Chapter Twenty-Five

Everlee couldn't help it. Without thinking, she flung herself at Shane, and thankfully, he caught her, just like she knew he would. He settled her sideways on his lap while she cried, "I'm sorry," into his neck. "I didn't know your mom died like that. How awful. How sad!"

"Yeah, well…" His chest rumbled with a throaty growl. "It's not something I talk about. In fact…."

Everlee pulled back enough to look up at Shane as he ran a hand over his head, standing the short strands on end before bringing his hand back to rest in the middle of her back. "I've talked about it more since I joined The TEAM than I ever have before. Must be something in the water."

She almost laughed at his attempt at levity, but choked instead. He was so much like Tuesday and her, left alone in the world at a tender age, still struggling to get back on his feet. Could she bare her own secrets like Shane and Tuesday had? Could she tell them how her race-car-driving dad, who she still idolized like a stupid little girl, had treated her and her mother? How she'd married the same kind of man, a selfish, narcissistic loser? A user of women and children and…well, of everyone he'd thought he could get something from?

Yeah, she loved her dad, still did, always would. But she knew now he'd never loved anyone but himself. Which he'd proved that fateful afternoon in her mother's kitchen. Her father was the reason she'd left home and joined the Air Force as soon as she could. They'd actually needed her. He'd only ever needed himself.

Here Shane had bared his personal tragedy to connect with Tuesday, to make her feel like less of a leper. Only problem, that valiant effort made Shane and Tuesday the healthiest two people under this raggedy big top. There was only one leper left. Everlee. And she had no idea how to take that precarious first step toward freedom.

She snuggled closer into him, wanting his touch, craving the steadfast feel of his hand on her back. It had been a long damned time since any man had held her so kindly, like he cared. Truth be known, she was starved for touch. His touch. Shane was real and true and honest, and so damned handsome, it hurt to look at him sometimes. Especially when he smiled.

And there Everlee flamed out. Because he was everything she wasn't. She was the big pretender, the fraud. But he'd been brave enough to say grace at his boss's TEAM picnic, with everyone watching. Even Alex. But she was just a workaholic wannabe, busting her ass to keep up with the guys, running too fast, talking too much, always trying to prove she was just as good as any guy in the world.

Yet here was a man brave enough to confess that he'd killed two innocent people.

"I'm fine, ladies, really," Shane assured them both. Taking another deep breath, he let it out between his pursed lips, and Everlee believed him.

"Yes, you are. You're fine. I mean, not fine, like fine, fine , but more like better fine because you had the guts to share something that must've been horribly hard to live through." And I won't. I can't. I'm not that brave.

Struggling for composure, she pulled herself together, wiped her face, eased away from Shane's embrace, then turned back to Tuesday. "I guess we're all broken somehow, and I can't imagine how hard it must've been for you to go back into Freddie's condo all by yourself after that. But you've already proven you're a fighter. Look at you, Tuesday Smart, a wildlife photographer who braves the Arctic and polar bears and killer walruses, and who's going to be famous someday."

Tuesday snorted. "I'm already famous, well, infamous. Just ask the national news."

"And we're going to set that shit straight." The words were no more than out of Shane's mouth when the phone in his hand buzzed with an incoming call. He answered with, "Hey, Mom. Knew you'd call back. What else do we need to know?"

With a crooked smile at Everlee and Tuesday, he'd flicked the phone on speaker just as Mother blurted, "You were driving the delivery truck that day that" —Shane slammed his palm over his phone. But by then, Everlee and Tuesday had heard everything— "Alex's wife and daughter were killed. Sara and Abby. You're that guy."

Everlee's breath caught in her windpipe. Jiminy Christmas! Sara and Abby? The tattoo on his chest? That was who they were? Shane killed Sara and Abby Stewart?

Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod! He was the unnamed man behind the wheel. Because he'd legally been a juvenile, not yet eighteen years, his name hadn't been released to the press. He was that man. The guy who'd destroyed Alex's life. And yet Alex hired him? Did he know who Shane was?

Not one iota of emotion shone in his eyes as he told Mother, "Yes, ma'am. That was me. I did it." Shane's face turned to stone when he looked down at Everlee and saw the shock on her face.

A tortured, "My God, Shane!" breathed over the distance between Virginia. And Arkansas.

His entire body cringed as if Mother had just slapped him. And just that fast, Everlee tipped back against his chest, trusting this man with all of her crazy heart. There had to be more to the story. He'd never purposefully kill any innocent, especially not a mother and child.

But Mother wasn't done. "Your poor mom hadn't even been dead twelve hours!" she nearly yelled.

A breath sniffed out of him. "You think I don't know that?"

"That had to have been so hard for you. Losing her to cancer, watching her die, being there with her until the end, then involved in an accident the morning after."

"It was." His reply was softly spoken. Everlee put her hand on his chest and spread her fingers wide, sending him strength instead of shoving him away.

Mother kept going. "Trust me, Shane, I know what prolonged illness does to your soul, honey. You poor, poor kid! But there you were, back to work, trying to make enough money to pay for your mom's funeral and your college tuition, and for food and rent and" —her voice cracked— "You were just a kid! I wish I'd known you then. I would've paid for everything for you! I would've given you anything you needed!"

He cleared his throat, his gaze still fastened on Everlee despite Mother's emotional declaration of support.

Everlee looked him in the eye. She was right. Mother made it sound as if he were a victim too. He'd been old enough to have been held responsible, maybe tried for vehicular homicide as an adult despite his age. But he wasn't. Why not? What were the extenuating circumstances? He wasn't anything like her father, who believed in bribes and lies and dodging the truth when things didn't go his way. Shane was the exact opposite. And any man who prayed over a meal like he had at the Stewarts' shindig couldn't be a murderer. He just couldn't.

She knew he'd enlisted in the Corps right out of high school. Or had he? No, Mother said something about him trying to pay for college tuition. So he'd given up college to join the Corps after his mother died? By then he'd been a man by most standards. Not able to vote or buy alcohol or cigarettes, but he'd been legally bound to register for the draft, able to enlist in any armed forces, old enough to die for his country. Also old enough he could've been tried as an adult, and—

"Your mother died, then you were in an accident the very next day? That accident?" Everlee asked, her heart breaking for the tense warrior beneath her.

His head dipped, just once. Quick and sharp, as if he had no idea what she'd say next. As if he didn't care. There wasn't a part of Shane that wasn't shut down and closed off. Mother had just outed him in the worst possible way, at the most inconvenient time. To his companion agent during a failed mission. In front of the woman who was supposed to be their prisoner. Just when Shane had mostly recovered from a migraine he'd obviously been seeing a doctor for. Just when the three of them had become that undefinable more…

Everlee brushed aside these new, tragic facts and relied on what she knew and believed about this man. What he'd done and what little she knew. He was like most guys coming back from the sandbox, traumatized and suffering from PTSD.

Yet Alex trusted him enough to send him on this mission with me.

That Mother had revealed this new information about Shane told Everlee that Alex already knew, yet hadn't shared Shane's secret with anyone, except probably with Mark because Mark hired Shane. He'd been there that first day when Shane flipped out. Which meant Alex and Mark knew.

But Alex still trusted Shane.

Everlee stretched her palm to Shane's face and cradled his bristly jaw, resting her thumb on his chin, now darkened with one helluva five o'clock shadow. Despite the questions whirling through her disorganized brain, she knew this man was as honorable as Alex. She also knew what it was like to be judged by assholes who didn't care about facts or truth. Who jumped to conclusions and lied behind your back. Well, she wasn't one of them.

"You poor thing," she whispered, as impulsively, she tugged his mouth down to her level and kissed him like she'd never let him go. Just cracked that stern, but so damned vulnerable mask he was hiding behind and poured everything she had into him. Her trust, her heart, maybe even her soul. Through his mouth, damn it, down his throat and into his broken heart. Because who could survive the loss of their mother and not have a broken heart? She hadn't. Well, neither had Shane, damn it.

It took a second, but at last, his rigid demeanor softened and he let her in. With their teeth clashing and their tongues melting together, Everlee showed Shane exactly what those secrets meant to her. Nothing. Were they important? Sure, maybe, yeah. Okay. Details considered within the context of truth were always important. But Alex was no dummy. He'd known precisely who Shane was when he'd hired him. That explained why Shane had been so stressed the first day in TEAM HQ. He'd faced Alex down, hadn't he? He'd confessed to murdering Sara and Abby. Everlee didn't have to ask; she knew to her soul that was what happened. Shane wouldn't have kept his true identity from Alex. In fact—

"That's why you collapsed in the lobby the day we met, isn't it?" she whispered into his mouth. "You'd just had the mother of all shitty mornings. You told Alex who you were, didn't you?"

He eased back from her far enough to gently bump his forehead to hers. "Yeah, shitty. But it had to be done. I owed him that much, maybe more."

At last—finally!—the light came back on deep within the midnight blues she adored.

Shane planted a tiny, wet kiss on the end of her nose. He'd just been unmanned by Mother, but Everlee had his back, would always have his back, and she'd keep every last secret he wanted to share. Because she had hers, too, and someday, she'd tell him what they were.

"All these years, I've suffered in silence," Tuesday commented sorrowfully from where she sat behind them.

Shane twisted Everlee around until they both faced her.

"Thanks for letting me share your burden, Agent Hayes. It's an honor to know that you're human, too. Like me. That you understand what I've been through." She huffed out a throaty sigh and tossed a chunk of her tangled, dirty blonde hair over her shoulder. "I know this sounds corny, but because of you guys, I feel better than I have in a long, long time. You both understand what I've been through. I'm not alone anymore. Thank you both so, so much. I like you guys. I really do, and I haven't had anyone I could talk with since Freddie died. But you two honestly get me, don't you?"

Everlee hit Shane's mouth with a small peck before she turned back and faced Tuesday again. If ever there was a time to reveal her own secret, this was it. Instead, she said, "You're all right for a civilian, you know that?"

Shane stifled a grunt, even as his arm tightened around Everlee's waist and his hand smoothed over her ass.

"And you…" she said as she stabbed her index finger into his chest. "Partners don't keep secrets. We share everything but underwear, got it?" Stab went her fingertip again. "And we always, always have each other's backs. We don't gossip behind each other's backs. We trust each other. You've got my back, and I've got yours, got it?" Stab, stab, stab.

He was smiling plenty by the time she finished poking him. Everlee took his hard head between her hands and pulled him into her face. "Anything you ever want to share is between you and me, got it? I won't even tell Alex. And I know Tuesday will keep your confidences, too."

"Well, duh," he murmured, his voice soft and low, more like a purr. "She saved me, remember?"

Ev would've stabbed his chest again, because, well, it was his chest, and she adored touching that thick set of pectorals and the ink on it—a lot. But he captured her mouth and her breath and… Everlee relaxed into the arms of the man she'd fallen for. They'd only known each other a few days, not even a full week. But yeah. She was starting to love this big guy.

"Hello out there! Hey, Shane! Everlee!" Mother called from Shane's cell phone, which he'd fumbled when Everlee had launched herself at him. "If you guys don't pick up in two seconds, I'm getting Alex on the line, and then shit's gonna fly!"

Shane grabbed the phone off the ground and told her, "Thanks for outing me, Mom, but—"

"I'm a millionaire, Shane," she sputtered, interrupting him. "I could've paid all of your mom's hospital bills and your college tuition. But I couldn't even save my only child's life. How's that for a secret?"

Everlee's heart skipped to a full stop as Mother went on with a tearful, "And the entire time I've worked for Alex, I've kept my beautiful baby girl a secret. I never told him or Mark or Zack or my best friend Ember or anyone else." By then she was sniffling so hard she could barely speak. Everlee was sniffling, too. Shane was still frozen like a rock. Tuesday just sat there, cross-legged, her eyes as big as saucers.

"After Dempsey died, I lashed out at everyone, even Justice, and I miss him so much, but I blamed everyone, and I was so, so mad, and…" Another round of sniffles, choking, and coughing came over the connection. "I'm not anyone's mother anymore, not really. But I love you guys, and that's why I take especially good care of you, all of you, okay?" She made that sound like a dare. "I can't lose you kids, too. Is that understood?" By then she was all but hysterical, and Everlee wished she could hug Mother. The woman surely needed it.

"Yes, Mom," Shane replied meekly. "You love us, and we love you, too."

Everlee looked up at him. Her hand was still on his chest, and she knew darned well she had a sappy look on her face. Somehow, Shane had just given Mother precisely what she'd needed to heal. "You're the best, Mom," she told Sasha quietly. "Shane's right. All us guys love you."

She came back with, "But I'm not the best. And I didn't kill my baby. If anything, I loved her too much." More sniffling. More throat clearing. More nose blowing. At last, Mother said quietly, "I also know where Ms. Smarty-Pants Astor is right this very minute."

"You do?" Shane asked. "Where?"

"Never mind. Get packed and ready to go. Heston's thirty minutes out from your location. He'll get you where you need to go. Stay safe. Bye." The connection went dead.

Shane was still looking down at Everlee. She was still sitting on his lap, her index finger tapping the ink on his left pec. "That's why the tattoo. Alex's family is part of you."

A tortured sigh shuddered out of him. "Yeah, Mom's in my heart, and their names lie over it. The ink reminds me that I might've given some, but they gave all."

"Aww…" she whispered. "You should tell Alex. He'd like knowing you love them, too."

Shane shook his head. "No, never. I've hurt him enough. Let's go meet Heston and get this job over with. I really want to go home."

Everlee scrambled out of the warmth of Shane's embrace, then reached for Tuesday's hand and helped her to her feet. "You ready, girlfriend?"

Tuesday brushed her hands on the back of her pants. "Yes, I want to meet this Astor witch who killed Freddie. And then, I want to meet Alex and Mother and…" She ran a grubby hand over her dirty hair. "I am so glad you guys found me instead of the FBI. Thanks for believing me."

Shane answered what Everlee was going to say, "It's been our pleasure. Now let's go kick ass."