My sister had sharp instincts. If it weren’t for her, both of us would have been shot in the crossfire that had killed all our friends. Although I’d ignored her lately, believing that she was making the mistake of her life being with Ryder, my gut told me I needed to listen.
“Apparently the senator called Bill and told him he had plans to take Eva on a romantic getaway.”
My world started spinning. Sweat broke out on my forehead, and I felt sick.
“You okay, buddy?” Savage said, as he gave me a strange look.
I nodded and waved him ahead. Takeoff was in ten minutes and everyone was getting jittery, including my partner.
Savage scraped past me. “Hurry up, okay?”
I patted his back, and he started climbing the stairs to the plane.
“And Jade thinks there is something wrong with that?” I said, clutching at straws. It felt as if someone had kicked me in the balls. Of all things, I’d never thought Eva would go back to Parker that easily. But what the fuck did I know about women? Apparently, not much other than how to make them scream.
“Yeah. Jade is convinced Eva hates the senator’s guts.”
“Women change their fucking minds all the time. You should know that by now.”
“This is different. Jade says that Eva is not in love with Parker.”
“How would Jade know that?”
A long silence ate up the few seconds I had left before boarding.
Ryder sighed. “Because she’s in love with you, dickhead. Jade is convinced.”
Holy fuck. It couldn’t be true. Jade was mistaken.
I laughed out loud. “Tell my sister her imagination is running away with her.”
A snarl came my way. “Listen, asshole, do you think it’s easy for me to tell you this shit? I’d rather see my sister with anyone but you. So when I call you to tell you something is wrong, you fucking take me seriously. Unless I was right about you all along and you were just using her to get to me.”
I stopped laughing. Ryder wasn’t fucking around.
“No. Just for the record, I never used Eva. I care about her. You gotta believe me.”
“It doesn’t matter what the fuck I believe. If Jade is right and something bad happened to Eva, we gotta find her. We’re at the airport on our way back to LA. I’ve called Cobra and the boys are going to help me get to the bottom of this. I just thought you’d be interested too, and I was hoping you could give me a lead . . . a starting point.”
Savage stood scowling in the doorway, beckoning for me to come. He pointed at his watch. It was time to go.
“I’m sorry I can’t help you. I’m being deployed on a mission. I’ll call you when we land back on US soil.”
I wiped my brow with the back of my hand and started climbing the stairs.
The timing was off. Way off.
I had a mission to focus on. I couldn’t afford to be distracted, especially if it turned out that Eva had run off with her fucking ex because that was what she wanted.
I’d never understood women, and now wasn’t the time to start trying. Everyone on this mission depended on me. If I screwed up, I was risking more lives than my own.
Chapter 30 – Harrison
Five minutes into takeoff, I replayed everything Ryder had told me, running all the possibilities through my head. What if I was purposely being disposed of?
The timing for this mission was perfect but it sucked at the same time, depending on how one looked at it. It was just perfect for somebody like Senator Nolan fucking Parker. Or William Ryder. Jade was right. My instinct screamed inside my head once I allowed myself to listen to it. How in fuck’s name was I going to get to the bottom of this?
Ever the skeptic, as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, I jumped up and grabbed my phone from the backpack I’d chucked it into before takeoff. I scanned through the pages I’d saved until I found the document I was looking for.
I read through it slowly, looking for clues. Nothing seemed any different than any of the missions I’d been on before.
“You’re acting all weird since that phone call. Are you going to tell me what’s up?”
Savage knew me better than anyone, including my family. We’d spent so much time together that we could read one another without words.
“Something weird is going on. I don’t know what yet.” I relayed the whole story to him, including my meeting with Bill and how I’d been ignoring Eva’s messages.
Savage screwed up his eyes and mouth as he listened. “You’re a fucking asshole, Summers. When are you ever going to learn?”
“Thanks for the compliment, but I gotta figure this out.”
Savage screwed up his face. “Fuck, I’ve just remembered. I had a missed call from Eva.”
“What?” My jaw dropped and I sucked in a breath. “Why are you only telling me now?”
His shoulders lifted in defense. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
I nearly fucking punched him. “It’s not like Eva calls you all the fucking time is it? Why didn’t you mention it?”
“Listen dipshit, you’ve just admitted that you didn’t take Eva’s calls, so don’t you fucking be pissed off at me.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m sorry, it’s just that all of a sudden everything is going to shit. A few hours ago, we knew nothing about this mission. It’s just too convenient that it came up now and that we had to leave on a moment’s notice.”
“It’s happened before.”
“Yeah, but I feel it in my fucking bones that this is a way to get rid of me. A few weeks back, the general considered it too risky, and now he’s signed the papers himself? I don’t know, man.”
“You could be right. It’s too fucking weird to be co-incidence.”
I slipped back into my thoughts. The only part I hadn’t told Savage was the part that was doing a loop in my head and fucking with my mind even more now. Eva is in love with you. Eva is in love with you. Again and again.
How could I not have read the signs? I was a fucking expert at reading body language and micro expressions, yet I hadn’t read such a simple emotion.
Or was it that I hadn’t seen it because I didn’t want to. That would mean complications I didn’t want to get into. Decisions. Choices. All the things I’d avoided for all these years would have to be addressed.
I’d have to explore my own heart. Discover my own feelings. I wasn’t ready for that. Maybe I’d never be.
“Fuck, I’m confused. I’m not sure about anything right now. Eva or the mission.”
“I’ve always admired your courage. But ignoring Eva’s calls is you acting like a coward. You can try to run away from your feelings, but that doesn’t work, because guess what? They go with you wherever you are because they are inside you. There is no fucking escape, buddy. When are you going to do the math and realize you have it so bad for Eva, you are just fooling yourself?”
Tell me about it. Nothing worked for me anymore. I couldn’t escape the feelings running around inside me. Fuck knows, I’ve tried. I’ve drunk myself to a stupor just to wake up with a hangover from hell, a parched throat and an aching body, but still the feelings remained.
Maybe it was time I changed my ways. Just maybe Savage was actually on to something valuable. Something that would take this ache away permanently. “I’m pretty much fucked. How am I going to do anything about it now we’re leaving?”
“You’re a smart fucker. Work it out.”
I narrowed my eyes, the cogs in my brain churning at a hundred miles per hour.
“Are you suggesting I abort this mission?”
Savage looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “I’m not suggesting anything. All I’m saying is get your priorities straight. What matters most to you? Once you’ve got the answer to that, the rest is easy. You’ll make the right choices when you know what’s important.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been listening to those fucking motivational talks again?”
“So what if I have? It’s not rocket science. You’re in denial and until you get your head out of your ass, life will always be a struggle. You don’t need me to tell you that, but consider it a friendly reminder.”