“William.” I stopped and turned to look at him. “How did you find out that Mason was double dipping?”
Two years ago, William thought he’d finally found The One until he got suspicious his boyfriend wasn’t faithful. When Mason was asleep, William brought Mason’s iPhone to his face and unlocked it. And with it he unlocked the Pandora’s box of Mason’s on-the-side dates.
“Shit.” William pressed his hands to his mouth.
“Don’t touch your face. Your hands are dirty.” I couldn’t help myself.
“At the lake, Brandon said?—”
“Who cares what he said,” I said.
“Let me speak,” William snapped. “He said that Richard works with Dr. Garcia.”
It was heartbreaking to quarrel with William. We rarely bickered, and when we disagreed, we never yelled hurtful things.
Andrew steered left from a gaping hole left by a fallen tree, its dark roots sticking out like crooked fingers. “Dr. Garcia is my father’s old friend. He wouldn’t work for Nicolai Kolesnikov.”
“Then why would he say that?”
“To add disruption, slow us down. To ruin our trust.”
“It doesn’t feel right that they always show up at the same place where we are,” I said.
“Richard is smart,” Andrew said. “We shouldn’t be surprised our paths cross.”
“Maybe they bugged our car?” William chimed in.
We trod in dead silence for the remainder of the hike. Once in a while, birds or animals yawped and shrieked as if mocking us. William was annoyed with me for giving him shit about Brandon. I was pissed at William and myself. Rage rolled through me. I hated the way Brie had checked out Andrew. I hated her nauseating use ofAndy. Why did she keep calling him that? He didn’t look like an Andy at all. He was too handsome and too large for the cutesy nickname, especially when he was angry.
And boy, was he angry. The way he slashed vines and leaves with his machete to make a path for us was frightening. William and I were careful to keep our distance from him.
When we reached our destination, a stylish Land Rover Defender was parked next to our crappy, dirty Jeep.
“How come they got a nice ride, and we got this?” William folded his arms on his chest.
“Seriously?” Andrew gave him a look. He dropped the gun and his bag into the back and tossed his hat on the driver’s seat. “I’ll be back. Stay here.”
I watched him march in the same direction he went after we arrived, my eyes glued to his broad shoulders and hisverynice ass. The ass that I could have squeezed several hours ago before shit hit the fan.Sorrynot sorry.Even in the current situation, I couldn’t help myself.
“Dr. Sexy Hulk has a serious issue with his bladder,” William said once the jungle had swallowed Andrew whole.
I threw my backpack next to Andrew’s and slumped in defeat on the car bumper. I was so mad I wanted to find a nearby rock and smash the windshield of their nice car. I glanced around but only found low shrubs and grass and vines hanging off trees. And I wasn’t about to crawl into the bushes in search of something heavy since deadly creatures lived there.
Andrew emerged from the woods, holding the wrapped box we’d found last night.
“This isn’t my first rodeo,” he said, approaching us. “I couldn’t leave it on the shore, and I couldn’t leave it in the Jeep.” He unzipped his bag and placed the box inside. “They searched it.”
William and I both stared into the car. Nothing looked out of place. How in the world did Andrew know they’d rummaged around? I couldn’t believe how dirty Richard played. More irritation pricked my skin.
“Screw it.” I stepped to Andrew and yanked his pocketknife.
“Hey.” Andrew caught my wrist, my hand gripping his knife. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll give you one guess.” I twisted my hand out of his grip and strode to the Land Rover.
Unfolding a blade, I squatted by the right tire and jabbed the blade into it. Well, I tried to jab it, but the knife bounced back, leaving a tiny poke.
Shit. That wasn’t how it played out in my mind.
