Surrender A Section 8 Novel

Chapter Thirty-six





When Dare came back into the room, Grace came right over to him.

“I’m sorry, Dare. So sorry it’s come down to this,” she murmured into his neck.

“We’ll figure it out,” he told her.

“It’s time to lock down for the night. We’re vulnerable until we make a decision,” Gunner told them, pointed to the panic room.

When Dare looked at Grace, he saw her blanch at the thought of spending an extended amount of time down there. She’d barely made it walking through, and that had been a by-the-skin-of-her-teeth experience.

He already had other plans for her, so when she looked at him and pleaded, “I can’t stay down there,” he conceded easily.

“Tonight, we don’t have to. After that . . .”

“Okay, yes, after that, I’ll be okay.”

It was a lie, but he allowed it because she really believed it. It was one of the many reasons he’d fallen for her. She was as strong as anything. He believed she would turn herself over to Powell if given the whisper of a chance, which was why he’d moved so quickly.

He didn’t need to be psychic to know her plans. Now he had to hope her gift remained faulty for the next twelve hours. She’d told him that stress made it harder to pick apart the feelings, and she was wrapped up in her own stress and fear.

Gunner wasn’t happy with Dare’s decision to stay outside the panic room with Grace, gave Dare the side eye, but didn’t say anything except, “Keep the walkie-talkie close—we’ll be monitoring the cameras all night. Windows stay closed.”

“Yes, Mom,” Dare told him dryly, and Jem snorted.

He led Grace upstairs to one of the bedrooms, shut the door behind them and waited for the alarms to lock into place. “Come on—come to bed with me.”

She did that, fit into his arms. “I won’t make you choose between us, Dare—I won’t.”

“I’m not.”

“You are. This is my decision. You’ll never forgive yourself for letting your father die.”

“Darius is more than capable of taking care of himself.”

“He sacrificed for me.”

“He did that so you wouldn’t have to,” Dare told her.

There was no easy decision here, only heartbreak. She refused to let him take a single ounce of guilt. “Please, we can figure this out, but you have to get Darius out. Promise me that.”

“Promise.” His hand wound around the back of her neck, pulled her close, and she managed a smile, the first he’d seen in hours.

“Promise you won’t make a decision without me.”

He kissed her, and it felt like a promise, especially when he dragged her toward the bed.

“Promise,” she insisted, and he murmured, “Promise.” She ignored the nagging voice in the back of her head, choosing instead to revel in the pleasure of his mouth on her belly, her breasts, moving down between her legs to lick her core.

He took her over and over, even when she begged for mercy. She lost track of everything except the complete wash of pleasure.

And when he climbed up her body, kissing her breasts and neck, nuzzling her, she wrapped her arms around him and he did the same, didn’t try to make love to her, despite the fact that she felt his hardness press against her.

“We both have scars,” she whispered. “Lots of them.”

“Yeah.” He pushed off her and moved away, sat on the edge of the bed. Everything was weighing heavily on him, she knew. It was the same for her.

When he finally turned to look at her over his shoulder, he looked as haunted as she felt. “Grace, I won’t lose you.”

“It’s the best thing for you.”

“What’s best for you?”

“I don’t know if that’s ever mattered. Not even sure it’s supposed to.”

“It should—it is supposed to,” he told her. “I’m not letting you do what you’re thinking of.”

“Just don’t let me go tonight, Dare.” She put her arms around him, nuzzled her face against the back of his neck before kissing it, working slowly down his back, along his shoulders.

Finally, he lifted his head and turned to look at her over his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“You’re the one who saved me.”

“Somehow, you’re saving me,” Dare told her. “Come over here.”

She moved to straddle him, still wearing just a T-shirt and nothing underneath. His hands moved along her thighs, around to cup her ass and pull her closer. Her sex brushed his erection and she shifted while he groaned.

She kissed him until she couldn’t wait any longer, lowered herself along the length of him. For a long moment, they just breathed, and then she began to take him, moving up and down. Running the show.

When he kissed her, it was full of an aching hunger, like he couldn’t get enough of her. She rocked against him, taking him in deeply, bringing them both to the inevitable end.

He groaned her name against her neck, then the word love . . . it was the only promise she hadn’t asked for and the one she’d wanted the most.


* * *

Key and Avery monitored the computers together for the first shift, an arrangement Avery was pretty sure Jem had orchestrated. As he and Gunner slept across the room, she helped Key keep track of the surrounding activity.

She couldn’t count this as being alone with him, but it was the best she’d get. She wondered if he thought about their time in the bar, or her tattoo.

Her skin tingled whenever she was close to him. She wondered if she should’ve kissed him on the dock, if he’d have pushed her away. Then she told herself this wasn’t the time to be thinking about her personal life.

Then again, her personal and professional lives had collided, and she’d never be able to pick them apart again. “It’s really quiet out there.”

“Almost too quiet,” he agreed. “I’d say it’s not normal, but I don’t know what the hell is anymore.”

“You don’t think that Grace should allow herself to be the bait, do you? Powell will see that coming from a million miles away. He wants her dead.”

Key nodded, turned his gaze to her. “What would you do?”

“I’d do anything for my family. For the person I love,” she said, and suddenly, without a doubt, she knew Key was telling her what was going to happen. She’d suspected that since Dare had moved away from the group, but she didn’t want to believe it.

She knew better than to ask outright. All she could do was let Dare do what he needed to for the people he loved.

“So, the pickpocketing,” he said, changing the subject quickly, before she could think too much or ask questions. “That’s a handy skill.”

“My mom used to hire former inmates to help her on bounties. They were all reformed, but they had a lot of skills, and I was eager to learn. Pickpocket, car thief, safecracking—for a kid, it was better than Disneyland. But martial arts were always my favorite. Mom was big on being able to defend yourself. So I picked up different kinds of life skills.”

“What about technology?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“I can get around the Web, but we never had a hacker come in to help us with bounties,” she admitted. “Are you good at that?”

“Not me—Jem is. I’m a better hitter,” he said.

“I guess we do make a good team.”

He grunted in reply, and she took that as a yes.

“Maybe you can show me some of your self-defense tricks sometime.”

“Girls shouldn’t fight—they break too easily,” he said finally.

“Good thing I’m not a girl,” she told him coolly, and yes, he remembered those kisses. She was all woman, and he still dreamt about her at night. She made him all hot and bothered, but she was still too young, too innocent, despite all the tricks she could pull.

Then again, she’d also seen far too much in her life, and he knew all about that.

He stared at her again. “I think you know how to take care of yourself pretty well already.”

“There’s always more to learn. Are you willing to teach me?”

They weren’t talking about self-defense any longer—at least she wasn’t. She felt a hundred degrees hotter despite the chilly room. Wanted to touch his skin, breathe him in. Surrender to him in a way she’d never done with anyone.

“I don’t know if I can,” he said honestly. “I don’t know if I’m ready to teach anyone anything.”

“I think you are.”

“I think you’re giving me too much credit, Avery.” He turned back to the computer monitor, and she knew she’d gotten as much as she was going to get that night.


* * *

Jem paced the floor, not looking at Key. He hadn’t been told any more than Grace or Avery or Gunner, but obviously, Key and Dare had decided to move forward with a plan without consulting anyone.

“I know you’re pissed—,” Key started, but Jem waved him off in favor of talking to Dare.

“Maybe vengeance isn’t the answer,” Jem said.

“It’s the only answer,” Dare countered.

“It’s going to burn you out and leave you with nothing. You’ve got to have more driving you. More than pure, white-hot revenge. Think about karma.”

Dare leveled a gaze at Jem. “Karma hasn’t exactly worked.”

“You’re living and breathing and you’ve got the one thing Powell wants most in the world.”

“And you want me to use her as leverage.”

“She wants that too. Don’t let your dick get in the way.”

“And then what?” Dare demanded. “He’s not going to let us live once he has her. He’s not going to let her live. And even if he was—”

“I’m not saying he keeps her forever—I’m saying use her as bait, letting her fake her way through the psychic bullshit. There’s no way he’s not coming after her while you and Key are off doing his bidding.”

“I’m counting on it—and you and Gunner and Avery—to keep Grace safe.”

Jem ran a hand through his hair and muttered something about doing it but not liking it. Then he grabbed Key and hugged him. Held out his hand to Dare and said, “You take care of him or I’m coming after you.”

“Consider it done,” Dare said.

“Avery and Grace will be safe if it’s the last damned thing I do.”

The men nodded, and Jem let them out the front door, relocked the place and prepared for the fallout that would soon follow.