Cougar hadn’t expected to wake to find Jensen slipping from the bed but when his eyes met the blond’s, Cougar kept silent.
Jensen perched at the edge of the mattress, his fingers brushing lightly against the skin of Cougar’s face like a lover’s fleeting kiss and the sniper found himself arching into the touch.
“I didn’t tell them,” Cougar whispered and Jensen’s lips curled into a tiny smile that made the sniper’s heart flutter in his chest like it was trying to escape. Carlos wasn’t sure if it was because he was aroused or still afraid, then again his love for Jensen had always outweighed his fear of him.
“I knew you wouldn’t,” Jensen responded after a long moment as he dipped down to brush their lips together.
Cougar kept his eyes open, staring at the dried blood just above Jensen’s eyebrow.
The hacker seemed to notice his inattention and one of his hands moved to the spot that Cougar was staring at.
Cougar wanted to ask but he held his tongue as Jensen brushed his fingers over the spot.
“Max is a shit host,” Jensen finally whispered, glancing at the door. “I’m pretty sure the sick fucker cut me to the bone,” he remarked like it was nothing, as if the only sign that a wound had been there wasn’t a patch of dried blood over unbroken skin. “You don’t need to stare at me like you think I’m gonna rip your face off you know. You’ve seen me at my worst Cougs and you know I wouldn’t hurt you.”
“I know.” Cougar responded without hesitation because Jensen was right, he’d never ever felt threatened by his lover not even when he’d hurt the man.
“If you want me to tell you, I will.” Jensen responded and Cougar knew an offer when he heard one but he couldn’t do it…couldn’t form the words that would make the question; instead he pulled Jensen down until the blond was blanketing his body.
“You will not leave…”
It was meant to be a question but on Cougar’s tongue the words became a plea…a plea that Jensen answered easily as he flowed up Cougar’s body as if he hadn’t been grievously injured just hours before. The sane part of Carlos’ mind wanted to reach for his rosary, to understand how something like this could be possible but when Jensen paused above him Cougar let the urges melt away into nothingness.
“Not if I can help it.” Jensen breathed and Carlos swallowed the promise like a breath of much needed air as Jensen lowered himself so they were touching from chest to knee.
There was a warning voice in the back of Cougar’s head. It was trying to remind him that they weren’t alone here but when Jensen’s fingers brushed against the waist of his jeans Cougar stomped the voice into oblivion.
Jensen hummed lightly into the kiss when Cougar’s fingers slid through his hair, the sound deepening into a pleased growl as the sniper tightened his grip on the pale strands of hair.
Cougar didn’t need a shrink to tell him that there was something wrong with their relationship. But no quack could understand the cold hole that had opened up in Cougar’s chest when they’d lost Jensen.
As far as Cougar was concerned the line between right and wrong had blurred on the night that he’d helped Jensen get rid of the first body and Cougar wasn’t in a hurry to draw that line again anytime soon.
*O*
Steve eyed the group of men sitting across from him, his eyes lingering on the woman who was glaring at them all.
This was the group of people Jake had chosen to call his own and Steve knew that his brother probably owed his team an explanation but that wasn’t Steve’s duty. The only thing that he was concerned about was how the hell someone had managed to get to Jake without his brother seeing them coming.
Tapping his fingers on the table in front of him Steve waited until Johnny and Tony had settled into the empty seats on either side of him.
Despite the fact that Jake was in the other room Steve recognized the familiar cold chill in his mind that meant that his brother was listening in and would most likely relay the entire conversation to Carlos.
Shifting his attention to the man who had introduced himself as Franklin Clay, Steve leaned forward a bit.
“I don’t know you and I don’t know if you know me but last night I had to carry Jake out of what could only be described as a torture chamber and I really want some answers,” Steve started, keeping his tone mild. “Now my mama raised me to mind my manners so I’m going to ask you this only once…what the hell happened out there? And please don’t lie to me. I don’t like liars.”
The colonel quirked a brow at him. “And if I say that information is classified?”
Steve exhaled slowly through his nose, leaning back as Johnny leaned forward, a shark’s grin splitting his face. “Colonel, there isn’t a single fucking thing that you know that we can’t find out. Jake is your friend but he’s our brother and don’t think for one damn minute that we won’t retaliate if any of you had a damn thing to do with him being in the shape he is right now!”
The man who Steve’s brain informed him was Roque snorted, “Jensen’s a pain in the ass but he’s our pain in the ass. If you’re looking for who’s responsible you need to start asking that bitch right there,” he gritted out, gesturing to the woman who was watching Steve like a snake.
“Roque!” Franklin snapped but the bigger man just glared at his CO.
“Fuck this shit, Clay! I told your ass that I wasn’t going to cover for this bitch anymore. The only fucking reason why Cougar didn’t gut her like a fish is because he got that damn call and what would you have done then? Got revenge for her lying ass?”
When the colonel made to rise from his seat Steve slammed a fist against the table and everyone froze as the wooden structure rattled ominously.
“Jesus, I don’t know if I should applaud you for making Steve lose his temper or put you all in the naughty corner,” Tony cut in and Steve glanced at him but Tony was focused on the two men who still looked like they were a single word away from going for each other’s throat. “Look I don’t know what the hell happened with your team but I’m getting the vibe that this lady isn’t exactly part of your group?”
“No!” Roque spat, glaring at the woman like she was something that he’d found on the bottom of his shoe.
“She’s helped us,” Clay interrupted and Steve didn’t know if the man was trying to convince himself or them. “We owe her.”
“Well I for one don’t owe her shit.”
Steve didn’t turn towards Jake’s voice immediately but it was a close thing.
Tony stood, leaving a space for Jake that the hacker took without comment and Steve glanced up into Tony’s eyes, noting the speculative gleam there as the scientist stepped back to stand beside Jake’s sniper.
Jake tapped a finger against his, pulling him back to the matter at hand and Steve tried to ignore the smirk on his brother’s face.
He’d deal with Tony later, right now they had bigger fish to fry and one of those fishes was looking a little sick.
*O*
Aisha kept her breathing calm, not willing to give away a thing. She hadn’t needed an introduction to know the men that were staring at her. What she didn’t understand was how she hadn’t seen the resemblance before?
To be honest Aisha had always known that there was something off about Jensen. Now seeing him with the other two she realized that it wasn’t that something was wrong with the hacker...something had just been missing.
“You know what I love about villains?” Jensen started, his eyes locked on hers with none of the uncertainty that she was used to seeing on his face. “They fucking love to monologue, especially when they think they’ve won. I bet you can guess exactly what Max told me.” Jensen finished.
Aisha wanted to sneer at the man because if he thought he was going to intimidate her, he was stupider than she’d thought.
The information had been good. Yes, she hadn’t mentioned that they were working on a deadline, or that they had to get out before Max could trace it back to them but that was a risk she’d been willing to take and Jensen should have been expecting Max to retaliate.
“Jensen…” Clay started and Aisha found herself turning to look at Franklin as the man tried to catch Jensen’s attention. It was fucked up that the only person willing to stand up for her was the one she wanted to kill the most.
“Clay, I respect you, I’ve always respected you but you don’t know what the fuck I just went through because she wanted something that didn’t have a damn thing to do with us. Now respectfully, sir, I’m going to ask you to shut the fuck up because I deserve some answers and that’s exactly what I’m going to get.”
Clay’s mouth snapped shut at that and Aisha could see the moment when the man realized that the next word out of him could cost him his entire team. Even Pooch was looking away from the tableau and that told Aisha all she needed to know.
She wasn’t going to find any allies here and when she turned back to face the three blonds she realized something that she’d missed.
Despite Max’s threats and assurances of what Jensen would experience if they didn’t come for him…there wasn’t a damn mark on the hacker.