“Of course I did. Dumbass got punched in the head one too many times. Plus, he’s old as fuck. His memory’s going.” Trev cracks a smile, but then quickly sobers. “Family doesn’t keep a ledger, Leo. We show up and do what needs to be done.”
* * *
Leo
Trevor and Austin play rock, paper, scissors for the first shift on the couch. “We can move next door,” I say when Domina closes herself in the bathroom to brush her teeth. “At least she has a couch that isn’t ripped to shreds.”
Trev angles a glance at the bathroom door. “She wanted to be here, so we’re here. I’ve slept on worse. Or have you forgotten the five-star accommodations at La Crypta?”
“Last time I was in the field,” Austin says, “I spent the night in an abandoned shell of a building in the Mexican jungle after getting soaked to the skin in a monsoon. Your couch is like a Five Points Luxury Hotel.”
Shoving my hands into my pockets, I try to figure out what to say to these two men who flew to Panama with a fucking arsenal and more support than I could ever imagine. “You need anything…?”
Trevor pauses his energetic fluffing of my mangled couch cushions to give me the side eye. “Yeah. If you and Domina are going to go at it again, put some music on first.”
“Fuck you.” My smile—lopsided as it is—feels foreign, but I’d forgotten what it was like to be around guys whounderstandme. My damage. My scars. My nightmares. Of all the men in the world who could have come to my rescue, Trev and Austin are the only ones still alive who were betrayed by the same man who sold me out to the Loma Collectivo—Austin’s adopted brother, Gil. “Don’t say a word to her, man. Not if you ever want her to look you in the eyes again.”
Trevor laughs and shakes his head. “Oh, I’m pretty sure she knows. Domina isn’t some delicate flower who’ll wilt in the sun. She reminds me a lot of Dani. Pretty sure you were on the receiving end of at least one of her death stares last year.”
I wince, then turn to Austin. “A little backup here?”
He holds up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I grew up with her. Why do you think Trevor calls her Danisaur?”
“Seriously?” Before I can tell Trevor the nickname fits, the room shimmers, and I brace my hand on the wall. “I need to crash. Hard. If Zephyr calls—”
“They will wake us,” Domina says, wrapping her arm around my waist and fitting herself to my side. “Come to bed, Leo. Before you pass out right here.”
I won’t refuse her a damn thing. Especially not a chance to fall asleep with her in my arms. “Don’t trash the place,” I call over my shoulder. “Though, that might be an improvement.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Leo
The sun beatsdown on my black baseball cap. Sunglasses hide my face, and the SR-25 sniper rifle is balanced on the roof of a three-story apartment complex. A bead of sweat rolls down my back under my t-shirt. I don’t look at my phone. I’ve watched this asshole for a week now. He never deviates from his routine. Coffee down at Siren’s from 9:00-9:30 a.m. A brief stop at a bakery for a slice of sponge cake. Then he shakes down a couple of local businesses and returns home.
Five minutes. Or less. Checking the sights, I line up my shot. With only one good eye, my depth perception is shot, but at this range, I’m still better than most.
The man, Armando Velasquez, whistles as he ambles down the street. The moment I saw his face a week ago, I remembered everything. He was the one who took my eye. Who crushed two of the toes on my right foot. With a hammer. And then he laughed. I’ll never forget his laugh.
Armando stops to fish his keys out his pocket, and I take a slow, deep breath. I don’t give a fuck how wrong this is. How I should be the better man. But while the Loma Collectivo might be gone, Armando and his cronies are no innocents.
He slides the key into the lock, and I pull the trigger. Once, then twice before Armando’s body has a chance to hit the ground. One down. Three to go.
* * *
“Tellus what we need to know, Basher. Who hired you? Who helped you bypass security at the rally? Was it Domina Sanchez?” Reyes aims a hard punch to my liver, and I spit bile onto the floor.
“Domina is innocent,” I wheeze. “Where is she? What are you assholes doing to her?”
“None of your business, American. Tell us about the gun.”
* * *
I jerk awake,unable to force the sight of Domina cuffed to another table, in another cell, in another secret facility from my eyes. But when I look down, she’s in my bed, her arms wrapped around a pillow, and her long, black hair tumbling over her slim shoulders.
“Domina,” I whisper, sliding back down next to her. “I need you, baby.”
She blinks up at me, her eyes half-lidded with sleep. “Leo?”
