Rhys (8 page)

The house was quiet except for the faint sound of the shower running deep inside the bedroom.

Tessa was in that shower, hot water running all over her body. A body he knew well now, after a night of spooning up against her.

Damn it.

Jake was right. He did have feelings for her. And some of them had
nothing
to do with guilt.

Which meant that he should probably keep his distance. No more reassuring touches. No more holding her as she drifted off to sleep.

Not that his distance would help Tessa. She would still have nightmares. She’d still be gripped with anxiety and dread, only he wouldn’t be doing anything to stop it.

Deep down, Rhys knew he couldn’t do that. The moment he saw her in pain he would be compelled to help. Like he’d said, she was his responsibility.

Besides, he knew how to control his emotions. He’d mastered his remorse and his guilt before. These more tender feelings couldn’t be all that different. Besides, they weren’t for his benefit.

Just like everything Rhys had ever done, his actions were for the greater good.

Chapter Eight

She needed to leave.

Every morning for the past four days, Tessa stepped into the shower with the same thought pounding in her head. And every time she had climbed out of the tub having convinced herself of another reason to stay just one more day.

Today
had
to be different.

Tessa let out a little sigh as she turned the knob and waited for the water to heat up.

Over the last few days, Tessa had regained most of her strength. The marks on her face had almost completely faded, and her body no longer felt like one giant bruise.

Of course, there were still some lingering issues. Her side still ached from time to time, and her shoulder stung when she lifted it too quickly. She had to be careful brushing her hair or her scalp would sting like the devil, but that wasn’t exactly a good enough reason for not sneaking out the back when no one was looking.

If she were being honest, Tessa had to admit that she no longer had a decent excuse for sticking around.

So why didn’t she want to go?

The answer was simple enough.

Rhys.

Tessa pulled off her shirt and pants, and stepped into the cascade of warm water.

There was no denying that she’d become attached to him. It was her own fault. She never should have agreed that first night when he offered to hold her while she fell asleep. She’d woken up in his arms every morning since.

Nothing sexual ever happened between them. They always kept their clothes on. He never touched her intimately, never went in for a kiss. Hell, Tessa was pretty sure that Rhys didn’t even think of her that way.

Sure, he cared about her, the way a brother cared about his sister.

Her
thoughts, on the other hand, weren’t so chaste. More than once, she’d found herself fantasizing about slipping her hands underneath his shirt, about unbuttoning the fly of his pants, about wrapping her legs around his waist.

Tessa rolled her neck under the shower spray.

Of course, her feelings for Rhys weren’t strictly erotic. They were complicated as hell.

It wasn’t that big of a surprise. He had saved her from Boyd after all. He’d nursed her wounds and calmed her fears. On top of all that, he’d been true to his word. He hadn’t asked her a single question about her job at SciGen. He’d been nothing but honest and open with her. Right now, there was no one that she trusted more.

And she did trust him.

So much that she wondered maybe if there was another way. Maybe slipping away to downtown San Jose alone wasn’t the only answer. Maybe she’d stand a better chance with a little help.

All her fears rushed to the surface at the thought. She wouldn’t just be putting him in danger. She’d be dangling a billion dollar carrot in front of his face. And while Tessa might be tempted to trust Rhys to help her destroy the contents of her storage locker, she wasn’t so quick to trust the people he worked with.

Tessa had seen how much Boyd had been offered by some of the foreign interests for a working prototype of her project when she’d broken into his email. The bids had soared into the billions. That was a hell of a temptation, even for those who had dedicated their lives to helping others.

And Tessa was pretty sure those fancy suits Carter Macmillan favored didn’t come cheap.

That was unfair, she thought as she turned the water off. She didn’t have to trust the man, but she didn’t have to fall into the trap of demonizing him either.

That kind of black and white thinking didn’t do anyone any good.

What she needed was another kind of solution.

She reached outside the shower for a towel and started drying her body off.

Rhys had proven that he was the only one from Macmillan Security that trusted her. Maybe it was time to see how far that trust went.

They could get in the car together. She would give him the directions as they went. Then he wouldn’t have the chance to alert anyone about where they were going until it was already too late.

He could stay in the car as a lookout while she destroyed everything inside the unit. That way he wouldn’t technically know anything else about Project Exodus. He wouldn’t be putting himself at any more risk than he already was.

And she might actually have a snowball’s chance of surviving this hell.

Which was more than she’d allowed herself to dream yesterday.

For good reason
, Tessa reminded herself. This wasn’t going to be over the moment she set fire to everything in that storage unit. Boyd was never going to give up on her, not with everything he had on the line. She was still going to be on the run for the rest of her life.

However long or short that might be.

But hiding out another day in this fool’s paradise with Rhys wasn’t going to change anything. It was time to take a risk. It was time to act.

Tessa dressed as quickly as she could, trying to outpace her fears and doubts. She hurried down the hallway, fully expecting to find Rhys in the kitchen, just like he had been every morning, but he wasn’t there.

He must have stepped out for a second to talk on the phone. The office had probably called with their daily update.

Or then again, maybe not.

Tessa saw his phone sitting on the countertop, right next to his key ring.

Tessa started as his phone suddenly buzzed loudly. She glanced behind her, but Rhys didn’t appear. He must have run to the bathroom or something.

Well, this was awkward.

Tessa clasped her hands in front of her as she slid toward the phone. She knew it was none of her business, but she just couldn’t resist sneaking a peek at the illuminated screen.

Her regret was immediate. Bile rose up in her throat as her stomach tightened, as though she’d taken a fist right in the center of her belly.

No.
The thought repeated over and over in her head as she stared down at the phone. It couldn’t be true. But the name was there, clear as day, displayed on the screen.

Dylan Murtry.

Tessa’s mind turned over and over again, trying to think of a reason, any reason, that Rhys might have Dylan as a contact in his phone. Any reason that wouldn’t turn everything she’d believed about Rhys Vaughn into a lie.

She couldn’t think of a single one.

Tessa picked up Rhys’ phone and opened his call log. All the proof she needed of his deception was there. Dylan had been calling for days now, since the moment they’d arrived at the safe house.

Wait. That wasn’t exactly true.

There were calls from him before that. During the time Dylan had her down in Boyd’s basement.

He offered me a job
. That’s what Rhys had told her when she’d asked what he was doing at Boyd’s house that night. It looked like that might have been the only thing that he’d been honest about.

And she’d just been seconds away from revealing everything to him.

Without hesitation, Tessa swept up Rhys’ keys and flung open the door. She flew down the steps and headed toward the garage.

She refused to think of how just a few days ago he’d carried her across this lawn. How he’d taken care of her, helped her heal both physically and emotionally. And she’d let him in to her head and her heart. She’d wept in his arms. She’d slept by his side, for God’s sake. All because she’d trusted him.

She’d been a fool. A gullible, needy fool, she chastised herself as she hurried across the grass. Tears pricked her eyes but she didn’t even lift her hands to wipe them away. She stayed focused on one thing—getting the hell out of there.

She threw open the door of the barn…and crashed into Rhys’ chest.

His hands came around her shoulders steadying her, but Tessa quickly wrenched away.

“Tessa,” he said, with open concern showing in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

He glanced behind her when she didn’t answer, but his gaze was back on her face a second later.

“Wh-what are you doing out here?” she asked, stumbling back a step and then another.

“I needed to grab something from the garage.” Rhys’ face turned into a cold mask as his gaze moved down to the car keys dangling from her fingers. “Tell me what’s going on, Tessa.”

Damn her luck. Well, if she couldn’t make it to the car, it meant she only had one choice left. Run like hell.

Tessa spun around and took off.

It was no use. Rhys had her before she’d taken three steps. His arm wrapped around her middle and suddenly her legs were floating above the ground. He snatched the keys away from her.

She drew in a sharp breath and screamed, but that was short lived too. His hand clamped over her mouth. She tried kicking and flailing, but it was like raging against a brick wall. He carried her effortlessly back to the living room and deposited her on the couch.

But Tessa wasn’t giving up that easy. She dove for the back of the couch as soon as Rhys let her go.

A heartbeat later, she was back in his grasp, her hands pinned next to her head. Tessa struggled against his hold, but it was no contest. He was just too strong.

But unlike Dylan, Rhys wasn’t hurting her, just immobilizing her.

Still, she couldn’t stop fighting. She kept up her futile struggle until her strength and the fire started to wane. She should have known that Rhys was too patient.

When she was down to fumes and gasps, he eased his grip and pierced her with the force of his gaze.

“Now,” he said, his voice preternaturally calm. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

She glared up at him. “How about you tell me why Dylan Murtry has been calling you every day for the last week, instead?”

A flicker of emotion—remorse, shame maybe—flashed over his face.

“Because we know each other,” he said.

“Yeah,” Tessa spat at him. “That part I put together all by myself.”

“We were in the same Ranger unit years ago.” He slid his hands from her wrists but stayed right by her side. “He was the one who invited me to Boyd’s house the night I found you.”

“Are you working with him now?” Tessa narrowed her eyes as she fumbled to lift herself up into a sitting position. “Is that what all this was about? Some kind of elaborate trick to get me to spill my secrets?”

Hurt, plain and simple, flashed in his eyes.

“I haven’t once pressured you to talk,” he said. “More than that, I have protected you from everyone who wanted to force you.”

“Why is that?” she demanded. “I get why everyone wants me to open my mouth. There’s a lot to gain if I do. But there’s nothing in it for
anyone
if I keep my mouth shut.”

“I told you.” His voice dipped down low. “I understand you.”

Tessa threw her hands in the air. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“It means I know what torture is like. I know what it does to a person.” He said the words slowly, letting them sink in. “In a way no one else does.”

Tessa’s mouth fell open as she stared into his steely eyes. “Because you’ve been tortured.”

“No.” He gave a single shake of his head. “Because I was the one doing the torturing.”

***

It was killing Rhys to hold Tessa’s gaze, but he refused to look away. He would face her scorn, her anger, her pain. All the things he’d been hiding from this past week, he’d face them now. He would do it without flinching, without turning away. No matter how deep it cut, no matter how badly it hurt.

He owed her that much. He might have been truthful with her, but he’d been far from honest.

He watched as one emotion after another flashed across her face—disbelief, anger, then horror.

It was that last one that cut him the deepest.

“Get away from me,” she demanded.

“I can’t do that, Tessa,” he said, shaking his head. Just like he couldn’t let her run headlong into danger.

Rhys knew he was no angel, but that didn’t mean he was a monster like Boyd and Dylan. They were still out there hunting her down, and God only knew what they’d do if they got their hands on her again. Even the thought turned Rhys’ stomach. He wasn’t going to let that happen. No matter what.

Even if it meant enduring Tessa’s hatred.

Her eyes turned hard as she glared up at him. She pulled her knees into her chest, and tucked herself into the far corner of the couch. As if that wasn’t space enough, she picked up a pillow and clutched it in front of her like a shield.

“What do you mean that you tortured people?” she said.

It was killing him to look her in the eye, to watch all the fearful emotions pass over her face, but through sheer force of will he kept his gaze steady.

If she could bear to ask, then he could bear to answer.

“When I was in the Rangers with Dylan, we all received training in how to coax information out of hostiles. The training was basic and the methods were crude, but the techniques were effective. I recognized the hallmarks of that training in your injuries.”