With a shake of his head, AJ mutters, “You’ve never even met the man.”
“He chartered a plane so we could get down here without border patrol knowin’ a fucking thing. That tells me all I need to know about the kind of guy he is. And the kind of work he’s gonna ask me to do.”
I don’t understand the tension radiating from the two men. Only that they’re staring one another down in some testosterone-fueled pissing contest while Connor tries to smooth things over between them.
Turning to Parker, I whisper, “What’s going on?”
She blows out a breath. “It’s a long story, and one you should probably hear from AJ. They’ve had their issues the past few years, but for most of their lives, they were tighter than two rusted lug nuts. They’re just finding their way again.”
“I’m tryin’ to look out for you!” AJ snaps. “I failed once, and I won’t let it happen again!”
Parker pushes to her feet. “Stop.” Silence falls over the room, the brothers’ jaws snapping shut in an instant. “Grace is tired. Hell, we’ve all been chewed up and spit out twice over today. We’re done for tonight. We have four hours tomorrow to figure out how we’re gonna keep the world from knowing she’s alive until whoever took her is six feet under.”
She’s so certain. So absolutely confident they can keep me safe. Connor nods. AJ and Jasper share a glance, jaw muscles tightening in mirror images of one another. They believe it too.
“Six feet under…in pieces,” AJ says.
Jasper snorts. “There won’t be enough left of them to bury.”
“If you’re done being stereotypical over-the-top men?” Parker shakes her head. “Connor? Jasper? You’re on clean-up duty. Then take the good doctor up on his offer of that pull out couch. AJ? Take Grace back to her room. If I see any of you before three a.m., you’ll be sorry.”
The men all mutter apologies and rise in unison while I stare up at Parker in awe. “That was…amazing.”
She offers me a wink and a smile. “They just needed a kick in the ass. Ain’t no thing. You remember what I told you earlier, okay? You need me, I’ll be in the hall right outside your room. Though, I suspect AJ’s gonna sleep in that recliner, so you’ll be just fine.”
As AJ helps me into the wheelchair, I hold onto the shred of hope I’ve found among family. If only I could find my memories there too.
AJ
“Remember,” Alejandro says, pulling my focus away from the door to Grace’s room, “headaches, double-vision, nausea, ocular phantoms, slurred speech, or worsening of the vertigo could be signs of a brain bleed.” He presses a USB drive into my palm. “Here are her medical records. But if you tell anyone where she was treated?—”
“Doc, you saved her life. That’s a debt I’ll never be able to repay. I’ll take the secret of this place to my grave.”
“We all will,” Jasper adds. “You ever need a favor—any favor—you give us a call.”
Reyes chuckles. “I have everything I need, right here.”
Despite his smile, it’s obvious he knows what my brother just offered him.
A way out of the cartel.
Before Jasper can say another word, the door opens.
Parker has an arm around Grace’s waist, but my wife is walking mostly under her own power. Her hair is pulled back in a loose braid, a piece of thin, stretchy gauze—pink this time—fashioned into a headband to hide her stitches.
I can see the tension in her shoulders. The way her left leg trembles with each step. But she’s stronger today than she was yesterday, and that’s what matters.
The yoga pants practically hang off her. God, she’s so thin. And a hint of fear hides in her blue-green eyes.
But her smile, shaky as it is, hits me like a punch in the gut.
I never thought I’d see it—see her—again, and now she’s standing in front of me after all she’s been through with a genuine smile on her face.
“Sorry that took so long,” Parker says. “Grace really wanted to wash the blood out of her hair.”
“You look beautiful, darlin’.”
“I’m a walking bruise,” she says softly.
