DOMINIC (Dragon Security Book 3) (16 page)

Dominic

“This is insane.”

I stood in front of the mirror and stared at myself in the suit. It was incredibly expensive and something I probably would never wear again. But Megan insisted that every groom should have a decent suit to get married in.

“But you look good, brother.”

Hayden slapped me on the shoulder, a big grin reflected on the mirror in front of us.

I shook my head. “If we’d done this the way I’d wanted to, I could wear jeans and nice t-shirt.”

“But weddings are a woman’s thing. And I’m sure Amy is the driving force behind most of this.” He slapped my shoulder again before moving around in front of me to admire the pale suit he was wearing with the brightly colored vest. “Besides, you want to start your marriage out right with a happy, happy wife.”

“This advice from a man who has never been married and has slept with half the women in this city.”

“There’s proof there that I know what I’m talking about. I wouldn’t have gotten so many women in my bed if I didn’t know what women want.”

I groaned, but I had to admit he had a point.

“When are you going to get around to asking Sam out?”

Hayden turned away, crossing to the low bench where he’d left his cellphone.

“Don’t tell me she’s the one woman you can’t charm.”

“I’ve tried. She’s a hard nut to crack.”

“She’s a sweet girl. If you’d stop all the wisecracks about the way she dresses…”

Hayden threw himself onto the bench and began perusing something on his phone. I went to sit beside him.

“Can I ask you something?”

Hayden shrugged.

“You’ve been with Dragon since Megan opened the doors, right? So you were there when Luke was.”

Hayden looked at me. “Luke and I went to basic together.”

“Really?”

“He’s a good man, Dom, if that’s what you’re trying to ask.”

“Would he have done this? Would he have killed Megan’s brother?”

“He would have had to have a damn good reason. Luke grew up with Megan and Peter and Cole. His mother worked in their family’s house. They kind of considered him one of the family even before he and Megan started dating in high school. There’s no way Luke would have killed any of them unless it was to protect Megan.”

“Then you don’t think he did it.”

“Then I don’t think we have enough information. There’s more to this story than what we’ve uncovered so far.”

“Then I shouldn’t tell her?”

Hayden took a deep breath and sighed. “I don’t like lies. And withholding information is a lie.” He paused, running his hands over his legs like he was wiping away excess sweat. “But I also don’t see the point in making things more difficult for a woman we both respect. She’s had enough on her plate these last months, even years. She doesn’t need to start doubting the man she loves. It could lead to trouble.”

“As in Dante?”

Hayden was suddenly agitated, getting up and pacing he length of the shop. He dragged his hands over his head, pausing to look hard at me.

“What do you think of him?”

“He killed that guy for no reason just as he was about to tell me more. That bothers me.”

“Me too.”

“And the way he’s always skulking around the office? Like he’s watching, waiting.”

Hayden nodded. “I thought I was the only one who noticed that.”

“There’s something not right about him.”

“Sam’s been looking into him. I’ve”—he kind of chuckled—“been watching over her shoulder sometimes. I saw her running a background check on him. I think she might have hired a private dick to check him out, too. That means that Megan’s either asked her to because she has doubts, too, or that Sam’s worried about Megan and took it upon herself to check out.”

“At least Megan isn’t turning a blind eye.”

“No. She wouldn’t do that. But…I’m a little concerned that there’s something going on between them. He was with her when I called her that night. They got to the safe house too quickly for her to have called him and waited for him to arrive.”

“You think they’re sleeping together.”

“I don’t know what to think. But I don’t like it.”

“Do you think we should talk to Cole about it?”

Hayden shrugged, glancing at the screen of his phone. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, either. He’s wrapped up in his own wedding plans.”

Cole was set to marry the mother of his nephew come Christmas. He’d been knee deep in plans since he proposed last month. Hayden was probably right. It was a bad time to pull Cole into something when we weren’t even sure what going on.

“So, what do we know?” Hayden asked.

“About Dante or the whole terrorist thing?”

“The last.”

I sat back, running it over in my mind. “Not enough.”

“We know it started with you and Miss Emily in Paris.”

“No, it started in Afghanistan. Emily stumbled on some information while she was interrogating a subject about something totally unrelated.”

“Yeah? Who was the subject?”

I thought about it for a long second, trying to remember it myself.

“Some Afghan kid. She was talking to him about a rash of attacks on American troops that had taken place the month before. And he just offered it up, told her about the pending ISIS attacks in France.”

“And she was the one assigned to follow up? Wasn’t she something of a newbie to the whole CIA thing?”

“She was. But her handlers told her that they wanted her to do it because of her youth and as a reward for getting the info in the first place.”

“How long did you work on it before the arrests?”

“Two weeks? Maybe a month.”

“Not very long.”

I watched him, watched the wheels turning in his head. We’d worked together for nearly two years. I knew when he thought he was unraveling some mystery.

“What?”

“Do you think that maybe the CIA put Emily and you on this thing because they were hoping you were too green to do it right? That you’d mess up and the whole thing would come to naught?”

“Naught?”

Hayden stuck out his tongue. “That it would be a big, fat bust.”

I started to shake my head, but then I remembered what the assassin was trying to say just before Dante shot him.

“If the CIA was working with the terrorists for some reason, they wouldn’t have wanted the entire cell compromised.”

“But they wouldn’t have wanted to look as though they were ignoring good intel, either.”

“So they sent an agent they hoped would be incompetent, along with a soldier who knew nothing about working undercover, and hoped to blame both of us for the failed attempt to bring down the cell.”

“But then you didn’t fuck up.”

“Until Amy showed up and blew our covers.”

“Did she? Did anyone really hear her call either of you by your real names? Did anyone really see her and realize what was happening?”

Amy spotted us from across the brick lane that ran beside the café. Emily spotted her and leaned into me, told me she was there and not to react. Then she carefully extracted herself, told our companions in French that she needed to take care of some business. Then she went after Amy and I didn’t see either of them again for a good thirty minutes. Then Emily came back, and it was as if nothing had happened.

No one left the table. No one followed Emily that I could see.

“No. I don’t think she did.”

“But they called an end to the investigation and arrested the most minor characters they could. Just like here when Megan was investigating Peter’s accident. They arrested the two people Peter had talked to, but they were really minor characters in the whole thing.”

I nodded. “So someone is trying to manipulate our investigation and control who we get information from.”

“Exactly.”

“Who?”

That was the thing. We didn’t know, and we were no closer to find out.

“We keep investigating,” I said. “We have to keep Megan safe.”

“Agreed. But we do it smart. No more going off on your own, doing the whole rogue thing.”

“Agreed.”

We shook hands and then Hayden pulled me in and slapped my back.

“After we get you married.”

Amy

I stood in front of the mirror, staring at myself in the dress Megan had insisted I take.

“It’s too much,” I said softly.

Megan moved up behind me and smiled. “You look so much better in it than I ever did.”

“But it’s yours.”

“It’s yours now. It deserves to have a happy ending.”

The dress was a mermaid style that hugged my hips and made me look much sexier than I ever thought I could be. I ran my hands over my belly, blown away by how perfect it looked.

“Thank you,” I said.

Megan wrapped her arms around my shoulders and hugged me from behind.

“I’ve known Dominic for nearly two years, and all that time he carried that engagement ring on his keys. I always wanted to ask, but I was afraid of ripping a Band-Aid off of a healing wound, you know? I’d been there, and I knew how much I resented all the questions. But I always wondered. And then when he brought you into Sam’s house, I knew it was you just by the way he looked at you. You make him happy, and that’s important to me.”

I nodded. “He respects you.”

Megan smiled, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “I respect him, too. He’s a good friend.”

She let me go and stepped back. “The hairdresser did a great job.”

I looked at myself again, amazed with how good I cleaned up. Megan hired a woman to do my hair and makeup, someone to do my nails. We had a full spa day, Megan, Sam, and me. It was more fun that I imagined it could be. The only thing missing was Emily.

There was a tap on the door and Elizabeth popped her head in. “They said you were in here.”

I held out my arms and hugged her tight. She sort of sighed against my neck, a sound that was as much a sob as it was sigh. When she pulled back, her eyes were moist.

“Thank you for standing up for me today.”

She brushed her cheek. “It’s an absolute honor.”

Megan cleared her throat. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Elizabeth backed away a little when Megan left, looking around the room with big, wide eyes.

“It’s a little surreal, being here.”

“In Houston?”

“In the home of Megan Bradford. Did you know her brother, Cole, is out in the living room? And her parents? Do you know how many stories I’ve heard about the Bradford family, growing up in College Station?”

“I didn’t know that was where you were from.”

“Yeah, born and raised. Until my parents found out I was gay. Then they tossed me out on my ear, told me to come back when I’d found salvation in God.” She looked up at me a little sheepishly. “They’re conservative Christians.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Emily always said that you guys, her family, would accept us both with open arms. I thought she was lying, and that’s why she never introduced me to you. But now I know that I was the one deluding myself.”

“It was my fault. I told her to stay out of my life.”

“She was really broken up about that whole thing. She wanted to finish researching that case so that she could tell you the truth. She thought that once it was resolved, everything would come out and you would have no reason to doubt the truth.”

“I wish she’d come to me sooner.”

“Me too. Maybe things would have turned out differently.”

I turned back to look at myself in the mirror, imagining my sister standing behind me, beaming with happiness. That was how I’d always imagined my wedding day. But it was Elizabeth who stepped up behind me.

“You’re beautiful. This is how I imagine Emily would have looked on the day we finally exchanged our vows.”

Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to cry on my wedding day. I turned and hugged Elizabeth again. Another tap sounded on the door and my dad stepped inside.

“It’s time.”

I turned, and he began to cry, his eyes moving slowly over me.

“So beautiful,” he choked.

I went to him, and he held me for a long time. Then he pulled back and smoothed his hand over my face.

“I’m happy for you, love. Dominic is a good man, and he’ll treat you right.”

“He will.”

***

He was waiting in front of the lovely arch Megan had insisted would give the ceremony a little class. It was set in her backyard, rented chairs placed out in front of it for the guests. I walked slowly on my father’s arm, Dominic’s eyes my beacon. He looked amazing in a dark suit with a gold vest, more dressed up than I’d ever seen him. His mother was standing in the front row of chairs, tears already pouring down her face. Hayden was behind Dominic, his eyes off across the aisle, watching Sam where she stood beside Megan.

Dominic met us halfway down the aisle, taking my hand only after shaking my father’s hand. He escorted me the rest of the way up the aisle, his palm moist as he clung to me, almost as if he was afraid I would cut and run. The justice of the peace, a friend of Megan’s father, smiled as he watched us approach.

“Brothers and sisters, we are gathered here today…”

I’m sure it was a beautiful ceremony. But all I could remember was the color of Dominic’s eyes and the way he stared at me the whole time.