He stared down at her, face shifting like he was trying to decide whether to be relieved or insulted. She leaned in and rose up on her toes, pulling his head down so she could place a final soft kiss on his lips.
It was her signature move, the good-bye kiss she’d used on plenty of Azcon boys when she’d taken what she needed and never intended to see them again. Why did it make her throat tighten this time? Apparently Jackson had more in common with his mentor than any of them could have guessed. She somehow wanted them both, and neither of them seemed capable of giving love back.
Stupid girl. Congratulations. You’re a freaking cliché.
She swallowed the lump away as she stepped back from him. “We can still leave early,” she said, making her voice as light and free as a bird winging away. “I’ll be ready in a flash.”
Chapter 26
Alex pushed himself away from the wall as Lena exited the elevator before him, reminding himself again to get his head back where it belonged.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder. “We’re loading at the regular platform, right?”
He nodded, and she was off, a bounce in her step as she left him behind.
She glanced back at him. “Jackson is already here.”
Lena boarded ahead of him, calling out a greeting to Jackson. If the young agent responded, Alex didn’t hear. As soon as Alex stepped aboard, the train rose from the rails. He glanced up in surprise. He hadn’t lost his balance, but a little warning would have been nice.
Jackson stood at the controls glowering at his reflection in the glass. Apparently, he’d said something to Lena before Alex had boarded, because she stared at Jackson now, twin spots of color on her cheeks and her lips compressed with anger.
Alex raised his brows in question.
“Apparently Jackson went looking for me tonight. And he found me. Or he heard me,” she told Alex before she turned her furious attention back to Jackson. “You had your chance. You passed. You rejected me. You don’t get to be pissed now.”
Jackson’s mouth opened in a little ‘o’ of shock. His mouth snapped shut, and he cast a look at Alex then compressed his lips.
Shit. Alex didn’t need this, not right before the most crucial operation of the last twenty years.
Maybe you should have thought about the mission before you indulged yourself, dumbass.
Alex looked at Lena. He tried to tell himself she wasn’t worth it, but it was a lie. If she gave him the opportunity, he’d do it again in a heartbeat, even after everything he’d told her. That pissed him off more than anything.
“Ward, get over here.” Technically, Jackson had been promoted to agent. Alex wouldn’t give him the honorific if he was going to behave like a student. Alex stalked over to stand beside Lena. She dropped into a chair to curl around herself, arms wrapped around her legs.
Jackson set the train to auto-drive and came directly over, focusing on Alex.
Alex met his stare. “Do you have a problem?”
Jackson shook his head. “No problem, sir. I am already over it. Mastering yourself is critical, right, sir? Isn’t that what you told me after you ordered me to back off?”
Did the kid really throw my own words back at me? Before Alex could respond, though, Lena jumped in.
“You call this mastering yourself?” She shoved her hair behind her right ear in agitation and glared at Jackson, waiting until he met her gaze. “It’s his fault for giving you an order. It’s my fault for liking sex. At what point will you actually master yourself enough to take on the responsibility for walking away?”
“I was being respectful of the stature of someone I developed feelings for in spite of my training.”
“No, you weren’t. You didn’t have feelings for me,” she told him with quiet disdain. “If you had feelings for me, any kind of real feelings, you’d have done what you wanted and damn what anyone else thought. You didn’t, Jackson Lee. But he did.”
Jackson and Lena stared at each other.
Alex sighed. He really didn’t want to pull Jackson, but he doubted the kid could get over this, not after that. She was brutal. Honest, but brutal.
As if reminded of Alex’s presence, Jackson yanked his stare from Lena to look at him. “Sir—”
“I am not discussing this with you. All I need to know, Lee, is if you can put aside your personal issues.”
They needed Lena. They wanted her. The plan would work, and it would make the pieces of future operations fall neatly into place. Jackson was the expendable one. He could choose another eager young agent. He might not be as good as Jackson, but he’d do.
Wouldn’t have anything to do with removing a rival, now would it, Alex? He squelched the voice in his head mercilessly. He didn’t have any rivals, because he damn well wasn’t pursuing anyone.
Alex crossed his arms and stood still, waiting for Jackson to realize his status. Alex knew when he had. The realization washed over his face like a wave of water. Alex imagined it was icy cold. He gave the kid a minute to deal with reality.
“You understand?”