Bound by Secrets (Deadly Isles Special Ops Book 2) Read online

  “Leslie, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.” The loss of Kieran, the sister I would have had, and the niece or nephew shredded me.

  She pulled back first. “With this pregnancy, I’m overly emotional.” She wiped the tears away with trembling fingers. “I’ll always love Kieran. This baby is a second chance for me, and I’m lucky to have it. And Matt. Speaking of Matt, I’ve got to meet him, or he’ll worry and come looking for me.” Her hand tightened around my arm in a brief squeeze. “It was so good to see you again, Kayla.”

  “It was so good to see you, too, Leslie. I’ve thought of you over the years.”

  The bell over the door jingled, and Leslie glanced over her shoulder. A large man walked in, scanning the room until he found Leslie, and he visibly relaxed. That inner glow she always had brightened, and she waved him over. He looked like a linebacker. But when he got to her side, there was such love and tenderness in the way he drew her to his side and brushed a kiss across her forehead. Longing for a love like that made me ache for Jaxon. There were so many wasted years. We could have had that if things hadn’t gone so terribly wrong.

  When he extended his hand to me, I shook it. As Leslie made introductions, recognition widened his easygoing smile.

  “You resemble him.” His deep voice rumbled. “Leslie’s told me about you and Kieran and shared pictures. I’m glad for the chance to meet you.”

  I swallowed past the tightness in my throat. “It’s wonderful to meet you as well, Matt.”

  We chatted for a few minutes, and my heart swelled with the knowledge that Kieran lived on with Leslie, since she’d shared him with her husband. Given the way they interacted and his acceptance of what she’d had and lost with my brother, I was truly happy for her. It seemed she’d healed in ways I never had.

  After they left for her parents’ house, I took my to-go cup of coffee and climbed into Jaxon’s SUV. Had Kieran told Jaxon about the baby? Conflicting emotions warred in me about him knowing something about my brother that I hadn’t known.

  15

  Kayla

  I drove to his place, rode the elevator, and let myself in on autopilot. The bag from the hardware store sat unopened on the island, and I wandered out onto the lanai to drink my coffee and wait for Jaxon to return for lunch.

  As the minutes passed, I curled onto the patio chair, taking small sips of my coffee while confused emotions formed into anger. Neither my brother nor Jaxon had told me anything—and he had to have known. It was another layer of secrets and lies. And that night… there shouldn’t have been anything between us after that. He should have told me. The hurt and annoyance with my brother was one thing, but Jaxon had become my lover that night.

  By the time the door opened, and he appeared beside me, my emotions were turning into a raging fire.

  I think my head swiveled like the girl’s did in The Exorcist when I turned to look at him. I caught a flash of panic beneath the worry flashing through his usually hypnotizing brown eyes.

  “Do you ever think of that night we’d spent together?” I didn’t let him answer. “I do. More often than I should. You were my first. It meant something. I thought things had changed between us in those moments. You told me that I was your world, that we’d find a way to make my brother understand. But it wasn’t true, was it? I mean, how could we make it work, build something epic together, when you were keeping so many secrets from me about my brother and Leslie?” I was shaking by the time I finished.

  He didn’t even try to come near me, and that sliced through the anger like a shard of glass. Instead, he sat on the chair next to me, running the palms of his hands over his face. When he lifted his gaze to mine, pain and resignation halted anything else I was going to say.

  “I wanted to tell you. I’d argued with Kieran earlier that night about what he was doing. I didn’t fully agree with their decision. There was no need to elope. Both their families loved them and would have supported them. But they’d made up their minds.”

  What the… “Elope?”

  Wariness overshadowed the resignation he wore. “What were you referring to?”

  My spine straightened, and my shoulders went back. “Uh-uh, no. You and my brother owe me. He’s always so cryptic when he talks to me, and you have no excuse. You’re here.”

  With his elbows on his thighs, he dropped his arms so his hands dangled over his knees and leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, no.” I shook my head. “We are talking about all the secrets you’ve kept from me.”

  His gaze bounced between my eyes before he sighed, running his fingers through his hair, mussing it into that sexy just-woke-up look that I refused to let distract me.

  “All right. Let’s do this, then.” He dropped his hands and leaned forward once more. “When Leslie found out she was pregnant, they were a mess. Kieran had that full-ride football scholarship, and Leslie had her own for academics. They were excited about college.”

  “I remember.” They would have made it, eventually marrying as soon as they graduated. They had that once-in-a-lifetime kind of love that was equally enviable and inspiring.

  “Kieran wouldn’t listen. He and Leslie had made up their minds to get married. I was supposed to meet them the next morning to be a witness. They were driving to a bed and breakfast along the coast. No one else knew. I’d planned to tell you that morning, to bring you with.”

  “Then they crashed.” Leslie had been thrown from the car, which, oddly enough, saved her life but not the baby’s. My brother had gone over the cliff with the car and died on impact.

  “Yeah.” He stood then started pacing. “They had everything planned out. How she’d take that first year off, deferring her scholarships so she could spend the time with their baby. He wasn’t going to live in the football house but instead get one of the apartments on campus for married couples. He was good enough to get drafted into the NFL. They hadn’t figured everything out, but they thought they could get a nanny to help the second year. That way, Leslie could start college, and he’d hoped you would be there too. They both knew you would lend a hand any way you could.”

  Tears streamed down my cheeks. I would have done anything for my brother. My heart shattered all over again. “Why did he keep this from me?”

  “It was all a shock.” Jaxon sat next to me.

  All the anger and jealousy I’d felt dissolved. I imagined how huge it all must have had been and how they must’ve been doing what they thought was best. They were focused only on each other.

  My body jerked before I swallowed down the tears. I could hold onto hurt outrage over their secret pact from so long ago, or I could try to move past it. If I held on, I would lose Jaxon all over again because I’d be forced to walk away. In my heart, I know that wasn’t what I wanted. We were young, and while he should have confessed as soon as I walked back into his life, I sort of understood why he hadn’t. So I let him hold me.

  “Then we happened. I’d wanted you for so long, but you were two years younger. It wasn’t until you were a freshman that I would even let myself entertain the possibility of anything other than friendship.”

  I slumped against him, letting his confession sink in. So many years. We’d wasted so much time. “Why didn’t you tell me after?”

  He rubbed my arm in soothing circles. “You were wrecked when he died. And you attributed some of the blame from not knowing what had happened to me.”

  “Because of the overnight bags found at the crash site. You knew things I didn’t. It didn’t sit well then and still doesn’t.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, and I shut my eyes. “I’d planned to tell him about us. But the next day never came like it was supposed to.”

  There was too much to process. Instead, I allowed myself to feel his strength, his warmth. He lifted me so that I was cradled in his arms and sitting on his lap.

  “What did you mean about Kieran talking to you?”

  Emotionall
y exhausted, I answered his next question without thought. “He visits me.” With that, we had no more secrets between us, and I wondered if it would finally be our time for an epic relationship.

  16

  Jaxon

  Kayla’s words ran through my head on my lunch break as I ate a BLT in front of the TV. She was next to me on the couch, her legs curled under her, but she was quiet, letting me digest that she saw Kieran and they had actual conversations—even though he was dead. It was a lot to take in but not completely unbelievable. I’d seen too much in the Navy and on overseas missions to discount what she’d told me.

  A red banner flashed across the TV: Breaking News. I watched as men and women poured off a plane. Tired and unkempt, their looks of relief tinged with worry and grief were unmistakable. I grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. The reporter explained that the deplaning people were US Embassy staff forced to leave the country by the Venezuelan president’s order.

  They hadn’t all returned. Five members were reported missing with no word on their safety.

  “That’s what Tyler is doing.” The Navy must have learned of the hostages and sent a team in to locate them.

  “Oh, no.” Kayla lay a hand on my arm as my cell rang.

  Xander’s name came up on the screen. “Hey.”

  “Are you watching the news?”

  I grunted. “Yeah.”

  “We know where Ty is.” Xander’s voice cut through my thoughts.

  I huffed out a sigh. “It’s better than not knowing. And at least this time, we don’t have to worry about faulty intel.” I hoped. So many things could go wrong.

  “I’d like to convince myself of that too. Any word from Mark? Or from the police or higher up?”

  “Nothing that we haven’t already discussed.” We talked for another couple of minutes about the militia group, both of us worried about our brother.

  Kayla squeezed my arm as she got up, taking the dishes with her. The water turned on in the kitchen, the sounds of her rinsing then putting the plates in the dishwasher in the background. Then she grabbed her laptop, went out onto the lanai, and closed the sliding door with a click behind her. She had some work to do for the paper, a book review to write. And she’d given me some privacy to talk to my brother.

  I rubbed my hand over my forehead. I had a bad feeling about Ty. I couldn’t shake it. Xander had the same instinct that something was wrong or about to implode.

  There wasn’t much more we could say or do, so I switched the topic. “How’s Riley doing?”

  “She loves it here. We’ve made plans to come back next year. What’s going on with you and Kayla? Is she still at your place?”

  “She is.” I didn’t want to get into everything. There was enough worry between the two of us over Ty and our parents. “I’m moving in a couple of weeks, close to when you and Riles are back. I’m planning on bringing Kayla with me.”

  “It’s like that, huh?” I could hear the smile in Xander’s voice.

  “It’s been like that since we were in high school. All that’s left is convincing her. She’s the one. She always has been.”

  “It’s about damn time, Jax. And Riles will love her.”

  That was what I was counting on. “There will be times we won’t be around if we have work to do for the Gray Ghost team. It’ll be nice that they aren’t alone on the island.”

  “I agree. Ty’s keeping the condo for all of us, though. If they wanted, they could stay there when we’re away, so they’re not so vulnerable.”

  “They could. I’m counting on Jack not needing both of us at the same time. And Ty will probably re-up when his term is done. I haven’t heard otherwise. I think he has a year or two before that happens.”

  “A lot can happen in a year. You never know what he’ll do.” Xander echoed the thoughts that were swirling in my head.

  I hoped the reason Xander hadn’t re-upped again wasn’t because all hell broke loose after an information leak. I worried about our brother making it out of Venezuela in one piece.

  After tossing the phone back onto the coffee table, I opened the sliding glass doors. Kayla was typing on her laptop, so I waited until she looked up.

  Her bright-green eyes met mine, and I felt as if she could see into my soul. We’ll be okay. She just needs time.

  “Want to watch a movie? Have a low-key night?”

  A slight smile curved her lips. “Only if I get to pick it.”

  “I know I’m going to regret this, but sure.”

  A wicked laugh burst from her as she closed the laptop. “You make the popcorn, and I’ll cue up a romantic comedy.” She rubbed her hands together as she brushed past me and grabbed the remote. “Get ready for a night of them.”

  I went into the kitchen to get the snacks ready, happy that even though she hadn’t voiced it, she was on her way to forgiving me.

  17

  Kayla

  The sun that morning had been a giant orange beacon as it rose from the arms of the ocean. I marveled at its power. I’d lain in bed in Jaxon’s equally powerful embrace. It was getting harder to resist the palpable desire between us, but I wasn’t emotionally ready after learning the secrets he’d kept all those years. I did, however, understand, and time and his continued patience would heal the hurt that lingered.

  After Jaxon had left, I’d showered, had breakfast, then painted the master bathroom, determined to get at least one thing checked off the list. While I ran the roller up and down the walls, my mind wandered, something still nagging me after my conversation with Leslie.

  We’d buried Kieran wearing the beaded necklace that Leslie had given him. But at the scene of the accident, not far from where Leslie lay, there had been a shark’s-tooth necklace, the same one that the cheerleaders had presented to the football team.

  Leslie didn’t have one, and Kieran’s was with the pictures in the small wooden box that I’d taken from his room.

  Kieran’s words of warning about Roy filtered back to me: “He’s coming for you, Little K, and you’ve got to be ready. Don’t have your head in the sand like I did.” What had he meant with that last part? Had he known the person who’d forced them off the road?

  The police had never found the driver, and it had been ruled a hit-and-run. The only clue I had was the duplicate necklace—we’d all assumed it was Kieran’s. I wished the cheerleaders had put the guys’ names or charms with their uniform numbers on them.

  In the kitchen, I cleaned the roller then wiped down the sink, so there weren’t any traces of splattered paint. Setting the tools aside to dry, I grabbed my purse and slipped my feet into sandals. I had a little time before Jaxon would be home. I sent him a quick text, letting him know that I was going to see Mateo at the auto shop where he worked.

  Be careful, he replied.

  We were going to my parents’ that afternoon to help them pack up the house. The only concession I’d made to them was that I wouldn’t go there alone, since Roy was probably staked out somewhere waiting for me. A shiver coursed through my body at the thought of my ex and how in a physical confrontation, I was powerless against him. I didn’t carry a gun. Jaxon did. And even though Roy was all swollen muscle and nasty attitude, I’d put my money on Jaxon’s skills any day. His SEAL training had prepared him for virtually any situation.

  He’d left me his SUV again—thank you—and I got behind the wheel of the fully loaded vehicle. It sucked for him to be driving my bare-bones Honda Civic. Once on the street and stopped at a light, I slipped my oversized sunglasses on and a baseball hat, pulling my hair through the small opening in the back. Roy wouldn’t think to look at other cars, at least not unless he spotted me, and I wasn’t going to make it easy for him with my appearance. Besides, the auto shop wasn’t anywhere near my parents’ house.

  I pulled into the crowded parking lot for the auto shop about half an hour later. The garage doors were up, and I could see a couple of guys working on cars. Two were up on the lifts, and one wasn’t. I got out and
crossed over to the open bays. Mateo was bent over the engine of an older model black Mustang.

  The smell of oil, dust, and tires saturated the space, and I stepped inside with care.

  Mateo turned and smiled. “Hey, Kayla.” He wiped some of the grease from his hands onto a rag near his hip.

  “Hi, Mateo.” One of the other mechanics stopped what he was doing, and I felt his eyes on me. “Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure. Is there a problem with your car?”

  “No. Um, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

  “Sure.” He waved over to a picnic table set off to the side of the lot. “We can go there.”

  We walked in silence. I perched on the bench after he straddled it. How to ask him this... I nibbled on my lip, contemplating the best approach.

  “Is everything okay?” His brows furrowed.

  “Sort of.” I was going for it. “Not really. I keep thinking about how Kieran died and how the other driver was never found.”

  “Yeah, that sucks. I’m sure it’s hard for your family.” Gone was his customary laid-back-surfer aura. Concern tugged his lips down, and a seriousness I’d rarely seen etched itself into his eyes.

  “You and Kieran were close.” I blew out a breath, forcing the tension in my shoulders to ease. “Do you remember anyone on the team not liking him?”

  “Kieran?” His brows raised. “No way. He was the team captain. Everyone looked up to him. And he was a great friend.”

  I lay my hand on his arm. “I’m not questioning you. I remember you and a couple of others were in his inner circle. The thing I’m unsure of is whether there was anyone who resented him or acted differently after he died.”

  Mateo shook his head, and a thick black tuft of hair fell across his forehead and partially obscured one of his eyes until he swiped it back, smearing a streak of grease in its wake. “Yeah, no. I don’t remember anyone acting oddly. His death was a devastating loss to all of us.”