JACE (Lane Brothers Book 3) by Kristina Weaver Page A

his face white and lifeless as his blood covered my hands and clothes and seeped to the ground below us.
    All I remembered was the anguish that gripped me in that one moment when my rational mind fled and I thought he was dead.
    I saw myself then as a coward.
    Now as I walk beside him to Jared’s SUV, I feel lighter than I ever have. This is in no way a declaration of happily ever after. I’m still obligated to work this case no matter what, and Jace is still a SEAL and working missions that trump everything else, but for now, for this moment, I am totally okay with just letting things fall as they may.
    “You okay, Trace?”
    I nod and snuggle into him in the back seat as Jared pulls out and starts driving us all home.
    “What the hell are we going to tell Ma and Pop?” Wyatt asks, rubbing at his face in frustration.
    “Beats the hell out of me, man. I just know I’m going to bed with my girl so I can sleep and come at this from a fresh angle.”
    A fresh angle? How can this stuff be any freaking fresher? The problem isn’t about old or new or really anything rational. It’s that we have no way to gather intel, and with Roman off the grid and in the belly of the beast, we have absolutely no way of getting to him unless he makes a plan to get intel out to us without being compromised.
    The whole shooting Jace thing would have been his initiation, the one act of loyalty the Patriots required before letting him into one of the inner circles.
    All I know is that not only are we all in a lot of danger now that Roman is in with the Patriots, but Roman is currently treading a very thin stretch of ice that could crack beneath him at any moment.
    I wish I knew where he’s stashed Melissa Dobson. I need to interrogate her and check out her responses, because for whatever reason, I have a bad feeling about that girl.
    Perhaps it isn’t that she’s a traitor and playing Roman. It could be that I feel something bad coming for her…
    Whatever the real reason, I know that something bad is going to happen, and I just pray that it’s not coming this way anytime soon. Jace is injured, the other brothers are juggling families and still trying to protect themselves from Ronny and her pack of hyenas.
    “Come on, babe.”
    I open my eyes when Jace slides out of the car and attempts to lift me out.
    “No! I can walk,” I grumble, not wanting him to hurt himself even more.
    I’m four years older and not as pedantic about my diet as I used to be, thanks to Jace introducing me to cookie dough, and I really do not need to feel like shit about him having to carry my butt upstairs.
    Wyatt, of course, has been elected to talk to the parents while the rest of us go to bed.
    “Go shower, babe. I’ll leave a T-shirt on the toilet seat for you,” Jace says, yawning broadly enough to crack his jaw.
    “No. You get into bed and I’ll find my own T-shirt and get settled.”
    He may grumble, but I notice that he drops onto the bed and is out almost as soon as his head hits the pillow.
    I leave him with a smile and groan when the hot water hits my skin, washing away blood and sweat and the worry I’ve survived on for hours. This time alone is much needed, because I need it to think and start putting some of the puzzle pieces together.
    These pieces are important and a lot of them do not fit, so instead of coming at it from the angle I always choose—my dad and Timothy—I stop and just forget about them for a minute, looking at all the players in this game objectively.
    Something is missing, though, I just know it, and I think it’s about time I sat down with the Lane brothers and we pooled info.
    After enjoying a long, hot shower and moisturizing with cream I hope is supposed to be mine and not some other broad’s leftovers, I slip into one of his T-shirts and slide into bed beside him, feeling giddy when he curls around me in sleep and says my name on a sigh.
    This is a really nice way to fall asleep, and now instead of thinking about