All Or Nothing (The Alpha Brotherhood #2)(18)
Author: Catherine Mann

Troy choked on his drink.

Conrad glared at him.

Jayne wondered what in the world was wrong with both of them.

Her husband took the fedora from Hillary. “I’m good. Thanks. I’ll take good care of his hat.”

“Take good care of yourself while you’re at it,” Hillary said just as her husband looped an arm around her waist and hauled her to his side. “Yes?”

Troy held up his phone. “Text from Salvatore. Time to roll.”

With a hurried goodbye, Troy and Hillary stepped into the elevator, his head bent toward hers to listen to something. The two of them looked so right together, so in sync even in the middle of chaos.

Jealousy gripped Jayne in an unrelenting fist.

The doors slid closed and she wished her feelings could be as easily sealed away. She turned back to her husband. “Where are we going?”

Conrad thumbed through his text message, Troy’s fedora under his arm. “To the jet.”

“And the jet would be going to…”

He looked up, his eyes piercing and closed off all at once. “Somewhere far away from here.”

His evasive answer set her teeth on edge. “Now that I know about your double life, you can drop the tall, dark and mysterious act.”

She yanked the fedora from under his arm, his jacket parting.

A shoulder holster held a silver handgun.

“Oh,” she gasped, knowing she shouldn’t be surprised, but still just… “Oh.”

He pulled his jacket back over the weapon. “The people I help nail don’t play nice. They are seriously dangerous. You can be as angry at me as you want, but you’ll have to trust me, just this once, and save your questions for the airplane. I promise I’ll tell you anything you want to know once we’re airborne. Agreed?”

Anything she wanted to know? That was one promise she couldn’t resist. Probably the very reason he’d said it, tossing irresistible temptation her way. But it was an offer she intended to press to the fullest.

She pulled out a silk scarf to wrap over her blond hair. “Lead the way.”

* * *

Once the chartered jet reached cruising altitude, Conrad took his first easy breath since he’d found Salvatore waiting for him in the penthouse. He was that much closer to having Jayne tucked away in the last place anyone would think to find either of them.

Jayne hadn’t moved her eyes off him since they’d left the penthouse. Even now she sat on the other side of the small table, tugging her silk scarf from hand to hand. He watched the glide of the deep purple fabric as it slid from side to side. Until now, he hadn’t realized she dressed in bolder colors these days. A simple thing and inconsequential, but yet another sign that she’d moved on since leaving him. She’d changed and he couldn’t go back to the way things were.

But back to the moment. Without a doubt, the boom was going to fall soon and he would have to answer her questions. He owed her that much and more. He reached for his coffee on the small table between them, a light breakfast set in front of them.

He wasn’t interested in food. Only Jayne. He could read her well and the second she set aside the scarf in her hands he knew. She was ready to talk.

“We’re airborne, and you owe me answers.” She drizzled honey into her tea. “Tell me where we’re going.”

“Africa.”

Freezing midsip, she stared at him over the top of her cup. “Just when I think you can’t surprise me. Are we staying somewhere like the island resort where we planned to spend our first anniversary?”

“No.” He couldn’t miss the subtle reminder of when he’d bailed on their first anniversary retreat in Seychelles. Without a doubt, he owed her for all the times he’d shortchanged her in the past. He raised the window shade, the first morning rays streaking through the clouds. “We’re going to West Africa. I have a house there.”

“Another thing I didn’t know about you.” Her voice dripped with frustration as thick as the extra honey she spooned into her tea. “Do you mean something like a safari resort?”

“Something like that, nothing to do with business, though.” She would see for herself soon enough, and he had to admit, he wanted to see her reaction without prior warning. “I purchased the property just before we split. A case led me to… It doesn’t matter. You’re right. I should have told you about an acquisition that large.”

“If it’s your home, can’t we be found there?”

“The property was purchased under a corporate name, nothing anyone would connect with me. There’s not much point in a retreat if the paparazzi can find you.”

“Well, if the press hasn’t found out about it, then the place must be secure.” She half smiled. “So do we plan to hide in Africa indefinitely?”

“What did you tell Anthony?” He set down his coffee cup carefully.

“It’s my turn to ask the questions, remember?” she reminded him gently. Her eyes fell away, and she stared into her cup as if searching for answers of her own. “But in the interest of peace…I told him what we planned for me to say, that divorcing my husband wasn’t as simple as I’d expected. That you and I needed time to sort things out. He was understanding.”

“Then he isn’t as big a threat as I thought.” He couldn’t wrap his brain around the notion of ever being okay with the prospect of Jayne and some other guy hooking up. His hand twitched around the cup.

“Conrad, not everyone is all alpha, all the time.”

He looked up fast, surprised at her word choice then chuckled.

“What did I say? And remember, you promised to answer my questions.”

At least he could tell her this and wondered now why he never had before. “Back in high school, my friends, we called ourselves the Alpha Brotherhood.”

“You’re all still so close.” She frowned. “Do they all work for…”

“Please don’t ask.”

“You said I could ask anything,” she pressed stubbornly.

He searched for what he could say and still stay honest. “If something were to happen to me and you needed anything at all, you could call them. They can get in touch with Salvatore. Is that answer enough for you?”

She stared at him for so long he thought she might push for more, and truly there was more he could say but old instincts died hard after playing his life close to the vest.

Nodding, she leaned back in her leather seat, crossing her arms. “Thank you. Get back to the Alpha Brotherhood story.”