Up in Flames(63)

Until I’d watched Nan step out of her car for the first time, and I knew. Life had changed from that moment. All my plans, decisions, beliefs, and hatred for humankind had turned. And I never wanted to go back.





Major


My dad didn’t cry. Huh? I kinda thought he would. I even expected it. Hard-ass son of a bitch. I wondered if he was still holding my sexcapade with my last stepmom against me. The woman had been a couple of years older than me. She could have been his daughter. Perverted old goat. I’d saved him another ugly divorce, along with half his money. He should have thanked me for it. Besides, she hadn’t been that damn memorable in the sack. Sure, she’d had killer tits and all, but that was it. Her ass had needed more plump.

Cope could look more torn up about this. I mean, I did “die” and all. He was too worried about Nan and winning her back to focus on me. I knew where that was headed. He’d basically told me as much last night. Whatever feelings I’d had for her were now nonexistent, just like me. I’d never get to tell her how I really felt. That a part of me loved her. When I never expected to love at all.

Loving a woman, however, wasn’t in my life plan. I had too many things to chase. It was time for that now. No more drama, just action. I turned my attention to my cousin.

Mase was the one I felt the most guilt over. He looked devastated, and damned if he shouldn’t be. I’d expected him to be a mess about my death. He seemed to be meeting my expectations. I even saw tears in his eyes. That made mine sting a little themselves. I hated doing this to him.

I surveyed the rest of them, and it was good to know that I was loved and would be missed. Most people didn’t get to see their own funerals. Well, I guessed they didn’t. I wasn’t actually dead. Hell, dead people might get to hang around and watch. Who knew? I hoped they did, because this was a good feeling. Made you appreciate people more and the life you lived. Knowing you touched people and they would miss you. Seeing the tears in their eyes felt pretty damn good, too. Except I did feel some guilt from that.

Cope shifted his gaze, and it cut to me. That was my cue. It was time.

I saluted him just to piss him off, then stepped back into the woods and headed for the black SUV waiting for me. My life as a deadly shadow had begun. The life I was leaving behind was dead. I had just left it all. The best part was that I would be the boss now. Cope was out, and I was in. Damn fool had gone and fallen in love. Shaking my head, I laughed and climbed inside, to disappear into the darkness and my life of crime.





Nan


I slowed my pace as his silhouette came into view in the morning sun. I knew that body shape. I hadn’t expected to see it again, but I recognized it. The closer I jogged to him, the more questions piled up in my head.

“Hey.” That was the first thing that fell from my lips when I stopped several feet away from him.

“We need to talk.” Those were Cope’s first words. Much more to the point than my “Hey” had been.

“I know everything. You don’t have to explain,” I said, hoping I sounded more intelligent this time.

“You know nothing,” he replied, and took a step toward me.

Instantly, I took a step back. He was right. I knew nothing about him, really. The fantasy he had created as his persona to lure me in so he could protect me while I was away from Major was just that, a fantasy. It was Gannon.

This was Cope. A man I didn’t know at all.

“I know all I need to know,” I shot back at him. I felt the anger that I tried to tap down when I thought about all that had happened. I didn’t want to hate my child’s father.

He frowned. “You don’t know what’s important. So no, you don’t know all you need to know.”

He didn’t know the only thing that was important. “I disagree,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest and lifting my chin. I would not show him that he frightened me.

“Really? Let’s start with this, then.” He slipped his hand out of his pocket and produced what looked like my old birth-control pills. I’d left them in the trash can of the hotel room at the casino. He’d been a private agent; of course, he had gone back and swept the room once I was gone. That made sense.

Shit. “What about it?” I said, shrugging as if the pills meant nothing. But I’d seen my doctor this week, and they did mean that I was carrying his child.

“Are you seriously not going to admit that you are pregnant with my baby? You think that’s a fair secret to keep from me after you purposely got pregnant?”

OK, so it figured he would know. “Have you been following me? Am I still under surveillance?” I asked, feeling naked suddenly in front of this man whom my heart wanted to cling to while my brain screamed he was a stranger.