Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Praying like hell that she survived the night and that she forgave him for the delay, he vowed to rescue her come morning. And if Victor had harmed her in any way—hell, if he’d so much as made her cry—he was going to kill the son of a bitch. And not merely with a simple bullet or two. Yeah, he might be the tech guy of the team, but he and Zy had gone through some really shitty black ops training. They’d endured stuff that had killed lesser men in the same program. They’d learned things that would make the average psyche—and stomach—curdle. Despite everything he’d seen and the war zones he’d fought in, he’d never once considered unleashing any of that knowledge on an enemy combatant.
Trees would one hundred percent make an exception for Victor.
When he was finally clean, he sighed in exhaustion and stepped out of the stall, groping for a towel with his eyes closed. Halfheartedly, he dried off. After the room, along with his stomach, stopped spinning, he wrapped the towel around himself. A glance at the nearby basin proved Matt had settled his clean clothes and his toothbrush nearby.
So, Walker’s bestie actually wasn’t a flaming asshole like his pal.
Okay, he was probably being harsh to his teammate. One-Mile had been a lot more pleasant since his engagement to Brea Bell. Normally he’d think it was because the guy was getting regular pussy, which took the snarl out of most beasts. But he’d met the sniper’s fiancée. He’d rarely met a sweeter girl, so he kind of hoped that Brea simply balanced Walker. And their wedding was just around the corner. Good for them. And hey, if someone as bad-tempered as One-Mile could find a woman to love him, Trees figured there was hope for him, too.
Which brought him right back to Laila. He’d threatened to marry her once. She hadn’t believed him, but he’d been dead fucking serious. He would marry her tomorrow—if she’d say yes. And when he found her again, he would ask. Not in challenge. Not in sarcasm. For real, with roses and a ring and a promise to honor and protect her for the rest of his life.
As soon as he found her, saved her, and brought her home.
When he opened the bathroom door, a plume of steam billowed out. He felt a hundred fucking years old by the time he made it back to the cot. It didn’t help that he was nearly a foot too tall for the damn thing.
Matt stood. There was something on his face Trees didn’t like.
“What is it?”
“You okay?”
When Matt answered a question with a question, it was obvious the guy was stalling. “Fine. What’s going on?”
Worry gripped his gut. Did he have an update about Laila? Had she reached out to her sister again with bad news? Or had Victor Ramos killed her after all?
“Why don’t you sit down? You look paler than hell—”
“What the fuck is going on?” If his scowl didn’t make it clear he’d lost all patience, his tone should.
Cursing under his breath, Matt paced to the other side of the room, looking reluctant to speak.
“Out with it,” he demanded.
“Fine. You set your phone down with your emails still open, and right after you left, Laila sent you something. I opened it, thinking it might be urgent and that I’d tell you—”
“You snooped?”
“Whatever her message was,” Matt went on as if Trees hadn’t interrupted.
Admittedly, the cowboy’s idea hadn’t been bad, but obviously he’d found something horrible. “And?”
“Buddy, I don’t think you want to see this.”
Trees glared at Matt. “The hell I don’t.”
Matt looked down at the phone, lying on the corner of the desk. As Trees lunged for it, Matt stepped between him and the device. “I’m serious. This is just going to fuck with your head more.”
Trees didn’t care. And he was done arguing.
This was another moment where it paid to have really long arms and legs. Trees shoved the cowboy to one side and lunged just close enough to swipe the phone.
Matt stopped fighting after that and merely sighed. “Fine. Be a stupid bastard. I was just trying to save you from having your heart ripped out.”
What the hell was he talking about?
Trees launched his emails and found the one from Laila at the top. The subject line read: Maybe this will convince you…
What did that mean?
Inside, the body of the email said:
I tried to tell you that I am happy with Victor, and you did not believe me. Get it through your head, yanqui.
Their conversation in La Pesca rang through his head.
“You want to be with him?”
“Of course. I always have.”
At the memory, cold slithered under his skin.
But there was more, a video. The still frame alone shocked him. A naked Laila smiled up at the camera she was obviously holding. Her eyes were half-lidded and her head tossed back. Victor Ramos was on top of her with one fist gripping her hair and his face buried in her neck.