by Zoe York
LIBERTY
“Honey? There was something I forgot to ask you at the house.” I paused for a beat. “Why’d you pack so many guns? I thought this was going to be a relaxing trip.”
“I relax more when I know I’m well prepared. For any situation,” John said. He leaned back in his airplane seat and smiled at me. “That’s why I packed Advil. I wasn’t sure if you were going to drive me crazy about the Minnesota assignment. I packed it so I’d be prepared.”
“Ha ha,” I said. “But seriously—is this place safe? I have to admit, I was a little surprised you wanted to vacation in Mexico.” We were midair, en route to Cancun International Airport. Once we landed, we were going to meet Matthew and Meredith and take a car to Chichen Itza, where our resort was located. I’d travelled through various parts of Mexico, but this would be my first visit to the ancient city and its Mayan ruins. But the fact that John had wanted to come back to this country, so beautiful but so full of danger, had shocked me. His daughter, Catherine, had been imprisoned in Mexico for years. We’d had to come and rescue her from a cartel not that long ago.
Mexico still gave me the willies. Sometimes his daughter Catherine did, too.
“I can’t hold a grudge against an entire country,” John said calmly. “Besides, I know the guy who owns the resort. Leo. And Leo owes me big time.”
“Matthew’s right: you always know a guy,” I said and laughed.
“It’s one of my many talents.” He grabbed my hand and laced his fingers through mine. “I’m looking forward to showing you many more of them this week.”
“I’m looking forward to that, too,” I said, grinning at him. We’d been married for a little over a year, but we were still giddy like newlyweds. “But tell me about this Leo character. Is he American? Was he a client?”
“Yes and yes,” John said. “I did a job for him a long time ago. A couple of jobs, actually. Leo’s a good guy, but he’s a little on the optimistic side. He planned a few projects that didn’t do as well as he’d hoped. Then he borrowed money from the wrong people. Which was why he needed my services.”
“How did you help him?” I asked, pretty sure I didn’t want to know.
“I kept his enemies at bay and kept him alive while he found the money to pay back his more… anxious investors,” John said and shrugged. “No big deal.”
“Did he pay you?” I asked.
“Never did,” John said. “That’s why I get free vacations for life. So enjoy yourself while we’re down here. Leo owes me. A lot.”
“That’s one assignment I can’t screw up,” I said, laughing.
“It’s all part of my master plan,” John said.
“So…are the guns to protect Leo? Or to protect us from Leo?”
“The guns are just in case,” John said smoothly. “I don’t need a gun to keep Leo in line. No one knows where he is anymore. The fact that I do is insurance enough.”
“Okay,” I said. “But it’s always more complicated with you than it seems. You know that, right?”
“Right. I know that,” John said and squeezed my hand. “That’s ’cause I need to keep you on your toes. Otherwise, you’ll keep trying to run things.”
“I am running things,” I said under my breath.
“What was that, babe?”
“Nothing. Babe,” I said and smiled at him innocently.
— FOUR —
MATTHEW
“You sure they’re going to be okay with the kids?” I asked an hour later. We’d just left them with her parents, and Mer had just finished wiping the tears from her face.
Now that she had calmed down, I felt like it was my turn to get upset. Since we’d become parents, I’d noticed that we did that a lot. We took turns getting upset (or angry or overwhelmed or sleep deprived) so that we kept the scales balanced, at least most of the time.
I considered that to be a win on the parenthood front.
“You’re asking me that now?” She looked over at me from the small compact she was looking in while she fixed her makeup, smeared from crying. We were headed toward Miami airport, leaving Wes and Lily behind. She had a picture of the kids in her lap, their little faces smiling and looking up at us. My stomach clenched just looking at it. I already missed them.
“I just feel bad, leaving the little guys.”
“Do you want to go back to get them?” she asked. She sounded as though she half-hoped I would say yes.
I paused for a second. “It’s actually kind of nice and quiet,” I said, grinning. “I think I’m gonna be all right. They’ll have a ball with your parents anyway, right?”
“Right,” she said, laughing at me. Her phone buzzed with a text. “Perfect timing—my mom says they’re fine. And to go have fun.”
“Then we should,” I said, putting one hand on her thigh and maneuvering in and out of traffic. “Sit back and relax, Mer. Matthew’s here. I’m gonna take care of everything.”
With that, I floored her minivan and headed to the airport.
“You are definitely the hottest man I’ve ever seen driving a minivan.”
“Duh,” I said and flexed my bicep as I clutched the wheel. “When I drive, it’s the man-van. Ain’t no shame in it.” I got back into the passing lane.
“Maybe there should be a little shame,” Mer said and giggled.
I grinned. I loved it when my wife laughed. “You know I’m shameless,” I said. “That’s part of what makes me so awesome.”
***
“Do you mean it?” she asked me later, on the plane. She was staring at me in disbelief.
“Yes,” I said, and I could feel my jaw clenching. “I swore to you the day I married you that I’d put you first. And you’ve made it clear this is what you want.”
“Not if it’s going to make you miserable,” she said, backpedaling. “What would you do?”
I remember Liberty asking me this same question, not that long ago.
“She would love it if I were a lawyer or something,” I said and laughed. “But seeing as I barely graduated high school, that’s not in the cards. She’s always supported me, though. We’ve been together forever. It’s just different when you have kids. The idea of Daddy getting shot at seems a lot scarier. It’s worse for her, and for me.”
“So, what’re you going to do?” Liberty asked. She sounded as if she couldn’t quite picture me sitting behind a desk.
“I can’t go back to the real world,” I said. “It’s been too long. Maybe someday I could be a cop or something. At least then I’d be closer to home. But as long as John wants me, I’m with him. He takes care of me…plus, I like what I do. I get paid to work out and beat the crap out of bad guys. That rules, you know?”
Beating the crap out of bad guys did rule.
But I loved my wife more.
“I could work as a contractor,” I said now and shrugged. “I can lift things. I can probably do demolition. I would probably rule at demolition.”
“You’d be making minimum wage—maybe,” Mer said. “And there might not be that much work. The housing market’s pretty flat in Miami right now.”
I wasn’t sure why she was arguing with me. This was what she’d been hoping to hear for a long time.
“I could be a cop,” I suggested.
“That’s just as dangerous,” she said, shaking her head.
“I’ll figure it out,” I said, even though I had no idea how I was going to figure it out. “I’m going to do what’s best for my family. If I have to go to school at night so I can get a better job down the road, fine. It’s worth it.”
She looked over at me. “Do you mean it?” she asked again. It sounded as if she was afraid to believe me.
I squeezed her hand. “I mean it.”
“I know you love your job,” she said with a huge sigh. “The thing is, I don’t want you to be miserable. But I don’t want you to be dead, either.”
“Fair enough,” I said and put my large pile of doubts aside with a thud.
***
As promised, no one in Miami or Cancun airport security batted an eye at us. I was pretty smug as I grabbed Mer’s hand and we headed through the humid terminal at Cancun International Airport. “I guess I could have brought all my guns,” I chided.
“You have one,” she said. “That should be all you need.”
“I had to bring it,” I said. “It would be like leaving one of my nuts at home. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” I laughed, and Mer just shook her head at me. “On the upside, there’s a car to take us to the resort.”
“Of course there is,” she said. “Trust me, I’m not complaining. It beats the hell out of my filthy minivan.”
There was a guy at the airport holding up a sign for us. He led us to a white Mercedes SUV idling on the side of the road.
“Is it just us?” I asked the driver.
“No, sir. The rest of your party is on their way. They made a stop at the bar first.”
“Awesome,” I said and hopped in. Mer followed me and sighed in relief at the cool interior. Florida was hot, but the Mexican sun seemed to have a special power to it. Once we’d cooled off, I pulled her to me and put my arm around her. When I was home, it was like I was making up for lost time; I had to touch her every second we were together.
I leaned down and kissed her, hard. “I love you,” I said.
The car door flew open. “Well, I love you, too,” a man’s voice said.
I pulled back quickly and grimaced at my boss. “John—I told you. I don’t feel that way about you, man. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
“I know you have real feelings for me. But it’s okay if you feel it’s necessary to keep hiding them,” John said. He elegantly folded his tall, muscled body up and slid into the SUV.
“Meredith,” he said to her and smiled. “It’s lovely to see you. I hope you don’t mind the bromance. Your husband started it when he wouldn’t stop following me from country to country.”
“Hi, John,” she said, and I could tell she was uncomfortable. Not about the bromance—but about the fact that it was about to come to an end. Knowing Mer, she was probably feeling guilty as hell that I was about to hand in my resignation.
Liberty climbed into the car next, her dirty-blond curls piled up into a bun on top of her head. She sat down and breathed a huge sigh of relief to be out of the heat. “It’s so freaking hot,” she said, wiping the sweat off her face. When she was finally done, her face broke into a huge grin. “Matthew! Mer! I am so happy to see you guys! In air conditioning!” The driver closed the door behind her, and Liberty gave us both sweaty hugs. Liberty was younger than me by a few years. From the moment I’d met her, I’d felt like her big brother. She needed protecting, trust me—she managed to get herself into real trouble on a regular basis.
“Hey, Lib,” I said, “you ready to actually take a vacation? No shooting?”
She pushed her sweaty curls up from her forehead. “Do we even know how to do that?”
John and I looked at each other for a beat. “Nah,” we said in unison. Liberty laughed, and Meredith shook her head at us.
John had told me recently that Liberty was being a royal pain in the ass about continuing the business. She’d made a rule that she had to go on every assignment—that’s one of the reasons John had been considering winding things up.
But he’d changed his mind.
And now I’d gone and changed mine.
I watched as the flat Mexican countryside flew by. It was about a two-hour drive from Cancun to Chichen Itza, our final destination. It was an ancient Mayan city, with ruins and temples that made it one of the biggest tourist destinations in Mexico. But John had told me that the resort we were headed to was secluded, a remote oasis in the midst of the crowds seeking to witness one of the new seven wonders of the world.
I was excited for this trip—I had been for weeks. But I didn’t think I could keep my decision about work from John; it would feel like I was lying to him. “A little bird told me you were at the liquor store,” I said, eyeing the paper bag John was holding. I could hear the tension in my own voice. Holy shit, I thought, I’m just gonna let this rip right now. I didn’t want to hide things from John, and I’d never been someone with a lot of patience. Or any patience, for that matter.
“I always come prepared,” John said and grabbed a bottle of Negra Modelo. He opened it with his teeth and handed it to me.
“I wish you’d stop doing that,” Liberty said, wincing. “I’m worried you’re going to get hurt.”
“You’re always worried I’m going to get hurt,” John reminded her gently.
“Real men open beer with their teeth,” I said and threw my arm back around Mer. She was the only one that knew I was scared right now, and shaky.
“What am I going to do with you two?” Liberty asked. “You’re impossible.” She turned to Mer and smiled again. “I’m so glad you’re here. We can act like we don’t know them.”
“Phew,” Mer said. “I have a feeling Matthew’s gonna be on a roll all weekend.”
“I’m always on a roll,” I said and took a large swig of beer. “But seriously, there’s something Mer and I have been talking about that we want to share with you.”
John sat back, surprised. “You’re pregnant? Again?” he asked, looking at us with wide eyes. Lily was only eight months old.
That tripped me up for a second. I turned to Mer. “Are you?” I was both horrified and slightly proud.
She blinked at me. “You’re kidding, right?” she asked.
“Oh. Right,” I said, sounding sheepish. She’d told me earlier, to my extreme delight, that she’d gone back on the pill. I’d promptly and gleefully emptied our suitcase of condoms. “She’s not pregnant, John. It’s not that. It’s…” I swallowed hard. “It’s that I’m resigning. I’m going to find a job in Miami and stay home with Mer and the kids. No more getting shot at.”
John paused for beat, his blue eyes calm and thoughtful. Then he nodded. “I’ll miss you more than I can say. But I understand your decision. And I respect it.”
I just looked at him. “That’s it? Aren’t you going to throw a fit? Or offer me some more money?” His response was too anticlimactic for me. I wanted him to have a temper tantrum. Or at least beg.
John was gripping Liberty’s hand, the only sign that he was in distress. He was trying to be supportive. Childishly, it made me feel better that he was at least a little upset.
“I’ll give you more money if that’s what you want. But I’ve been waiting for this.” He turned to look at Meredith and smiled. “You’ve been very patient with us. I appreciate you letting me have him for as long as you did. He’s a tremendous asset.”
“That’s more like it,” I said. “Keep that up. And maybe throw in some groveling. Otherwise, I’ll think you’re happy to see me go.”
“Never,” John said. “But family comes first.”
Liberty just sat there, looking stunned. “Wow, you guys. I’m happy for you. But I’m pretty sure I need one of those beers,” she said. “Do you mind using a bottle opener, babe?”
***
I heard Mer suck in her breath when we pulled up to Estrella Maya, the remote resort where we were staying. It was enormous and imposing, a pristine, multicolored stucco building that rose majestically into the sky. “This looks like a place where Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox would stay for a girls’ weekend,” she whispered to me. She looked down at her flip-flops and frowned. “I got these at Target.” She looked back up at me nervously, waiting for a response.
I looked at her blankly. I loved Target.
She rolled her eyes at me. “The last time we went away, we stayed at a Ramada,” she hiss-whispered. “This is no Ramada.”
“You are perfect. Whether you’re at a Ramada or an Estrella, or whatever the heck this is,” I said, squeezing her to me. “Relax. It’s Mexico, babe. You can wear shorts to everything.” One of my wife’s many talents was having absolutely no idea how gorgeous she was. No
one was going to look at her plastic flip-flops—they would only be looking at her beautiful face, the smattering of freckles across her skin, the way her blue eyes sparkled.
“No—you can wear shorts to everything,” she chided. “Because everyone wants to look at your big muscles.”
“That’s true, baby,” I said, slinging my arm around her. “But it’s true for you, too. Without the big muscle part.”
John came up beside us while the valet organized our luggage. He clapped me on the back. “I’m glad you told me about your plans first thing,” he said. “We can figure out how we’re going to transition you out. We’ll do it however you want.”
Mer slid away from us a little and looked at her phone, letting us have some privacy. “It doesn’t seem real yet,” I said. “I feel like I just ripped off a Band-Aid, and there was a lot of hair attached to it.” I felt a little stunned by the events of the day, starring me.
“That’s gross. But I hear you,” John said. He laughed.
“I know it’s the right decision. But I’m still adjusting to it—I just told Mer today, on our way here.”
“She must be relieved,” John said.
“I won’t let her tell Liberty how much,” I offered.
John nodded. “There’s going to be some real adjusting ahead of you,” he said. “Civilian life’s different from what we’ve been used to all these years. But you can do it. You’re a strong guy.”
“I still have to figure out what I’m going to do,” I said, and the first feeling of real worry stirred within me.
“I’ll help you. You have lots of transferable skills.”
“Are interrogating people and blowing shit up considered transferable skills?” I asked.
“In some industries,” John said. “The good news is, no matter what, you can put the trouble behind you now. Say goodbye to it.”
I snorted at that. “Do you ever really say goodbye to it?” I asked.
Our eyes met for a second. “I don’t know,” John said. “But I’m also probably not the best person to ask.”
— FIVE —
LIBERTY
I didn't want to tell John what I was thinking about. First, that I couldn't believe how gorgeous our resort was. It beat the living hell out of the last place I’d stayed in Mexico—which of course wasn’t saying much, because that was the dirt dungeon I'd been kept in at the Morales cartel compound.
