JACE (Lane Brothers Book 3) (6 page)

Jace doesn’t say a word for several minutes before his expression clears and he smiles broadly.

“Ma would be insulted if you didn’t come, Tracy. And so would I.”

He turns and walks away, leaving me blushing crimson at the veiled innuendo and the look of pure lust he just shot me.

He’d be insulted if I didn’t come? Well, hell, who the heck am I to insult the man when he cares so much about…my arrival.

Jace

The thing about hunting is that it takes skill and a lot of patience. Once you find a good trail and follow the signs, it usually behooves a good hunter to settle in a good spot with an excellent view and just wait till his prey comes to him.

I’ve used this strategy for years now when hunting criminals, and while I hate to employ the same methods on my lady, well, the challenge was thrown out this afternoon and I’m more than willing to accept it.

I just hope she’s okay with being hunted and wooed from the safety of my bedroom and that she doesn’t think too poorly of me when I fall on her like a beast and fuck the hell out of her.

And when I panic, I get mental about fixing things. To me the path is clear. I need to show Trace what we’ve been missing out on all these years, and I also want her to understand that nothing I have done or will ever do to her body is just sex.

Every touch and kiss is me worshipping her, showing her the need, the stark desperation I have for her. I want her to know what I’m saying without words.

So here I am, standing in the hall, decked out in a suit I fucking hate because I want her off-balance enough that when I lay my whammy on her, she’ll be too shocked to think or move or argue with me.

This is me, a desperate man willing to lay down some enemy fire to get what I want. What I want is to have Trace in my life. That’s it. Just her here with me.

Ma can wait on babies and Wyatt can stop humming the wedding march every time he walks past me.

“Jace, dear, come here for a minute please, darling.”

I turn to see Ma standing in the entryway to the living room, wringing her hands like freaking dishrags.

“Ma? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, Jace. Melissa Dobson just called and she was frantic. Roman hasn’t checked in with her and she’s convinced her father or one of his people…what’s going on here, Jason? Why is Roman staying away from home and why the hell is my boy not…what was Melissa talking about?”

She’s crying and thank God Pop isn’t around or I wouldn’t be walking very comfortably at all for being a part of her distress.

Pop loves Ma and Ma loves Pop, and while they love their kids, all bets are off if something harms either of them. Even with us.

“Ma, stop crying, alright? Everything is just fine, Ma, I swear. Roman is just working a tough case and Melissa’s overreacting.”

I hope and pray as I say these words, because if the tough-as-nails Mel Dobson is going nuts about this, then chances are Roman could be in some trouble.

“But she said her father—”

“Roman and Chief Dobson haven’t been seeing eye to eye lately since Roman started dating his daughter, Ma. You know how that shit goes. I’ll tell you what, I’ll go and check things out and make sure your little golden boy is still okay. Yeah?”

She starts sniffling and nods with a sigh before hugging me closer and kissing my cheek.

“Whatever you boys are wrapped up in is dangerous. I can feel it, and as your mother, I forbid you to do things that are dangerous, Jason Lane.” She sniffles, kissing me one more time for good measure before swiping her lipstick from my cheek and pulling away.

“Go and get your brother, Jace, and tell him I want him and Melissa at my dinner table in an hour or I’ll come fetch them myself.”

“Sure, Ma, sure.”

Great.

I wait till I’m in the car and peeling out before whipping my phone free and hitting Jared’s speed dial.

“Yo.”

“Where the fuck is Roman and why is Melissa Dobson calling the house going hysterical about our boy?”

“Christ, that stupid asshole! I told him to stop poking around and trying to dig too fast, but does he ever listen to me? Hell no. All you fools do around here is ignore me and do whatever it is you want to. Now I have to—”

“Jared, brother, calm down and tell me what’s going on,” I bark, hitting the gas as soon as I clear the driveway.

“He called me this afternoon and said something about going in with some of the idiots in his unit. Miah isn’t staying with the department, so he’s basically out already and Dobson isn’t looking too eager to get rid of Roman after what his kid said about that uncle of hers. Anyway, Roman was talking about getting in with the extremists faster than Dobson was willing to introduce him.”

“Christ.”

That means that Roman is either at this very moment headed towards the enemy or he’s already in some serious trouble. The thing about this op is that it’s been a cluster fuck from day one. With a mole in the SEAL unit and what’s shaping up to be some very big players high up in the government, chances are they knew we were coming for them from day one.

I’d bet good money they know that Roman is a plant—hell, we all agreed just days ago that they know and we decided to leave him there to provide a distraction while we work behind the scenes on this thing.

The only reason we left Roman in to begin with was because Dobson looked scared shitless by Melissa’s threats to tell his brother about his illegal activities.

It also pays to always have a man on the mole we have gathering intel on Dobson’s end of the operation, so Roman decided that sticking close to Melissa would be a good idea. That way she can’t betray us without us knowing what she’s up to.

Well, it seems little Mel Dobson is no narc, and if that’s true and she’s going crazy about Roman disappearing, then I guess we better take this shit seriously and start looking into it.

At the very least I need to discover whether or not my brother needs me right now. We stick together. Always.

“Where was he last?”

“At work. He called me from his car just before he wanted to head out. Wait, let me just…his cell phone isn’t moving, Jace. I’ve tracked it to the south end of the county on that little dirt road down by that creek we used to play in…Goddammit. You moving?”

“On my way there now. Hang tight and call the others. I’ll call when I get there.”

I break every speeding record in the county and get to the little dirt track in under three minutes, praying the entire way as I fishtail my way onto the road and put my foot down.

Nothing. Goddammit.

“You got anything?” Jared barks into the phone when I call him back.

“Nothing.”

“Wait, you should be right on top of him.”

The car skids to a stop and I hop out, almost falling to my knees when all I find is his phone, covered in blood and cracked to hell and back. This is a crime scene, I know it the minute I see that phone just lying there as if placed there to taunt us.

“I got his phone. And what looks to be blood, Jared.”

“Jesus. Miah! Roman is MIA. Jace recovered his phone and what looks like blood down on Farmer’s Road. Get your ass in here, Miah. No man, I fucking have no clue. Melissa called. Yes, Miah—Jace, get the hell out—”

His warning comes too late and I hear the blast of a rifle seconds before a bullet tears through my shoulder and sends me sprawling to the dirt. I hear Jared yelling and cursing into the phone that I’m still gripping, but I ignore it and drop into a roll, coming up behind my car just as the next round blasts through the air and hits the left rear door.

“High-powered rifle coming from the east. Armor-piercing bullets. Whoever this is…”

I duck and dive into the driver’s seat, thankful as hell when I see that I haven’t turned the car off and the ignition is still running. The tires squeal and fight for traction when I hit the gas and peel out of there, keeping low as more fire comes my way.

Whoever this is, the guy knows exactly what he’s doing, and the fact that I’m only injured and not lying on that dirt with a bullet in my head is a miracle.

“Jace! Jace, man, are you okay?”

I hear the yelling and Miah’s curses as I hit tar and keep flooring it back the way I came, hoping it was just one idiot with a rifle and not a platoon of trigger-happy hillbillies on my tail.

My shoulder hurts like a mother and I’m bleeding all over my leather seats by the time I deem it safe to sit up straight and assess the damage.

“Jace!”

“Easy there, bro, I’m just fine. Took one to the shoulder, through and through, so stop your bawling,” I say, hissing when an inspection of my arm shows a shitload of blood that I hope does not signal a clipped artery.

“Where are you?”

“A mile out and counting, dude. Open the gates and make sure everyone is locked down. Oh God. Trace.”

“Wyatt went for her already, so calm down. Just get your ass home and get that phone to me. I need to check it over.”

I make it home minutes later and smile at my luck as I pass out. Guess it was an artery after all.

***

Trace

The only thing worse than being mad at a guy is being mad at him and feeling like crying because the meathead went and got himself shot and had to have an artery repaired, thanks to whatever animal decided to take him out tonight.

Part of me understands that Jace is just fine and he’s lucky. Whoever did this was either a really bad shot, or they left him alive on purpose.

My gut is screaming that he should be dead. From what I saw of the car after Jace roared to a stop seconds after Wyatt and I got to the Lane home, I know that this sniper was only sending a warning.

The ammo was armor piercing and tore clear through the car and out the other side, and if the guy were smart, which I know he is, he would have shot through the rear left panel and nailed Jace where he was hiding. I know since the blood tells me that’s where he took cover after rolling clear.

Whoever did this was not out for blood, though from the looks of these Lane boys as they pace the hospital corridor, they’re going to regret ever going after
any
of the Lane boys.

Miah’s been grinding his teeth for hours and Wyatt keeps cracking his knuckles as if looking for someone or something to hit. The only one not acting like a caged animal is Jared, and yet as he sits there calmly and just stares at the wall, I feel more danger emanating him than from the other two.

“Trace, you should let Wyatt take you home to Ma. You haven’t eaten and you’re covered in blood, sweetheart,” Miah says after flopping down beside me with a groan.

Jace collapsed out of the car and straight into my arms. Seeing him that way…I can’t think of that now or I’m terrified that I’ll do something stupid like cry and ruin my mascara.

“I’m staying and that’s final, Jeremiah. Now do something useful and take your brother to go get us some coffee, huh? I need a little pick me up after your brother tried to squash me.”

Miah blinks and then starts chuckling with a shake of his head before rising and laying a fat kiss on my cheek.

“I’ll get your coffee and one of those donut things from the machine. You’re eating,” he barks when I go to argue and I zip my lips with a nod.

It takes two whole minutes for Jared to rattle off a vending machine order and then Miah and Wyatt leave us alone to sit in the waiting area for news.

I’m so lost in thought, just trying not to relive that moment when Jace collapsed on me and I saw all that blood, that it startles me when Jared kneels down in front of me with a warm washcloth and starts cleaning my hands.

“You were real brave tonight, little sister. Anyone ever tell you you react to blood like a soldier?” he asks softly, giving me a look from beneath his lashes.

His eyes—they’re so like Jace’s that I have to swallow and look away to collect myself before turning back to him.

“One or two people, I guess. That time I fell out of the tree when I was eight and broke my leg, split the skin open and everything…well, Mom says I hardly fainted,” I quip, grinning at his smirk.

“Why are you really here, Trace? And don’t give me that bullshit about your wedding. I looked into Timothy, and I gotta tell you, that boy is as rotten as they come. I even lied to Jace about him so the man didn’t go down to DC to murder him or your father for even thinking—”

“Alright, I get the freaking message already, Jared. Alright, just stop. I came down here to talk to you all about this rumor I overheard a few weeks ago.”

Jared wipes my hands with a last swipe and tosses the ruined cloth in the trash before easing down beside me.

“Okay. Tell me.”

Did I ever say that Wyatt was my favorite? I love the guy, do not get me wrong, but Jared is my kind of pal. He’s quiet and only talks when necessary, and above all else, he cuts right to the point without pleasantries.

Plus, he looks so much like Jace that I’d swear they were twins if not for the fact that Jace is a little older, and, well, he really does have Miah as his twin.

“I overheard someone talking when I came out of the bathroom at an event a few weeks ago. I can’t tell you who it was that was having this conversation since I was hidden behind a curtain at the time, but I heard someone say that you boys were having some serious trouble down here what with your Aunt Lynn dying and your family—Ronny, specifically—planning to contest the original will and take you all to court.”

That has him sitting up straighter and he sets those blues eyes on me, keeping me pinned to my seat.