He sighed and let her take his hand in hers.
She put the ice over it. “I know you’re not evil.” She’d seen pure evil and he didn’t even come close. “And I certainly don’t think of you as my brother.”
A long moment passed. He allowed her to hold the ice to his hand. His eyes finally found hers and she saw a deep weariness there. “Why the heavy pass, love? I wasn’t pushing you.”
Because he didn’t really want her. She’d misunderstood him. “It’s not your fault so don’t blame yourself. I guess I just got sick of being the virgin.”
His mouth turned down in a fierce frown. “Ah, so you’re curious.”
Only when it came to him. She was pretty sure she’d go back into her shell now. It was better than the alternative, which was finding anyone other than Simon. She didn’t want anyone but him and that might be her downfall. She latched on to anything but her humiliation. “Why did you go all berserker on the wall?”
He chuckled but it was a frustrated sound. “I think we can blame that on my unruly cock.”
So he wanted her, but he didn’t want to want her? Or he hated that he wanted her? She was confused about everything. It had all been one massive mistake. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you a virgin?”
Oh, she so didn’t want to go into that with him. “I was busy with my amazing career of being the world’s information broker. Not a lot of time to hook up.”
He sighed. “Why can’t you ever be honest with me?”
“I am.” Partially. “The only person I trusted was Charlotte. Charlotte spent five years pining over Sat..Ian. There weren’t a ton of double dates. We kept to ourselves. I was on the run for most of my adult life. Charlotte and I were always on the move. We never stayed in any one place for more than a couple of months.”
His face softened as he continued to look at her. Something about the way he never looked away made her feel like the center of the damn planet. “Has settling down been hard?”
Something released inside her as his voice went back to normal. He was letting it go for now, thank god. She felt the weight of his hand in hers. She wished she didn’t like it so much. “It’s easier than I thought it would be. It’s the little things that make it nice. I thought I would miss seeing new places and the thrill of the exotic, but the truth is I spent most of my time in front of my computer so I didn’t take advantage of it. Dallas is good. It’s hot, but I kind of enjoy it. I was born in North Carolina. I like to think the heat is my birthright. I was always so cold in Russia.” She bit back the need to shiver at the way she’d been torn from her mother. She forced herself to turn to pleasanter thoughts. “I like my place. It’s nice. I like this taco stand across from my building. I have no idea what kind of sauce they use but the beef tacos are like heaven. Weird people. Seriously weird. Like I heard them talking about trolls one day, but even that’s kind of cool. I like knowing I can always walk over there and grab one. That sounds stupid, but I like knowing I don’t have to find a new taco place.”
She pulled the ice away and looked at his hand. It was only a little red. Even his damn hand was big and masculine, and she shivered at the thought of the way he’d touched her when he’d kissed her.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s fine now.” He flexed it, only wincing a bit. “Just a little bruised, but I assure you I can still handle a gun. I’ll be perfectly fine by the morning.”
From her right, her cell trilled. She turned toward the sound.
“Who the hell would call you at this time of night?” Simon stood up.
She was kind of a night owl. Pretty much anyone who knew her and needed something would call her at all hours. “I have people I know all over the globe, though usually they get me on the computer. A couple of people have my cell.”
He got to the phone first, picking it up and looking down at the screen. “Who is The Mixer? What does that even mean?”
She laughed a little. It was only reasonable that Al was the one who got back to her. He’d always been chatty. He almost never had great info, but he was incredibly smart. “His real name is Albert Krum. He’s a sweetheart. He’s also a hell of a hacker. He’s known for code mash-ups. He’s made some super-fun viruses. He’s also one of the people I asked to look around for me so I should probably talk to him.”
Simon handed her the phone. “Put him on speaker.”
She slid her thumb over the screen and then engaged the speaker. “Hey, Al. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, though you should know it’s the middle of the night here. I moved to Dallas. Where the hell are you? Did you finally buy an Asian bride off Silk Road and move to Thailand? I told you that would get you in trouble.”
His voice came over the line, the sound harsh in her ears. “Chelsea, I am so sorry.”
Her whole body went cold because she could hear him breathing. He was panting as if he’d just run a long way.
Or as if he was scared for his life.
Simon’s whole body had gone stiff. He’d obviously heard the same thing she had.
“Al? What’s going on?” Chelsea asked.
His voice came out in stuttery pants. “I didn’t know. You have to understand, Chelsea. I didn’t know. I’m a rebel, not a killer. They just wanted me to write some code and then hack into a server. It was so much money. I thought they were just idiots. When I figured it out it was too late.”
“What are you talking about? You had a job go bad?” It wouldn’t be the first time. They’d all gotten into trouble at one time or another. The plan was always to run and hide and find a new identity. There was a whole team of hackers Chelsea had befriended. They helped each other when the heat got bad. “Who were you working for? Mob? Cartel? I told you to stay away from the Yakuza. It’s not like anime. How much do you need and where should I send it?”
He would need cash to run. She certainly owed it to him. He’d helped her and Charlotte more than once. Al had been one of the only people she could actually count on.
A sniffle came over the line. “Won’t work. Money won’t change anything. Nothing’s going to work, Chels. Nothing but you. Hey, you remember the fun we had in Europe? When we spent that weekend there? That was a good time.”