“No. You’re a widow. Your vows were until death parted you and it did. Your story is not going to end like mine. He is not going to walk through those doors. He’s not going to sneak up and tell you it was all a trick. He’s dead and unless he was a sorry son of a bitch, he likely wouldn’t want you to be alone.”
“He was the best man I ever knew,” Ten said quietly. She hadn’t heard him walking up behind her. He groaned a little as he leaned against the bar. “We were just kids when we met. Nothing fazed Jamie. I mean, it did, but it didn’t. He came up through the same system Phoebe and I did, but it didn’t wreck him the way it did us.”
Phoebe shook her head. “He was lucky. He didn’t have the same trouble we did, Ten.”
Ten’s lips firmed as though he was holding something in. He finally turned her way. “No. That’s not the truth. He never told you about it. He went through every single thing we did. Some worse.”
Her heart twisted. “No. He said he was all right. He lived with his aunt until she died.”
“Who beat the shit out of him,” Ten said. “He had those scars on his arm. You remember the one.”
“He said he was playing with a nail gun.”
“She burned him with cigarettes when he didn’t behave,” Ten stated flatly. “She was a monster and yet Jamie was still open, still willing to try in a way I wasn’t when Franklin adopted me. He was a light and I miss him every fucking day, Phoebe. And I know one thing. He wouldn’t want you to die with him. He would want you to be happy.”
He would, but she wasn’t sure she could be happy without him. How many shots did a person get? In her experience, it wasn’t many. She’d had her real true love. There couldn’t be two of them. She took a deep breath. Explaining that to these particular two men wouldn’t do a damn thing. Ten had never been in love and Taggart wasn’t exactly being logical. It was apparently okay for him to have shut himself off after he thought Charlotte died, but she was supposed to just jump right into bed with someone else.
Except it had been years and she missed the feel of arms around her. Jesse Murdoch made her miss the feeling.
“Look, I’m here for a few days. How about we just say that I’ll keep an open mind.” She couldn’t say she wasn’t intrigued by what happened here at Sanctum. And if spending time with Jesse helped him at all, she would happily do it. She just couldn’t allow herself to feel too much for him.
Taggart handed Ten a glass. “I can’t ask for more. Oh, wait. I own this place and I totally can. I can give you an entire contract to look over and sign, or I’ll shove you out on your pretty ass and let Erin pretend to be you.”
“Erin so can’t pretend to be me. I don’t think Erin has a sensitive bone in her body.” Everyone kept trying to shove other women at Jesse and she really didn’t like the idea. It was totally illogical and unreasonable, but the thought of Erin with her hands on Jesse made Phoebe want to rip all that red hair off her freaking head.
“Apparently she’s sensitive enough to know my little brother gets a boner around her. I need to have a long conversation with that boy. Talk about a death wish. Hey, Ten, put the glass down.” The minute Ten set the glass on the bar, Taggart casually popped him right in the nose, the sound crunching through the air.
Ten cursed and held his nose. “You asshole.”
Taggart grinned. “Oh, I’m never going to be able to hoard them properly. It’s too much fun. And I’ve got nine more of them. I should have gone for an even dozen. Imagine how much fun meetings will be. We’ll be sitting at some briefing and I’ll just punch you right in front of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Good times are coming our way, buddy.”
“I thought you were done with me,” Ten managed to say.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know you had a family. We do strange things for a family, and sometimes we forget who our family is and we walk away without saying the things we should,” Taggart allowed, and Phoebe got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about today. “I’m still pissed about you keeping things from me.”
“He was going to tell you about Case and Theo.” She could clear one thing up very quickly. “He just needed time to get them on the team. If you had met them in the beginning, they would probably be working for you. Ian, we need men like them. I know you do good work, but this country still needs the Agency and the Agency needs men like your brothers. Like you.”
“I walked away because of my family. I suppose I could walk back in for them, too. Don’t think this means I answer to you, Ten. It just means I’m willing to work with you if it means getting to know my brothers. And you. I walked away when you needed me. I’m not without blame here. Now, Phoebe, go and read the contract and talk to Jesse because I’m sick of the drama. It’s getting late. Ten and I need to drink some Scotch and discuss how we’re going to torture and kill the asswipe traitor when we find him.”