Chelsea and Adam were investigating the names of the passengers on the Royale and any possible connections to either The Collective or Nature’s Core. They were supposed to build dossiers on roughly twenty potential suspects. Jake Dean was taking those twenty people and compiling their itineraries for the trip, including all their shore excursions where they might possibly meet up with the man they were attempting to smuggle back into England.
And now Charlotte was down in the dungeon with Penelope going over all the equipment and familiarizing her with protocols.
When they got on the ship, he would be alone with Penelope for days and days, in a tiny cabin where there was one bed and not a bit of privacy.
Tag walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of beer. “No. That’s going fine. Trust me, Raging Bitch knows how to break apart someone’s life in a few keystrokes. I’m talking about Penelope. You do understand what’s happening down in the dungeon, right?”
Charlotte was showing Penelope a few hints and tricks. She was going to teach her how to present herself. God, his cock tightened at the thought. “Does Charlotte not appreciate her duties?”
He couldn’t imagine Charlotte not taking a liking to Penelope. Charlotte was a kind woman, but if for some reason she didn’t like Penelope, he would have to find someone else. He wouldn’t leave her with someone who didn’t care about her.
This was exactly why he should find a way to get rid of Penelope. He couldn’t think straight around her and he needed to fucking think straight.
“Dude, right now those women are downstairs discussing the best way to castrate you. I had to convince her I wasn’t the one who told you to dump Penny. My wife is pissed.” Tag shivered a little. “When I left her, Charlie was plotting, man. Things go bad when Charlie plots. And she told me I should come up here and talk to you.”
Damon shook his head. “About what?”
After a long swig of beer, Tag coughed a little. “Feelings and shit.”
What the hell? “You’re kidding, right?”
“Dude, women do that shit all the time and when you marry one, they expect you to do it too. But we’re not going to. We’re going to say we did and then we’re going to drink some beer and see what’s on TV. Because we don’t talk about shit. We shoot people. That’s how we show our feelings. Well, I’m going to drink beer and you’re going to sip your tea.”
Yes, he was definitely going for the Scotch. He reached to the back of the cupboard. After this, he was going to be a loner. No partners. No lovers. No friends. He didn’t understand any of it. Not really.
And he didn’t want to talk. “I feel angry. That’s how I feel.”
He took a long swig. Why had he said that?
Tag shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Choke it down, man. Push it back. You’re good. You don’t have to do this.”
But maybe Charlotte was right. Another drink of Scotch and it burned nicely in his belly. “I have feelings for the girl.”
He’d never seen Tag go pale. “Should I call Adam and Alex? They will get on a speakerphone and you three can cry to each other and maybe have a sing-along or something.”
He gave Tag his middle finger. “Fuck you. I did what was right. It was right for her. It was right for me.” The last part was a lie, but one he needed. Maybe if he said it enough, he could make it true.
“It was a dick move.”
“What was I supposed to do? Tell her the truth?”
“You could have started with that. It might have been better than telling her she’s fat and shit.”
Damon felt his whole body stiffen. “I didn’t say that.”
Tag waved that explanation off. “It doesn’t matter. When you sleep with a chick and then dump her the next day, she’s coming to one conclusion. She’s fat. They are really concerned with weight. I don’t get it. She’s hot. Once Charlie’s done with her, she’ll have every Dom here panting after her. Don’t worry about it.”
“She’s quite lovely. I certainly didn’t dump her because I don’t want her, but I can’t bloody well tell her that. And you’re a good one to talk to me about this. Tell her the truth? Did you tell Charlotte the truth when she came back for you? You’re a hypocrite.”
Tag pointed an accusatory finger his way. “No. You do not get to play that card with me. You call me after Penny’s lied to you and betrayed you, blown up your career and pretended to be dead for five years. Then you can whine to me about your love life. You should have told her why you don’t want her in the field with you. Because she’s fuck-all good in bed and you don’t want to lose the best pussy you’ve ever had.”
Tag had weird ways of communicating, but Damon got the point. “I don’t love her.”
A vomiting sound came out of Tag’s mouth. “I didn’t say that.”
But that’s what he was talking about in his brutish way. “I feel some responsibility for her. And Baz’s hatred for me has already cost one young lady her life. I can’t do it again.”
He wasn’t going to admit more than that to anyone.
“Why does he hate you?” Tag leaned against the counter, his blue eyes becoming very serious.
“I don’t know. I suppose it’s because I outshone him.” Baz had always been competitive, and he’d resented the fact that Damon was the senior agent.
“Did you and Baz ever share women?”
Where was that coming from? “That’s a bit private, mate.”
“Nothing’s private right now. He’s brought you into this and it’s personal. Knowing why he’s coming after you will help us catch him. He’s not thinking with his head either. He’s running on emotion. I watched the video Chelsea captured from the CCTVs before she dumped it. The one at the station. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he was taunting you.”
Taunting more than just him. “He had some nasty things to say about both of us. It was why I sent her away.”
He hadn’t just been trying to protect her feelings. He was trying to save her life. If he really was honest with himself, he hadn’t wanted her to see how damaged he was. Hadn’t wanted her to see him struggle. He wanted her to see him as a heroic, strong operative, not the aging, wasted piece of shit he’d become.
“I find it interesting that he left you alive, too. He hates you, but he couldn’t pull the double tap on you. He’s been trained well enough to know to take out both fucking lungs or to go for a head shot.”
He hated how cold he got when he thought about that day. He was supposed to be over that. He was alive. He wasn’t supposed to be stuck in that horrible moment when he’d realized nothing he’d done had really made a difference. He’d been stuck there all this time. Except for the moments he’d spent with her. He hadn’t been thinking about how useless he was then. He’d been thinking about how hot he could make her, how she came apart in his arms. He’d been thinking about how right it had felt. “I believe he intends to do the job properly this time around.”
“Why does it have to be you? He should want to talk to Nigel.”
“He mentioned setting something up with Nigel. I believe he wanted me to be the go between.” The whole conversation made him uncomfortable. He wanted to forget about Baz for a while but the one thing that might have done it wasn’t available to him now. Fucking Penelope would take him away from everything, but he couldn’t do that anymore.
Tag shook his head shortly. “I think that was an excuse. I think you’re the one he wanted to see. I would bet he’s been tracking you the whole time. Now he’s murdered an operative and will only deal with you. I think he changed his plans in the middle of that meeting because he watched you with her.”
“He changed his mind because he wants Penelope.” A sick idea played at the back of his brain, a thing that had always been there, but he’d refused to acknowledge.