Second Chance Hero (3 page)

“Shouldn’t we be calling the police chief or something?”

“Or something.” He popped the top off a beer, thought about telling her now, just getting it over with. But once he did…damn, how was he ever going to justify using her like that? “Just remember the more we pretend everything is normal, the less we create questions.”

“So that kiss was normal to you?”
 

Oh, hell no.
He tried to play it off. “Come on, Lil. You know we’ve always had great chemistry.”

She didn’t deny it, which surprised him. “Don’t do it again, David.”

“You kissed me back.” He couldn’t help but tease.

“I wanted to make you suffer. It won’t happen again.”

No it wouldn’t. Because he was making sure she took her too hot to handle trust fund self and got the heck out of Texas until this was over. Of course he knew Lil well enough to know telling her that wasn’t exactly the way to get her to agree to his plan.
 

He leaned in close enough to her that he could smell her clean soap scent. “Care to make a wager on that?”

Her cheeks flushed and her eyes narrowed, but after a few seconds she smiled knowingly. “You can take it to the bank, David. It won’t happen again.”

For a moment he toyed with the idea of showing her just how quickly he could change her mind, but his phone rang and when he checked the caller ID, he knew his time was up. Reprieve over.
 

The debutant scene had prepared her for all kinds of men. Until now, Lil had understood what and who David was. The charmer. The rake. The sexy bachelor perfectly content with his single status.

Now she wondered if she’d ever known him at all. When he opened his door and invited a blond, ski slope, X-Game lover look alike into his kitchen, she told herself to bite her tongue. To wait and see what exactly what was going on before getting too upset.
 

“Lil, meet Ryan Jamison. Ryan, Lil.” David waved the new man into the room as he continued. “We’re glad you’re here because we’re in one hell of a mess, and you’re not going to like it.”

“I love it when you introduce me to a girl with words like hell of a mess and you’re not going to like it.” Ryan laughed then pointed to the living room where Rafe sat huddled on the couch, his eyes wide and frightened, the game forgotten. “Who’s the little man?”

“Just another part of the equation.” David poured Rafe another Coke and set it in front of him. “Don’t worry kid. This guy’s a white knight. You’re safe now.”

Rafe trusted David’s word completely, but Lil wasn’t so sure. There was something a little off putting about the excitement she saw in Ryan’s eyes. Something that didn’t quite add up. If she was supposed to be a hell of a mess and bad news all mixed up in one package, how come he was smiling so big? And how come David seemed to be enjoying himself?

“Okay boys. Time to spill. What’s going on?”

If possible Ryan’s smile got a little brighter. “She doesn’t know?”

David shrugged. “No sense telling until now.”

“This is Lil, right? The one?”

Were they seriously having a conversation about her as if she weren’t standing right there? “The one?”

David smiled sheepishly. “I might’ve mentioned you. You were pretty special.”

Special. Yeah, she was special all right. “Uh huh. So what’s going on here, David?”

Ryan faked a small salute. “I’m going to go shoot some bad guys with the kid. You call me when it’s safe to come out and play.”

And then he was gone and she was alone with David and his guilty bad boy smile and those lips that rocked her world.

“Okay, David. Enough. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Babe.”

She shook her head. All the babe’s in the world weren’t going to work. “Babe nothing. What’s going on? I want the truth.”

Okay, the smiles weren’t working. Neither was the wine. She needed to know anyway, but damn she was going to be pissed. “Ryan’s sort of my boss.”

Her eyebrows nearly disappeared as she looked into the den. “Sort of your boss? What happened to Mr. Andrews?”

Fast and painless like a Band-Aid. That’s what he told himself as he explained. “Andrews is my boss, too. Ryan Jamison’s my boss, but no one knows that because he’s an undercover FBI agent and I’m working with him and have been for five years, but just on the fringes. Looking for Degas links.”

She opened her mouth, closed it, looked from him Ryan and back. “You’re kidding me, right? This is a big joke.”

He tried not to let her disbelief bother him. It wasn’t so far out of the question that he could work for the good guys. “No joke.”

She sat at his breakfast bar and shook her head whispering oh my god a few times while looking at him like he’d grown an extra head or two. “I dated you for two years and you never once saw a need to mention you were working with the FBI?”

He shrugged. “It never came up.” He felt like an ass. And it was going to get worse. Damn.

“I guess I got it right when I called you today, huh?”

The words might be right, but the tone. Nah, she was definitely ticked. “Yeah. I think we’ll be able to work something out.”

“Work something out. Is that
undercover
talk for find a solution? Make sure Rafe and his family are safe?”

“Rafe will be fine now. We’ll try to find his family. But Degas is bigger, Lil, way bigger than the Hernandez family.”

“How big?”

“I already told you. He’s a monster. Everything bad you’ve ever heard of.”

“How big, David?”

Okay. She needed to know. No matter what it made her think of him. “Those students you complain about disappearing? They’re not going back to Mexico. They’re going away. Forever. Courtesy of Degas and company.”

“He’s killing them?” She looked like she didn’t believe it.

“Sometimes. Sometimes they get sold into labor camps or as sex slaves. But yeah, sometimes they die.”

The horror on her face made him want to find Degas now. Put him away for life.
 

“Rafe’s family? Miguel and Solidad and their parents?”

With all this honesty, there was no sense sugar coating it. “They’re probably gone, but Ryan will try to find them.”

Her breath hitched and he hoped she didn’t cry. He couldn’t handle Lil tears. She bit her lip and looked down at her hands on the breakfast bar then back up into his eyes and he knew what was next. Dammit.

“You’ve been working with Ryan for five years.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged and turned away. He so didn’t want to get into this now. Not with Jamison sitting in there with that little boy listening to every word.

“Before you met me.”

“Yeah.” He turned back to face her, met her eyes without blinking.

“You used me.”

Ah hell.

He took her small, soft hands in his. Tried to sugar coat the truth. “It wasn’t like that, Lil. I met you and liked you just fine. The fact that you happened to teach at the high school was an added incentive.”

She pulled her hands from his and smiled but he saw the wince, the pain, the decision it didn’t matter.
 
“Well, I guess I totally understand now.”

And then she turned all ice princess on him. God he hated it when she did this. “Lil, it wasn’t….”

She held out her hand. “I get it, David. It’s okay. Like you said, you couldn’t very well just blurt out the truth now could you? It’s fine. Let’s get Rafe safe and then see what we need to do next.”

All business.
 

It was better this way. Way better.

He rubbed his hands on his jeans and started cooking. “Supper will be ready in a few minutes. We’ll talk more while we eat.”

Not the kind of talking she’d want to do, but it would have to suffice for now.
 

Because she was right.
 

He’d met her, thought she was hot and figured what the hell, he could kill two birds with one stone. Look into the Degas-school connection if there was one and get down and dirty with the hot new teacher. Then he’d discovered she was fun and smart. Not at all what he’d expected. She’d never let him get too close, though. Never fully trusted him.
 

That was okay back then because it made walking away easier. And he’d had to walk away. Because if someone ever found a way to break through all the walls she’d built around her heart, Lil was going to be a white picket fence, two point three kids kind of woman, and he’d had all that he could stand for at least another decade after helping raise his five younger siblings.

Now though, he needed her trust. He needed her to understand how serious this was. And when he told her to leave, to go back to her rich momma and all that money, that life she pretended to hate so much, he needed her to understand it was nothing personal. It was just about keeping her alive.

Added incentive. That’s what she was.
 

It shouldn’t hurt. She’d been that little someone extra her entire life. But with David it had seemed different.

Of course, now she knew the truth. David was the great pretender and she’d fallen for every one of his lines. From the first
sweet Lil
to the last
I like you a lot, but you deserve more than me. You deserve a man who will give you the family you dream of
.
 

Lil tried to eat David’s home made spaghetti but it wasn’t happening. Rafe on the other hand ate like he hadn’t eaten all day. Which was probably the truth.

Here she was mourning over her lie of a relationship and this brave little boy had lost his entire family to this monster named Degas. Time to focus on what was important.

Ryan had quietly interrogated Rafe while they played their game. Whatever information Rafe had, he’d given them.
 

“You said your brother said someone promised him something.” Ryan handed Rafe a piece of garlic bread.
 

“
Sì
. But I don’t know who he was talking to. Not Degas I don’t think.” Rafe’s legs dangled down from the barstool and he twisted in his seat as he spoke.
 

Ryan and David looked at each other across the bar and Lil wanted to know what their silent but meaningful eye contact meant. She could guess. Poor little boy looking at these men like they had all the answers. Like they could stop Degas. Of course Rafe didn’t know they’d been trying to do just that for five years.

Her heart hurt as she thought of Miguel and Solidad and how afraid they must be right now if they were even still alive. No, she wasn’t going to think about that. “Do you want more to drink, Rafe?”

He shook his head. “No ma’am. I’m fine,” he said as he ate the last of his garlic bread.

Miguel had sent Rafe to her. There had to be something she could do. She turned to Ryan because he was the one in charge and honestly, she didn’t think she could talk to David right this minute. “So what’s next?”

Ryan finished his bread before speaking. “Next we formulate a plan and put it in motion.”

Rafe asked to be excused and disappeared back into the PlayStation abyss with Scamp by his side.

Once they were sure he was totally involved in the game Lil turned back to Ryan. “Will you make sure he’s safe?”

“He’ll be fine. We’ll leave here, and he’ll be taken someplace secure.”

Good. She toyed with the food on her plate. She wanted to ask about the plan but at the same time she didn’t. She didn’t want to know anything about this. About David and his deception and this Degas monster.

“You should go home.” David’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts.
 

“What?”

“Home. Away from here. To your family and all the safety they can provide.”

He might as well have suggested she stop breathing. “This is home for me, and you know it. Besides, my students need me.”

“You won’t be any good to them dead.”

He was being a jerk, and she knew why. It was funny really. She’d turned her back on a lifetime of words spoken and actions taken simply to manipulate her only to run into the same thing with David. It didn’t matter how she’d let it happen. Fortunately, she knew exactly how to deal with the problem.
 

“I’m not going away, David. Not even to assuage your guilty conscience.”

“Dammit, Lil, this isn’t about my guilty conscience and it’s not a game. You have no idea how ruthless Degas is.”

She sat straight against the back of the barstool and kept her face even, refusing to show any emotion. “I’m not leaving.”

“Which is a very good thing.” Ryan spoke as he finished the last of his spaghetti. “Damn man, you are one fine cook.”

David pushed away from the bar. “No.”

Lil looked from one man to the other surprised at the anger in David’s voice.

“It’s the answer,” Ryan said. “You know it is.”

“I said no. No way. Not Lil.”

There they went again talking like she wasn’t in the room. This was ridiculous. “Not Lil what?”

David’s curse rang through the kitchen as he stomped to the stove.

Ryan ignored him and turned on the killer smile she didn’t begin to trust as he faced her. “You’re going to help us.”

“No, she’s not.”

“Stop it David.” She turned to Ryan. “Help you what?”

“Take down Degas.”

Confused, Lil raised her eyebrows. “Me? How?”

“Don’t worry about it, Lil. You’re not doing it.”

Okay she’d had it. “You’ve said enough, David. I want to hear what he has to say.”

She didn’t miss the smile of victory on Ryan’s face or the accepting grimace on David’s before he turned away.

Ryan didn’t make her wait. “I’ve got a plan.”

“This plan is going to take down Degas?”

“I certainly hope so.”

“Then I’m all in.”

“You don’t even know what the plan involves, Lil.” David looked like he was being tortured. Like he wanted to kill the agent sitting in his kitchen. And she knew what she had to do.

“I don’t need to know. If it means helping Rafe’s family, helping my students, I want to do it.”

Chapter Three

David fought back another curse. Bleeding heart Lil wasn’t backing down from this. She couldn’t turn her back on abandoned puppies. Of course she was going to do whatever she could to take down Degas.