“No, thank fucking god,” she says, peering down at him. “I would have blown his fucking brains out before it got that far.” Her cheeks warm, flushing a bright shade of pink at seeing him kneel before her, every muscle on full display.
“Tell me if this is too much.” His hands creep further, fumbling with the buckles on her holster until it clatters to the ground. “I would help you change, but I don’t want to makethings worse,” he says, scooping the straps off the floor and walking them to where their guns rest on the table.
“I’m fine. Well—better now that I’m with you. I’ve dealt with worse. I’m just in shock,” she mumbles, walking into their room.
He follows close behind, not wanting her out of his sight. Liz overloads her toothbrush with toothpaste, and violently scrubs every inch of her mouth, wincing when her lip starts bleeding again.
His stomach turns sour as he lowers himself on the bed, knowing at least a small part of what happened with the way she is brushing. He can’t tear his gaze away, watching heartbroken as she rinses and spits mouthwash no less than four times.
“Ry!” Tyler yells, entering their apartment. “I got it.”
That’s all he needs to hear. He storms into the room, his anger reignited, ready to find out exactly what Matt did.
Liz follows, pulling her hair up into a messy bun, still in the dress that swishes with every step. She storms over to the table where they sit hunched over a computer, pushing it closed as she does.
“You need to hear what he told me before you watch that. I’m not kidding, Ry. If you go after him, everything will be ruined,” she demands. “Should we wait for the guys?”
“Mikey’s out with Lauren. I’m not pulling him from that,” he states.
“Alex won’t care if I tell him everything later,” Tyler adds.
“Okay, well, buckle the fuck up,” she says, pulling her phone out of her dress pocket. “There has been a lot of bullshit happening. Apparently, Scott has him convinced you guys are holding me hostage because he wants to save me. I’m your bargaining chip, I guess.”
“What?” Riley chokes out.
“Yeah. He said you want to kill me, but General Grievouswants me safe, so he is playing nice. Matt tried to convince me that you guys were the ones who refused to let me go in the beginning, and Scott has been fighting to free me from you this whole time,” Liz explains.
“He does know that Scott has said everything to your face, right?” Tyler asks.
“I don’t know, but he ended up hammered and—just listen,” she says, loading the video on her phone.
She plays back every word he said about how the general was keeping them from finding Riley, and how he was sent to spy on them while their boss figures out a way to get rid of the team permanently.
“Now, I’m not saying Matt doesn’t deserve to die. I think I would prefer it if he did. But doing anything to harm him will give Scott the excuse he is looking for to kill you,” she finishes, standing from the table.
Riley watches her pace the room, waiting for her to say more. When she doesn’t, he opens the computer and plays the footage. The men watch in stunned silence, anger twisting their faces while they are forced to watch what happened to her earlier that night. Clearly having seen enough, Tyler slams the laptop shut.
“How do you expect me to be around him after seeing that?” Riley quietly asks.
She simply responds with a shrug of her shoulders, walking to their bedroom. “The same way I have to after experiencing it.”
CHAPTER 24
Each day that passes, Riley grows more protective of Liz, making each member of the team promise she will never be left unattended. He has given them all strict orders to pull her from whatever task or training is taking place and return her to their apartment if they spot Matt. The plan has worked so far.
Mikey switched up their workout routine, forcing her to the gym extra early to avoid any unwanted interactions, delivering her safely home right after. Tyler and Alex run interference, keeping Matt away from Liz with fake information about Dmitri and his operation. A task they happily took on after walking in on Mikey, Liz, and Riley wearing robes, fluffy headbands, and face masks while Liz introduced them to the wonders of trash reality tv.
Thanks to one man’s deplorable actions, Liz is now back to being a prisoner. Unable to leave or see anyone other than her approved four people and, despite them trying to make it enjoyable, she misses the freedom she had.
Liz practically dances across the lot on the way to the gym,letting the warm sunshine blanket her face, the smell of freshly fallen rain soothing something deep in her soul.
She spent her morning snuggled up in bed with Riley, talking about all the things they have missed out on doing together. That prompted him to ask her to do some hand-to-hand training with him later. One of the things they have missed most.
Nearly halfway through their workout, Liz’s phone chirps with a text. Her face lights up the moment she sees it is from Riley. He is on the way. She drops what she is doing, leaving Mikey to re-rack her weights while she rushes to the bathroom to freshen up. He may have already seen her at her worst, but things seem to always get a little—intense, when they workout together. Mikey separated them at home for that very reason.
Liz double checks herself in the long bathroom mirror one last time. Her eye is looking better. The stitches finally came out, and her lip is almost fully healed. She gives herself one more look before prancing out. Her excitement turns to dread when she steps through the door. Leaning against the wall, arms crossed like he has been perched there, waiting for her to emerge, is Matt. She frantically looks around, wondering how the hell he made it past Mikey.
“Hey, honey. I miss you,” he says cooly, pushing off the wall, blocking her exit. “You haven’t returned my messages. I was hoping we could go out again.”
