Chapter 7

7

ACE

I watch her sleep peacefully. I want to feed her, but I know that sleep is often the best medicine. I'm sure her mind is exhausted from everything she saw. Oftentimes people don't realize the mental load they are carrying until it catches up to them. Once it does, then they crash.

Her blonde hair is spread out across my pillow. Fuck me, she’s really here. I thought I would never find her, but fate had other plans. I only wish I’d found her sooner. She’s been living in hell. Thankfully my girl is strong. You have to be to survive what she did.

It’s hard to look at her and not become enraged. Her lip is swollen, but the cut isn’t as red and irritated. I keep rubbing her leg, knowing I should let go, but I can’t bring myself to do it. It’s irrational, but I have this fear that if I let her too far from my reach, she’ll up and disappear on me again.

Still, I need to be mindful not to come off as too overbearing. That might spook her, and I’m sure she’s lived with enough overbearing men in her life.

I force myself to remove my hands from her soft skin. I grab the throw blanket from the end of my bed and cover her before forcing myself to get out of bed. I go to my safe room and take some of the rest of my gear off, keeping a few items on me.

I know I’m being overly cautious. If there had been someone following us, Short would have noticed. He trailed us the whole way back. Before I put the drone away, I made sure it loaded all the data it collected from Heaven's Temple onto my computer.

Make no mistake about it: Heaven’s Temple is going to have to be handled one way or another. Now that we have two of the girls out of there, we can see about calling in more higher-ups. I just worry about some Waco shit happening. That raid was a shitshow, but technically, it is different now. I think an ops mission would be better. Libby cares about some of the people still there. I could see it when she talked about them and said they weren’t all bad.

Fuck, her mother probably isn’t all bad, or at least she may not have been born that way. Who knows what you’d turn into if you grew up in the shit she did? The mind learns to adapt and survive. It would take deep deprogramming, and they would have to want it. Yet something tells me her mother isn’t going to see the light. I think it’s been too long, and she’s too far gone based on my first impression of her.

I let myself get lost in research, going over everything. An alert appears, bearing my brother's name.

“The fuck?” I mutter, pulling it up as I reach for my phone at the same time. “Well, shit.” I guess there is no other option now. The higher authorities will be involved. Just as I’m about to call my brother, the twin shit must kick in because he’s calling me.

“You killed three people?” I say when I answer the phone. “I don’t think I killed even one.”

“Don’t think?”

“They might have frozen to death. Not sure, but Mother Nature will get that kill,” I half-tease. It’s often easier to make light out of heavy shit, even if some of those fuckers are better off not walking this earth. He lets out a low chuckle.

“Garrett.” I hear a soft voice in the background.

“I know, sorry, sweetheart.” Damn, it’s weird as shit to hear him talk this way. His whole tone is different. “My woman wants to know about her sister.”

“She’s asleep, but I’ll give it to you.” Garrett puts me on speakerphone, and I give them a play-by-play of what all happened. Winter lets out a few gasps here and there.

“But she’s okay?” Winter asks for reassurance.

“Yeah.” I push back from my desk, stepping out of the safe room when I think I hear movement. When I arrive in the bedroom, Libby is sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes until they move to me and a smile forms on her lips. My chest grows tight.

I swear the emotions she provokes in me make me feel like a stranger in my own skin. I have never experienced a mix of them all at once. Especially not since my mom died. Hell, I’ve never experienced some of them at all before.

“Hi.” Her eyes land on me. My shirt slides off one of her shoulders; her hair is a tousled mess. Libby appears to be sex personified.

“Libby!” Winter shouts through the phone.

“Winter!” Libby tries to spring up from the bed to come to the phone. I swear I’m more aware of what is about to happen than she is. I’m already in motion, sprinting across the room as she comes to her feet. A small yelp leaves her right before her leg starts to give out, but I’m there before she can hit the floor this time. I wrap my arm around her, pulling her to me. I lift her off her feet a few inches so there is no weight on her legs.

Her hands come to my chest. “You’re fast.”

“And you’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“I just would have fallen.” The bare shoulder gives a shrug. I spot a freckle on it. I have to fight the urge to kiss it.

“I don’t want you to fall if I can prevent it.” My hold on her tightens. Damn, she feels good pressed against me. She belongs here, and I hate that I’m going to have to let her go here in a second.

“You can’t always be around, and I’m used to it.” I grunt my response because she isn’t ready to hear what I have to say when it comes to all that.

“Hello!” We both turn our heads toward the bed at the muffled shouts. I dropped my phone there when I was catching Libby.

“Ope!” Libby wiggles, rubbing against my dick. I release her back onto the bed, thankful she doesn’t notice. She grabs the phone, putting it to her ear upside down. “Winter.” I flip it around for her. Libby erupts into a flurry of conversation. Then she suddenly stops. “Okay, let me see.” Libby pulls the phone back. “They are calling with a camera?”

The phone starts to go off again. “Yeah, it’s called FaceTime.” I click it on for her. Winter’s face comes into view. Both girls burst into tears.

“Shit.” I stand there feeling the most useless I've ever felt in my life. I want to wrap myself around her. Hold her closer to reassure her everything is okay, but I don’t want to spook her.

Still, I can’t stop myself from moving closer to her. I sit on the bed near her. Tentatively, I place my hand on her calf. This time she doesn’t jump when I touch her, which doesn’t go unnoticed by me. Her watery eyes meet mine, and she gives me a soft smile, so I stroke back and forth with my thumb.

Libby starts to calm down. Their conversation slows too. It's only when she begins to relax that I realize how tense I have been watching her get worked up.

“Is that him?” Libby asks. I lean forward so I can see the screen from a side angle. There is no missing Garrett hovering, not far behind Winter. I’m sure I look exactly the same on this end.

“Yes, this is Garrett. Garrett, this is my sister, Libby.” She introduces them. Libby gives him a little adorable wave. “He killed Joseph.” Winter says it so nonchalantly.

“What?!” Libby almost drops the phone. I clench my jaw when Winter gives Libby the details. I’m not a fan of her hearing them all, but it sounds as though my brother had some fun with Joseph.

“And now what?” Libby asks, chewing on her bottom lip. “Will he be in trouble?”

“No,” Garrett and I both respond in unison. It’s not as though they can throw us in jail. This was nothing compared to what we did for the government, and they came onto Garrett's land armed. Even without the government sending in a cleaning crew, Garrett wouldn’t have faced any charges. It’s technically self-defense. But we all know Garrett was going to kill those fuckers one way or another.

Sure, he’ll get an ass chewing. Not that he cares. We’re supposed to try and keep a low profile. We were ghosts even when we worked for them. You would never see our names on missions or anywhere else that was public.

When Libby’s stomach lets out a small growl, I tell them maybe we should call back later. Garrett agrees, saying cleanup will be there soon. I guess the snow wasn’t going to stop them either. They might prefer it.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Libby tells her sister before they say goodbye. Those three words sound so sweet on her lips. Just like the rest of her. Hopefully it won't be long until she’s saying them to me.

“Thanks for letting me talk to her.” Libby tucks a piece of her hair behind her ears. I still have my hand on her ankle.

“You can talk to your sister anytime. In fact, I’ll order you a phone.”

“You’ll get me a phone? Like one of my own?”

“Actually, I have a few extras. I’ll just need to set up a line.”

"Oh gosh!" she exclaims, her excitement mixed with uncertainty. “That’s a lot for you to do for me.”

“Babe, it’s a phone. I got it. Don’t worry about it.”

“You make everything so easy.” She leans forward and brushes her mouth against my cheek. Fuck do I want to turn my head and kiss her. “What if I make us something to eat?”

“You don’t have to.”

“Please?” She steps back, allowing me to see her pleading expression. I can't resist giving her what she wants. Those eyes of hers are unmatched by any weapon I have ever come up against before. This blue-eyed girl could take me down like no other.

I want to ask if her leg is up for it, but I don’t think she’d much like that question right now. I'll just keep an eye out. Then see about giving her another rubdown.

“The kitchen is all yours.”

“Yay!” Libby claps before moving to the side of the bed to get up. I have to release my hold on her ankle. I watch her to make sure she doesn’t almost fall, but she’s got it. “I’m going to—” She points to the bathroom. I nod. “Then I’ll start.”

When she disappears into the bathroom, I stand up, adjust my cock, and then return to the safe room to find a spare phone and establish a secure line. When I step back out, Libby is already in the kitchen.

“She looked so happy, didn’t she?” Libby asks while she rummages through my pantry. I stocked up before the storm, but I have no clue if it’s what she needs. I’m not the worst cook but not the best either. I can throw a steak on the stove or whatnot. Mom taught us the basics. But I’m not some gourmet chef.

“Yeah, they seem happy.” My brother is smitten, and I'm pretty sure he's in love. If I weren't experiencing the same thing over here, I would think my brother had lost his mind. What’s the likelihood that twin brothers fall for sisters? Especially ones that needed saving. Also near a town my brother wanted to move to because our mom brought us here when we were younger. That word fate comes back to mind.

“I think we’ve got everything we need for biscuits and gravy.” Libby does a cute little wiggle. Her whole mood is lighter. A bit of sleep and talking to her sister did her some good. She’s more relaxed now.

"Are you sure you don't want me to cook?" I ask, unable to help myself.

This will give her an out if it hurts now that she is really up and moving around. The last thing I want her to be is in pain because she had to prepare a meal for us. I think the massage and the light stretching helped, but still, if she is in pain, I want her to sit.

“I love cooking,” Libby tells me again. “You said I could use the kitchen.”

“All right.” I put my hands up to concede. “You’re the boss.” I drop down into one of the chairs at the kitchen island. I don’t have a dining room area. I never thought I needed one. I assumed it would take up unnecessary space. Now I'm reconsidering many of my decisions.

All of them were based on me living a solo life. I never thought in a million years that the girl of my dreams would actually be standing in my space, wanting to cook a meal for me. I can’t even express the emotions coursing through my body now that she’s here.

I could get used to this. Who the fuck am I kidding? I already am.