Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

February 1 st

3:02 P.M.

"You know there's no guarantee we're right about this," Luis cautioned as he drove them toward the mall.

"Of course there isn't," Cassie agreed. She had never said nor implied that there were. Wasn't much of a guess to figure out that he was being self-conscious about his intellect again.

It was weird that while in some ways they were at different ends of the spectrum—although she strongly suspected Luis would score at the high end of average, or even above average if he took an IQ test—they both essentially suffered from the same issue.

All her life, she'd felt too smart, and all his life, he hadn't felt smart enough.

Luis kept saying they came from different worlds, and she kept feeling like they were in different leagues, but they were actually a whole lot more alike than either of them had admitted yet.

The idea of Luis still feeling like he wasn't smart enough after overcoming his childhood to make something of himself, dedicating his life to saving the innocent and ridding the world of evil, didn't sit well with her. But she had no idea on how to show him how smart he really was.

There was more to life than your IQ.

Something clicked inside her as she thought the words.

"There's more to life than your IQ," she whispered aloud.

How had that never resonated with her before now?

All her life, there hadn't been more to her life than her IQ. Her parents had chosen her specifically, picked egg and sperm donors for their IQs, their creative and musical abilities, and their sporting acumen. They'd gotten the genius baby they wanted, and they'd made sure they filled every second of her life with the things they thought she needed to learn to become the person they wanted her to be.

There had never been space in her life for choices.

She was who she was, and that meant using the brain she'd been gifted with.

No part of her regretted working for Prey and the good she could help to do there, but she'd never given a lot of thought to having a life outside of that. Even the one little hobby she allowed herself to have she guarded with her life, keeping it secret and locked away behind a closed door so nobody could find out.

Because if they found out they'd think less of her. Think she was wasting the blessing she'd been given.

Maybe she'd been wrong all these years.

Maybe nobody would think less of her, she just had to learn how to not think less of herself.

"You saying that to me or yourself?" Luis asked, glancing over at her as he pulled into the mall's parking lot.

"Both." That was true. They both needed to hear it. Both needed to learn to believe it. If they didn't then nothing would ever change for either of them. They'd be trapped in this same cycle forever. Luis believing he was still the same little boy who struggled in school, gave up because no adult cared enough to explain to him that he wasn't stupid, he just needed to learn a different way, and made choices he wished he could take back. She believing that her own value in life was her brain and that if she didn't use it for the purposes her parents had created it for, she was wasting her life and would be judged by everyone.

Cassie didn't want that for either of them.

She wanted them both to realize they were more, to realize that they could do and be whoever they wanted.

"We both need to start accepting that," she added.

The look he gave her was inscrutable, and she got the feeling he wanted to refute her words. To reinforce that she deserved to have a life outside of work, but he didn't deserve to let go of the guilt he carried around.

"Easier said than done, isn't it?" he asked.

Giving him a rueful smile, she nodded her agreement. "We could help each other though?" she suggested shyly. Luis brought out a side of her she wasn't used to. She believed him when he told her that he wasn't interested in Violet, and that gave her the confidence she wouldn't have otherwise had.

Luis was attracted to her. A man like him wanted a woman like her, even knowing she had zero experience.

"We could," Luis said almost thoughtfully, like he'd never given the idea that he didn't need to carry around old guilt, didn't need to feel stupid anymore, much time. It was only now he had considered that there could be other possibilities.

Just like her.

Guilt had been a constant in her mind any time she allowed herself some freedom to paint or write, but now she was starting to look at it differently. Starting to see that there was nothing wrong with being a well-rounded person It wasn't an either-or, and she could actually have both.

Parking the car in the lot, Luis rounded the vehicle and opened the door for her, taking her hand as she jumped down and holding it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Hard as it was to concentrate on anything when those long fingers of his were curled around her own, Cassie did her best not to get distracted. They'd gone there because Luis had a suggestion for the next sentence the mole had said in the video.

As far as she was aware, no bomb had gone off yesterday. While that was indeed good news, given they'd found the bomb at the marina, they knew the mole had indeed planted bombs around the city. They needed to find and disarm them as quickly as possible so no one else got hurt.

Since the Reactivator was her idea, she couldn't help but shoulder the responsibility for all that had already happened because of it and all that could still happen.

"There's the store," she said, pointing to a large restaurant right by the doors to the mall. It didn't seem like the kind of place that would be easy to plant a bomb, but the mole had already proven themselves to be smart and capable.

Together, they hurried across the lot to the restaurant. It was an independent one, not a chain, and an unusual place to target. Still, the mall was busy, and so was the restaurant, even though it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner, so maybe not a terrible choice after all.

After scanning the building, Cassie's gaze settled on the alcove around the door, specifically a small angel statue sitting right overhead. That would be a great place to set up the bomb. You'd be almost guaranteed to take out someone or multiple someones, especially if the bomb was being monitored and set off remotely.

"There," she said, dragging Luis over. "Boost me up so I can see if it's there."

"I should be the one to check. You've already been hurt twice."

"You can't reach, and I can't boost you up," she reminded him.

Even though she could tell he didn't like it, he nodded. They were running on a time crunch, so they had to know if it was there because if the mole was watching and knew they were there, it could be set off immediately.

Bending down a little, Luis' hands circled her waist, and he lifted her onto his shoulders, straightening so she could reach the angel statue.

"It's here," she said, spotting it immediately.

"Don't move it," Luis warned.

"Have to. If they're watching they'll set it off." It wasn't attached to anything, just balanced up there, and she quickly picked it up and gestured for Luis to lower her down.

"We'll call the bomb squad and evacuate the area," he said as he set her back on the ground.

"I can deactivate it." She'd studied bombs in depth the last few days between trying to figure out the clues, and she felt confident that there was nothing the bomb squad could do that she couldn't.

With the kit she'd brought with her, Cassie made quick work of examining the bomb and cutting the correct wires, disarming it and rendering it useless. It took less time than she thought it would and it hadn't been set off remotely like she'd been expecting.

"What happened?" she asked, looking around.

"What do you mean? Nothing went boom, I count that as a win," Luis said.

"But it should have gone off. The one at the marina was monitored, this one should be, too."

Luis moved closer to her, shielding her with his body as he scanned the busy lot. "Maybe the mole doesn't need to watch with a camera," he said.

"You think they're out there?" Peeking around him, she looked at the lot, at all the cars and the people bustling about. It was impossible to tell if there was anyone she knew out there.

"I think it's a possibility that they're following you," he agreed. "I didn't notice a tail, but if they were watching your building, they could have guessed where we were going when they saw us leave and taken a different route."

"Why not still set it off then? They could have made sure they took us out. This doesn't look like it would pack much of a punch, but at the least it would have sent us to the hospital if they detonated it when you had me on your shoulders, and I had it in my hands."

"I don't know, and I don't like it. I'm taking you to my place."

"The mole is connected to Prey. They'll know you're watching me and where you live," she reminded him. Truth was, because of the mole, working for Prey's Athena Team wasn't safe anywhere. Wherever they went the mole could trace them. It wasn't a fun way to live.

"Yeah, but my place has a whole armory and a safe room. You'll be safer there and I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."

His words were fierce, warming her even as fear swirled inside her. Falling for Luis was the last thing she had expected, and yet, it was happening. The more they were together the more she grew to like him, and the deeper she fell.

She had no doubt that Luis would protect her with his life, but she didn't want him to wind up laying his life down for hers. His guilt over almost getting his brother killed because of his attempts to find a place to belong by joining a gang had left him damaged and wary. Her guilt if she got him killed because of a mess she had started would destroy her.

February 1 st

4:40 P.M.

"You've been quiet ever since I suggested you stay at my place. What's going on?" Luis asked, unable to take a second longer of Cassie's silence.

It wasn't just regular silence, something was going on in her head that was scaring her and starting to scare him.

Had she decided that she wasn't interested in him after all?

It seemed like a silly thing to be worried about given the gravity of the situation with the mole at Prey, and the danger surrounding Cassie and her team. Yet he couldn't not fear her rejection. He'd only just begun lowering his walls, and it was terrifying to think that he might be starting to let her in only for her to decide it wasn't what she wanted after all.

"I don't want you to die because of me," she blurted out, swinging wide, scared eyes in his direction.

The raw fear on her face was like a punch to the gut.

She was scared of losing him? That's what had her all tense, her anxiety swirling around the car like a physical being had taken up residence?

Despite her fear, he couldn't help but grin. "You don't want anything to happen to me, huh?" He had his brother, and his foster parents, a couple of foster siblings, and his team, it wasn't like he'd never had people in his life to worry over him, but still, the long ago hurt of having parents who couldn't care if he lived or died continued to linger.

Seeing Cassie like this, hearing the worry in her voice, seeing it in her expression, it soothed away some of that old hurt.

"Of course I don't," she grumbled, swatting at his shoulder.

Capturing her hand, he brought it to his lips and touched a kiss to her palm. "Thank you."

"For worrying about you?" Her brow did that cute little scrunching-up thing like it usually did when she was confused, and he loved even more that she didn't get how much that would mean to him. She didn't look at his past and judge him for it, she just saw him.

"It's my job, Cass, to keep you alive, but I don't have any plans on dying," he assured her.

"But you'll take risks. I know what men like you are like, I'm surrounded by them every day. You'll make my safety your top priority and your own right down the bottom," she said forlornly.

"Damn right I will, princess." It didn't just go with the territory, but this woman got to him, she twisted him up inside, she made him look at his life differently and consider a future that had never once crossed his mind.

"I don't want you to die because of me," she said again.

"And I told you I have no plans on dying," he promised. "You're forgetting I'm trained for this, princess. I'm not just some guy who decided to play bodyguard, this has been my job for a long time now, over a decade."

"All the training and experience in the world won't save you from a bomb," she whispered.

Problem was, it wouldn't save her from one either.

There was no way to fight against a bomb. It wasn't like taking down a human being, it didn't think, didn't have emotions, and couldn't be reasoned with. If it was set to go off, you had two options, disarm it or get out of range.

What if neither wound up being a viable option?

Cassie had been lucky twice already. Could he hope that luck would last?

Did he even want to be relying on luck?

The truth of the matter was, as long as they were behind the mole, running to play catch up, trying to mitigate damage, they were never going to win.

The only way to win was to get ahead for once.

But to do that, they needed to figure out the mole's identity and so far, they hadn't been able to do that. Until they did, the danger surrounding Cassie would never go away, and that was something he couldn't live with indefinitely.

His woman had to be safe.

Catching how he'd thought of her, Luis refused to dwell on it. For now, she was his, he didn't have to have his entire future figured out. All he had to know was that this woman had become important to him, and he wasn't going to lose her to a psycho who wanted to steal a drug intended to save lives.

"I won't take unnecessary risks, princess, I can promise you that, but that's all I can promise. I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either."

Pulling into his driveway, Luis parked in the garage then climbed out and opened Cassie's door for her. He absolutely loved that she took his hand without hesitation and didn't let go even after he'd helped her out of his truck.

Grabbing her bag—which they'd packed when they stopped by her place on the way there—he led her inside, through his large, open family room and into the kitchen.

"Why don't you go upstairs, unpack, and take a shower. I'm going to make us something to eat then we can get back to work."

Her mouth opened and he was sure she was going to tell him she'd jump straight back into work, but then she nodded. "Okay. Won't be long."

"Take your time." Hooking a finger under her chin he nudged her face up and dropped a quick kiss to her lips. She wasn't the only one worried about losing the other. Cassie was fixated on stopping these bombs and he was pretty sure she was happy to put her own life on the line to do it.

There was a smile on her face as she turned and headed for the stairs, and he found he was smiling, too. It wasn't so bad this falling for someone stuff. In fact, he was starting to wonder why it had terrified him all these years. There was still a lingering anxiety about being responsible for her, knowing his choices and decisions would impact her as well as himself, but it wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be.

At least that's what he believed until her scream echoed through his house.

Luis didn't even remember running up the stairs, he was just in his bedroom, weapon in hand, grabbing hold of Cassie and yanking her behind him.

That's when he saw it.

Violet, completely naked, stretched out on his bed.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. He had well and truly had enough of her games. They'd never been serious, why was Violet all of a sudden determined to get him back into bed?

"I told you we'd catch up some other time," Violet whined, then batted her eyelashes at him like that was all she had to do to get what she wanted. How had he never seen that she was a psycho beginning to border on stalker? Maybe it had always been there, and he just hadn't seen it because he hadn't cared enough to.

She might think differently, but to him, she'd just been one of a line of women he'd had fun with, then never thought about again until they hooked up next time.

"Get out," he growled.

"You're throwing me out?" Violet shrieked like the idea was impossible to believe.

"Yep."

"You can't seriously be choosing her over me," she sneered, and he didn't like the way she put Cassie down, acting like he couldn't possibly want her.

"Serious as hell, babe," he sneered back. "Lose my number, give me my key back, and I'll be changing the security system code as soon as you're gone." At the time it hadn't seemed like a big deal for Violet to have a key. They hooked up when neither of them had anyone else, and she'd always seemed to enjoy their casual relationship as much as he had.

Big mistake.

Huge.

Obviously, Violet was after more than he wanted to give her.

"You can't mean that, Luis. We're great together. Has the little virgin even put out yet?"

If she was a man, he would have hit her for that. Instead, his fingers curled into fists, and he forced his feet to remain rooted to the spot. "That's the thing, Vi, it's not just about sex with Cassie, whereas you and I, that's all it was about. We had fun, I never wanted more, never even thought about it. I was clear about that. We hooked up because sex is fun, and we both got what we wanted. Now get out, and I don't want to see or hear from you again. If I do, I will call the police and have you charged with stalking."

Vibrating with anger, Violet climbed off the bed and snatched up her clothes. Once she'd yanked them on, she stormed across the room, shooting daggers of hatred at Cassie as she went.

"I'm sorry, princess, I had no idea she'd do something so stupid as to break in here," he said, drawing Cassie into his arms once Violet was gone.

Her shocked features morphed into a huge grin. "Did you really just pick me over her?"

"No contest." And it really wasn't. He'd enjoy spending time with Cassie even if they never had sex, and when they did, it would be more than just sex because there'd be an emotional component that hadn't been part of his previous encounters.

Cassie was so much more than just a woman to have fun with, and he was beginning to realize that he was more scared of losing her than he was of having her.