deer.

“
You stay with Neil.”

She ignored the happily observing men in the seats behind her. “What?”

Shawn tried not to smirk. He liked Sam and didn’t want to offend her. “He switched you for our XO. You’ll play that role today.”

Sam swallowed nervously. Neil had done it on purpose, so she’d have to spend time with him.

Wasn’t that part of why you wanted to come along?
she asked herself.
You wanted human contact. Now, you’re getting it.

“
Fine!”

Sam closed the door, heading for Neil’s truck, but even in her anger, she knew not to scare the birds away by slamming it. Safe Haven needed the food.

Samantha slid into the passenger seat of Neil's truck with a sharp glare that dared him to try starting a personal conversation.

Neil wisely kept his mind on the mission. “This is what I need.”

Sam scanned the short list he’d prepared while driving, judging from the messy writing. His scrawls were usually neat and tight.

It didn’t appear to be anything she couldn’t do. “Okay.”