In the Air Tonight Page 11

  Moments later, they heard Paige’s footsteps on the creaky stairs and she was back with them. Cheeks still flushed red as she confirmed that they were missing from her suitcase.

  “Since when?” Ed asked.

  “I don’t know. I just got here … I’ve been living out of my suitcase and it’s messy. I wouldn’t really have noticed if someone had taken my underwear.”

  “That’s the only way Harvey would’ve gotten them, from your suitcase?” Ed asked, and she narrowed her eyes.

  “You bet your ass that’s the only way. I wanted nothing to do with that man.”

  “Maybe he wanted something to do with you, maybe he didn’t want to take no for an answer and you told Mace and Caleb that Harvey hurt you. It’s understandable—”

  “That didn’t happen,” Paige said firmly, her voice snapping in the already tension-filled air.

  Ed wouldn’t turn his attention away from Paige. “Ma’am, can you tell me where you were last night after Harvey was escorted from the bar?”

  “She was with me,” Mace interjected.

  “All night? You didn’t lose track of her?”

  “After I escorted Harvey out for grabbing her, I followed Paige to the back room. Later we went upstairs and she spent the night in my bed.”

  Paige’s cheeks flushed slightly with that confession, which was actually perfect. Ed pressed his lips together for a second while he chewed on that, then said, “And she couldn’t have snuck out?”

  “No.”

  “Not even when you slept?”

  “I don’t sleep, Ed.”

  “What about Caleb?”

  “What about him?”

  “Were you with him all night too?”

  “No, sir,” Mace ground out. “But he walked in on me and Paige in the back room sometime after midnight. He closed the bar for me.”

  “So neither of you saw Caleb after that time,” Ed said quietly.

  Mace swore he heard Cael growl but then his friend said, “I drove Lucy home. Walked her to her door and came back to the bar. That was around two A.M.”

  “Lots of trouble when you boys come here,” Ed muttered. “None of you should plan on leaving town.”

  He started for the door and Mace caught up with him. “Ed, there’s no way Paige is responsible for this. She couldn’t handle Harvey.”

  “If he was drunk enough, anyone could.”

  “You don’t believe it’s gang business? Big Harvey pissed off a lot of people. Or maybe it’s just as simple as him touching the wrong woman.”

  “I don’t know what to believe, Mace. But you three have had problems with him—he touches your girl and he ends up dead.”

  “She’s not my … Ed, you’ve been trying to lay everything that’s gone wrong in this town on me for as long as I can remember. And I keep telling you, my hands are clean,” Mace said evenly. “Technically, the woods behind my bar are county property. I’m running a business. I don’t need a gang war, and your accusations and suspicions are going to bring the OA down on my head pretty quickly.”

  “I’ll do my best, Mace,” Ed said before he walked out the door. Mace closed and locked it behind him, turned back in time to see Caleb addressing Paige.

  “I’m sorry, Paige. I’m just …”

  “I know, Caleb. I wish I could help more.”

  He nodded, backed off as if he sensed he wasn’t doing anything but making her more nervous and then said to Mace, “I’ll call Keagen and see if he’s heard anything else.”

  It made sense. Keagen was their bartender only part time during the winter months. When the weather got warm, he took off on his Harley and they didn’t see him again until just before the weather got cold.

  He’d never been part of Harvey’s gang—hell, Harvey wasn’t even part of his gang anymore, having gone rogue years earlier because he couldn’t seem to get along with anyone. The man lived a pretty solitary existence. Mace remembered that years ago Harvey fucked with his gang’s gun running, and someone’s old lady. Mace didn’t know what punishment the man endured in order to stay an OA, but it couldn’t have been easy.

  “I can do that, Caleb.”

  “I need to do something, Mace. If I don’t, I’ll just keep thinking and I don’t want to goddamned think anymore. Not now. You just take care of Paige—later, we’ll figure out how the hell Harvey got upstairs without either of us noticing.”

  Mace nodded mutely and Caleb headed upstairs. When Mace heard the water running through the old pipes, was sure Caleb was out of earshot and in the shower, he made a fist and punched the bar, hard … hard enough so that the stitches Cael had given him the other night pulled, and he didn’t give a fuck.

  He yelled a few choice curses too, and none too quietly. And then he just stared at the bar for a long time, his life growing up here flashing before his eyes.

  He’d come full circle and it sure as fuck hadn’t been enjoyable. And then he addressed Paige, who’d been watching his little show. “You freaked when you saw the St. Christopher medal, but it wasn’t yours. What’s the deal?”

  Paige flicked her eyes to his face briefly and said, “Jeffrey collects St. Christopher medals. My mom gave him one and then Jeffrey got angry when they revoked Christopher’s status as a saint. They gypped the guy, he used to say.”

  That hung heavily in the air between them, and no, none of this was a coincidence. And it was then Mace noticed the blood seeping through the gauze bandage on his hand, went to tear it off but stopped at her words.

  “Let me fix that—I’ll wear gloves.”

  He nodded, too worn out to argue. “Kit’s in my office. Check the shelf behind the desk.”

  She disappeared into the back and he scanned the empty bar, looking for a ghost. A shadow. Anything. “Gray, what the hell should I do?”

  “Does he ever answer you?” Paige asked from the doorway of his office. When he didn’t say anything, she admitted, “I talk to him too.”

  With that, she walked over and sat, draping a clean towel on the table between them. He put his hand down, palm up, and after she pulled the gloves on she went to work unwrapping the bandage and inspecting where he’d blown a few stitches.

  “Not bad,” she murmured, applied some disinfectant to clean the new and dried blood and then stitched way more efficiently than he ever could.

  “I understand why Caleb freaks you out. I do. But I meant what I said before—I can’t tell him to go. I don’t expect you to understand. No one will, I’m sure, but we’re more than just a team. For us, it’s like the only family we’ve ever really had. And we don’t want to be split up so …”

  “All for one,” she said quietly. “That sounds nice.”

  It would be better if he could find Reid, drag him back with a net. Kell was MIA, which wasn’t all that unusual for him, post-mission. But since he’d been on a single-man mission when they were all captured, who the hell knew what he was thinking. Kell had always been dark—darker even than Mace, which scared all of them.

  There was something inside of Kell that had yet to be exorcized. It burned so deep that Mace swore the man was possessed.

  God, he was sick of talking about it, thinking about feelings.

  Paige placed a fresh bandage on his palm, covered it with enough tape to keep it dry. “There. This should hold, but try not to make a fist, okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll try.” He paused, and then, “Are you okay?”

  “No,” she said honestly. “There’s a dead man killed with my knife, my underwear in his pocket. But something good’s come out of all of this—now Caleb knows what might’ve happened. He can finally move forward and focus on remembering specifics.”

  “He didn’t do anything wrong.” Mace rubbed his face with his hands. “But seeing that knife was a huge trigger.”

  She cocked her head and looked at him and then said in a low voice, “You’re worried that Caleb might’ve … with Harvey?”

  “No,” he said, fast and too loud. “I don’t know
what the hell to think. You touched Harvey too. Did you feel anything?”

  She shook her head. “I barely touched him. I used my knee and my palm grazed his arm but he was wearing leather.”

  “Harvey had a lot of enemies in this town. In a lot of towns,” Mace said. “His feeling you up isn’t reason enough for you to go after him. And you have a strong alibi.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “I never thought being caught naked like that could come in handy.”

  “Yeah, lucky us,” Mace said as the door opened and a woman peeked inside. Pretty and blond and Mace decided that the word luck should never come out of his mouth again as he recognized her, and then pretended he didn’t. “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, I’m looking for Caleb.” She stopped, stared. “Mace, right?”

  “Hi, Vivi,” he said while mentally cursing Noah, the only one who could’ve possibly given her this address.

  CHAPTER

  7

  Mace didn’t look happy to see her at all. Noah had warned her this would be an uphill battle. But Vivi hadn’t worried, had driven for hours, into a blizzard. By the looks of the sky, she could be stuck here for a while, and she hadn’t bothered to research hotels or motels in the area. Her need to see Cael, her hope that things would magically correct themselves when she saw him overrode everything.

  God, she was an idiot. “Mace, please. I have to see him.”

  “You have no clue what a bad idea that is.”

  “I know what’s going on. Noah filled me in. I’m here with his blessing.”

  Mace muttered something about giving Noah his blessing, but she ignored it.

  “I had to come. Before he left for that last mission, I promised Caleb my loyalty. I don’t give that lightly and I won’t go back on my word.” She paused. “From what Noah tells me, Cael needs help.”

  Mace glanced at the woman next to him and back at Vivi. “This is Paige, Gray’s sister,” he said pointedly, and Vivi’s stomach twisted.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said to Paige, who simply nodded and murmured, “Thanks.”

  And with that small statement, Vivi let Mace know that Noah let her in on the mission gone to shit. “I’m here to help.”

  “Help? Help.” He laughed, a harsh bark, and then he got up and started walking toward the back room. “Fine, Vivi, you want to help, he’s all yours.”

  She hadn’t expected Mace to give in that quickly—or at all. But Noah’s influence held a lot of weight—and Mace wouldn’t go toe-to-toe with his CO’s orders.

  Noah had told her as much.

  But still, within minutes, she would be seeing Caleb. It had been three long months, one of which she’d spent in Quantico, training with the FBI, letting them pick her brain while she did the same, getting to know the new team in cyber crimes.

  With her background in computers—thanks to her father’s literal genius with numbers—she’d been told she was a huge asset to them. And ever since DMH had targeted and nearly killed her to get their hands on her and her programs, she’d needed to find a way to survive, to protect herself.

  The FBI had been touted as the best way. Caleb didn’t know about her decision, as she hadn’t been able to talk to him since he’d gone on his mission. Now she knew why—how it had gone so horribly wrong. She couldn’t even imagine what he’d been going through.

  He had to be okay. Had to be. He was the strongest, most morally grounded person she’d ever met. And she wasn’t prepared to lose him, not when she’d finally found him.

  She also wasn’t prepared to tell him she’d withdrawn from the FBI’s program last month. There was time for that. She had nothing but time on her hands these days.

  She put her hands on her hips, stared at the ground and drew a deep breath. When she looked back up, she saw Paige watching her carefully.

  “I’m not here to hurt Caleb.”

  “I know. I’ll leave you guys alone.” Even as Paige spoke the words, Caleb was slamming through the back door.

  Vivi’s knees felt weak at the sight of him, although this wasn’t the way she’d dreamed their eventual reunion would be.

  When Noah had first called her to tell her Caleb was back in the States, she’d been thrilled, had been ready to finish up the FBI’s grueling version of boot camp, and her training for their cyber crimes division.

  But after a couple of months, Noah called again, this time admitting to her that he needed her help—that Caleb did.

  The details of the mission he’d given her were bare bones. The most important part was that Cael had lost many of his memories—of the mission … and of her.

  She’d lain awake every night after that, curled in a ball, trying to remember the feel of his arms around her. He’d protected her, and she’d fallen in love with him in such a short period of time that it made her head spin.

  She’d been waiting her whole life for a man like Caleb. She wouldn’t lose him now.

  “Can I help you?” he asked, his voice impatient. He looked the same—maybe more tired than she’d seen him last, but still so broad and strong and handsome.

  “Caleb, it’s me, Vivi.” Her voice nearly broke with that sentence and she waited for what seemed like an eternity for him to answer her.

  Be strong, Vivi. You knew it could be like this.

  She couldn’t lie, though—she’d had visions of walking in and Cael’s face lighting up with instant recognition.

  She’d wanted to be the one to bring him back to himself.

  He stared at her expressionless … nothing.

  But the Caleb she knew didn’t show emotion at the drop of a hat. His training wouldn’t allow it—and although the details of his last mission were classified, Noah had confided simply that he’d been to hell and wasn’t all the way back yet.

  So maybe there was something … anything …

  She stared at his face for any hint, looked into the deep, dark eyes that had made her feel safe all those months ago, and saw not even a flicker of recognition. She wanted to sink to her knees, to bang the floor with her fists at the unfairness of it all. She mentally cursed Noah for telling her, even though she was grateful he had.

  Because Cael was still here, still alive, and he could still be hers.

  “I don’t know you,” Caleb said finally. “What do you want from me?”

  “I’m the woman who’s been waiting for you to come back. I lived in your apartment for a while. You saved my life, and you had to go away. You told me you’d come back to me. I told you I’d wait.”

  “Did you?”

  She swallowed, hard. Thought about the way she’d left for the FBI’s training. She’d left a letter on his bed—Noah had known where she was. So physically, no, she hadn’t. But in her heart … “Yes, I waited.”

  She was still waiting.

  His face hardened. “You shouldn’t have bothered.”

  The pretty woman with the blue-tipped blond hair looked like she’d been slapped at his last words and fear and frustration welled up inside of him.

  All Caleb wanted her to do was go away. She was a painful reminder of every lost memory that he still couldn’t grasp, like a gaping, sucking chest wound that wasn’t allowed to close. “You should leave now.”

  She didn’t say anything. He could see she was trying to stay tough. Trying … and failing.

  He couldn’t blame her for that. But he had to get rid of her, had to try to process whatever memories were escaping. The only thing he’d been able to see in front of his face all morning was the goddamned bloody knife. He’d drawn it, over and over, along with the faces of the two men he couldn’t place.

  The pictures of this woman—Vivi—standing in front of him that he’d drawn over the past month were safely locked away in his room with the others. And Vivi stared at him like she was trying to unlock the secrets of the world and he wanted to tell her, Good luck, honey.

  He also wanted to kill Mace for not telling him that there was a woman he’d left behind, but he knew his friend wa
s following doctor’s orders. When Mace had stormed into the back room where Cael had been on the phone with Keagen, he’d recognized immediately that no good could come of this meeting with Vivi, new FBI agent and the woman he’d saved—and fallen in love with.

  “I was in love?” he’d asked his friend a few minutes earlier and Mace had nodded.

  He repeated the name Vivi to himself a few times before he came through the door—like some kind of magical chant that could bring back his memories, was almost angrier at her than at himself for not being able to conjure up an instant memory.

  Which was ridiculous.

  So yeah, he knew her but he didn’t know her at all—who she was to him, what she was doing here. She could answer all those questions but when he saw her in person, the only thing that jumped was his cock, not his heart.

  Of course, Miss FBI noticed that, and when her eyes dragged back up from his crotch to his face, she wasn’t blushing. “I guess I should take that as a compliment.”

  “Take it however you want.” There was an edge to his voice, a challenge and a dare—if she wanted to try to fuck the memories back into him, he wasn’t going to stop her. “I know what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work, okay? I don’t know you from Adam, and you staring at me isn’t going to change that. I’m not a goddamned zoo animal.”

  “No, you’re not. And I’m sorry for staring, but I haven’t seen you for months. And you look really good. And I missed you.”

  She was pouring her heart out to him and he couldn’t deal with it. “Just go, okay.”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  The pretty blonde stood her ground, and no, she wouldn’t go. He’d known that from the second he’d walked in. “I don’t know what you want from me. I’m not the same person I was three months ago. I’m not the same person you knew.”

  “Neither am I, Cael. But I think we can still find some common ground again. We were different when we first met too, and that didn’t seem to matter.”

  “I didn’t wait for you, Vivi. So if you’re hoping that I was all celibate and pining away, you’re mistaken.” The celibate part was a lie, because he had been.