Hot Mess (5 page)

He shot her a glance. “What?”

“Maybe I don’t want you to be good. Maybe I want you to be as bad as you can be.”

Sam gripped the wheel of his truck and stared straight ahead. Jesus. “Don’t say shit like that to me, Georgie. You know I’m not going there.”

She snorted. “Boy, do I.”

“Georgie—”

“No, don’t you Georgie me. When you stopped that night…” He could feel her looking at him, her eyes boring an angry hole into him. He told himself she was reacting to everything that had happened to her today and taking it out on him. This wasn’t really about something that had happened twelve years ago. It was just a convenient catalyst.

“When you stopped that night, I thought there was something wrong with me. I thought I wasn’t sexy enough or special enough for you. And that hurt.”

“Of course you were,” he bit out. “But you’re Rick’s little sister and I was the wrong guy for a lot of reasons. I stopped because you
were
special.”

“You were the one I wanted.”

He swallowed hard. “I couldn’t do it, Georgie. I couldn’t do it and look Rick in the eye ever again. Or your parents.”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. “You know who was my first?”

“Goddamn it, I don’t want to know.” His voice snapped in the interior of the car. Even the cat went silent. Sam closed his eyes. He did not lose his temper. Not ever. But she made him forget all the vows he’d ever sworn to himself.

Georgie folded her arms over her chest. “Fine. But you know what you need to remember right now? Here it is, so put it front and center in that brain of yours and keep it there. I’m not
your
sister, and I’m not a kid anymore.”

Sam sat there in stony silence, uncertain what in the hell he could possibly say. No, she wasn’t his sister. But it was safer for him if he thought of her that way. He wanted to keep her in a safe place in his head, but in the space of a conversation she’d gone and thrown her grappling hook over the walls he’d erected and torn them right down.

She thought he had trouble remembering she wasn’t a kid anymore. No, what he had trouble remembering was that he was no good for her. Because damn if he didn’t want her. He wanted her every possible way he could have her.

But she wasn’t his for the taking. She was too good for the likes of him. Even if he wanted something more than a few nights of sex with her—and he in no way thought he did—he owed the Hayeses too much to drag their daughter into the kind of life he led. Now that he’d joined HOT, his already crazy life had just gotten crazier. His deployments would be more specialized now, more dangerous in many ways. With the Rangers, he’d done plenty of dangerous things—jumping into enemy territory in the middle of the night and engaging in pitched battles with enemy forces while trying to take—or defend—ground.

But HOT, like Delta Force, was about a hundred levels up. Their missions were top secret, highly focused, and extremely sensitive. Right now, most of their resources were bent toward catching Jassar ibn-Rashad. The new Freedom Force leader had escaped a mission to capture him just a few months ago now. Two men were killed in that op—Marco San Ramos and Jim Matuzaki. Sam was one of the replacements, and he felt it keenly. The other guys didn’t talk much about what had happened in the desert, but everyone knew. The entire squad was captured, and Jim and Marco were executed when no one would talk.

The rest of them would have been executed too, except that another HOT squad managed to get them out. Sam hadn’t gone out on an op with them yet, but it could happen at any moment.

Now, however, he had Georgie to worry about. When the Kid had found out that Jake Hamilton had been dragged out of the Potomac only a few days ago, Sam’s blood ran cold. Right after that, Georgie called him, terrified, and Sam bolted out of HOT HQ like someone had aimed a flamethrower at his ass.

Sam’s phone rang and he glanced down at it sitting in the console. A HOT code flashed on the screen so he picked it up and answered with a clipped, “McKnight.”

“This is Captain Girard, Sergeant. Everything okay?”

Sam’s gut hollowed. His CO calling him couldn’t be a good thing at a time like this. “Yessir. Just have to take care of something personal, sir.”

“Big Mac told me about your friend. She okay?”

Sam glanced over at Georgie, who was now staring out the window. Mad at him, no doubt. “I think so, sir. There was no one in the house, but the back door had been forced.”

Georgie swung around to look at him, her eyes wide. Yeah, he hadn’t told her that part. And she was gonna give him hell over it.

“Circumstances have changed somewhat, Sergeant. It seems as if HOT is officially involved in this case now. You’ll need to bring her here, and then we’ll make sure she gets somewhere safe.”

Sam gripped the phone tight. Jesus, if HOT was involved, there was most certainly a foreign component. The military did not operate inside US borders except under very specific and well-defined circumstances. This was not one of them. And that made Sam’s blood run just a little colder. What the hell had Georgie gotten herself into?

“I need to do this, sir. I’m responsible for her.” Because Rick would kill him if anything happened to Georgie. Hell, Sam would hand him the gun and beg him to pull the trigger.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. “Fine. But you’re coming here first. Understood, soldier?”

“Sir, yessir,” Sam replied. The connection ended and Sam put the phone down again with a sinking feeling in his gut. If HOT was a part of this thing, the level of severity had just taken a quantum leap.

He glanced over at Georgie. She had her lower lip between her teeth. “You didn’t tell me about the door.”

“Didn’t want to worry you.”

She frowned. “I was already worried, Sam.”

“I know. That’s why I didn’t want to add to it.”

She let out an exasperated breath. “Always trying to protect me, even when I don’t want it.”

He flexed his hands on the wheel. “You want it this time, Georgie. Believe me.”

“I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what that means?”

He shook his head slowly. “Nope. And don’t ask again, because I can’t. It’s not my decision.”

“Does this have anything to do with Jake’s death?”

“I think it has everything to do with it,” he said softly.

Georgie turned her head and stared out the window. She didn’t speak again.

CHAPTER FOUR

GEORGEANNE STOOD ON THE screened-in back porch of a small cottage on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, arms folded over her chest, staring out at the creek running past the house. It was late afternoon and the sun gleamed golden on the water. A blue heron picked its way along the shore on the opposite side, and marsh grass waved occasionally in the slight breeze called up whenever a bird took flight.

This was not at all what she’d expected to be doing when she’d awakened this morning. But now she was here, and her head was still reeling from everything she’d been through. She heard a sound behind her and turned as Sam strolled outside. He’d changed out of his military uniform and into a pair of faded jeans that sat low on his hips. He wore a navy T-shirt that clung to the broad muscles of his tattooed biceps and chest and made her mouth water.

Tattoos? Sam hadn’t had tattoos before. A black tribal design appeared to surround his right bicep. She couldn’t tell what was on his left, but she saw a hint of ink when he crossed his arms over his chest.

“You doing okay?”

She shrugged. Belle had calmed down the instant they’d walked inside and she’d been let out to roam the house. Now she was standing on her hind legs, her front paws on the screen, watching the birds in the yard. Her tail swished back and forth happily.

Georgeanne was anything but happy right now. “I’m a bit out of sorts, actually.”

Sam shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to join her. “Understandable.”

After the call in the truck earlier, he’d told her they had to make a stop. She hadn’t expected him to drive onto a military facility or up to a compound surrounded by razor wire, but that’s exactly what he did. She’d only been allowed inside a big room near the entrance of the compound, where they permitted visitors, but it had soon swarmed with large men in uniform who’d gazed down at her with deadly serious expressions.

The one with silver birds on his shoulders—thank God for her time with the military so she could at least recognize a colonel now—came over and held out his hand. “Colonel Mendez, little lady. You doing okay?”

Everyone wanted to know if she was okay. Hell no, she was
not
okay—but she hadn’t told the colonel that. Instead, she’d made some sort of answer, listened while the colonel talked, and then sat down to wait while all the men, including Sam, disappeared into the inner building. A uniformed soldier came back with an offer of coffee, and she was alone again.

Sam didn’t return for an hour, but when he did, he’d told her they were going to the Eastern Shore where they would stay for the next few days.

She’d stood there feeling so helpless and out of control.

“I have classes, Sam. I can’t just disappear.” She winced the moment she said it, because it was damned insensitive after what had happened to Jake.

“The colonel will take care of everything. All you have left is finals, and someone will make sure they’re proctored. You’ll get the exams to grade. It’s non-negotiable, Georgie.”

“So it’s not just you anymore?” She’d nodded her head toward the giant steel door through which he’d just come. “It’s all of those guys in there too, right?”

He’d looked somber. “That’s right. Jake Hamilton didn’t fall into the Potomac by accident.”

“So why hasn’t it been on the news? A body in the Potomac isn’t something you can keep secret for long.”

Sam lifted an eyebrow. “Depends on who wants it kept secret.”

“I still don’t understand why the police aren’t involved. Or why the military is.”

He’d put his hands on her shoulders. “Because there are some things the military is better equipped to do. This is one of those things, Georgie.”

She’d been thinking about that for hours, and she still had no idea what Jake could have been tangled up in. Or why she was a part of it.

Sam had driven off the base and headed east, eventually rolling over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and onto the Eastern Shore. Another hour of driving and they’d ended up here, at this small cottage tucked away on a tributary of the bay.

Now Georgeanne shook her head and swallowed the lump in her throat. “I don’t understand why Jake’s dead. Or what it has to do with me.”

Sam ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath. “Jake was involved in things he shouldn’t have been involved in. And it looks like he had a crush on you, G. He had pictures of you in his apartment, poems he’d written. Whoever killed him thinks you know something about what he was doing.”

Georgeanne wanted to howl. Instead, she shuddered. It was creepy to think Jake had had a crush on her and now he was dead. “But I
don’t
know anything. I didn’t even know Jake that well. He took three classes from me, that’s it. We had coffee a few times, but it was during my office hours. It wasn’t a date or anything.”

“He seemed to think it was. Others did too, if what this guy said to you was any indication.”

She shook her head, wanting to deny everything Sam was saying. “But Jake was a good guy. Harmless. I can’t believe he was mixed up in something bad.”

“You aren’t that naïve, Georgie. Just because someone is nice doesn’t mean they haven’t done something wrong. I’m sorry when anyone dies so senselessly, but trust me when I tell you he wasn’t minding his own business when it happened.”

Georgeanne swallowed the lump in her throat. “So now you get to say when someone deserves the bad things that happen to them? I think that’s rather cynical, don’t you?”

Sam’s expression was stark. “I’ve seen too much in this life not to be cynical. Jake Hamilton was doing things he shouldn’t have been doing. And while I’m sorry you’re hurt over this, I’m more pissed that he managed to drag you into it. You’re lucky they didn’t succeed with the train last night.”

She closed her eyes, feeling the ache in her hip anew. “I know. And I’m sorry. But I liked Jake. Or at least the Jake I knew. It’s not easy to start believing he was a bad person.”

“I didn’t say he was bad. But he did bad things. Or stupid things, at least. And that cost him his life.”

She looked up at him. “And I’m mixed up in it.”

Sam nodded. “We don’t know precisely how. It could just be that they think you were his girlfriend and know something about what he was doing. He might have said something to them, might have implicated you in some way. Did he ever give you anything?”

She shook her head. “Tests and papers. Nothing else.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “The last time I saw him, he was with a man in the Metro. It was late, and I was waiting for the train home. Jake said he was going to Crystal City with a friend. Then a man showed up and they started talking.”

Sam’s gaze had sharpened. “And what was unusual in that?”