“Yes, she is.” Ry slaps a hand in the center of Wyatt’s chest. “We need her. We know nothing about Simon’s compound. The only blueprints Wren can find are more than ten years old, and the satellite images don’t match the original construction.”
“She. Stays. Here.”
The two men stare one another down. Wyatt grabs Ry’s hand and twists, but before I can blink, he’s flat on his back, groaning. Ryker backs up two steps. The pure, raw anger in his multi-hued eyes would terrify me if I weren’t about to go back to the man who made my life a living hell for three years.
“Your skills need serious work,” Ryker says sharply. “Outside. Now. We’re not doing this in front of her.” He snaps his fingers. “Graham, get the fuck over here.”
The younger man drops a stack of MREs and rushes across the warehouse like someone’s chasing him. “What’s wrong?”
“Hope thinks she’s going back to Arrens. Tell her what we do here. I need to knock some sense into this asshole.” Ryker grabs Wyatt’s forearm and pulls him to his feet. “We’ll be back.”
Graham takes one look at me, then perches on the arm of the sofa. Murphy settles closer, though his gaze follows Ryker and Wyatt as they head for the side door.
“You don’t have to babysit me.” Running my fingers through Murphy’s sleek coat, I blink away the tears burning my eyes. He won’t understand why I’m not around anymore, and I wish I could explain it to him.
“You sure? Dinners on my watch are always pizza and mint chip ice cream.” He cracks a smile, and it’s so genuine, my own lips curve into a weak grin. “Hope, we’re not just a team here. This is family.” Graham unlocks his phone, stares at it for a moment, and holds it out to me. “That’s my boyfriend, Q.”
In the photo, Graham has his arm around a taller, skinnier man with light brown hair. They’re laughing, and I think…that’s West in the background. “You look happy.”
“We are. But five months ago, his ex kidnapped him when I was on a training mission with the team.” Graham frowns, and his shoulders hike up close to his ears. “Alec was certifiable. Literally. Anti-social personality disorder. The fucker didn’t have the ability to feel guilt or remorse or sympathy. When he took Q…I was sure he was going to kill him. We didn’t know where they were or even how long they’d been gone.”
“But…he’s okay now, right?”
The furrow between Graham’s brows eases slightly. “He is. Because as soon as we realized he was missing, we got to work.” He huffs, then shakes his head. “Well, everyone else got to work. I was useless until we had a plan.”
“Why are you telling me this?” All I want to do is hold Murphy—and Wyatt—until I can’t anymore. Try to memorize everything about them so I have a few happy memories to hold onto when my life is nothing but fear and pain. Until Simon eventually kills me.
“So you understand how good we are at what we do,” Graham says. “Utah is the last place I ever thought I’d be going back to. That’s where Alec took Q. Way out in the middle of nowhere.” He shakes his head again and pockets his phone. “You’re part of the family now—whether you want to be or not. And no one messes with this family and lives to brag about it.”
Swallowing hard, I fight to find my voice. “I can’t let you all risk your lives for me. Simon’s compound is a fortress. Hell, it’s probably more secure than the White House!”
A hint of a smile ghosts Graham’s lips. “He’ll never admit it—top secret, ‘if I told you, I’d have to kill you’ type shit—but I’m pretty sure West has run infil ops for the Secret Service more than once.”
I gape at him. Even if that’s true, how can he be so confident? Simon won’t hesitate to kill anyone he thinks is helping me.
“Please don’t do this. Take me to Salt Lake City, then let me go. For Q. And Cara. And Wren. I can’t be responsible for anyone else getting hurt.”
Murphy whines and nudges my chin as my tears spill over.
“Please…” I say again. “Ryker never should have asked any of you to risk your lives for me.”
Graham slides off the arm of the couch and sits next to me. “You’re not responsible for anything that asshole does. You never were.” He turns his hand palm up on his thigh. “And Ry didn’t ask. He never does.” He wiggles his fingers. I need human connection more than anything right now, so I place my hand in his. “We’re here because the world is full of bad people doing terrible things. And we can stop them.”
He’s so earnest, there’s nothing I can say to convince him Simon’s unstoppable. So I let him hold my hand while I stare at the rest of the team preparing to fight for my life.
Once we’re back in Salt Lake City, I’ll slip away. Somehow. After I make sure Wyatt won’t follow me. A broken heart will heal. A shot to the head won’t.
Wyatt
Ryker shoves me through the door and slams it behind us. “You want to fight? Take your best shot. But you better make it count because it’s the only one you’re gonna get.” He holds out his arms. “Come at me.”
My punch finds nothing but air.
“Thought so. You’re so fucked in the head, you can barely see straight.”
“Go to hell,” I grit out.
He arches his brows. The left one rises a little less than the right. “Already been there. I don’t plan on going back.”
