Page 43 of Her Passionate Hero

“Come on,” Hunter prompted. “There were seven of us. You ruled us. I was your second, we were little shits who reported up to Red Blade, but you led us. I got the fuck out, but what about the other five? What about Luther? Can you tell me what happened to him?”

“He’s dead. He OD’d.”

“What about Luis?”

“He’s serving thirty over in Lancaster.”

“The others?”

“Felix was shot, he’s in a wheelchair. Alberto, he died in prison. But Bautista is still going strong, he’s one of my lieutenants, just like you could have been,” LL said it like it was something to celebrate.

“Great odds, LL. Great fucking odds.” Hunter’s words dripped with disgust. “Aren’t you even sad about the others?”

“Aren’t you? You left them? Maybe all that shit wouldn’t have gone down if you’d been here to watch their back, you ever think about that?”

Fuck. Not this again.

“LL, it was their decision to stay. They could have left, same as me. As a matter of fact, I asked. No, I begged every fucking one of you to get the fuck out. To leave the life.” He had. He’d begged LL the hardest. He’d been like a brother to him.

“Yeah, you were crazy.”

“Sure I was, look at where they are today.”

“Tell me, what are the odds of making it home as a SEAL? Last I heard, each and every one of you has a bounty on your head.”

What the fuck? How did this guy know that kind of shit? It rarely made it to the public.

“I told you, I’ve been keeping tabs on you, Man.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to see if what you said was true. I wanted to see if you really would make a life for yourself.” LL eyed him, all humor gone. “Man, you only made half a life for yourself. Yeah, you’re all that as a SEAL, but where’s your woman? Where’s your kids? Where’s your family? You hardly even come home to see your grandmama.”

“My team is my family.”

“Do you fuck ’em?”

“Now who isn’t being funny?” Hunter growled.

“Just saying. You need a wife. You need kids. You’re missing out. That’s why I checked on you, I cared.”

God this trip was biting him in the ass.

“Well, if you’ve been keeping tabs on me, then you know that with a little help from some friends of mine, I can take care of your little rival gang.”

“God, you always were a cocky bastard.”

This time it was Hunter’s turn to laugh. He kept laughing. LL joined in.

“Okay, we were both cocky,” LL finally admitted. “Didn’t you miss us a little?”

“Maybe to begin with, but I wanted to do the right things, LL. I wanted to be on the side of the angels. I wanted to serve my country. My teammates I served with are my brothers. The other teams we go on missions with, those men I would lay my life down for. The things we do, LL, they’re important. We save lives.”

“Tell that to Osama Bin Laden.”

“And how many innocents are alive today because he’s rotting at the bottom of the ocean?”

“Fine, you’re a big bad SEAL. You’re kind of still funny. I’m kind of believing you can help me with my Los Demonios problem, so I won’t kill you.”