(Blood and Bone, #1) Blood and Bone (28 page)

I close my eyes, grateful he is here, and let him be bigger than anything else in the world. And if we wake up in the morning and decide we don’t need a backstory, I will be grateful we had tonight because it was more than I ever imagined.

EPILOGUE
A YEAR LATER

I
creep into the town house, worried about what I might find. The smell is amazing, but it’s silent. I tiptoe into the kitchen to find nothing but the oven on and some dishes in the sink. The table in the dining room is set, with wineglasses and a pink rose across my plate. The living room is empty, and Binx is nowhere to be seen. My heart is racing, my mouth is dry, and I’m not sure of exactly what to expect, but I know it’s going to be bad. He’s such a diva, drama queen, and emotional mess. I can’t take it.

I almost turn and run from the house, but the sight of the engagement ring on my left hand makes me stop. I said yes. We made a plan, and I agreed to it. I can’t run now. It’s too late. And I don’t want to anyway. The ring brings a grin to my lips.

I walk to the bedroom, feeling like I might faint or be sick any second. He’s sitting in a chair in the corner, alone in the dark like Norman Bates. It’s creepy, but I walk into the room anyway.

“You signed up to do a mind run in the girl they found in the river?”

I nod, even though it’s dark and he probably can’t see me.

“You promised you wouldn’t do any more of them.”

I nod again.

“The appropriate response is to argue back, Jane. Jesus.” He says it like he’s praying.

“I know that. I just don’t really have an excuse. She’s the girl who was missing from that college out west last spring, the eleventh girl on that case Rory was talking about. She’s got defensive wounds, and she’s been fed, but she’s horribly pale. I don’t know a college girl who lets her skin get that pale. She’s escaped, and whoever had her is going to be looking for her. It’s going to be a small run, I swear. I just need to know who keeps taking them.”

“Why? Why can’t you wait and see if she wakes up?”

I sit on the chair by the door, not crossing the room. He’ll win the argument if he gets near me. He has skills I do not possess. “Because she might wake like me, forgetting everything. Or she might not wake, and he will worry that one of his girls got away. We haven’t found a single body of the other ten girls. No one has turned up. He’s keeping them alive and torturing them. I know it. When he panics because she’s been found, he’s going to purge and run, and we’re going to lose him. We’ll find the girls, but he’ll be long gone.”

He’s silent. He knows I’m right. “I’ll give you the day, that’s it. Then I want your name out of the hat. No more mind runs.”

I crack a grin at my success. “Lucky number eight.”

He shakes his head. I barely catch it in the dark, but the annoyed sigh is obvious. I lift my left hand. “Still wearing the ring.”

“It’s been four hours.” He clearly doesn’t see how remarkable that is, so I go for the thing I’ve been holding back.

“I put in for a transfer. Into a profiling position that has no guns,
stakeouts, or mind runs. Hardly any travel and no chance of me being killed in any small way, except from boredom.”

He’s up and out of the chair instantly. Even Binx crosses the room to me. Dash scoops me into his arms, kissing my neck. “That is amazing news. Military profiling—what a great job. I bet it even comes with a raise.”

“Yeah,” I sigh.

He laughs and carries me to the kitchen. “You are such a baby sometimes.” I shrug as he places me down and pulls out my chair. “I made something new.”

I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t want new.”

He rolls his green eyes. “You’re getting new. We have to talk about the wedding.”

“Just make it whatever you want. I don’t honestly care.”

His face drops, making me jump up and kiss him quickly. “I mean, I would elope. I don’t have family or anything so it doesn’t matter to me.”

He kisses me back, but it’s wooden. “Well, my mother is from Virginia. There is no way I am getting away with anything less than four hundred people. She’s already insisted that if I don’t bring you there for Christmas in a month I will be an orphan too.”

I wince against his face. “Christmas?”

He nods. “It’ll be great. You’ll have fun. My sister is amazing, and my mother cooks like it was her profession.”

“What was her profession?”

“Gossip and charities, mostly, but you’ll be fine. She knows you don’t have family and grew up in an orphanage. She knows you’re not big on sharing or talking or hugging or—”

“I hug!”

“Your cat doesn’t count.”

I hug Dash harder. “I hug you, and Angie sometimes.”

“Okay, I’ll strike hugging from the list then.” He makes me smile. He kisses my forehead, lingering to breathe me in the way I do Binx. “You don’t have to do anything but be you. I don’t care if she likes you or not. I love you, Jane Spears. I have loved you since the moment I first saw you.”

I narrow my gaze. “In the room where we were doing interviews but really you were testing our mental capabilities?”

He laughs. “That’s not the first time I saw you.”

“What?”

He shakes his head, kissing my forehead and letting me go so he can grab dinner. He pulls it from the oven, making me suspicious as to what is in the large casserole dish. “No, the first time I saw you was in New York at the UN building. You were summoned to be a bodyguard to a visiting dignitary. You looked through me, like you never even saw me.”

“What were you doing there?” I recall the duty, but not Dash.

He grins. “Your security clearance doesn’t go that high.”

I roll my eyes and take my seat. He places the dish down, taking the lid off slowly. I smile instantly when I see enchiladas from Emily next door. “You dick, I thought for sure you’d cooked up some kind of concoction.”

“Not a chance. I got home, and she rushed them over. Gave me this lime mayonnaise to put on top of the sour cream.” He grabs the dishes and sits across from me, his green eyes dazzling. “Now that I have your attention, I want you to swear to me that you will come to Virginia for Christmas.”

I glance at the dish, fight the bursting smells attacking my nose with tempting scents, and look at the front door. He has me trapped. “Fine, I’ll come.”

He smiles wide, dishing me up two huge enchiladas. “She said you would be difficult when I told her.”

“Who?” I lean over the plate, smelling the steam as he passes me the salsa and sour cream.

“Emily. I asked if she could take care of Binx while we went, and she laughed at me. She said taking you in was like slowly winning over a stray cat, and my mom would have better luck charming a python.”

I grin, not insulted in the least. “See, she knows me at least.”

He lifts his glass of sangria, forcing me to put down my fork and lift mine. “To you, my savage fiancée. I am so grateful you said yes.”

“To Binx, for always being crabby unless he wants something.” I scowl and lift my glass just a little higher.

Dash chuckles, giving me the lopsided grin. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

“I know, but you love me so you’re sort of stuck with me.”

He winks. “And your little cat too.” I blink, realizing he’s told a joke and I’m meant to be laughing. He sighs and takes a bite, moaning into his fork. “I don’t care what you say all night, nothing can ruin this moment. You are wearing my ring, meeting my mother, and this food is ridiculous.”

My evil stare-down doesn’t last when I start eating. He grins at me from across the plate. “You glad we got a backstory now?”

I lift my middle finger into the air. “Shhhhh. Don’t wreck this.”

He shakes his head. “You’re getting it after dinner.”

I grin back, desperately hoping I am getting it. We both look down at my hand resting on the table. A goofy smile crosses his lips, forcing one across mine. He sighs, and I can see there is some kind of bliss going on behind those eyes and I’m the one who put it there. That has to be some sort of miracle. I took it each day at a time for a year and still ended up here, in a committed place where there is no doubt that one day we will be those golden-retriever people. We’ll have a boxy SUV and a house with grass all around it. Because that’s
the sort of monster he is. The worst kind, really. I almost can’t wait for tomorrow when I take a mind ride into that unconscious girl. I can’t wait to free the other girls. It will be my last time doing something dangerous, my last trip down into the gutters.

And then I will try very hard to be like him. I suspect even if I can’t be exactly like him, he won’t care. I got one thing right about him in the mind rides where I created his alter ego. He has one tremendous trait in common with Derek, my made-up version of him. He will love me for who I am, because that’s who he is. So if I only offer an inch, he’ll take it and wait for me to give more. He’s generous with his love and feelings, in an awkward way, and he’s patient with me.

His eyes see through my grin. “Tomorrow I will be at your side the entire time, okay?”

I nod. Just a little bit excited.

We do dishes, flicking each other with soap and laughing as Binx earns himself a bubble cap. He paws and shakes until it’s gone and then struts off indignantly.

We make love in our way that really has nothing to do with making love, but it works, especially in the dark where we aren’t accountable for the things we want.

We go to bed.

It’s the makings of a very beautiful life.

I sleep cocooned in him, safe from the world out there where we have to make choices and be strong.

When I wake, it takes a second for the haze to slip from my mind. I nearly forgot I was doing a mind ride today. I shower and get dressed into something comfortable. His eyes don’t leave me, stalking me throughout the house. I know he’s worried, but I’m not. When we arrive at work, he’s tense. He gives me a peck on the cheek and whispers, “See you in the dark.”

It makes me grin. I look back at him as I enter the room where the petite brunette is sleeping on the bed next to my vacant one. I offer a subtle wave and kiss.

“Don’t forget your triggers.”

It makes me smile wider. “Don’t forget to tell your mom I like Italian food.”

He scoffs, seeing how seriously I am taking everything. I close the door, looking at him through the glass. He waves and walks into his side of the room, behind the glass.

When I get inside I lift my left hand up to the glass. “Angie, look.” I know she’s screaming in the doctors’ room. She’s always shouting about everything.

Rory comes strolling in, closing the door behind him. His eyes find the ring. He nods. “Finally nailed you down then, eh?”

I shrug, lying back on the bed so he can sit down and we can start. Rory leans in, whispering, “Does he know just how long you’ve stalked his ass?”

“He does.”

“Then I guess he’s as crazy as you are.” He sighs and looks over at the girl. “Who am I this time, Jane?”

I glance at her too. “My brother, Rory Hamilton. We’re twins.”

“Good idea; stick close to the storylines for our reality. Did you add some spy stuff to justify your natural skills and skepticism?”

“Yup.” I fold my arms over my chest and lie back. He wraps me in tightly, sitting next to me, like he always does.

“Okay, work fast. We need to find where this nutbag is keeping these girls.”

I glance up at him as he tucks me in snug as a bug in a rug, like his mother always did for him. “You know me, I like everything fast.”

He winks. “Apart from love. The good doctor would agree to that, I’m sure.”

I shake my head. “Don’t get him started. He doesn’t need encouraging.”

Rory blows a kiss at the mirror. “Ahh, my sweet Angie had the same troubles as he does. She was chasing me all over hell’s half acre, trying to nail me down.”

“Oh my God, you’re a dork. She’s going to kick some ass later for that one.”

His wicked grin matches the one she gets at times. “God help me, I hope so.”

I close my eyes, grateful for everything and ready to help someone else find their freedom. Everything is a mess in the world I am about to enter, so having my world in order makes it easier.

I lie back, reminding myself of the triggers.

The purple scarf my mother was wearing when she died. I still have the picture of our family the day the accident happened. The purple scarf was so tight around her neck it still bothers me.

The wooden box with the four-leaf clover in the lid that I made with Andrea and Mom. I still have it.

The saying that my master chief always said in training.
Loss of love, loss of limb, and loss of life are all equal tragedies.
He was a genius.

Dash—or Derek, as I call him here so I don’t confuse the two of them in real life—he’s the light in the dark and the voice that brings me home.

Binx. The black-and-white cat who will forever have my heart.

Twins, because I once shared something with a person that can’t ever be taken away from me, even in death—creation. I shared a womb, and I shared my life with a person who will always be with me.

Rory, because he always has my back and he’s hot in a naughty way.