Jenna tried to pull back, but Charlie held her tight, so Jenna sank back into the hug. How long had it been since anyone had touched her?
Jenna knew exactly how long it had been, but she didn’t want to think about Mark Outlawson right now.
Most people assumed Jenna was an extreme introvert because she didn’t go out. But that really wasn’t the case at all. Jenna liked being around people. She’d just learned to be near them through electronic channels.
And to never mention how much being alone all the time cost her. Because that would just lead to more people worrying about her when they realized she’d become such a basket case.
It was one thing to be known as the gal who didn’t like to go out. It was another for everyone to know she vomited in her driveway trying to stay outside over a minute. For a year and a half, she’d kept that dirty little secret hidden.
Charlie finally pulled away, and Jenna led them toward the kitchen. “Sorry I didn’t let you know I was in town. I just needed a little time.”
She picked up her mostly empty ice cream bowl and put it in the sink. She looked over to find Wavy looking out the front window. This was their first time being inside Jenna’s house, but they both seemed too distracted to want a tour.
“Everything okay?” Jenna asked.
Wavy turned away from the window and rolled her eyes. “My security detail is parked out front. I’m sure Ian is having a fit that I’m not still at Mom’s.”
“Why would Ian not want you here?” Jenna worked for Zodiac Tactical, and her boss had never had a problem with his wife coming to visit family here in Oak Creek before.
“Oh, he doesn’t have a problem with me being here.” She gave a shooing motion with her hand. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just Ian being overprotective.”
Jenna had enough practice with being casually vague to recognize it from someone else when she heard it. “What’s going on? I’m glad to see both of you, but what are you doing here?”
Her friends met each other’s eyes in some sort of communication then turned back to her. “We need you to come on a field trip with us.”
Oh, hell no.
Jenna fought to keep her face neutral. “I don’t know that I’m really up for it today. I’m feeling a little under the weather. Sorry I didn’t get your calls to save you from a wasted trip over here.”
Wavy walked over and clasped her shoulder. “Seeing you, even for a few minutes, is never a wasted trip.”
Jenna reached up and squeezed her hand. It would’ve been so easy for Wavy to hate her after everything that happened to her and Jenna’s role in it, but the other woman had never cast any blame.
“Today just isn’t a good day,” Jenna whispered.
Charlie plopped down on a stool. “Both of us understand not having a good day.”
Wavy nodded. “Sometimes I still feel like my bad days outnumber my good ones.”
“We all just have to take each minute as it comes. Deal with that, then face the next minute,” Charlie said. “And we all know how exhausting that can be.”
Both women had survived their own ordeals. Maybe not for as long or as traumatizing as what Jenna had gone through, but they both knew what it was like to need to regroup.
“You know you can always talk to us.” Wavy tucked a strand of hair back, and Jenna caught sight of a little bit of blue paint right above her ear.
Nobody was ever surprised to see Waverly Bollinger DeRose with paint in random places on her face or body. She was one of the most famous artists in the world now. She’d taken her own tragedy and made it into beautiful art.
Why couldn’t Jenna do something like that rather than beat the shit out of poor BOB?
“Sometimes talking doesn’t help,” she said.
Charlie shrugged. “Then you call us, and we’ll sit around and not talk. Eat junk food. Whatever you need.”
“Thank you,” Jenna whispered. She wouldn’t ever take them up on it, but it was really nice of them to offer.
Wavy grimaced. “But today, we’re not actually here for moral support. We do need you to come with us.”
Jenna shook her head. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I wasn’t up for a field trip. Today isn’t…good.”
“It’s about your brother,” Charlie said gently.
Jenna froze. “Craig? Is he okay? Did something happen to him?” Surely the FBI would’ve contacted her if the worst had happened.
She and Craig weren’t as close as they probably should be, given what he’d given up to rescue her from her captivity. He’d never be an active agent for the FBI again because of the lies he’d told to help get her out. He’d been demoted to a desk job, slogging through the lowest levels of intel.
But even if they weren’t close, they were still family. Someone would’ve notified her if he was hurt or…
“No, he’s alive and unharmed,” Wavy said quickly. “As a matter of fact, he’s here in Oak Creek. He’s at the Eagle’s Nest.”
Jenna relaxed a little knowing Craig was okay, but it still didn’t make sense. “I don’t understand. Why is he here?”
“He’s here to talk to you.”
Jenna grabbed her phone. There were no messages or missed calls from Craig. “Why wouldn’t he let me know he’s here? Why didn’t he call or come here?”
She’d never invited her brother here, but hell, he worked for the FBI; surely he could get her address.
Wavy looked at Charlie. “Um, he was probably planning to come here, but then…got sidetracked. So, he’s at the Eagle’s Nest and would like for you to come there.”
Jenna glanced back and forth between her two friends. “What is going on you’re not telling me?”
Charlie stood and rolled her eyes. “Look, Ray Lindstrom spotted your brother coming into town, and she got a little freaked out about it. You know Ray, she has trust issues.”
And the fact that Craig had been willing to trade Ray—a wanted fugitive—in to the authorities in order to help get Jenna out of her captivity meant that Ray didn’t like Craig very much.
“So, she took him to the Eagle’s Nest?” Jenna asked. Why would Ray take Craig to a bar?
Wavy winced. “Sort of. She’s actually holding him at gunpoint at the Eagle’s Nest.”
“Well, crossbow-point,” Charlie chimed in. “You know, because it’s Ray.”
To say the woman was good with a crossbow was an understatement. As a matter of fact, the last time Ray had seen Craig, she’d shot him with said crossbow.
Wavy took Jenna’s hand. “Craig says he’s here to talk to you about something official, but she won’t let him go until you come and confirm that.”
Shit. It looked like Jenna was going to have to go outside again after all.
Chapter 4
Charlie and Wavy both offered to drive or to ride with her, but Jenna refused. She was going to need to focus on keeping herself together, and she didn’t want to have to try to chat at the same time.
As she got dressed, she could hear Wavy on the phone having pretty strong words with Ian about being overprotective. Evidently, her husband didn’t want Wavy anywhere near the Eagle’s Nest. But Wavy wasn’t having any of it.