The Lies That Shatter by A.V. Asher

Chapter Forty-Two

“Are you even listening to me?” Cressida snapped into his earpiece.

“Hmm?” Alec mumbled.

No, he hadn’t been listening.

Mercedes had on a damn bikini, and she was the only thing he could see. Those bloody tattoos were enough to do him in. The blue fabric barely covered the curves of her breasts.

If Declan and Cressida didn’t get to the point, Alec was going to hang up on their arses and go in after her.

Cressida let out an irritated sigh. “For god’s sake, Alec. Are you and Sadie in bed right now?”

“What? No. But she’s in the pool, and she’s a little . . . distracting.”

Declan chuckled. “So, things are still going well then?”

“There aren’t words, mate. Sometimes I worry this has all been a sick dream and I’ll wake to find she’s still gone.”

“Nah, it’s real. She came back to you. You took your head out of your arse. It’s been a good month.” Declan laughed. “But we got shit to do or the two of you are going to have to stay in hiding forever.”

Alec wasn’t sure he minded. He and Mercedes had spent the last five days in this beach house. Five days of nothing but talking, laughing, and loving her. Once, he called off work, and they stayed in bed the entire day, only surfacing for food.

For the first time in over a year, he felt truly alive again.

But Declan was right. As amazing as this time together was, Alec wanted a real life with Mercedes. They couldn’t do that if they were always on the run.

“Speaking of hiding,” Cressida broke through his thoughts. “Whitley is still pissed that Sadie’s gone. He’s called me more than once this week to threaten to have our American license pulled.”

“What a fuckwit,” Alec said, rolling his eyes. “I hope you reminded him Sadie still has that op-ed for The Washington Post ready to go if he wants to push his luck.”

“Oh, I did. It still makes him squirm.”

Alec chuckled. Mercedes surfaced again and the water cascading down her long hair made his cock thicken. Jesus, he’d just had her an hour ago, and he was already hungry for more.

Sighing, he walked into the house. At least inside, the view of her curvy body in that suit was limited.

“Alright, sorry. Back to business. You wanted to tell me something big?”

“Well,” Cressida said. “We found Adam Wilson. Like actually found him.”

Alec paused his pacing. “Are you serious? How did you do that?”

“Cressida found him because she’s bloody brilliant,” Declan said.

“I ran facial recognition on him starting in San Francisco and working outward. We got a few hits here and there, he’s always careful in the city. Then I got a hit on smart cameras in this tiny town in the Russian River Valley. When he’s there, he isn’t careful at all. So, I went back as far as I could. He’s been there several times over the past year.”

Alec frowned. “What was he doing there?”

“We think he’s visiting family,” Declan said. “Get this. Cressida began a search of the newspapers and databases in the area. And we got his name.”

Alec’s phone buzzed and Cressida said. “Take a look at Russian River High’s former homecoming king.” Alec opened the message and the black-and-white photo from an old newspaper stared up at him. “Timothy Jackson Barlow.”

“Christ,” he hissed. They had spent over a year looking for this man, trying to track his movements and his motivations. And he just showed up in the middle of nowhere?

“Oh, that’s just the beginning. Now that I have his name, it led me down a rabbit hole of info on our boy here. I’m sending you my entire file, but this guy was a Navy SEAL. Spent years in and out of war zones and is actually quite decorated.”

“Is he still active military?”

“No, he retired five years ago. But see the pretty little homecoming queen with him in the photo? That’s Shannon Crosby, aka Shannon Barlow. The two of them were married right out of school. She lives in his last known address and is receiving some of his veteran benefits.”

“So, they’re still married?”

“Looks like it. She filed for divorce about six years ago, but then withdrew it. As infrequently as he goes there, I would say that they don’t live together,” Cressida said.

“Aye. Do they have children?”

“I believe so. There are two children with the last name Barlow in the area. One of them is named Jackson. It could be a coincidence . . .”

“Or maybe he gave his son his middle name.” Alec stared at the image in front of him. Shannon Barlow’s youthful face was fresh and cheery. “The Russian River Valley isn’t that far, is it?”

Declan’s keystrokes came over the line. “It’s about an hour and a half north of your location.”

“Send me the address.”

“Are you going to pay this woman a visit?” Cressida asked.

“I don’t know for sure. I’m not sure what we’ll gain by talking to his wife.”

“I’ll keep looking for more on him, maybe there will be something there.”

That was a damn good start.

“What about you, Dec? Where are you off to?” Alec said.

“I just got back to London. I’m going to revisit the gift shop Mara Donovan was working. Her colleagues might be a little more open now that so much time has gone by. If I find her again, maybe I can get her to listen. It’s in her best interest to take Cooper down too.”

“Aye, let me know how it goes.”

Alec hung up and pulled the earpiece from his ear. They had hunted for Adam Wilson for such a long time now, it was hard to believe they finally had a genuine lead.

It wasn’t anything they could move on, though. He’d be walking right into Adam Wilson’s lair, without much protection. And he couldn’t leave Mercedes alone. His primary team had scattered. Cressida and Shake were the only ones left in the area, and while the twins were scrappy, they weren’t trained for combat. Declan was back in Britain, and Mason had taken some personal time to fly to Boston to visit his family.

Alec went back out on the deck. Mercedes had gotten out of the pool and had lain out on the cushioned lounge chair. Droplets of water clung to her skin. She had on her dark sunglasses with a wide-brimmed beach hat over her wet hair like she was straight out of Hollywood.

“Enjoy your swim?” He sat at the end of the chair, pulled her feet into his lap and massaged them.

“Mmm-hmm,” she sighed.

When he moved his fingers up her calf, working her muscles. Mercedes let out a soft moan. He slipped his hand up her thigh to the edge of her bikini bottoms. “Mmm, make that sound again.”

Mercedes giggled. “You’re insatiable, you know that?” But she didn’t resist when he shifted himself between her thighs, sliding her legs on either side of him.

“Aye, I can’t get enough of you.” He kissed her lazily, her soft moans captured in his mouth. Mercedes wrapped her legs around him, tightening herself around him, soaking his shirt and shorts. She deepened the kiss, her tongue letting him know she was just as insatiable as he was.

“We should probably stop,” she murmured. “If we keep this up, we’ll spend the rest of the day in bed again.”

“Would that be so bad?”

Mercedes nipped at his throat. “No, but we need to talk about the phone call you just had. From the little I heard, it sounded like they had some news.”

Alec groaned and pushed himself off her wet body. He’d vowed not to keep her in the dark, so he would tell her everything. But his brain seemed to malfunction when she was in his arms.

“It was actually big news.” He shifted off his knees and sat next to her. “Cressida found Adam Wilson.”

“Adam?” Mercedes sat up in alarm. “You’ve been hunting for him?”

“Aye, we are quite certain he is behind a lot of what happened to you. Cressida found him in a small town north of here. She believes his real name is Timothy Barlow, and he’s a former Navy SEAL. She thinks his wife is still living at his last known address.”

“He’s married?” Mercedes’s tone was filled with disbelief.

“We think so. Why does that surprise you?”

“He was one of the few people Jason passed off as a friend. We didn’t speak very often, but I would have never known he was married. He liked the ladies. A lot.”

“Did they like him back?”

“Yeah, he could turn on the charm when he wanted to. Jason was always jealous of the way women fawned over Adam.”

“Did you ever see him go home with anyone?”

Mercedes frowned. “Actually, no. He would get phone numbers, but he never brought a woman around.”

He pulled the phone from his pocket. “Cressida sent me a photo of Adam in school. Is this the man you knew?” He handed her the phone, and she studied the screen.

“Oh yeah. That’s him.”

“We think the woman in this picture is his wife. Did you ever see her around?”

“No, I don’t know her.” Mercedes handed back his phone. “Do you think she’s a part of this?”

“I think she’s something. I don’t quite know what yet. Cress is going to keep looking.”

Mercedes sighed, and a silence fell between them. The waiting game they were playing was exhausting and she was moving into her second year of this.

She perked up. “Oh, hey, this might be a good time to work out. Can you help me?”

Alec hadn’t had a decent workout since he’d left London. “Aye, what do you need?”

“I was hoping you could attack me.”

“You want me to attack you? Like . . .” He raised his brow.

That earned him a smack on the shoulder. “Get your mind out of the gutter. Noah was teaching me how to escape if I ever needed it.”

Gratitude for Noah warmed his chest. Mercedes trusted him. Mostly because he had protected her against his own. But they had also bonded when they were pretending to be husband and wife. Alec trusted him, because he’d practically begged him to take Mercedes and get the hell out of there.

“It was part of my therapy. I’d like to see how well it works against someone like you.”

He stroked her leg with the tips of his fingers. “Someone like me?”

“Yeah, strong and trained. I doubt I stand a chance, but I can always practice.”

“Aye, go change and I’ll happily attack you down on the beach.”

* * *

The tide was out,and Alec and Mercedes jogged side by side along the damp sand for about a mile. Mercedes kept having to pause to stretch her injured leg, and Alec could tell she was pushing through pain.

“Sorry,” she said, bending to touch the sand. “This damn injury makes it hard for me to go too far. My physical therapist said it would take time.”

“Don’t be sorry, darling. I struggled with that too.”

“Aren’t we a pair?” Mercedes gave him a rueful smile. She stood to her full height. “Ready to practice?”

Alec held his hands out. “Aye. What do you need me to do?”

“Let’s start with you grabbing me from behind.” She turned her back to him and waited. Her fingers tapping on her leg.

Alec let out a quick exhale and lunged at her. Mercedes dodged him, avoiding his grasp. Mercedes bit her lip and tilted her head at him. “You’re holding back. Don’t coddle me. No one else will.”

“I’m not coddling you.” He was scared as hell to break her.

This time he snapped her up, pinning her arms against her chest. Suddenly, she twisted her body, freed her hand, and cupped him by the balls.

Instinctively, he let her go to protect himself, nearly taking her elbow in the nose. She stopped before she hit him.

“Holy shit, Sadie! You were taught to fondle the man’s bollocks?”

Laughter burst from Mercedes. “No, if it were real, I’d have hit you with my fist. I fondled yours because I like ‘em.”

“You cheeky little minx.” Alec stalked toward her and grabbed her again, this time from the front. Mercedes gave out a little yelp and laughed. Instead of trying to wrench herself out of his grasp, she climbed up his body, wrapping herself around him. She locked her long legs around his waist and tucked her head against his shoulder.

Alec tried to pull her off him, but she wasn’t budging. He couldn’t get any sort of leverage to free her. When he took his hands off her, she clung to him.

He chuckled. “Now what, Sadie? Are you just going to hang on like a monkey?”

Mercedes’s hand shot up and gripped his throat. “Now, I choke you out.”

“Christ.” Alec ran his hands down her back and palmed her ass. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

She drew back and grinned. “You’re a very distractible workout partner.”

“Only with you. Dec and I don’t have this problem.”

Mercedes giggled and kissed him. She fit so perfectly against his body, he was already going mad for her. Then she gripped his throat a little tighter and he groaned into her mouth.

Bloody hell.

He broke the kiss and sucked in a deep inhale. As much as he wanted to make out with her on the beach, he needed to see what else she’d been taught.

“You need to stop distracting me, darling. This is quite serious business,” he said as she nipped at his lips. “We can continue this part of the workout later.”

Mercedes groaned and disentangled herself from him. “Okay,” she said reluctantly. “You’re right. Let’s try something a little less intimate for a while.”

They practiced for another half hour, their mood shifting to a more serious tone. Noah had done a nice job of adapting her moves to accommodate her smaller frame against a man of his size. Each technique was designed to stun or incapacitate her attacker, giving her time to get away.

On the way back to the house, Mercedes had developed a slight limp, reminding him of all the traumas she’d already endured. As grateful as he was to Noah for teaching her, he hoped like hell she’d never need the lessons.