Secrets of Summer - THE SPECTER SERIES [book four]

Chapter TWENTY SIX

Kirby Carter

The Viking barely speaks two or more words to you the entire drive uptown to your offices, and you're not behaving any better..

You can't help but feel a little guilty for biting his head off earlier.. After all the guy is just trying to do his job - maybe a little more than that even - and you haven't exactly made an easy task of it for him..

You don't mean to teeter so finely on the edge of opening up to him and shutting him out, yet you are.. Something hard to ignore, like a little voice of doubt in your head or maybe it's simply common sense that won't let you forget..

That gnawing, niggling feeling just won't allow you to let go of the hurt, the lies and maybe even a little residual anger that still lingers between you..

As you approach the entry to the firm, Hunter takes your wrist gently to stop you.. You blink up at him expectantly.. "Just one moret hing, Duchess.. We don't know who Darby may have in his pocket.. It would be better if you introduced me to your colleagues as Axe Hunt.."

You bob in hesitant agreement as you both turn to continue along the path, trying to remember that you now have a new lie to track.. Adding it to the ever-growing pile of deceit you find yourself suffocating beneath, you do your best to put on a happy appearance.. "Right.. Okay.. And who exactly is he?"

He tenses.. You had more or less meant the question as a playful swipe at your strange relationship with the many faces of Hunter Paxton, but his expression quickly darkens.. "He's a criminal.."

You stumble a step.. "What?"

You glance over at him to see him almost grimace... "His record is very similar to mine.. It's a lot easier to keep a cover story straight if you base the character in truth.. So, Axe is a former marine - turned mercenary.. Replace my time spent in government contacts with some falsified prison time.. Nothing so unusual that it would cause any suspicion, but convincing enough to approach potential marks with.."

Your chest pangs painfully as you think back to the very first time you had met.. And the name he had given you.. His cover identity.. Because you were a mark.. Maybe you still are..

"The identity was created as part of a cover for a case I worked on years ago for the CIA.. I was never made, so I kept the name alive.. Just in case it was needed.."

You were already curious about Hunter's service history and his time at the CIA, now, that curiosity is officially piqued.. You also don't miss the way he glosses over the word 'mercenary'.. As though it means something completely innocent..

You're not stupid, you know exactly what that means.. He was a gun for hire.. Maybe he had been hired by the CIA for some off the books operation that perhaps then leveraged him into a position at the agency..

"Christ, so.. 'Axe' has time served?.. And I have to somehow explain to everyone at work that my new boyfriend is a convicted felon.. You know I'm a lawyer, right? The people in this office.. Well, let's just say a guilty verdict means something different to people like them.. You haven't actually been to prison... Have you?"

You eye the tattoos on his neck suspiciously.. You don't entirely know why you dislike the idea so much..

But you do..

Maybe because the threat of incarceration has tainted your entire life.. You had basically dedicated your existence to ensuring that bad people - one's far more abhorrent than you - received their justice..

But maybe that is all just a way to convince yourself that you aren't just as criminal as you feel.. Deep down, it still doesn't change the truth..