Hide From Evil (44 page)

Talia could have all the fresh starts she wanted, but she couldn’t prevent her picture from appearing front and center on every newspaper in Seattle, as she was alternately portrayed as both the mercenary gold digger who looked the other way while her wealthy keeper used his monster of a nephew to carry out the murders of high-class prostitutes, and as the victim who had barely escaped with her life when that same nephew, Nate Brewster, known better under his infamous moniker the Seattle Slasher, had set his sights on Talia.

But what was big news in Seattle was nothing in a bustling Palo Alto, she reminded herself. Sure, the revelation of Nate as the Seattle Slasher had been a national story two years ago when it resulted in the release of Sean Flynn from death row. A few months later, it was revealed that David Maxwell, one of Seattle’s most prominent citizens, a man who had married into a family often referred to as Washington state’s version of the Kennedys, had not only been the shadowy force behind the Seattle Slasher but had also run a criminal organization that netted millions of dollars and was linked to the Russian Mafia.

At that point, there had been magazine articles, front-page stories, even features on news programs like
48 Hours
and
Dateline
. Though Talia had refused to be interviewed, her involvement with David Maxwell meant her name was dragged through the mud with his, and for about a week or so there, she was definitely on the country’s radar.

But news moved fast, especially in the Internet age. Though Seattle-ites had clearly reveled in the opportunity to rehash one of the few lurid scandals to hit their comparatively white-washed city, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, Margaret Grayson-Maxwell’s arrest and the nefarious activities of her dead husband were lost in the ether.

No reason for anyone to associate Talia’s name with the ugly events of her past. Not unless someone was deliberately seeking, in which case nearly every lurid detail was on the Internet for anyone to find.

But so far no one seemed inclined to go digging, or to bring it up if they had. She shook off her unease. No matter what was going on in Seattle with Margaret Grayson-Maxwell or anyone else involved in the scandal, Talia had moved on. She was safe now.

She moved to the other end of the bar to clear away two wine glasses and a picked-over plate of calamari.

“Talia!”

A smile stretched over her face at the sound of the familiar voice. “Rosie, you’re early,” she said, turning at the sound of her younger sister’s voice. She wasn’t hard to spot in a crowd. At five-foot-nine, Rosario Vega was a good four inches taller than Talia, easy to spot in the mostly seated crowd.

But even without the height, Rosie would have stood out. At eighteen, she was finally growing into the huge brown eyes, long nose, and full mouth that had given her a mismatched look throughout her childhood. Now the bold features gave her a beauty that was as arresting as it was unique.

Something that didn’t go unnoticed by a single straight man in the bar.

Except, Talia noted as she felt her smile fade, by maybe the boy-man to Talia’s left, looking bored as he stood next to Rosario, hands stuffed in the pockets of his scruffy black hoodie. “Oh, and I see you brought Kevin,” Talia said, trying to keep the acid from her tone, but failing if Rosario’s warning look was anything to go by.

“Still cool if we have dinner here?” Rosario said as she plopped onto a bar stool. She motioned for Kevin to follow, who joined her with an eye roll.

It was on the tip of Talia’s tongue to remind Rosie that the invitation to dinner on Talia’s tab did not include shiftless twenty-three-year-old sixth-year seniors who should be out working for a living instead of sucking off their parents’ seemingly limitless college fund while preying on hapless, wide-eyed freshmen.

Instead, she bit out a sharp “Sure.” Sure, she’d forgo her share of tips tonight to pay for the extra forty or so dollars of food and drink Kevin would undoubtedly suck up. Sure, she’d do her best to ignore the way Rosario would tune out everyone, focus all of her attention on Kevin, bouncing around him like a puppy, while he mumbled monosyllabic replies through a mouth stuffed with food.

Because two years ago, when the tightrope she’d been walking had snapped out from under her, Talia had promised herself, promised Rosario, that she’d make a normal life for them. A life where Talia didn’t have to hide out in a safe house, away from Rosario, who was forced to live under an assumed name with a family of well-meaning strangers. A life that didn’t include living under the protection of full-time paid bodyguards.

And plenty of normal college girls had boyfriends, often directionless, disinterested, unworthy boyfriends like Kevin. Part of being normal meant getting your heart bruised by a guy who didn’t deserve a second of your time, a lesson Talia fervently hoped Rosario learned sooner rather than later.

And really, who was she to judge? Kevin might be a shiftless douche bag, but at least he wasn’t the force behind an international criminal organization that had resulted in the suffering and deaths of countless innocent women. Talia still held the gold medal in the falling in love with the absolute worst person on the planet award.

Talia swallowed hard and forced the memories of David’s threats against herself and Rosie from her mind. David was dead. The truth was out.

He couldn’t hurt them anymore.

She put menus in front of Rosario and Kevin and excused herself to fill an order for the main dining room. When she got back, she automatically put a Coke in front of each of them.

Kevin let out a little huff of disgust and pushed the glass back in her direction. “Can I get a bottle of Budweiser?”

“I don’t think—” Talia started, only to be interrupted by her sister.

“God, Tal, why do you do this every time? He’s legal, and you know it.”

“You’re not, and I don’t think he needs to be drinking with you—”

Kevin started to stand. “Fine. I’m supposed to meet Sam at the Z-bar anyway,” he said, referencing a bar across town that was popular with the students. A bar underage Rosario wouldn’t be able to get into.

Rosie grabbed his arm in a vise grip. “No, she’ll give you the beer!” As she spoke, she shot Talia a look that shouted,
Don’t ruin this. You owe me. You owe me big time.

Talia knew she could spot Rosario’s boyfriend a whole truckload of beer and it wouldn’t make a dent in what she owed Rosie for bringing a monster into their lives. She
thunked
the bottle in front of Kevin and started to ask what they wanted.

A low voice edged with menace cut her off before she could open her mouth. “You better not be driving her anywhere, punk.”

Kevin whirled on his seat with a sullen glare. “Fuck off,” he snapped. Then swallowed hard and shrank back when he got a good look at the man behind him.

Talia couldn’t blame him. At easily six-foot-four with muscles on top of muscles, bristling with hostility as he stared down at Kevin with glacial blue eyes, to say Jack Brooks was intimidating was the understatement of the year.

Talia would have been scared, too, had she not been so shocked by the sight of him, here, in the flesh, after so long.

“Jack!” Rosario squealed, unfazed as she hurled herself in for a hug. Talia felt something in her chest twist as she watched those heavily muscled arms circle Rosario and give her a squeeze.

“Hey, kiddo,” Jack said, as he shot another glare at Kevin.

Then Talia’s heart did a strange flip as Jack met her eyes over Talia’s head and he flashed her a grin that softened the harsh lines of his face and warmed the glacial blue of those eyes. “Hey, Talia.”

“Jack,” she replied with a nod, proud of the way the single syllable did nothing to hint at the turmoil his unexpected appearance was causing.

She held herself still as he released Rosario and did a quick scan of her face and body. There was nothing in his gaze that hinted at anything approaching lust or attraction—for which she was fiercely grateful. Still, Jack had a way of looking at a person that made them feel like he knew all of their secrets, even the ones they didn’t know they were hiding.

Then again, she supposed of all people, Jack did know everything about her. The good, the bad, the horrifically ugly.

“You’ve been working out. You look strong.”

Talia nodded, unsure if she should thank him, unsure it was a compliment. There was a time, a lifetime ago, when she would have come back with something snappy, shown some attitude, run her hands over her own body to make sure Jack got a good look at what she had to show.

Now her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, her brain spinning with a thousand things she wanted to say, wanted to ask.

And yet she remained tongue-tied, unable to make even the simplest small talk with the man who had saved her life.

Rosario was more than capable of taking up the conversational ball. “When I talked to you a couple weeks ago, you didn’t say anything about coming down.”

Broad shoulders shrugged under his jacket. “It came up last minute. Danny just landed a new client and they needed me to come down to help out.” Jack managed the Seattle operations of Gemini Securities, a firm based in the San Francisco Bay Area that specialized in corporate and personal security. The firm was owned and operated by Danny Taggart, one of Jack’s team members from his time as an Army Green Beret, along with Taggart’s younger twin brothers.

“When did you talk to Jack?” Talia asked, wincing at the bite in her tone.

Rosario shot her an exasperated look. “A couple weeks ago?” She looked to Jack, who nodded in affirmation.

“We talk a few times a year, just to catch up,” Jack said.

“Oh,” Talia said. “I didn’t realize you two were so close.” Talia busied herself wiping down the already immaculate bar, telling herself there was no reason to feel this stab of hurt over the fact that Jack and Rosario were apparently BFFs when the only contact she’d had with him in the past year and a half was a terse one-line e-mail refusing any payment for the security services he and Gemini Security had provided while keeping her and Rosario safe from David’s reach. Hadn’t she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his retreating back, because it meant David was no longer a threat and she could finally move on with her life?

“He helped me with physics last quarter,” Rosario offered. “Since that was his major in college.”

Talia nodded and refilled another customer’s glass of sauvignon blanc. She didn’t even know Jack had gone to college, much less studied physics. She wasn’t, she told herself, jealous of the fact that Jack apparently took the time to talk to Rosario on the phone when he didn’t even bother to get in touch last month when the
Seattle Tribune
had rehashed the lurid details of Talia’s past.

Not that she’d wanted him to, she reminded herself forcefully. Jack was a six-foot-four, two-hundred-plus-pound reminder of everything she wanted to leave buried.

And yet, seeing him here…it awakened something inside her, something struggling to dig its way through the rubble left over from the life she’d left behind.

“So, is this the guy you told me about?” Jack’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Yes, this is Kevin, my boyfriend?”

Talia winced at the uncertainty in her sister’s voice. She looked up and caught Jack’s gaze. As their eyes met, she knew his thoughts echoed her own.

Douche bag.
His mouth tightened in resignation and in that moment she felt a little crack in the wall that had always existed between them, even after Jack had pulled her out of a basement and saved her from a psycho killer.

Kevin, so sullen his bottom lip was practically protruding, reluctantly reached out his own hand to take the one Jack offered. His thin hand was swallowed up by Jack’s massive palm, and Kevin winced as Jack gave it a firm squeeze.

“Kevin,” Jack said, his voice scarier for its icy calm. “Let’s get something straight, okay?”

Kevin nodded.

“These two have run into enough creeps for three lifetimes. I’ve taken it upon myself to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t run into any more. Got it?”

He released Kevin’s hand, and the younger man glared sullenly as he absently rubbed his sore palm. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Jack said with a baring of white teeth that couldn’t quite be called a smile. “I’m going to be in town for a few weeks, and while I’m here, think of me as their very big, very protective older brother, who will come after you if I find out you’re giving either of them any trouble.”

Kevin gave a grunt and heaved himself up from his seat. “Yeah, that’s cool and all, but I think I’m out of here. Rosario, I’ll catch you at school. It’s getting a little heavy in here.”

“No!” Rosario grabbed her coat and purse and started after him, shooting daggers at Jack.

Talia went after her and grabbed her arm. “Rosie, let him go. This is one of the only nights of the week I get to see you—”

Rosie jerked from her hold. “Damn it, Talia, let me go! Jack, you’re as bad as her, thinking everyone in the world is out to get us. Just let me live my life,” she said, whirling dramatically as she stomped after Kevin.