Remember Ramsey by Cynthia Eden

Chapter Nine

Observation notes: I’m not going to Ramsey’s for observation any longer. Everything has changed. Last night, there was a chance to walk away. He gave me that chance, but I didn’t want to take it. Because what I wanted most was—

***

“Why the hell does the file turn to shit when things get good?” Ramsey glared at the screen. He should close the damn thing. Wait for Cyrus and his tech crazy self to do his mojo, but instead, Ramsey kept scrolling through the semi-legible material even as he felt like some voyeur who’d gotten hold of a diary.

What had Whitney wanted most? If he didn’t know, then how the hell was he supposed to give it to her?

His phone vibrated. Gave a warning peal. Instantly, his body went on alert as he grabbed the phone. A few taps on the screen showed Ramsey the uninvited visitor who was striding up the stairs of his beach house and straight toward his door.

He should have expected this.

Now Ramsey did close the laptop. He also managed to sprint across the room and yank open the door before his brother could pound on it and wake up Whitney.

“Normal people visit during the day,” Ramsey pointed out to the unwelcome visitor. Or at least, he’d been told normal people visited during that period. “Not in the middle of the night.” He made a shooing motion with his hand. “Come back tomorrow.”

“Technically, it is tomorrow.” Jinx flashed his wide grin. “So I guess I’m right on time.” He moved to slide into the house.

So Ramsey side-stepped to block him. “Not really in the mood for visitors.”

“I’m not a visitor. I’m family. Huge difference.”

He kept blocking the entrance. “Don’t you have somewhere else you need to be?”

“Yes.” Sad. Long-suffering. “In bed with my gorgeous lady. That is where I would love to be. But then I heard on the police radio about a fire at Whitney’s house…”

Suspicion filled him. “Why were you listening to the police radio?”

“Why not listen to it? I like to know what’s going on in my community. Is that a bad thing?”

“Jinx.”

His fleeting humor vanished. “I was worried. The neighbor reported that a man fled with Whitney. When I heard the man was on a motorcycle and then the next thing I knew, the whole fire thing seemed to be magically hushed up—well, I, of course, immediately thought of you.”

“The fire is not being hushed up,” Ramsey clarified. “It’s being thoroughly investigated.”

“But I am a private investigator. I can help on this.”

“Believe me, you’ve helped enough,” he muttered. You told me she was pregnant. “Now, how about you hit the road and—”

“Ramsey? Who’s here?” Whitney’s soft voice. And she sounded far too close.

He whipped around. She was so damn cute in those pajamas. Blue shorts and matching top, and he could see the thrust of her nipples against the soft fabric and—

Ramsey cleared his throat. “It’s just a nosey neighbor. Don’t worry. He’s leaving.” Ramsey grabbed the coat he’d hung near the door and hurried toward her. “You should put this on.” He put the coat over her. “Don’t want you getting a chill.”

She shoved the coat back at him. “Do you know how hot it is?”

He knew she was hot. Focus. Dammit. What was wrong with him?

Oh, not much. The woman of my dreams is pregnant with my baby, and I don’t know how to win her back.

Whitney peered around him. “And that’s Jinx, not some neighbor.”

“I actually don’t live too far away,” Jinx revealed in a helpful tone. “Just a few miles. I suppose if you stretched it, you could call us neighbors?”

She moved around Ramsey and toward Jinx. “Why are you standing in the doorway?”

“Because I don’t think my baby brother wants me inside. Hurtful.”

Her lips parted as she jerked her head back toward Ramsey. “You didn’t invite him in?”

No, he’d wanted to slam the door shut on Jinx, but obviously, that ship had sailed. With no other option, Ramsey grudgingly waved Jinx inside.

“So gracious,” Jinx drawled. “Thank you. Truly. From the bottom of my heart.”

“Fuck off.”

Jinx smirked before shutting—and locking—the door. Then his stare swept between Ramsey and Whitney. “Cozy. Am I to assume that all is right in this wonderful world of—”

“No,” Ramsey snapped before Jinx could say the wrong thing. “You shouldn’t assume anything.” He sounded too growly. Clearing his throat, he tried to sound somewhat polite and normal. “Her place isn’t safe. Some dick started the fire while we were both inside.” Okay, so he’d failed at being polite. When it came to Whitney’s safety, polite just didn’t cut it.

Jinx’s expression hardened.

“I got her out and brought Whitney here so I could keep her safe.” And she’ll keep staying with me. Though he made a mental note to get clothes and toiletries for her. The stuff at her place probably smelled of smoke, so he’d get new things delivered.

They should probably start to make plans for what the baby would need, too.

His head turned as his thoughts were diverted. He calculated and tried to see just how far along she was. He didn’t think she was showing. Shouldn’t she be showing? Was everything all right? His feet hurried toward her, and his hand reached out to—

Her fingers curled around his wrist. “What are you doing?”

Should he admit that he’d really, really wanted to touch her stomach and feel to see if there was a sign of his baby?

“Oh, dude,” Jinx called out with a disapproving tut-tut. “Major no-no. You do not touch a pregnant woman’s belly without her permission. I was reading about that earlier and it seems they do not like that. Big invasion of personal space.”

His head turned toward his brother. “An invasion of personal space.” His gaze raked Jinx. “You don’t say.”

“Wait. Hold on.” Her grip tightened on Ramsey’s wrist. “Did you both research pregnancies when you found out about me? Is that how you spent your free time?”

Ramsey might have done some reading, yes.

Jinx shrugged. “I’ve never been an uncle before. I thought I should be prepared.”

“Uncle.” She sucked in a breath and let go of Ramsey’s hand. “Right. Because you’re family. And you’re the one who told Ramsey about my pregnancy. Then he headed to my place after apparently reading pregnancy books—or something—and the revving car came by and my front window exploded into lots and lots of pieces of glass.”

Jinx closed in on them. “I want to help on this.”

“This will be a shocker,” Ramsey began as he slanted a hard glance Jinx’s way. “But I actually have plenty of people on hand who can cover this.”

“He has cops that owe him,” Whitney chimed in to say. “He called them earlier. They’re going to report in soon.”

Jinx rocked back onto the heels of his feet. “Cops…on the take?” His lips thinned. “Thought you were leaving that life behind.”

Ramsey just stared back at him.

Jinx’s jaw hardened.

“I have people,” Ramsey said simply. Yes, some of those people were on the take. For the right price, Ramsey had learned he could get some very useful contacts. “I do not need the assistance of Trouble for Hire Private Investigations, but I certainly appreciate the house call—”

“Stop it.” An angry snap from Whitney.

He blinked. “Excuse me?” Why was she so upset?

“He is your brother. He’s worried about you. That’s why he’s here in the middle of the night. You don’t have to be growly and rude to him. You could try saying, ‘Thanks for checking on me. Thanks for rushing all the way to my side. And, yes, I can use your help.’”

“God, I love her,” Jinx muttered as he stared at Whitney with adoring eyes. “Why have you not put a ring on her finger?”

Ramsey thought about putting his fist in Jinx’s—

“You’re doing it again! You’re glaring at your brother.”

He was. Guilty.

“Trouble for Hire Private Investigations is the best,” she said flatly.

“Aw, thanks for noticing.” Jinx beamed.

“They found the people who tried to kill me. They’ve stopped other high profiler killers. If someone is targeting me—or you, or us both—then it makes sense to have the best in the business looking out for our interests. And, no offense, Ramsey, but I’m not completely sure I trust all of your people. Cops on the take and criminals looking to score may not be overly motivated to help us bring down bad guys.”

“And no one is more motivated than your brother when it comes to protecting you,” Jinx chimed in. He put his hand over his heart. “I swear it.” His voice turned serious as his hand dropped and he gazed at Ramsey. “I want to look out for you. It’s what I wanted my whole life.”

Yeah, he knew that. He also knew that he wasn’t a damn kid any longer, and he’d long since passed the point of needing his big brother to swoop in and clean up his messes.

But try explaining that to Jinx. Jinx had worked covert ops for Uncle Sam that were dangerous as hell because Jinx had thought that taking those jobs would result in Ramsey’s crimes being erased.

Jinx still didn’t know what a raw deal he’d gotten for that exchange.

Jinx offered his hand to Ramsey. “Let’s make a deal. I help you, and you stop acting like you’re a monster who doesn’t have a heart.”

He stared at the offered hand. Ramsey was surprised by just how insightful Jinx’s comment actually was. He shouldn’t have been, though. Jinx might flash his easy grin all the time, but the man was wicked smart. Always had been.

When they’d been thrown into the foster care system, Jinx had learned that a relaxed air and fun-loving grin reassured people. It warmed up potential families. Disarmed them.

Meanwhile, when Ramsey had been on the streets, he’d learned that showing any weakness would get your ass beat. You had to be the coldest bastard on the block if you wanted to get business handled.

But he did have a heart, and that was the problem. He had a very big weakness that someone had discovered, and if he wanted to keep Whitney safe, then maybe he needed to use every resource available.

He took Jinx’s hand. “Am I getting the package deal? Are War and Odin going to be thrown in, too?” Oh, he could just imagine the expression on War’s face…

It was almost enough to make him smile.

“Odin’s lady is best friends with Whitney. Hell, yes, it goes without saying that you are about to get the package deal.”

“Excellent!” Whitney excitedly declared before Ramsey could respond. “Then I think we should all start the investigation with this.” And she pulled a phone out of the loose pocket of her pajama shorts.

“What’s on the phone?” Jinx asked as he peered down at it.

Ramsey dropped his hold on his brother’s hand.

“I installed one of those video doorbells at my place yesterday. Forgot about it in the excitement of the night. Then when I woke up and, ah—” A blush tinged her cheeks as she cut a quick, nervous glance toward Ramsey. Her throat cleared. “When I woke up,” she said, voice cracking a little, “I couldn’t get back to sleep and I remembered that the doorbell was supposed to constantly be recording video if it was triggered by motion. There was lots of motion happening with the fire, so I thought there could be something useful for us on the recording.” She turned the phone toward Ramsey. Hit a button and a video began to play. “I was correct. There was something useful.”

Ramsey watched the video fill the screen. He saw the man in the ski mask leap out of the car. Saw him throw a burning bottle toward Whitney’s house. Then another.

Then he saw the SOB drive away…in a very distinct and classic ride. Ramsey had thought that growling engine sounded familiar.

“Oh, no. No way.” Jinx was adamant.

He’d recognized the car, too. He should. Wasn’t as if there were a ton of mint condition 67 Impalas on the roads.

“We both know he would not do that. No way, not any freaking day,” Jinx said quickly.

“Who?” Whitney demanded.

“War,” Ramsey gritted out. “Warren Channing. The owner of Trouble for Hire.”

“There is no way,” Jinx repeated. “He would never do anything like that.”

“I’ll find out,” Ramsey promised, “when I have a fun one-on-one chat with War.” A chat that was long overdue.

“It’s obviously a frame job. Someone wants you to think that War is coming after you. It’s not a secret that the two of you have a bit of an…antagonistic relationship.”

“We don’t have any relationship,” he corrected. I stay the hell out of his business, and he stays out of mine. Or at least, that had been the case.

“Someone wants you pissed at War. Someone wants you looking the wrong way. Don’t do it. Let Trouble for Hire help you. Don’t turn your back on the real people who want to protect you.”

***

“You realize, of course, that he’s running straight to War,” Whitney said as soon as Jinx left.

“Of course. Where else would he run?”

There was something about his tone…Her head tilted as Whitney studied Ramsey. “Are you…jealous?” No, surely not.

He laughed. “Of what? My estranged brother’s friendship with that arrogant ass War?”

She actually thought, yes, that was exactly what he was jealous of. She’d done research on Trouble for Hire after she’d learned how instrumental they’d been after her disappearance. “War and Odin worked special ops together.” She was trying to connect the dots. “Did Jinx do the same kind of work?”

“Can’t really say. I hear all of that is hush-hush. Need-to-know-level spy BS.”

“I will take that as a yes.” She bit her lower lip. “So I don’t remember a lot of specifics about your relationship with Jinx…”

“That’s because there was no relationship. We got sent into the foster care system. People wanted to take Jinx into their homes—get him out of that group place where we were living, but he kept insisting that we were a package deal.” He rolled back his shoulders. “It’s hot in here. I’m going for some air.”

He strode toward the balcony doors. Hauled them open. The thunder of the waves reached her ears.

He walked out.

Her shoulders straightened as she followed him. Whitney found him leaning up against the railing and staring out into the night.

It took her a moment to decide which of the questions rolling through her mind she should ask first. “How did a package deal become so separate?”

“Apparently, I’m a moody sonofabitch.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“The social workers threw lots of labels at me back then. Said some stuff about me having attachment issues. Said I couldn’t bond with families. Basically said I’d never have a family of my own again.” His stare was on the darkness of the waves. “But Jinx had a chance. Everyone always likes Jinx. So I made sure he got his chance.”

“You left.” Certainty filled her.

“I left.” A hard nod that she could just make out because of the moonlight. “He was better off without me, and—”

“You bastard.” She rushed toward him. Grabbed his arm and spun him around. “That’s your go-to, isn’t it?”

“What?” Instantly, his voice gentled. “Sweetheart, calm down, it’s not good for the—”

“You left Jinx because you thought his life would be better without you in it!”

“Uh, his life was better. He became a freaking international hero. Became best buds with War and Odin and he got the family he’d always deserved.”

A family that didn’t include you. “You tried to do the same thing to me.” The wind caught her hair and tossed it against her cheeks. “You wanted to stay away because you thought my life would be better without you in it.”

“It’s a common refrain. The good people tend to be better without—”

“Nothing was better for me!” She wanted to shake him. “I felt like a giant chunk was missing from my heart. When I walked in that bar and finally talked to you, I could almost hear pieces sliding into place. I was suddenly angry and scared but I also—and it made no sense—I also finally felt safe. Right. Like I had come home.”

“Whitney…” He brushed her hair behind her ear.

“Don’t you dare be a martyr with me ever again, got it? That ends. Now.”

Ramsey laughed. “I’m hardly a martyr. More like the one who turns everyone else’s world into a nightmare. Those social workers thought I was dangerous when I was a kid. Can you imagine what they would think of me now?”

“I don’t care what they would think of you! Knowing DHR as I do, I can tell you they were probably exceedingly overworked and didn’t have enough time to thoroughly look at the kids. Huge strides have been taken since then, but there is always more work to do. They made a mistake with you. You have it in your head that you can’t have a family, but you’re wrong. The very crazy, martyr-like acts that you do prove that you care. So let it all go.” She could feel his pain beating at her, and Whitney hated it. “Just let it go,” she pleaded. “Because they were wrong.”

His gaze seemed to search hers and then…

His mouth crashed onto hers.

Or maybe her mouth crashed onto his. All Whitney knew was that she was on her toes, her hands were wrapped tightly around his arms, and she was kissing him with every single bit of passion and hunger that she possessed. And it felt right. It felt familiar.

It felt like she’d finally found the part of her life that she had been missing.