“That’s enough pics,” Jake directed Mac. “I’m sure Ryker will have plenty to work with.” Turning to leave, he stopped and slapped Trevor on the shoulder. “Let’s go home.”
“Wait,” Derek called out. He tilted his head toward Hadim. “What about him?”
Jake’s eyes connected with Trevor’s. “That’s his call.” Then, with one final nod, Jake stepped past Trevor and joined the other two men outside.
“Leave him,” Trevor ordered.
Nodding, Mac pocketed her phone and left. When Derek started out, he paused just long enough to say, “It’s finally over.”
And just like that, Trevor found himself alone with the man who’d invaded his nightmares for years. Despite the smell of decaying flesh, he remained standing there for a few minutes longer.
“She trusted you,” he whispered to the dead man. “She stood up for you every single time” —he stepped closer—“Lisa believed in you, and you...” His throat tightened, and the image he faced blurred. “You were a lying, murdering sonofabitch who got exactly what you deserved.”
With a sudden, unplanned move, Trevor lifted his gun and blasted three bullets into Hadim’s chest. Two for the men they’d lost that day, and one for Lisa.
Ready to put the final ghost from his past behind him, he turned and walked away. Less than two hours later, they were all back on the jet and not one team member had made mention of the gunshots they’d heard coming from the cabin.
As the plane took off over the expansive, dry land, Derek nudged his shoulder from the seat beside him. “Cheer up. I know you wanted to be the one to send the bastard straight to Hell, but look at it this way. With him already taken care of, you can see your girl even sooner than you’d expected.”
“Your girl?” Jake asked, facing him. “Wait, there’s a girl?”
“Oh, yeah.” Derek grinned. “And she’s a looker, too.” The man wagged his brows up and down at Jake.
“What the hell, Trev?” Jake actually looked a little hurt. “I’m gone for what, two weeks, and you found a girl? Why the fuck am I just now hearing about this?”
Trevor felt as though he were spinning as his thoughts shifted from Hadim to Lexi. With things still so new between him, Trevor wasn’t ready to share too much about their relationship just yet.
“As you just pointed out, you’ve been gone. You really wanted me to call and interrupt your honeymoon to tell you I started seeing someone? Olivia would’ve had my ass.”
“Bullshit,” Jake blurted out from across the small table separating them. “My wife will be over the moon when she hears you’re dating someone. Hell, she’s been talking about trying to set you up with one of the nurses she works with.”
Despite the day’s events, Trevor smiled. “Yourwife. That sounds...weird. But great.”
Jake’s smile was even wider. “I know.”
With a sincere look, Trevor told his friend, “I’m happy for you, brother. Really.”
“Thanks. Now, stop trying to change the subject and tell me about this girl of yours. What’s her name?”
“Alexis,” Derek answered for him. “She’s a waitress at that shitty-ass diner we’ve been goin’ to. She’s five-foot nothin’. Blonde, blue-eyed. And she’s as sweet as apple pie on a Sunday mornin’.”
Trevor gave Derek a look. “Anything else you’d like to tell him about my...about Lex?”
His friend apologized. “Sorry, man. Go ahead. You tell him.”
“Gee, thanks, D. But I think you pretty much covered it.”
“So,” Jake prompted, ending the childish tiff the two were about to get into. “Is it serious?”
Cursing under his breath, Trevor ran a hand over his jaw. “Jesus, I feel like I’m talking to a couple of teenage girls at a sleepover.”
“Been to a lot of those, have you?” Derek taunted.
Not giving Trevor the chance to fire back, Jake said, “I’m just asking about your girl because I knowLiv’sgonna ask. And if I come home with this news but didn’t bother to get the details, she’s gonna be pissed.”
“And then, what? She’ll make you wait a whole five minutes before tearing off your clothes?” Trevor asked with feigned horror.
“Not my fault my wife loves this body.” After a few chuckles from the group, Jake relented. “Fine. You don’t want to kiss and tell, I get it. And I respect it. Just answer this one question, and I promise I’ll leave you alone.”
