by Shayla Black
With a stab of his finger, Zy ended the video. He didn’t know how he’d walk away from EM Security Management. In order to repay his bonus and satisfy the penalty, he’d owe them way more money than he had saved. He’d think of something, even if he had to swallow his pride and call his father. A worst-case scenario, for sure. But nothing was more important to him than having Tessa. And if he had to burn down everything to make that happen, then by God, he would.
January 11
The Monday after Zy made the video, he sat the bosses down in the conference room and showed them every second of the footage. Unfortunately by then, catching their mole had moved farther down their priority list. Logan, Hunter, and Joaquin were in crisis-management mode because all hell had broken loose.
After that, the holidays had been anything but quiet…
Zy’s teammate, Cutter Bryant, had gone from sucking face on the side of a California road with famous TV beauty Shealyn West to being her tabloid lover. Just after Christmas, Cutter had told the bosses that he and Shealyn would be getting married on the first Saturday of the new year in a private ceremony at her grandparents’ ranch in the small town of Comfort, Texas, and that they should plan on replacing him because he was moving to Los Angeles. After that, the trio of assholes had been in hyperdrive, trying to find someone big and bad enough to fill Cutter’s shoes.
Zero luck on short notice. They interviewed a few, and even Zy had to agree the fit wasn’t right.
Besides being down a teammate, things had gone from bad to worse when the paparazzi hounded Cutter and Shealyn from wedding to honeymoon, an old-timer in her tiny town had been murdered on their wedding day, then a local group of eco-religious fanatics had started threatening Shealyn’s grandparents.
Josiah Grant had gone to the event that weekend to provide extra muscle and was still there because the danger hadn’t let up, despite Cutter and Shealyn having jetted off to Hawaii on their honeymoon. In fact, the shit was getting deeper, and rumors were swirling around the office that Josiah was lingering in Comfort because he was fucking on the job with Shealyn’s younger sister, Magnolia. And from the scuttlebutt he’d overheard, it wasn’t just sex. Zy had a feeling deep in his gut they would soon be down another teammate, and where the hell would that leave them?
Especially since One-Mile had gone rogue and been in Mexico for damn near a month, trying to kill drug lord Emilo Montilla. The good news? He’d finally managed two days ago in a one-and-done shot. Then he’d escaped clean and ducked out of the country. Zy hoped that Walker’s success meant that Valeria, her baby son, and her sister, Laila, the one they’d rescued from Montilla’s compound, would be safe and could get on with their lives. Time would tell… At least the mole who had been feeding information to Montilla and his cartel would seemingly be out of business now.
But as soon as One-Mile had returned home, the crazy, sarcastic fucker had somehow finished sweeping the pregnant preacher’s daughter, Brea Bell, off her feet, despite the fact that her father was no fan of his daughter’s baby daddy. Now there was talk of another wedding on the horizon. Would the team lose the sniper to wedded bliss, too?
Fuck. Zy knew that if he quit, he’d be stranding Trees, who seemingly had no intention of leaving his job. He couldn’t even tell his best friend why he should. Then Trees would be in situations he might not be prepared for, trying to be not just the tech guy but the muscle, the hostage negotiator, the spy, the sniper, and the demolitions go-to. That wasn’t him. But if Zy stayed, he stood almost no chance of ending up with Tessa, especially since she’d cut off most communication since the Christmas party. They both knew they’d been playing a dangerous game of chicken. Tessa had simply flinched first, and he wasn’t surprised. He’d pushed her too far because he wanted her too much.
He missed her like hell.
What a shit show. But he had to be patient—for now—because if he left Trees to fill all those roles alone and something happened, Zy would never forgive himself.
“Conference room, Garrett. Now.” Joaquin wasn’t smiling before he walked away.
“What’s that about?” Trees looked concerned.
Zy tried to shrug off the confrontation as he stood. “Oh, you know me. Always pissing off someone.”
But he wasn’t under any illusions. The bosses were finally ready to talk about his video at Trees’s place, if Muñoz’s snappy anger was anything to go by. Do-or-die time. He was beyond ready to tell them to shove the contract up their asses. Either they let him have Tessa or he walked.
And someday, he’d figure out how to confess his betrayal to Trees and apologize—and hope like hell his friend understood.
After following the quietest boss’s broad back down the narrow hallway, they entered the conference room. Zy didn’t have to be told to shut the door behind him.
“Sit,” Hunter snapped.
Zy shook his head, standing, arms crossed, at the back of the room. “Heel. Roll over. Play dead. I’m done being told what to do. I’ve given you all the proof I can that Trees is innocent.”
“And I’m telling you he’s still the most likely suspect. So he didn’t keep anything incriminating in his house. No big surprise.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to prove a man innocent, other than to point out the absolute absence of proof? It’s not like anyone pinned a handy guiltless badge on his chest.”
“Ha ha. We’re going to attack this problem from a different angle and hire a capable someone to do a forensic study of his computer and online activities, so you’re off the hook for that. But we want you with him, watching him.”
“Goddamn it! He’s not guilty, and I’m not spying on my best friend anymore.”
“Would you be willing to keep him safe?” Logan put in slyly. “We’re sending him to Comfort to help Josiah deal with those Enlightenment Fields kooks. There’s already been one local murdered, and after Josiah talked his way into the compound yesterday and got a look around… This shit is going to get ugly.”
Hunter scoffed. “Coupled with the fact we know he’s fucking Maggie on the job. They haven’t exactly been quiet about it.”
“Especially last night in the parking lot of a bar.” Logan sounded pissed at Josiah’s lack of judgment, and Zy was surprised because Grant was usually a dependable operator. “And if we know, it won’t be long before Enlightenment Fields knows, too. Then they may well put a target on Maggie’s back.”
If they did, Trees would do anything to save her. He wasn’t a chauvinist who thought women weren’t capable of self-defense; he was a protector who thought women shouldn’t have to fend off violence alone. And one guy, no matter how big and menacing he seemed, wouldn’t be enough to ward off a whole cult if they had murder and mayhem in mind.
“Fuck.”
“Coming around to our way of thinking?” Logan sounded almost smug.
Zy wanted to tell him to fuck off, but what was the use? He’d give his life to protect Trees. Hell, he owed the guy for more reasons than he could even remember. There was no walking away from this.
“If I play along, you’ll talk to me about the situation with Tessa when I come back?”
Logan turned to his brothers. “How cute. He thinks he has a bargaining chip.”
That pissed Zy off. “I fucking do. I can walk out there right now and tell Trees everything. He’ll believe me.” Which was true. “And he’ll walk.” Which was a bluff, because Zy wasn’t sure how Trees would react. “You’re already short one team member, maybe two if Grant’s fling with Maggie turns serious. And what about Walker? You sure he’s going to hang around now that he’s getting married and has a baby on the way? How’d you like to be short two more? That would leave you with a team of zero. Good luck running a business with that.”
“Yes,” Joaquin said. “When you come back, we’ll listen.”
Hunter and Logan both turned to him with identical scowls. “What the fuck?”
“This isn’t the battle we should be fighting right now. We hav
e bigger problems than junior’s love life. If he wants to bang the secretary—”
“Shut up and don’t be so fucking disrespectful! I’ve never touched Tessa, not once in the ten months I’ve known her, and it’s been hell. I did that because you fucking made me. I’ve asked you to bend a little, but you just keep putting my balls in a vise and don’t seem to give two shits about either of us.”
Hunter let out a deep breath. “All right. I get it. You go to Comfort with Trees, and we’ll find a workable solution to your problem. Once everything is calm in Texas, you come back here and we’ll negotiate.”
It wasn’t perfect, but it was more than they’d been willing to give. And it would have to do for now. Otherwise, they would send Trees into danger alone, because no one else was around to protect his flank.
“Fine.”
Logan leaned in. “But while you’re there? Watch everything Trees says and does. Everyone he communicates with. Everything he focuses on. All. Of. It. Are we clear?”
Fuck you. “Crystal. When do we leave?”
“Tomorrow,” Joaquin put in. “We’ll keep an eye on Tessa while you’re gone.”
They had him twisted up in so many knots, he didn’t see another way out of the situation. But since Cash was still in rehab and Tessa was barely speaking to him, he didn’t think it mattered. Once he figured out how to maneuver the situation here at work and she knew she wouldn’t lose her job, he’d do his best to marry her, give Hallie siblings, and love her for the rest of his life.
“Thank you. Trees and I will get this done fast. Then I want more than lips moving. I want real action. I want Tessa.”
“We know.”
January 25
* * *
Zy sat beside Trees in his beat-up truck as they bounced east out of San Antonio. They had spent two fucking weeks in Texas, giving Josiah a hand in breaking up the group of fanatics who had been after Shealyn’s grandparents’ land. It had been some harrowing shit because Enlightenment Fields hadn’t been averse to murder to get it.
At least he and Trees were finally heading back to Louisiana.
While in Comfort, they had also tried to keep Josiah from falling for Shealyn’s gorgeous sister, but they’d failed. Now Josiah and Maggie were engaged, and just as Zy suspected, Grant wasn’t coming back to Louisiana or to the EM team. He would be replaced—starting tomorrow—by Comfort’s former deputy, Kane Preston, who had admittedly done a decent job of helping them shut down the Enlightenment Fields crazies. Still, in a team full of SEALs, Green Berets, and other elite warriors, he didn’t see this Rosco P. Coltrane working out. Yeah, Preston had some military experience and he’d seemed all right, but c’mon… At least the hazing would be fun.
Oh, and along the way, Zy had watched his best friend’s every step while reporting back to the Three Stooges. Or rather, the bosses. But he was fucking done. Tomorrow morning, he would get free of their fucking contract so he could finally make Tessa his.
Well, if she would have him.
Zy refused to accept that they were done. He wished like fuck he could have a do-over on Trees’s Christmas party. But she’d made herself clear. Her job—and her daughter—came first. He was just the asshole who kept pushing her boundaries because he couldn’t fall out of love with her. Hell, he’d never even tried. The way she’d grabbed Hallie and run from him that night before they’d even had dessert had been a stab in the heart. And Madison’s pity during the long, mostly silent drive home had been humiliating.
“You’ve been quiet for a hundred miles,” Trees remarked.
“I’ve been ready to get back to Lafayette since the day we got to Comfort. How tiny was that damn town, anyway?”
Trees laughed. “Around three thousand people.”
Yep. It sounded exactly like it was: a place where excitement was watching tumbleweeds blow.
“What’s really bothering you?” Trees quizzed. “You’ve never cared in the past where assignments sent you. You always got in, ran a clean op, and got the hell out. Why are you like a bear with a sore ass now? Something to do with Tessa?”
“Everything to do with Tessa, but no offense, I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Something obviously changed between you two at my Christmas party.”
He flung a clenched-teeth glare his buddy’s way. “I said I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Fair enough. But I’d like to talk about that night.”
Zy stiffened. “What about it? If I ended the conversation between you and Madison prematurely, I—”
“Stop.” Trees gripped the wheel. “You know what you did that night. Alone, in my bedroom. I know it, too.”
Fuck. “It was a spur-of-the-moment mistake. I was in such a bad place with Tessa and—”
“I fucking put a gun to my temple and offered to die for you.” Trees glared at him.
He had, and the shame of having been a shitty fucking friend that night torched Zy. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want an apology. I want the truth. You finally going to give it to me?”
“Yeah.” Clearing the air with Trees would be a relief. And he could truthfully tell the bosses that he hadn’t blabbed about their suspicions; Trees had merely guessed. “Love to.”
“I assume you videoed yourself searching my room because that trio of assholes we work for think I’m the mole? And that you’ve been on top of me nearly every moment for the past two weeks—except when I wipe my ass—for pretty much the same reason?”
“Yeah. I told them a dozen times it wasn’t you but—”
“And you thought they’d listen? Of course they weren’t going to. I was with you during the first botched mission to Mexico, but not the successful one, thanks to food poisoning.”
“Man, no one sane eats truck-stop sushi.”
Trees shrugged. “It looked good. I won’t make that mistake again. And I’m guessing the most incriminating part is that I was with One-Mile when he got taken in Mexico, and I couldn’t save him or call in the cavalry until it was too late?”
“You nailed it. And it turns out One-Mile emailed the schematic of Montilla’s estranged wife’s safe house in St. Louis to you—and no one else—to test you. So when our unfriendly neighborhood drug lord showed up…”
“Walker assumed I was the guilty one and blabbed to all the bosses.”
“Yeah. I told him it was possible your computer or our network had been hacked—”
Trees shook his head. “I would have known. Let me ask you something else: did Walker also tell you he emailed that schematic to Tessa first, asking her to send it to me?”
Zy knew what his friend was implying, and that had his blood boiling with rage. “Yeah, but c’mon. Tessa isn’t any more guilty than you are.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know. She wouldn’t betray us like that.”
Abruptly, Trees exited the freeway and pulled onto the shoulder in the middle of nowhere. “Stop thinking like a guy in love for two minutes and start thinking like an operator. If I’m not the mole and she’s not the mole and no one else got the schematic, how the hell did Montilla get it?”
“I don’t know, but—”
“You don’t know because no one else could have done it. How badly does she need money?”
“Fuck you!”
Trees just shook his head. “Seriously? You’re going to say that to me?”
He was right, and Zy scrubbed a hand across his forehead where he felt a headache developing. “No, I’m not. But Tessa couldn’t possibly need money that bad.”
“Are you sure?”
He wasn’t. Day care couldn’t be cheap. Nor were the baby food, diapers, and clothes for a constantly growing little girl. “Granted, her situation is probably tight, but she won’t even entertain leaving her job to be with me because she can’t find another employer who pays her as well and provides the benefits and flexibility she needs. Why would she fuck that up?”
�
��Or…she won’t leave her job because she wouldn’t be in any position to pass on information to Montilla for cash.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“You can’t be sure of that and you definitely can’t prove it.”
Trees was right, and Zy fucking hated it. “This is the same argument I’ve had with the bosses. They’re convinced you’re guilty, and no amount of trying to prove otherwise has put a dent in their collective thick skulls. I’m fucking over this. She’s not guilty because I know she’s not guilty.”
“Man, this isn’t the same. If you’d stop thinking with your heart and start thinking with your brain, you’d know that. We almost died together. We’ve both almost died for each other. Neither of us would be sitting here today if we hadn’t proven ourselves to one another and earned complete trust.”
Zy cursed under his breath. “I know.”
“You and this woman… You’re in love with Tessa, so you feel like you know her. But you don’t.”
“I get why you’d see it that way, but when I was assigned to protect her, I spent nights under her roof. We talked. We got to know each other. I learned who she is. You didn’t, and knowing someone purely from office interaction isn’t the same.”
“Maybe not,” Trees conceded, but Zy didn’t buy his conciliatory tone. “Have you taken her to bed?”
“You know the contract says I can’t.”
“That’s not what I asked. My best friend, the one I’ve known backward and forward for almost a decade? He doesn’t give too many shits about rules, especially arbitrary ones. And that nonfraternization clause is totally arbitrary.”
