“He’s doing this on purpose. Making you wait. It plays into his hand.”
She sighed, and some of the fight drained out of her. “I’m trying not to let him get into my head but…”
He rounded the bag, took her in his arms. “You’re handling this way better than I would have.”
She snorted. “Please, you’re rock solid. And the only reason I haven’t busted ranks.”
“I wasn’t always like this. I lost years to the voices. The ghosts. Still have more than a few hangups. And you’ve saved me, too. Given me a reason to show up every day. Keep that darkness at bay.”
She stilled, eyes wide, chest still heaving, though he suspected it wasn’t just the aftermath of boxing. Time slowed, the room gradually fading as she drew in a long breath — tiptoed up.
He didn’t rush, palming her cheek as he leaned forward, brushed his mouth over hers. Tierney sighed, stepping fully into him, her taped hands sliding up his chest and into his hair.
No hesitation, just pure heat.
He followed her lead, holding her close, barely allowing her to suck in a quick breath before he returned, harder than before, his tongue tangling with hers, every inch pressed together. He’d just backed her into the far wall, one of her legs wrapped around his calf, his hand settling on her ribs, when footsteps tapped the floor outside the door, a throat clearing from the hallway.
Buck broke the kiss, muttering a curse under his breath before he glanced over his shoulder. “Something on your mind, Wade?”
Wade braced his weight on his cane, looking far too smug. “Someone’s grumpy.”
Buck merely stared.
Wade tsked. “Tough crowd. Nick said Sloane has some intel on this Pike asshole you and Tierney need to hear before he calls.”
“We’ll be right there.”
Wade shifted on his feet. “Nick told me to escort you, personally, if I found you two…” He waved at them. “You know…”
Buck gazed down at Tierney. “Remind me to rig Nick’s soap to explode the next time he’s in the shower.”
She smiled, slid her thumb across his jaw, her pupils blown wide, her lips all kiss-swollen. Her eyelids fluttered, her pulse thrashing at the base of her neck before she lowered her hands, started pulling at the tape.
He stepped away, guided her toward the door with his hand on the small of her back as he passed Wade and shot the guy an irritated side-eye. Wade chuckled, falling in behind them as they headed for the front of the building.
Nick looked up when they walked into the office, grinning before holding out his hand to Bodie. “Pretty sure from the look of Buck’s clenched jaw and the fact that he seems like he wants to throat punch me, you owe me twenty, buddy.”
Bodie slapped a bill in Nick’s hand as he shook his head at Buck. “You two seem so in control until I have money on it.”
Buck stopped on the other side of the table, the cell still sitting on top, still weighing down the room. “Is that why you wanted us back? To win a bet?”
Nick tucked the money in his pocket. “That’s just icing on the cake, brother. It’s actually Sloane who’s got some intel, though…” He raked his hand through his hair. “The more we learn about Kellan Pike, the more I think we’d all be better off if that phone never rang.”
Sloane leaned back in her chair, her mass of auburn curls falling out of the clip. “Once Tierney confirmed our mystery man’s identity, I dug deeper into that dark-web server. I wanted to see if I could hack into any of the other systems, maybe one with lower security features, then use it to get into the archives. Obviously, it took a while, but I found this…”
She hit a key and started playing a video. What looked like a police lineup appeared on the screen, four men pressed against a concrete wall, dressed only in boxers and socks. Numbers flashed beneath them, a timer counting down in the upper right corner with the words the Gauntlet plastered across the top.
The scene continued until the timer hit zero and the video cut off, starting up sometime later, the men outfitted in the same orange pants and white shirt, a similar barcode across their chests. Towering evergreens filled the background, a single dirt path leading into the forest. A shot sounded in the distance before the guys took off, kicked up mud and moss as they raced down the trail, vanished into the encroaching darkness.
The guy holding the camera panned right, slid the lens across several men standing off to the side, all dressed in matching black tactical gear with carbines strapped across their chests.
Sloane paused it there, the men’s faces hidden behind bandanas and camo paint. “Nothing happens for another thirty minutes until another shot’s fired, and they take off in pursuit.”
Buck fisted his hands, stilling the need to punch one through the wall. “So, it is a hunt. In every sense of the word.”
Sloane sighed. “Appears so.”
Buck glanced at Tierney, wishing he could read her mind because the way she was standing — eyes wide, chest barely moving — he bet his ass she was fading into another flashback.
