Jason (Blue Halo Book 2)

Courtney waved goodbye to Grace and Logan with a smile. They’d tried to walk her up, but she’d refused. It was coming into the evening, she was tired, and everyone had bags to unpack and dinner to prepare.

The tiredness didn’t stop her smile though. She’d smiled the entire drive home. It was a huge, cheesy grin, really, that creased the corners of her eyes and had her heart fluttering.

The second she stepped out of her tent that morning, she’d seen him. Felt him. His presence big and intense and powerful. The entire day, she’d received those spine-tingling touches from Jason. Hard gazes. Even a few more earth-shattering kisses when the others hadn’t been around.

Yeah. It was a good weekend. And it was making her reconsider her earlier subtle dislike of camping.

She entered her building and started up the stairs. Even though it had been a great time, she was still looking forward to getting home to Eddie. Fortunately, even though Helen wasn’t always the easiest person to be around, Courtney knew the woman would have taken good care of her cat.

She was halfway to the fourth floor when her phone vibrated. Pulling it from her pocket, she looked down and her smile widened.

Jason: Get home safe, honey?

Her skin tingled. Sheesh, if the man could do that with just a message, imagine when they got deeper into their relationship.

Courtney: Yep. Just walking up the stairs now. Fantasizing about my hot shower. You?

Jason: Bag’s unpacked, shower done, and dinner on the stove.

No way. She knew he was superhuman, but really? What did he do, speed all the way home? And how the heck was he so organized? She didn’t plan to unpack her bag until way into tomorrow. Like late evening.

Courtney laughed. What was she thinking? The bag was more likely to remain packed for the next few days.

And cooking? No. No, no, no. Ordering in would work just fine.

Courtney: What’s for dinner?

Jason: Just curry chicken.

So, the man was beautiful and he could cook.

She reached her floor, her quiet steps drumming through the otherwise silent hall.

Courtney: I was thinking of curry too.

Prepared and delivered to her door by the trusty Mumbai Indian restaurant deliveryman.

Courtney reached her apartment, quickly turning the key in the door and pushing it open. She’d only taken a single step inside when her feet slammed to a sudden stop. Her eyes widened, heart crashing against her ribs.

The phone in her hand vibrated with another message, but it barely pierced her mind.

Someone had been in her apartment. Searched the place. Trashed it.

Cushions from her couch lay scattered along the carpet. Photo frames, which had been carefully placed on various shelves and counters, now lay shattered on the formerly tidy floor. Every cupboard in her kitchen was open, the contents broken and messy.

Her phone buzzed again.

She turned her head, scanning her cozy little bedroom through the open door.

The same. The drawers to her bedside tables were open, the contents tossed on the bed and floor.

Ice skittered through her blood. Who had been here? When had they been here? Why?

With trembling fingers, she lifted the phone, not even reading the messages Jason had just sent before typing her own.

Courtney: Someone’s been in my apartment.

His response was instant.

Jason: Get out. Now.

A mewl came from the bedroom.

Eddie.

She almost fell over her own feet racing into the room, her heart catapulting into her throat at what she saw.

Eddie lay on his side, his small stomach heaving up and down much too quickly, eyes closed.

Oh God! She dropped to her knees, reaching out to touch him before swiftly pulling her hand away. He lay at an odd angle, like someone had thrown or kicked him.

Her breaths sawed in and out of her chest.

Her phone started to buzz, and she quickly hit answer and put it on speaker.

“Eddie’s barely breathing!” Her voice was desperate and shrill.

“Courtney, I’m driving to you now. Did you get out?”

“I…I can’t! Eddie—”

“We’ll get Eddie to the vet,” he interrupted. “But right now, I need you to get out of that apartment, go to your car, lock the doors and drive away.”

The warning in Jason’s voice had her rising to her feet. She took a small step away from Eddie when the sound of a door opening down the hall penetrated the quiet. The door to Helen’s apartment.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway. Heavy footsteps. Too heavy to belong to the older woman.

“Someone’s coming!” she whispered.

Jason cursed. His next words were quiet. “Run to the bathroom, lock the door.”

She did as he said, her legs almost jelly, barely holding her up. The last thing she saw before slamming the door was a man entering her apartment. He was tall, wearing a dark suit, the gun at his waist visible beneath an open jacket.

A whisper in her subconscious mind said he looked familiar, but her ability to think right now, to connect the past to her present, was nonexistent.

The lock clicked and she took three hurried steps back, hip colliding with the vanity. The handle immediately jiggled, and she tried to push back farther. Fear stole her breath, and her hands shook, icy.

The loud sound of an engine revved over the phone. “Courtney, talk to me. Are you okay?”

She scanned the small bathroom for a weapon, but somehow doubted squirting shampoo and conditioner into the guy’s eyes would stop him. “He’s trying to open the door!” Terror coated her voice, and her hand clutched the phone so tightly that, had she been stronger, she was sure it would have shattered.

Jason’s voice held the calmness she lacked. “Courtney, I want you to turn up the phone as loud as it goes and place it close to the door.”

That involved moving forward. Toward the man with the gun and the black eyes.

She could do that. A door separated them. She’d be okay.

She took a step forward. Then another.

“I’m at the door,” she whispered.

“Hey, asshole.” Jason’s voice was loud, causing her to jolt and almost drop the cell. “I’m only two minutes away, and so are five other deadly soldiers. We were in Project Arma—heard of that? The experiment that made us ten times faster and stronger than a normal man? If you touch a hair on her head, a fucking strand, I’m going to tear you apart limb from limb.”

The doorknob stilled. Silence settled, thick and heavy, and her heartbeat drummed in her ears.

Then retreating footsteps.

She took two giant steps back, dropping to the floor and hugging her knees. He was gone. Would he come back?

“Courtney?”

She managed something that sounded remotely like a yes. Then dropped her head to her knees. A minute passed. Then another.

When the doorknob jiggled again, she gasped, her head shooting up. This time there had been no footsteps in warning.

“Courtney?”

The air whooshed out of her lungs. It wasn’t Jason, but it was one of his teammates. Aidan, maybe?

“Court, I’m coming in. Okay?”

She nodded, knowing full well he couldn’t see her.

A second later, the lock broke, the knob turning. Then Aidan stood there, looking tall and fierce, ready for action. He took slow steps toward her before crouching.

“Are you okay?” His voice was low and gentle, but still held a hard edge.

She nodded. It seemed nodding was all she could manage at this very moment in time.

He reached his hand out. He didn’t touch her, just held it open in front of her, offering her help if she wanted to rise. She slid her fingers into his large, warm palm and let him tug her to her feet.

“You’re safe,” he said quietly.

Another nod.

A second later, Jason appeared behind him. He stepped around Aidan, tugging her into his arms.

Courtney melted against him, finally feeling safe.

Jason kept his arm firmly around Courtney’s shoulders as she recounted her version of the evening to the police officer. The officer’s notepad was open, and he was taking notes, but Christ, he looked young. Too young. So did the other officers walking around her place. All of them were kids.

Grace and Sage sat on the other side of Courtney, while Aidan, Blake, Logan, and Mason were scattered around the room. Helen, Courtney’s neighbor, had just been wheeled off to the hospital with suspected broken ribs and a concussion.

The guy had been hiding out in her apartment, waiting for Courtney to get home.

The older woman’s dog had received similar treatment to Eddie. Flynn had taken both to the local veterinary hospital. Courtney had wanted to go, too, but that wasn’t possible. Not with the police needing information.

Jason listened as Courtney described the man, committing every detail to memory.

“Do you know why someone would want to break into your apartment, Miss Davies? Do you have any enemies? Exes who were up to no good?”

Courtney was silent for a beat. When the silence stretched, Jason studied her closely. She did suspect someone.

Who?

“No.”

Lie. He heard it clear as day. By the slight hitch in her voice, the small alteration in her breathing…

The officer closed his notebook, promising he’d look into the break-in before talking to her about safety precautions like new locks and not going out alone.

Jason barely heard him. He just wanted the guy out so he could question her. Find out exactly what it was she hadn’t told the officer. And why.

The second he closed the door behind the last cop, Jason took a seat beside her again. Fiery need pummeled through his veins. Need to know what she was hiding. Who the guy was who could have so easily taken her. Hurt her.

“Who do you think was in your apartment?”

She didn’t look surprised by his question. She’d probably been expecting it, knowing that each of them could detect a lie.

“The only reason I didn’t say anything was because the agent told me the information was classified. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to talk to local law enforcement.”

His muscles tensed. Agent? Classified information? What the hell? “Tell us, Courtney.”

She wet her lips, fingers smoothing the little wrinkles in her pants. “Two nights ago, I returned home to guys waiting outside my apartment.”

Two nights ago? That would mean the night he’d visited her at the coffee shop.

“They were FBI agents.”

A wave of unease slithered along his spine. They also worked with the FBI. To take down the meanest sons of bitches around. “What did they want?”

Courtney took a breath, then slowly started to describe her visit with the agents. Every word she spoke had the dread and unease in his gut growing.

Mafia, torture…

“So, the only alleged connection to you is your relationship with your late cousin, Jessica, but members of the family have been spotted outside The Grind?” Aidan confirmed.

She nodded. “I saw her a couple of times that final year. Agent Peters wanted to know if she ever said anything about Ryan’s involvement with the Mafia family.”

“But she never did?” Jason asked quietly.

“No. I’d like to think that she didn’t know anything about it, but to be honest, she wasn’t herself those last two years. I think she’d gotten herself into a bad relationship that she couldn’t leave.” Courtney shook her head. “Or didn’t feel like she could leave.”

He heard the guilt lacing each of Courtney’s words. And maybe even a bit of shame. His hand lay on her leg and he gave her a little squeeze of reassurance.

“If the man who was here tonight was Mafia”—Jason’s blood cooled at his own words—“what was he after?” Because he was definitely after something. His destruction of her apartment hadn’t been for the hell of it. He’d been looking for something specific. What?

“I don’t know. And if it has something to do with Jessica and Ryan, I don’t understand why they would suddenly come after me, years after Jessica and Ryan are dead.”

Jason looked around at the guys, communicating without words, before looking back to Courtney. “We have a contact in the FBI, Steve. He works in Intelligence and gives us some off-the-books work every so often.” Missions that normal soldiers could seldom complete. “We’ll make contact with him. See if he can talk to this Agent Peters tomorrow.”

Truth be told, Jason was pissed that Courtney had received a visit from some agent and Steve hadn’t notified them. It was possible Steve hadn’t known, but then, the town was small. It seemed a visit from any FBI agent was something he should know about, especially when there was no field office in Idaho.

Blake straightened. “We can arrange for new locks and a security system on your door tomorrow.”

“I’ll stay here tonight,” Jason added. He actually intended to stay longer than a night, or take her to his place… but that was a conversation for another time. Tonight, she was too rattled.

Courtney didn’t even try to hide the relieved sigh escaping her lips. “Thank you.”

The team spent the next hour putting the rooms back together. In that time, Grace ordered food for everyone and Flynn returned with a bag of clothes for Jason. Courtney took a moment away to call the vet hospital and check on Eddie who was stable and doing well.

By the time they were all filtering out, it was late, and exhaustion was visible on Courtney’s features.

When the door closed, she turned, leaning on the wood. “What a mess.”

He walked up to her slowly, her gaze following his movements the entire way. Then he took her face into his hands, holding her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her gaze skittered between his eyes, frowning. “Because I couldn’t wrap my head around the Mafia being here for me. So I convinced myself they weren’t. Because I don’t like to think about Ryan, and I didn’t want to make the weekend about that. Because you and I are just starting out and our relationship should be light and fun.”

“Oh, honey, we’re so much more than light and fun.”

He and Courtney were going to be everything. The deep. The intense. The meaningful. She just didn’t know it yet.