His heart thumped when she used his real name for the second time that night. Over the comms, she always referred to him as Digger or Dig. Never Slade.
Truth be told, he preferred the nicknames because they reminded him of his days as a SEAL. The other name—the one his drug-addicted mother had given him the day he was born—reminded him of all the days that had come before.
Growing up dirt ass poor. Never knowing for sure when he’d get his next meal. Listening to the other kids at school talk about all the cool shit they got for their birthdays and Christmas and then going home to a run-down apartment that smelled like stale cigarettes, whiskey, and sex.
But there was something very different about the way Shadow said his name. Something he couldn’t quite pin down. The only thing Slade knew for sure was that he liked it far more than he probably should.
No probably to it, dickhead. She’s one of the team, remember? That means keeping your damn hands to yourself.
It also meant she had the team’s support, whether she wanted it or not.
“Your fightisour fight, princess. I would have thought by now you’d know that.”
“I’m not dragging the team into my mess, and I really wish you’d stop calling me that.”
“I’ll stop calling you that when you stop acting like a spoiled brat.”
Pain that had nothing to do with what happened tonight clouded the fire in her eyes. “What did you just say to me?”
Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that part out loud, and to be honest, he hadn’t actually meant those words at all.
She wasn’t acting spoiled. She was being standoffish. There was a difference, and he damn well knew it.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Damn right, you shouldn’t have. I didn’t ask you to come here, Slade. In fact, I did everything I could to keep from getting you or anyone else involved.”
“Really? If that’s true, then why did I see you and Baker Rawlins chatting it up inside that diner up the road from your motel?”
“How did you…” A look of understanding fell over her in an instant. “Baker. That’s how you found me. He gave me up, didn’t he?”
“He was worried about you,” Slade told her the truth. “And given what happened tonight, I’d say he was right to be.”
“Didn’t give him the right to rat me out like some narc.”
“Rawlins is solid, and you fucking know it, which is why he told me about your scheduled meeting when I reached out to him for help in tracking you down.”
“He was worried.” She scoffed.
“Yes, Shadow. He was worried. So were Owens and the team.”
“And you?” Her head tilted slightly to the side. “Were you worried about me, Dig?”
She’s baiting you.
“Of course, I was.” Slade couldn’t bring himself to lie. But then he added, “You’ve saved our assess time and again. I couldn’t very well leave you hanging out here on your own.”
Her head straightened at that last part, and he immediately knew he’d said something wrong. But whatever it was, Shadow didn’t say. Instead, she walked over to her backpack and hoisted it up and over her shoulder like before.
“I’m going to take a shower.” She turned away and started walking toward the open bathroom door.
His lungs emptied with a sigh. “Shadow, wait, I?—”
“It’s Alice, by the way.”
It was Slade’s turn to frown. “What?”
The confounding woman stopped shy of entering the other room and brought her pretty eyes back to his. “You keep calling me Shadow, so I’m assuming my father never told you my real name. But since you did save my ass tonight, I figure you deserve to know the truth. My name is Alice Owens, I’m thirty-two-years-old, and I’m the only child to have ever been born to Rafe and Amanda Owens. But something else you should know, and I mean this with every fiber of my being… You can take me back to Charlotte in the morning, but don’t think for one second that means I’m going to stop.”
