Vigilante Mine (39 page)

"The Keeper already knows. Things are changing, Spiritwalker. If I had all the answers, I would never have hurt you."
He shuffled toward the door but looked back, his preternaturally intelligent eyes loaded with regret.
"Or your Spirit-mate."

Change. He thought about Brennan's research, and what few answers he had already. What if Amanda's new connection wasn't Romeo's fault? What if Ryan himself had started this whole disaster, with that cursed
—
amazing, incredible
—
kiss? He brushed his fingers over her lips, then decided to find out.

He moved to the living room, flipped on a lamp, and roused Zach.

"This better be good," Zach mumbled from under the wool blanket on Amanda's couch.

Ryan tapped his earpiece to include his youngest brother. "A few days ago, Brennan approached me with a translation. An . . . explanation."

Zach sat up in a rush. The blanket slipped off and his eyes went hard as solid amber.

Ryan pressed ahead. There wasn't enough time to tell them everything, so they got the abridged version.

"A bedtime story about death and fated love and shit, just for you? Yeah, right. I buy that bit of crazy," Zach said.

Jay laughed over the earpiece. "Says the man who puts scarves on his fluffy little pet bat."

"He. Was. Cold." Zach gritted through clenched teeth.

Ryan suppressed a smile, plunging forward. "There are too many coincidences for Brennan to be wrong. And, well, Romeo backed her up."

"Nothing in there says you couldn't tell us this hours ago. Why now?" Jay asked.

Ryan stalked to the kitchen sink to fill a glass with water. He knocked it back, then admitted, "Before, Amanda wasn't hearing Romeo in her head. She talks to him like I do."

"Shit." Zach said. Pacing feet filled Ryan's ears.

"Is she okay?" Jay asked.

"For now. But I have to know what's going on. Brennan's had enough time to dig deeper, and Romeo thinks she might have answers." He shoved the emptied glass onto the counter. "I'm making the call."

Jay agreed without pause, but Zach stopped moving. "Bring her here."

Ryan turned and cocked an eyebrow his way.

"No negotiation" was written on every inch of his brother's tense muscles. "If she's getting full disclosure, and she has answers, I want to hear what she has to say."

Fair enough. Ryan nodded as Jay shot an ETA and approval over the earpiece. He clicked the mic off and turned to Zach. "When I spoke to her last, she hadn't found anything for the two of you."

"Fourteen years has been plenty of time to learn not to get my hopes up." Zach shook his head. "She'll know one of us has a talking dog and a superpower. I want to get a read on what she intends to do with that. Before we see it on the ten o'clock broadcast."

A test. Zach had a point: Brennan enjoyed the limelight. Ryan could only hope her offer to help was sincere as he took the plunge and widened his circle of trust with the press of a button. He wished he'd argued for immediacy. Brennan lived outside city limits.

Answers were hours away.

Ryan returned to the bedroom after ordering and felt a shred of envy. Having taken it upon himself to curl up by her feet, Romeo slept soundly on the bed. So did Amanda. He pulled a chair to her bedside, caught a short nap, then worried more. Mid-morning was on them when he heard laughter and caught a whiff of Chinese food. He emerged from the bedroom to find his brothers lounging at her kitchen island. Smiling. Tossing the more playful insults they shared over most meals, like everything was back to normal.

"For breakfast?" he asked, as Jay pointed at an unopened carton with a post-gallon-plus-of-coffee grin on his face.

Zach shifted to one side and revealed a row of three short glasses and a dark brown bottle of bourbon.

Surprise tugged him closer. "Is that Amanda's?"

"And your girl's got good taste." Zach waggled the bottle at him. "We were just about to make a toast."

"How much have you had already?" Incredulous, he looked between them. "Have you lost your minds? Do you have any idea what she'll do when she wakes up and learns you cleaned out her liquor cabinet?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "Do you? These are the kinds of things you learn before you move in."

"Well, I certainly don't want to find out the hard way." Wait. Whoa.
Move in?
Ryan narrowed his eyes.

"Personally, I'm more interested in what she'll do when she meets your ex." Zach sent Jay a sly look. "Exes?"

"So Ry, you're telling us you've no interest whatsoever at how well a certain spirit guide likes sharing his doghouse when the good detective discovers you're
—
" Jay aimed a thumb toward the two hanging suits, shaving kit, toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, and open suitcases full of his less formal clothes . . . all parked near Amanda's couch. "
—
living together."

A pained groan wrenched from Ryan's throat. "I'm already going down for Klepto. You drink that, it's on you. Damn, guys, it's not even noon."

Zach poured a finger in each glass, then lifted his as Jay took up the toast. "To secrets."

Madness.

Necessary.

The closeness, the pranks, the laughter. Family. Necessary, like durable, simple duct tape for his battered spirits.

Amanda chose that moment to stir.

"You're both dead men," Ryan said, their soft laughter bolstering his walk to the bedroom door.

They were crazy, but they were his.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Amanda was sitting
on the edge of the bed, her shoulders hunched, the silk mask Jackson had tied around her head stretched between her fingers. Framing her collarbone was a thinner, teal and white striped sweater, instead of the bulky orange turtleneck he'd dressed her in for warmth overnight, and her feet were bare.

"There's my hero," she said, her voice disarmingly quiet.

She brushed loose curls of blond from her cheek as Ryan closed the bedroom door behind him. He didn't deserve the title any more from her than he did the rest of the city. For the sake of the people he represented and employed, he could accept the half-truth of the public views. Behind closed doors and out of camera range, however, this woman knew the truth, and from her he wanted
—
deserved
—
her ire.

"Pulling you out of that tub doesn't excuse what I've done." His palms itched to hold her, but he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Dale's hunting the man who attacked you."

"Let's hope he has more luck than the last time." Her shoulders straightened and she looked up.

Blazing blue. Not iced and walled over but hot, fiery. Sparring ready. The liquor consumption in her kitchen was off the table. This was between the two of them alone. Ryan swallowed past the lump in his throat and moved to the side of the bed.

"You saw the mask by the first body," she said. "You knew where I'd take this."

He nodded. "I suspected."

Amanda scooted off the bed and faced him. "It's why you went looking for me that night."

"Partly."

"You deliberately misled me. You attacked me in the street, dragged me through a firefight, told me you'd meant to kill me, that you missed
—
"

"I never said I wanted you dead!" He narrowed his eyes. "Just because you took it the wrong way
—
"

"Oh, save it. I took it the way you intended me to." Her lips tightened.

He jerked a hand through his hair. "Misdirection kept you safe."

"You shot me!" Her anger steamrolled, her voice loud enough there was no way the household could miss it.

"And I tried to make amends."

"By taking me straight to the people you're really working for?"

"No." The sting of accusation brought a blaze to life in his gut. "Klepto is a cover. We're not working for
—
We do
not
support the syndicates."

"You involve yourself in their thefts. You cut deals with a crime boss. How is that not support?"

"We're keeping them from growing too strong. We're trying to stop the war. Involving you was an accident." How did he make her understand?

"You seem to commit a fair number of accidental crimes," she snapped, and then paced in a fury of motion across the room. "Shooting me, stealing case files, disrupting a police investigation
—
oh no, wait, that one doesn't count. You were there when Dale took my badge. You
knew
I was fishing. You knew I couldn't pull you in without evidence, and you let me run around as if you had it the whole time. If you're so innocent, if Klepto's some vigilante character who has no bearing on this case, why didn't you point me in a different direction?"

"Would you have believed me?" he asked.

Her nostrils flared.

"It was too late," he said. "Shiv had already IDed you. I had to keep Klepto's cover intact, protect my family. I'm trying to do the right thing, and I wanted to keep you safe, Amanda."

"I don't need to be coddled! I had
—
have
—
a job to do and I'm good at it." She sucked in a harsh breath and her eyes closed for a moment. "I needed you to be honest."

Great job I've done on that front.
She'd held more of his truths than almost everyone else in his life, but none that mattered when it came to his identity and his role in destroying her career or endangering her life. He opened his mouth and she cut him off, slicing her hand through the air.

"Don't. You've done nothing but lie, steal, and play these games from the moment we met. You hide behind a mask at night, you hide behind glasses during the day. What else was a lie? The kiss? The first one? All of them?" She balled the ribbon of silk in one fist and threw it in his face. The mask fluttered to the floor between them. "The sex?"

"No, Amanda."

"I need a truth, Ryan. One truth."

I love you.

"The women," came out of his mouth instead. "The women were
—
"

"The women?" Her voice cracked around the edges. "So on top of everything else, I was just another easy
—
"

"The women were a lie!" He pinned her fiery gaze with one of his own. "I lied for the camera, Amanda. Not a single one of those dates in the press, on the news, has ever been real."

Until Amanda.

Her eyes widened and she clenched her fists. "You lied to an entire city about your love life?"

Ryan gave a slow nod. "A show for the press."

"Why would you do that? And don't you dare tell me for your investors, like your glasses
—
playboy doesn't exactly scream responsible." She blew out a harsh breath. "Why do you have to shut everyone out? Where do the lies end?"

"Where would you like to start?" he asked.

Amanda cocked her head to the side and nibbled on her bottom lip.

A knock cracked on the bedroom door. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's someone here who'd like to see Detective Werner."

Jay. Ryan scrubbed a hand over his face. Damn it, no. They needed time to work through this.

"We're not done. We'll be out in a minute," he said as Amanda's cheeks flushed.

"Your brother is here?" she hissed.

A sigh escaped him. "They're camped out in your kitchen. We've worked through your maps with Dale all night."

The door swung open and Ryan turned with a jerk to see a tall, polished woman with blond hair and a thunderous expression to match what Amanda's had been just minutes before. "No, you should come out now. Just you, young man. Out. Now. I need a word with my daughter before you finish moving in."

"Mom?" Amanda's expression wasn't angry now. It morphed from chagrin to shock, and then to confusion in an instant. She turned those blue, blue eyes his way. "What do you mean, 'moving in'?"

"I haven't moved in." Defeat welled in his chest. "There are suitcases in your living room. My brothers' idea of a joke. Just a misunderstanding."

"Another one?" Amanda asked, her voice thin.

He shot her a desperate look. "Sweetheart
—
"

"Don't." She closed her eyes, pressed her lips together. "Call Dale and let him know I'm up."

The door shut
behind the man her heart couldn't forget.

She didn't want him to go.

Her knees threatened to give out and Amanda would've dropped onto the bed, but her mother wrapped her in a comforting embrace.

She would not cry. She wouldn't.

"Do you want him here?" her mother asked softly.

Amanda met her penetrating look and chewed on the inside of her cheek. She wasn't done with him. They were far from done. Ryan had answers, and she wanted to understand his actions. She wanted him to trust her with every single truth. Was that what he'd been offering?