Cocked: A Stepbrother Romance (20 page)

So he took what he wanted and didn’t care about anything else. Even though he was surrounded with new people and experiences, the young man was just as selfish as he had always been. He couldn’t see past himself any better than when he was trapped in his little space. He couldn’t change or grow.

But when you’re suddenly drowning in new experiences, that selfishness can lead to bad things. The young man wasn’t thinking clearly. All he wanted to do was have the life he really wanted, and he began to do things that were wrong or bad. He justified it by saying that he’d stop eventually, as soon as he made enough money, but it was never enough.

And so, slowly but surely, the young man forgot about the beautiful girl. He was lost, so deeply and terribly lost. He was buried in the huge new world. He thought he could handle it all, and maybe he could, but it wasn’t exactly what he thought it would be.

Then, one day he found her again. It was like a light turning on in his brain. She had never disappeared, not really. The girl in lace had always been there, standing by his side, trying to get him to see the badness that was beginning to swallow him up.

And he loved her. He realized he loved her more than anything, because despite all the new things he had seen and done, she was the only good thing in his life.

But he was too far gone. One day, not long after he realized he loved the girl in lace, some bad men from his new life came to find him. They threatened to kill him and his family if he didn’t pay them the money he owed them. Not knowing what else to do, he ran away to a place where nobody could find him.

He did it to protect the girl in lace. He did it to protect his family. He disappeared into a new place, fell deep back into his loneliness, back into the little room he promised he’d never go back to. All because he loved her, the girl in lace, the only good thing he knew.

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I
managed to keep her awake as we drove through the night. She was loopy and half there, but she didn’t fall asleep. It was pretty obvious that she had a concussion, but we couldn’t do anything about it just yet. Hospitals were completely out of the question.

“Where are we going?” I asked Jared after a few hours.

“I know a place,” he said, not looking from the road. “We’re close now.”

“You sure it’s safe to stop?”

“They haven’t caught up to us, so I doubt they’ll be able to follow.”

“You doubt or you’re sure?”

He glanced at me. “Just take care of your stepsister.”

I clenched my jaw and looked back at Lacey. She smiled up at me and I began to tell her another story, this one about a prince living in Mexico.

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O
nce upon a time, there was a prince living in Mexico.

He didn’t like it there. He wished he could go home, but the prince was a prisoner. He was a prisoner of an evil government and an even more evil wizard. The wizard liked to make and sell bad potions, and the government wanted to stop him.

The prince was trapped. He could help the evil government take down the bad wizard, or he could end up rotting away in jail and dying. And so the prince helped the government, because he had no other choice.

At first, it was easy. He did the things he always did. You see, the prince was also a master thief. He had been trained from birth to be able to open any lock anywhere in the world. At first, the wizard only had him opening locks.

But soon, as the wizard began to trust the prince more and more, the prince was forced to do things he didn’t want to do. He killed people and he hurt people. Some of those people were innocent victims, and some were bad men. The wizard didn’t care. All he wanted was to make more and more gold.

And so the prince was forced to go inside himself. He was trapped between the wizard and the government, stuck doing bad things for bad men for supposedly good reasons.

Bit by bit and day by day, parts of the prince died off. In place of those parts, new parts grew, but they were harder parts. The prince grew a shell around him, a thick armored shell nothing could get through.

The prince couldn’t feel the bad things anymore. He stopped caring who was killed and who wasn’t. All he wanted to do was get through the next day and the next. The shell kept him safe from all the horrible things on the outside.

He needed that shell. He was good at what he did, but the things he did were sometimes bad. The prince hated himself for that.

Then, one day, things changed. Something happened and the wizard found out about the evil government and the prince working for them. The prince ran away, back toward his kingdom.

But the shell stayed in place. The prince couldn’t just get rid of it in a single day.

Back in his kingdom, the prince tried to warn his royal family. He took them away, far far away, to keep them safe from the wizard.

And one day, while running from that wizard, the prince’s shell began to crack.

It was all because of the princess. She was beautiful and smart and funny and strong, and she always wore a lovely lace dress.

Day by day, bit by bit, his shell cracked, until the prince was able to breathe again.

He didn’t realize it, but that shell was slowly choking him. He was going to die alone inside it. He was ready to die. In fact, part of him wanted to die for all of the bad things he had done. But before he could die, the princess broke that shell and he didn’t want to die anymore. He wanted to live and be with the princess.

And so the prince and the princess lived together far far away from the wizard, happily ever after. The end.

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W
e pulled off the main road and began to wind our way along dirt and rocky roads through thick wilderness. Not long after I finished my stories, we slowly pulled up a steep drive and stopped in front of a small, squat cabin.

“We’re here,” Jared said.

“What’s this?”

“Old safe house.”

“What do you mean, old?”

“We haven’t been operating around here for a while.” He shrugged. “Not sure what it’s used for now.”

“We should check it out, make sure it’s safe.”

“I’ll go. You stay with the girl.” He climbed out of the Jeep, gun in hand, without another word.

I watched him slip around the side of the building, barely more than a shadow. The way he moved was impressive, silent and stealthy.

Jared seemed to be who he said he was, though I wasn’t sure I trusted him just yet. Still, I couldn’t help but remember how I was kneeling down, ready to die, gun pressed up against my head, when he had come out of nowhere, killed Mikhail and Tomas with two quick shots, and helped me to my feet.

I had thought I was dead. But Jared saved me. He came out of nowhere, like a ghost.

“Who is he?” Lacey mumbled.

“A good guy. I think.”

Her eyes looked clearer than they did earlier. “But who is he?”

“He says he’s a member of the people that were handling me back in Mexico.”

“So he’s CIA.”

“He won’t say.”

She paused for a second, blinking. “I have an awful headache still, but I feel a lot better.”

“Good.”

“I thought you were dead.” She reached up and wrapped her arms around me.

“I’m sorry. I thought I was too.” I hugged her tight against me, savoring her smell.

“Don’t do that again. I told you not to sacrifice yourself.” She pulled back and gave me a fierce, angry look.

“You know I’m a bad listener,” I said, grinning.

“Stubborn, too.”

“And an asshole.”

She nodded. “Definitely an asshole.”

I kissed her then, hard, and she kissed me back, pulling my face tight against hers. It felt right, like I was coming home, and it lasted a long time.

Until a knock at the window startled me. We both looked up sheepishly at Jared, who motioned for us to come out.

“Aren’t you two siblings?” he asked, making a face.

“Stepsiblings,” Lacey said.

“Got a problem?” I asked.

“Nope. Place is clear. Let’s go inside.”

We followed him, holding hands. For some reason, I didn’t want to let go again. I knew we were safe, but I didn’t want to risk it, which was crazy. I’d never felt so madly fucked up over a girl before, but there she was: Lacey, perfect Lacey.

Inside, the cabin was small and dusty. It obviously hadn’t been used in a long time. It was simply furnished, with a kitchen to the left, six cots along the right wall, and a simple table in the center of the large open room. Another door probably led to the bathroom. 

“Home sweet home,” Jared said and sat down on a cot.

I sat at the table. “Time to talk, Jared.”

“Yeah. I figured.” He looked away and grunted.

“Time to tell me who you really are.”

“Like I said, I can’t.”

“You expect me to keep doing your shit if you can’t tell me who you are?”

“Already took a risk saving your miserable life.”

“You’re the assholes who put him in danger to begin with,” Lacey cut in.

“Girl has a point,” he said.

“How did you find us?”

“I’m a spook, Camden. Finding people is what we do.”

“Spook?”

“You know what I mean. Secret agent, I guess. Special ops. The dark and grisly shit our bosses don’t want to admit actually exists.”

“So there’s no actual guy named Spook?”

He laughed. “No, there’s not. But I guess you could say I was Spook all along.”

I stared at him for a second. “You’re the boss, then.”

“Team leader, but yeah. I’ve been running you this whole time.”

“Jesus fuck,” I said. “Where have you been?”

He sat up and looked at me. “You did a damn good job when you ran, Camden. Impressive stuff, honestly. We had a tough time tracking you.”

“But here you are.”

“Here I am.”

“What’s going on?” Lacey asked, annoyed. “You just show up? What about our parents?”

“One thing at a time,” he said. “First, I’m here to help. Although Camden has a low opinion of me and my people, we’re not the type of agency to leave anyone in the lurch.” I snorted and shook my head at that. “Second,” he continued, “your parents are the next top priority.”

“Okay then. So where’s the rest of the team?”

“They’re not coming.”

I stared at him. “What?”

“We aren’t supposed to operate on American soil. I’m running this off the books.”

“You’re the cavalry?”

“I’m the cavalry. But I know where your parents are.”

“Where?” Lacey said, eager.

“Not far from here, actually.” He looked back at me. “They’re with Trip. And I’m pretty sure Castillo is there, too.”

I let that sink in for a second. Trip and Castillo in the same place was a pretty big deal. Trip was the guy I wanted to get my hands on the most in this world, and Castillo was the guy Jared most wanted. It looked like our stars were aligning.

“I want that bastard,” I said softly.

“I know you do. I can’t blame you.” He lay back down and covered his eyes. “But we need Castillo alive.”

“What about Trip?”

“I don’t give a fuck what you do with that sewer rat.”

I smiled. “Is that official American policy?”

“Son,” Jared said tiredly, “none of this is official policy. I don’t even exist. Now let’s get some rest. We’ll plan more in the morning.” He rolled over onto his side and seemed to fall asleep almost instantly.

I looked at Lacey and she shrugged.

“Are you okay?” I asked her softly.

“Yeah. I think so.”

“That guy back there—”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Okay. But I promise, you’ll never be in that position again.” I felt a white-hot fury deep in my chest thinking about what I had walked in on when I saved Lacey. Brent, that sick fuck, his cock out, Lacey’s pants off. The piece of shit would have raped her if I hadn’t blown his skull off.

“I’m just happy you’re alive.”

I took her hand. “Now we need to get our parents back.” I paused and squeezed. “And I need to murder Trip.”

“You don’t need to do anything,” she said.

“What?”

“We can let Jared handle it. He seems capable.”

“I’m not sitting this out, Lacey.”

“I almost lost you once,” she said fiercely. “Let Jared handle it.”

“No,” I said, leaning back, releasing her hand. “I’m seeing this through.”

“Then I am too.”

“Not an option.”

“Yes, an option. If you go, then I go.”

“It’s too dangerous, Lacey. You saw what happened last time.”

“I don’t care. I’m not leaving you.”

I sighed, shaking my head. She could be so stubborn sometimes. I knew she was tough, but I had no clue how tough she really could be. If I were her, I’d probably want to take a little break from messing with violent gangsters. Instead, she was ready to go riding off to fight some cartel guys.

“You’re amazing,” I said softly. “But I can handle myself. You can’t.”

She stood up and smiled at me. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

“Lacey—”

She gave me a small kiss on the mouth as she walked by and lay down on a cot. I half turned toward her and watched as she crawled under the blankets.

I shook my head softly and snapped off the light. I walked over to the refrigerator, frowning at its empty cavity. I walked back to the chair and sat down heavily, sighing.

It was late, and we were safe, but I couldn’t take any chances. I resolved myself to staying up and keeping watch.

I leaned back in my chair, thinking about what the next day would bring.

Trip was a dead man. And I’d finally see Castillo taken down for all the fucked-up shit he did.

Tomorrow was going to be a good day.