I think of the man in the warehouse, and how easily Eric handled him. “I’m not underestimating you,” I say. “I saw what you can do, but that’s no surprise to anyone anymore. I’m assuming that after the warehouse incident, the assassin won’t either. He’ll have a plan.”
“And it won’t work.” He motions to my food. “Eat, sweetheart. We’ve had a hell of a couple of days. We both need to take every chance we can get to eat and rest.”
I nod and set my phone down, but I find it curious that my mother hasn’t called back. “Can you ask Adam what’s going on with my mother?”
“Of course.” He snags his phone from his pocket. “Eat while we wait.”
I nod and we both grab our forks, digging into our food. “I never got to tell you about my talk with Mia. She said she’d talk to Grayson and convince him to back off.”
“And not long later, he showed up here,” Eric comments. “Obviously, she failed, but I have a plan B. Davis is going to get him out of town.”
“Grayson isn’t going to go.”
“He’ll go because he’ll think he’s handling the NFL deal on my behalf. He needs to feel like he’s helping me.”
“He was right when he told you to be honest with me.” I put my fork down and turn to him. “I hate that he trusted me more than you trusted me.”
“He had nothing to lose. I have you to lose. Which is an example of how one answer is not the only answer. It’s often different if you look at it from another perspective.” His fingers close on my knee. “What you just said about my skills no longer being a surprise. What if my father didn’t hire the man who attacked me in the alleyway? What if it was the assassin? What if he was testing my skills?”
“But he told your father where you were.”
“He could have been following me.”
My cellphone buzzes with another call from my mother. “I think I need to take the call.”
Eric tunes out this comment. Instead, he grabs the business card the bearded man gave me and stares at the message on the back. “What if it wasn’t about a secret I’m keeping from you?” He looks at me. “What if that was my guilt driving how I saw the message?”
“What are you saying?”
“The SEALs consider ourselves brothers. What if this message was telling me that the root of our problems is my brother?”
“That feels obvious. Doesn’t it?”
“The man told you to look at what was right in front of you and this message,” he holds up the card, “ties me to Isaac. Fuck,” he says softly and then pulls his shirt off, tossing it to stare down at his arm. “Somewhere on my body is the link that ties those two messages together.”
My phone buzzes with a text message. My mother has given up on calls, apparently, and I glance down to read: Does Eric know?
My heart sinks. Oh God. His father must be dead.
CHAPTER SIX
Harper
I stare up at Eric, still standing above me, his shirt off, the ink etched on his body highlighting taut skin and well-developed muscle. Ink that tells a million stories, one of which perhaps solves our puzzle, but right now I’m looking at the jaguar covering one shoulder. The black ink, the blue eyes. The symbol of everything Eric hates about his life, perhaps even about himself. But his father is a part of him. His father has been his only parent still living for more than a decade of his life.
Eric sits down and takes the phone from me, his gaze lowering to the message. He frowns and looks at me. “Does Eric know what, Harper?”
I grab his arm. “Your father must be dead.”
“I’d know before your mother. Walker is tapped into the hospital activity and law enforcement.”
I’m afraid to let relief take over. “What else could it be?”
“Call her.”
“Call Adam. Please. Call him before I call her. I want to know what I’m getting myself into. And it’s weird that she hasn’t said anything else. No more calls. No more text messages.” My fist balls at my chest. “She might be falling apart right now. I need to go to her, Eric. I know it’s dangerous but—”
He grabs my hand. “We’ll bring her to us if necessary. Okay?”