Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Brendan

Wednesday night - Ten pm

L íadan is craving drunken noodles from the restaurant up on Roscoe Street, and since she's meeting with a group of forty people tomorrow, to listen to them whine about how they won't change their ways, I offered to go pick it up for us.

We've changed hotels each night, and while it's exhausting, it's been keeping us safe. I left Líadan in yet another hotel so I can get her food. I'll take the uncertainty of where we're staying over being firebombed any day.

It feels like a lifetime has passed rather than it simply being two days. I have on low slung jeans, a white hoodie with the hood over my head, and a dark-green coat over it all as I walk, kind of glad that the weather is so dreadful.

It's harder to keep identifying features covered when it's warmer. Jordan hasn't found us either, and I have no doubt that he's scouring the city. I still feel like a coward for letting Lía drag me out of Dr. Kurtz's home on Tuesday before Jordan even woke up.

Lía insists it's for the best, but last night she had a nightmare that woke her up screaming. She dreamed that Jordan died in the fire, and all she could see was his melting skin.

My girl stayed up the rest of the night reading a book on a digital app on her tablet, while I snuggled in her lap and dozed. She needs less sleep than I do, and has always been like this.

Except… she slept better when Jordan was with us in our bed.

Blowing out a breath, I open the door to the restaurant and walk inside to grab our food.

There's a man in front of me with a build I swear I recognize, and I shift to try to see his face. Even his hair is covered by a wool hat. Frowning, I gaze at the long gray coat, dark chinos, and black boots peeking out from his pants.

I can't hear him as he speaks in a low voice to the woman who is handing him his food, but I feel like I fucking know him.

Turning, Jordan smirks as he sees me. "I caught you on at least four different cameras as you walked over here," he says. "If you're going to break up with someone by slinking off, you could at least try hiding better."

My eyes are wide as I gaze at him, lips parting as I see the bag in his hands. "It wasn't my choice," I rasp, my mouth dry. The room threatens to spin on me, and I realize how much I've been pretending that this didn't affect me.

My heart feels as if it's being pulled from my chest, because it's at odds between the two people I love. Jordan Miles burrowed himself under my skin further than I realized over the last month and half. It's hard to imagine it's been that long since Lía and I walked into that dank warehouse room.

"You still went through with it," he says with a shrug. "Get your food and come sit with me before you slink back to Líadan. I have some information you probably need to know."

Jordan lopes over to a table to wait while I force myself to close my mouth and face the restaurant owner to take my money. She's sweet, runs a tight ship, and makes incredible food.

"You fucked up didn't you?" she says, hand outstretched for the money. I take it back. She sees too much. "Mr. Jordan is a perfectly nice man. Fix this."

The owner overcharges me, but I don't blink an eye as I hand over the money. I'll shelve it under life advice. Sighing as I take my bag filled with delicious food cartons, I thank her.

"It's complicated, but I'm working on it," I grumble, turning away. I move quickly, smirking when a restaurant menu hits the floor where I just was standing. She has a reputation for swatting dumb people.

Guess my life choices put me firmly in that category.

I wasn't lying though, this shit is complicated.

Sliding into the chair across from Jordan, a part of me is surprised he waited. I know he sought me out, but still.

"I'll get right to it, because the Princess is waiting for you," he says in a detached tone. "I put together a list of everyone who was there the night of her seventeenth birthday. I found the NDAs in a file deep in Seán's personal folders on his computer. He gave me access to everything, not realizing I could see it all. I don't think he looped his tech guy into that information. Anyway, I'll send you that information so that you can do what you want with it. It appears your meeting will have some of the people on my list."

"You… how… I can't believe you were able to find that," I stumble. "This is why you tracked me down?"

He has a shoulder bag across his body that I didn't notice because it's under his coat. Pulling out a tablet, he shrugs.

"Sure as fuck isn't for unrequited love," he snarks. "I know where I'm not wanted, but felt she may like closure. I'm going to send this to you, but I need a phone number."

"Jordan," I rasp. "For what it's worth, she misses you."

Ignoring me, he opens up another tab, turning it to show me.

"Skyler decided to relocate, so Cormac no longer has a tech guy. I convinced him that it would be better for his health if he left, and he contacted a friend of mine to disappear," he continues.

"Seán's funeral is in a little over three days, which I'm sure you've heard. People aren't too happy about having their planes grounded, but it doesn't look like they'll have too much longer to worry about it."

Jordan is very blasé about the death of a large group of people, and it only manages to make my dick hard, despite his cool tone. We did leave him. What did we expect? For him to yell and scream that we abandoned him?

That's not Jordan's style, though I don't know what I expected.

"This was supposed to be her birthday present, she may as well get it before she removes their useless lives in another manner," he says cooly.

I recite my number numbly so he can send the file to me, vaguely aware that now he can contact me this way instead of stalking my ass. Goddamn, I may come in my pants like the sorry fucker I am.

Shifting in my seat, I hold back a wince as I get my thoughts together. This gives Lía the time to divert the people at her birthday auction to another location if she wants to. Taking a deep breath, I see this for the generous gift that it is. I was never able to figure out who was there that night.

"I think this is the best present that she's ever been given," I say as he hits a few buttons to send over the file. "Jordan… I'm so?—"

"My food is getting cold," he says, taking a deep breath. His hands are bare, and my heart flip flops at the sight of them. It's shit weather, and he's traipsing along the streets, creating havoc without his fucking gloves. Even his scarf is loose around his neck and I can see a blood vessel in his neck jumping furiously.

Not completely unaffected by me, I see. Good.

My phone is buzzing wildly in my pocket, but I leave it to freak out as I gaze at Jordan as he puts away his tablet. His sun-kissed hair is well hidden under his hat, and his torso is hidden from me by the warm green T-shirt that's pulled across his chest.

My mouth waters because I know what lies beneath it, but Jordan's demeanor is clearly reminding me that I chose between the two of them.

"Are you staying safe?" I ask, looking for a wince as his back muscles pull each time he shifts his weight. He doesn't look as if he's uncomfortable, but that doesn't mean shit.

Dr. Kurtz has his own pharmaceutical company and some of the best medical treatments, and many of them aren't even on the market. I keep my commentary to myself as I gaze at Jordan, swallowing hard. I drop my mask for him, showing him how sorry I am.

"Yep," he says, standing. "I'll be leaving soon, I expect. Don't see any reason to stay. Keep her safe."

Surging to my feet, I'm still too late to grab his arm as he walks away. Grabbing my takeout bag, I follow him out, but almost run into a patron as he walks in.

"I'm so sorry," I murmur as I disentangle myself from the near collision.

"You, stop running into people," I get yelled at from the front of the restaurant, making me grit my teeth. Sweet woman my ass.

Scooting to the side, I run out of the restaurant, looking around wildly for Jordan.

"Fuck," I growl as I rip my hood off my head. Fingers dragging through my hair, I identify all eight places he could have ducked into to leave.

The subway is twelve paces to my left, and there are an abundance of side streets off this road.

Beginning to walk away in frustration, I pull the hood over my head. Just because Skyler is taking a permanent vacation, doesn't mean there isn't still an order to hunt and drag my ass to Cormac. It's not until I'm sitting in the train at the subway station that I pull out my phone to see the document that Jordan sent me.

Except, instead of just one file, there are quite a few. Opening one, I find that Jordan managed to bug Cormac's phone somehow, and he's running transcripts of the most important of his conversations.

Plans, allies, and meetings all are in the palm of my hand. There's also a triangulated map of where he may be staying in Englewood.

Leaning my head back on the cool glass behind me, I send up a prayer to a God I'm unsure exists. Everything is here to help us stay ahead of Cormac, and I'm sure anyone else who is plotting to kill us. I'm sure we've managed to put ourselves on quite a few hit lists.

Lía and I knew what we were getting ourselves into, but Lía worried Jordan wouldn't want to be in the thick of everything. Or most importantly, that he wouldn't be able to hack it.

The irony is the man in question just threw down evidence that he can, but left very little to show that he wants to stick around.

We left him behind in his eyes, and Jordan is a proud man. Lía's heart is going to break right in two over this. I can't say I'm surprised. I knew the second I agreed to her plan that I would regret it. I didn't expect Jordan to digitally throw shit in my face to show me exactly how badly we fucked up though.

The saying goes ‘if they wanted to, they would,' and Jordan Miles is the total package. Not only did he understand the assignment, he didn't wait to see the full weight of what he did hit me.

All that's left is to speak to Lía and throw my weight behind Jordan. I know I can't not have him in my life, and the nightmares she's been having means she feels the same way. My love is being a stubborn brat. It's time for me to show her the error of her ways.