Reed clears his throat, and when I finally look back at him, he motions for us to follow him. No one says anything until we are in his office. Gabe looks at me, and I know he is going to let me tell this story. So I do, I tell Reed everything over the next thirty minutes. The air in the room turns colder and thicker as I talk, but I don’t stop. Once I’ve run out of things to say, Gabe starts talking about a family that Reed’s company helped cross back into the country from Mexico.
Reed slams his hands on his desk. “Are you saying that we helped the person who hurt Tara and tried to hurt Ali?”
“I’m pretty sure we did,” Gabe answers, and I hear the rage in his words.
I hold up my hand toward Reed, who is literally vibrating with anger. “Neither of you knew what he would turn out to be. Not one single person can predict the future. None of this is on you, me, or Ali. All of this lays solely on their shoulders.”
“But—”
I push out of the chair, slap my hands on Reed’s desk, and lean in close, getting right in Reed’s face. “There are no buts older brother. You will not take any responsibility for this. You are only responsible for not answering my call that night. That is the only role you played in this outcome.”
I watch the anger in his eyes fade, his shoulders slump, and regret consume him. The last thing I want to do is hurt him, but I need answers. I’ve wondered why he never answered my calls for the past year. Before that night, every single time I called, he picked up. Even if he was in the middle of a case, he answered. Sometimes, he told me he couldn’t talk and that he would call me back, but he answered. “Shit Tara. I’ve spent all night and today trying to figure out why I didn’t answer.” He runs his hands over his face before dropping back down into his seat. “I remember everything from that night and the following day. The moment Gabe called me saying you never came home is burned into my memories, but I don’t remember you calling that night. I was with a woman I had been hooking up with for a few weeks, but I would have answered if you called. You know that, but…”
“Princess, when you called, did it go straight to voicemail or ring?” Gabe asks.
I shut my eyes, and my head drops down. “The first time, it rang and rang, but the second time, it was straight to voicemail.”
“Could it be possible that the woman silenced your phone and then turned it off?” Gabe wraps his hand around my arm and pulls me until my legs hit his knees. I allow him to pull me down onto his lap.
Reed sighs before answering us. “Maybe. We had a few drinks before getting started that night. My phone was off the next morning, but I thought it had died throughout the night. I plugged it in, then jumped in the shower. Right after I got out, you started blowing it up, and then all I could focus on was finding Tara.” Reed pushes out of his chair, rounds his desk, andsquats in front of me. “It doesn’t matter what happened, though. Tara, I’m so fucking sorry that I wasn’t there for you. I will never be able to take back what happened, but I can make sure that I’m there for you from here on out. Could you ever forgive me?”
Tears stream down my face, and Gabe wraps his arms around my waist, hugging me tightly. I wipe the tears away before framing Reed’s face. “I forgave you the moment I woke up in Elio's home. I held onto the anger to protect me from getting hurt anymore. That night, I was afraid that you?—”
“Don’t finish that fucking sentence, Tara,” Reed growls and lays his hands over mine, pushing them into his face. “You’re my fucking sister. My blood. There is nothing you could do that would make me turn my back on you. I will willingly give my life for you and not think twice about it. I will and have taken someone else’s life for you. I love you. You are stuck with me for the rest of your life.”
I wrap my arms around Reed’s neck and pull him closer. We stay like this, holding onto each other while Gabe holds me for a while. Once the tears have subsided, I release Reed. “Now that all of that is done with. Let’s find this motherfucker so I can finally move on,” I say.
Chapter
Twelve
GABE
I’ve always considered Tara a strong person, but watching her today showed me I knew nothing of her strength. It doesn’t matter that she has had a year to come to terms with what she went through. I’m afraid that if I were a female and went through what she did, I would not have the strength to put myself through this to find justice. But my girl is. It is all business now that Tara and Reed have worked everything out.
Reed jumps on a video call with Demon, and they start trying to find everything they can about Carlos Ramirez’s whereabouts over the last year. Jessie shows up ten minutes after I call him, and he starts looking into Ned, trying to find out anything about the girlfriend Tara talked about. We left Nick alone because Tara said he had enough on his plate.
“Princess, you need to eat something,” I say, pulling her out of Reed’s office. I’m not sure if she ate anything this morning, but it’s early evening, and I’m going to feed her.
“Gabe, I need to help?—”
Whirling around, I plant my shoulder in her stomach and throw her over my shoulder. My hand comes down on her ass. “You are going to let me feed you, and then we will start helping the guys.”
“Put me down!” She starts punching my ass, but it does nothing to stop me. Once we are in Reed’s kitchen, I finally put her down. Her blue eyes narrow, and I see fire in them. Whatever is about to come out of her mouth is going to turn me the fuck on. “Listen here. You might be my man, but you aren’t allowed to manhandle me like that.”
I smirk at her and crowd her. We move backward until her back hits the wall. My eyes scan her, and my dick hardens, pressing uncomfortably against my zipper. Tara is in a thin cotton shirt that doesn’t hide the fact that her nipples have hardened to points. My eyes zero in on them, and even though I want to tug on them, I place my hands on her waist. Slowly, I run my hands up her side, enjoying that I can feel her breath catch at my touch. I lean in and run my tongue up the side of her neck.
“Fuck,” Tara moans. Her hands push through my hair, and I groan into her ear when she grabs a handful of my hair and pulls.
“You like it when I manhandle you,” I whisper into her ear, and then I nip her with my teeth.
She pushes herself against me and turns my head toward her. Her lips slam against mine in a frenzied kiss. While I love it when we are so turned on we can’t help but rip our clothes off, right now, I need slow. It’s been so fucking long that I thought I would never have this again. I would never hold her again or kiss her, that I need to enjoy her. Last night was the wild, crazy, fast-paced fucking, but now I need more.
Tara’s hands move down my body and are currently trying to get my shirt off. I wrap my hand around both wrists and push them above her head. My other hand comes up to cradle her face. I tone the kiss down with long strokes of my tongue against hers. I push my erection against Tara, and she rubs against me. We each swallow each other’s moans. Breaking the kiss, I keep my forehead pressed against hers.
“While I would love to stay here and make love to you. We really should eat something.”
Tara closes her eyes and sighs. “Fine.”
